That Never-to- Be played Monopoly Game

... at the Bow River, the cityscape in the background ...

Naomi has been with her Aunt Michelle until today when she took the Light Rail Transit (LRT) over to see us.

I met her at the Banff Trail Station where she still had her ticket in hand.

The transit security personnel were just checking the people in the car she was travelling in. She said she wondered who to give the ticket to when she bought it.

She didn’t know that having the ticket checked was just a fluke – I ride the LRT often and can hardly remember the last time someone asked to see my ticket.

We crossed the tracks and got on the train going the other way.

... waiting for the Tuscany LRT at 6th Street ...

... reading a sticky note pasted on a shelter on the LRT landing...

... the note, a stranger having a bad day, and
reaching out to anyone else having a bad day to text them ...

I wanted to walk her through a few neighbourhoods, so we got off at Sunnyside Station – what can be more interesting than the coffee shops, the clothing assignment shops, the bong shops, a health food store, more restaurants, murals painted on the side of brick buildings, two walking/cycling paths that go for miles along the river, a walk across the old 10th street bridge, the Buddhist monastery where a vegan lunch is served for under $10 every day, and an old hardware shop that I remember as a child – that shop has to be at least 70 years old.

When we got home, Naomi spent the afternoon with her cousins.

Michael has been dying to play Monopoly so they got the game set up outside but hadn’t counted on the gentle wind that blows the monopoly money away.

Even putting weights on the money didn’t help that much – Monopoly is a game that is really needs to be spread out and have hours of time invested in its outcome.

Naomi said that they played an abbreviated game – so that is still in the air – Michael playing the real Monopoly game.

Naomi and I went to a movie just as the kids were going to bed.

... Naomi and the Lama at the 10th St Bridge ...

We rode the LRT to Eau Claire Centre where we saw Lulu Wang’s film, The Farewell (2019).

The film purports to be “based on a real lie”, a good pretext for any film to be made.

I don’t think this will be a spoiler.

When the film ended, Naomi said, “Oh my gosh.I had no idea it was going to end like that!”

I agreed with her.

... pedal this machine and you can recharge your telephone ...

It is hard to have a feel good ending in a film about death. We talked about the film most of the way home.

There were plenty of scenes that were totally memorable and a lot of fun to talk about.

The kids had asked  us what film we were going to.

... setting up the Monopoly game ...
LtoR: Michael, Betty, Naomi

I told them it was one about a grandmother dying and that everyone in the film was going to be crying about that.

They wondered why which really made me laugh.

Arta