Country Fare Bed and Breakfast, Regina

Country Fare Bed and Breakfast, Regina
Well, when we drove up to our lodging in Crescent City we were worried, and somewhat rightfully so. When we drove up to the duplex in the suburban neighborhood of Regina our worries were quickly disabused upon entering the home. Cathy has managed to run a mediocre little duplex into a welcoming place for a couple vacationing. The house is bright with light hard wood floors and an open floor plan leading back to a tiny little bedroom with a very comfortable queen bed (the two pillow rule follows here, though so bring extra). She’s put in a room darkening shade, a plethora of tourist stuff including a fantastic local street map hung on the door (this seems like it would be a great idea for all bed and breakfasts), stamped postcards of Regina for sale, bus schedules, etc. This was literally the best prepared bed and breakfast room I’ve had.
There’s no air conditioning but Regina tends to be breezy and the window can be opened. A ceiling fan helps cool the room, but it never got really cool. Cathy let us use her laundry and we hung it up on the laundry line in the yard. The house has Wifi and Cathy prepares unusual breakfasts that are completely unpredictable. She asks if there is anything you won’t eat and whether you are a light, moderate or heavy eater and goes from there. We said we were light to moderate and we wouldn’t eat coconut (me) or bacon (Asha). We got lovely broiled toasts with somekind of lightly spicy mayo, chopped ham and fresh tomatoes and a saskatoon berry smoothie. Both were quite tasty; however, Asha found cat hairs in hers (yes, Cathy has a cat, more on that later) and we both had this kind of furry feeling n our throats afterwards. No idea what that was. We weren’t sick or anything.
Cathy is also a font of information (a font that could become tiresome if you are not the information seeking type). I am the info seeking type so I was fascinated by her stories and interpretations of politics and culture. Asha was not. She talked about how Alberta is most like America: if they want something they go get it and the hell with everyone else. Saskatchewan, in contrast, is more communal a result, she stated, of the settlement patterns. All of Western Canada was initially settled around the railroad which runs about 60-100 miles from the border across the country. And, Canada’s Western population is clustered in that region. In Alberta, ranching was the main draw and communities weren’t so important. In Saskatchewan where people came to farm, they needed one another and they had to get along. So, they developed a more cooperative approach to government and policy. (Ironically, Cathy went to the trouble to explain what a credit union was to me, suggesting to me that she thinks in the US we are so individualistic we don’t even have credit unions). The cultural misunderstandings between Canada and the US are probably even more set than those between countries further away and more ostensibly different, just because we think we are so alike. I’ll write more about this in another post.
Finally, some words about the potential cons of the bed and breakfast. The cat. I don’t like cats and I have allergies so I am predisposed to be critical. However, this cat was very “good” from my perspective. It never rubbed up against me, jumped on my lap and I never saw it on the counters or tables (something that makes me gag-sorry cat lovers out there). And, best of all, no sneezing so obviously the cat is either well groomed, not prone to dander or outside more than inside. Also, no yucky cat smell. So I did not find the cat aversive. Asha, on the other hand, did not like the hair in her food (I didn’t find any in mine).
The other potential negative is Cathy’s intrusiveness (or extreme friendliness might be a better way of putting it). She’s very engaged in her guest’s plans and lives (she walked us to the corner to show us how to get to dinner) and as we were driving away she came out to the car and showed me the map and how to get where I was going (this was helpful). It’s not that she isn’t helpful. She also sat with us while we ate. Some people might light this level of involvement, others might not.