Happy Father's Day!

I still feel the importance of acknowledging this special day, because I still know lots of great Dads worth celebrating. In honour of my own wonderful, late Father Mum and I dined on a juicy T-bone steak with fried onions and red peppers. As Mum sat down to her portion the first thing the said was "he would approve". Esteemed praise considering his great love and appreciation for a well cooked steak (or any other form of meat).

It's still a bitter sweet day as I watched family taking out their Dads or showering them with lawnmowers and power tools, and feeling like I'm missing out on something wonderful. My best course of action to brighten the day is to make sure that every Dad I see gets a smile and a "Happy Father's Day!"... you'd be amused to see how surprised most of them are.

Daddy with his three girls c. 1989/90

Canoe Restoration

The old family canoe is among the many things I have inherited from my dear old Dad. A piece of equipment that was enveloped in a certain amount of intrigue and respect on my part. We had two canoes growing up, the "ancestral" canoe (as I've come to call it), and the Sponson. The Sponson seemed a little more durable and was able to withstand the trials small humans learning how to paddle in it. Meanwhile, the elusive ancestral canoe remained at home. It was almost epic; hanging in the garage, never coming down from it's ropey hammock, gathering dust and staying just out of reach. I can remember when Dad said he was taking it down from its resting place on a Summer's afternoon when I was 14, as he and I were planning a trip to Algonquin Park and he wanted to take the ancestral canoe his feeling being that the Sponson was too heavy. He ran several tests, putting the canoe in water to test its sea-worthiness. First test revealed it needed a bit of patch work... and by "a bit" I mean almost re-canvasing. It must be said that the ancestral canoe deserved to need a bit of repair, after all it was rough 90 years old at the time.

As I can remember being told as a kid, the canoe was made around the same time my Grand Dad was born, 1914. I now know that it arrived in the Conway family when it was presented to Grand Dad as a thank you from the Montreal tanning company in the 1950's. After being carted up to Algonquin several times with the Conway boys, and eventually making its way back to Montreal to be with our family, it continued its journey heading over the Atlantic to live in the Vicarage's garage in another ropey hammock and again to Bloxham, and finally coming back home where it's being kindly looked after by my Uncle Paul.

After Dad made it adequately sea worthy when he and I took it up to Algonquin, we put it through its paces; tracking and chuting rapids, going on a 25km portage in Dad's old stomping ground, bringing the epoxy with us as needed. The evidence of this trip is still visible on the body where the grey epoxy scars rest on the scraped forest green paint. Seeing these scars, and watching the gunwale wood slowly rot made me sad knowing how much care Dad took to make it sea worthy 10 years ago. Now that it's safely ensconced on this side of the ocean, I've decided it's time to restore it to its original state. Therefore I have taken on the epic task of repairing the rotten wood, stripping the old canvas and replacing it with new and giving it a new coat of green paint. With the loving help of my Uncle I've set out on a symbolic journey; Every moment I'm spending with the ancestral canoe, is a wonderful reminder of the trip with my dear old Dad and
how much he loved Algonquin park and everything it stood for.

These are a few photos of how this journey started and I will post more as more progress is made.

Uncle Paul strapping down the canoe for its journey into Ontario.

All ready to go!

On the "operating table"

The Algonquin scars...

The rotting wood I'm facing.

Removal of the gunwales, thwarts and rusty screws...

...therefore exposing the rotting ribs.

Once the gunwales have been removed, the canoe want to become a "wooden door mat". So in order to prevent this, we keep it held together with webbed strapping.

Stripping back the canvas revealing the cedar planking underneath, which luckily is in pretty good shape!

Tools of the trade.

June Hamilton Visit

As a little treat for me, and to give Allie some company on her drive back to Hamilton, I came back to visit for a few days. ("Wasn't Morgan in the car??" I hear all you observant readers ask. She was, indeed in the car but not in a keep-Mum-company type of mood. That's where I came in.) I helped pass the time by singing along to Destiny's Child, John Denver, and Hannah Montana (nothing random about that selection).
Throughout the week Allie kept apologizing that the schedule was so busy, but I enjoyed just following everyone around and fitting into the normal family schedule. Plus Allie and I had the change for some "Sistor" time, going to a movie, and also meeting up at Catherine and Mark's house for dinner. It's true, it was a busy week but Allie had everyone so organized that it all moved smoothly. And I loved seeing the girls at school, and doing all their normal activities. So often when there's a guest staying in the house the routine changes, but I was happy to just slot into the rhythm of the house and be a fly on the wall... or in the car.

Ella and Jack chilling out in the car. They were holding hands just before this, but they got shy!
Morgan, Paige, and Nolan playing hockey at Nolan & Dillon's house.
Ella and I sneak a quiet moment together.

Ella showing she's a big girl on the scooter.

Ella and Jack playing nicely in Nolan & Dillon's back garden.
Morgan practicing her violin.
"Honey"...
...and her best friend "Jaxie".
Jack, one of Allie's extra kids.
Paige taking a water break at her soccer practice.
Soccer star!Paige as a "Strawberry Shortcake" ballerina.
Paige is second from the left.
Again, Paige is second from the left.
Paige is the one almost in the center within the gap, with her arms out to the side.

When Allie and Morgan Came for a Visit

As Mum and I are enjoying seeing Allie almost monthly, we're going to get to see the nieces also! This visit Allie brought Morgan with her so we had lots of fun things planned for her while she was here. We were hoping for better weather so Morgan and I could plant some seeds or go for walks around the island however due to foolish rain we had to go to plan B. On the Saturday, Morgan and I went to our friend's Church sale and picked up a few interesting items. On top of the muffins, cookies, and fractions game we got, we also bought "mall madness". For those who have never encountered this game and know someone who shops think seriously about getting it for them. For $2 we had a good few hours of fun as "the voice" told the people on the board where to shop and where all the sales and clearances were. Just as with Monopoly you have paper money, but to step it up a notch you also have an ATM card for making purchases and getting money out of the ATM. The only thing we had trouble with was getting started. Upon opening the box we learned that the $2 purchase price didn't include instructions. Not deterred, I headed to the internet to search for and print off a copy of the rules, despite Morgan insisting she knew the rules though never having played it (the confidence of a 9 year old!!). Now with rules in hand we laid out the game and played at least 2 rounds!
The original plan had been for Morgan and me to go swimming, but alas I learned that in the Summer timetable the pool is closed during the weekends. Nana came up with a great solution: "go for a swim in the bath!" That's exactly what Morgan did. She donned her bathing suit, my cap and goggles and proceeded to "swim" in the bath. Again, to be 9!! Morgan and I also stretched our artistic wings and painted miniature bird houses for her sisters.
The next niece to accompany Allie will probably be Paige, and I hope Paige enjoys herself here as much as Morgan did... I know we'll love having her here.

Nana playing the fractions game.
Morgan building her pizza also.
The "pool" is filling up.
The "Olympic swimmer".

Mummy's "Garden"

Coming from England where the whole country is a garden, we had to have something of our old life here on Ile Bellevue. But when Mum bought the condo one of the appealing aspects of it was the fact that there was no garden to maintain; no grass, no weeds, no over grown trees, etc. But something was missing. Our white wicker chairs seemed lonely. But instead of going over the top, Mum kept it contained and only filled her blue pots and a few hanging baskets. Something new she added to her garden was a hanging basket of cascading strawberries that have found a home in our bird bath. So Mum got her bright, happy flowers, but no weeds, or grass to cut!
We love looking out onto the once plain balcony and admiring Mum's hard work. The morning sun shine warms the plants but they aren't scorched as the sun moves around and out of the direct line by the time it heats up. We especially love watching the grass and begonias resting on the air conditioning unit, dancing when ever the unit turns on.

This is Mum's side of the balcony, she sits in the left hand chair with her feet up on the foot stool (the orange and yellow things).

This is my side.
One of the hanging baskets with geraniums, and lobelia, and ageratum.
Another hanging basket.
The Hanging basket, that's not hanging...
The strawberries! You can see a nice fat, juicy one growing just above the right hand rim of the bowl.

The dancing grass and begonias on the A/C unit!

Happy Mother's Day!

We woke up this morning, and after I put on my glasses I realized that it was snowing and not just foggy. Imagine, the 9th of May and there are fat flakes falling from the sky when all winter we had about three snow falls and none of those large... go figure. What better way to celebrate the unpredictability of Motherhood than with an unexpected snow fall?

When Rhys Came to Visit

I have been busily blogging posts about when Rhys spent the weekend here...way back in March. For quick access, here is a list of links to all of the posts in descending chronological order. (Obviously As they run in the blog, they seem backwards).

I love reading your comments, and knowing you're reading, so feel free to leave some!

Rhys Goes to the Biosphere
Rhys Visits the Redpath Museum
Rhys Likes Poutine!
Rhys Visits Montreal's Olympic Stadium
Rhys Eats a Beavertail!
And then Rhys Climbed the Mountain
Rhys Learns to Skate
Rhys Eats a REAL Bagel
Rhys Visits the Sugar Shack

MAC Fashion Show

You know you're old, and "the next generation" when you go back to your old high school and nothing looks the same, you don't know any of the kids and you get little too excited when there is still a teacher you recognize. However change is good, and the addition of this Fashion Show into the school Leadership program is a good thing. They started the idea when I was still there *mumble*years ago, but it never took off for what ever reason. There wasn't the Leadership program then that they have now, so it may have been too much of an extra activity. Nonetheless, the organizing committee did a great job putting it all together, and I was thoroughly impressed by it! If I were part of this event, I would have been very proud with myself, and so should these girls. It takes talent, and patients to pull an event off and I can just imagine all the prep work, design, planning, coordination, and choreographing the whole production involved, not to mention organizing the clothes. However, it came together wonderfully, everyone looked great, and they all walked confidently down the catwalk. Best of all, I am good friends with one of the organizers, Alycia, so I had great seats!

The girls lined up for the "Pragai" line. Alycia's the the one in the middle standing on the box.

Alycia strutting her "Pragai" outfit.

Alycia showing off her "Tiger Distribution" outfit.

...and walking away.

And finally, some of the grad couples wore formal wear from "Christina" and "Moores", only a couple more months and they'll be wearing them for real!

Chapter 13: Next Time, Lie!

Note to all: I am not promoting lying, in any circumstance. This was just the exhausted conclusion we came to at the end of our day...

Some of you may have heard that Mum and I have been going through the exciting process of trying (emphasis on trying) to exchange her UK license for a Quebec one. For myself this was easy: I phoned, made an appointment, brought all the necessary documents they wanted and voila! I had a Quebec license. My Mother on the other hand had a slightly more convoluted route to take. Mum started this whole process which took me a day to complete, way back in November. And it still isn't over.

To give you a rough idea of the "flow chart-esque" direction all this has followed, this is what we've done so far:

Brought papers to SAAQ; ticked "MS" box on declaration form, got sent away to see the Dr. ---> Made appointment with Dr. for letter saying "OK to drive" ---> found out the wrong appointment was made, we made another one ---> came back weeks later, then had to wait a week for the Dr. to fill out the form ---> brought it back to the SAAQ, where the form was sent to Quebec for approval ---> they say they'll mail Mum the result ---> Quebec says on of the parts wasn't filled out, which means another appointment downtown ---> which leads us to today.

So far, Mum and I have been to the SAAQ 4 times between the two of us, just once for me. That's 2 times too many, but we know the way really well now! Today's task was to get a Dr. to say Mum's brace was OK for her drive with. This sounds easy enough, if you can find the place the first time round. After arriving at the right building, we proceeded to turn up a one-way street...oops, then decided to go around the block and come down the road the right way, finding a space. After a nice lady came out and warned us about the traffic cops, I moved the car...twice. Second time into a space we had been told was for blue-badge holders. More of that later.

Once, parked and inside we were told the Dr. was in the adjacent building. Now that we were in the right building Mum finally got to see the Dr. All was well...no oops. He gave Mum a prescription for a brand new brace, and we set out to make that next door (first building we had gone to). They said they could take us today which was good because it would save us another trip out that way. So about 2 hours later, we left...to find a ticket on the windshield. Poop!

Moving on, we decided to go on a merry drive up to the SAAQ to finally get this done! So, confidently with the form in hand we went in and waited to be seen. A nice lady helped us - she faxed the form to Quebec, and again an hour later, we hear back from them...they need more time; Mum will receive word through the mail. Darn. Guess this means another trip to the SAAQ!

Success list so far: letter from Dr, check. New brace, check. QC license....no. Feeling deflated and hungry (remember it's 3:30pm at this point, and we'd left the house at 9am) we headed to Tim's for soup and a coffee. This was much needed, except for the blue-badge door button that wouldn't work going in (I wont take that as an omen).

Now we are home, and calm, and not hungry. After a day like today, and knowing there's still more to do until Mum does actually have her real license in her hot little hands, you can see why sitting in the Tim's laughing from fatigue, eating "cream of noodle soup", you can understand why both Mum and I came to the conclusion that all this could have been avoided if only she'd just lied in the beginning!!

http://www.saao.ac.za/~wpk/gallery/signs/nowarning.jpg

Happy Easter

Tis the season yet again to O.D. on chocolate, wear your Easter bonnet, and decorate numerous locations in various egg-bunny-spring theme. On top of the sweet treats associated with the Easter season I enjoy the religious traditions as well. Being a Vicar's daughter, Easter was spent in a church. Shrove Tuesday kicked things off for Lent which followed, and it all escalated from there: Lenten discussion groups, increased church services, Easter gardens, etc. Until finally we reached Holy Week, the week before Easter. The bells were silent for the whole week, and in England we had a service every day of the week taking us closer to the event of the crucifiction. And finally my favourite service, the First Light which takes place in darkness and light is slowly re-introduced by candle light. Many of us get wrapped up in the bunnies, and eggs and chocolate and often loose sight of why we're marking this day in our calendar. For me, it's new beginnings...that new light. Admitting that you've gone off course and that you're not perfect, but that you want to do better and be better. How many times do we make resolutions at Christmas, and half way through the year realize we kept them for about a week or that you only went to the gym once in the past four months, or you couldn't really stop eating ice cream as you thought. What if you had a second chance? A chance to say "I admit it, I failed" and someone said "no problem, just try again." Easter is our second chance; A time to reassess, and see if you maybe with a second go you can get where you want. Or just choose another goal. Whichever, every time you're unwrapping the pastel-coloured foil on those little milk chocolate eggs think of it as your second chance being hatched, and that you're celebrating your decision with chocolate!

As part of our Easter celebrating, our family makes Easter eggs of our own. Mum taught us to make them our of home made fondant, and Dad taught us how to dip them. These are definitely worth a post of their own.

Happy Easter!

This year's crop of eggs: this year, I made chocolate, vanilla, and butterscotch. I would have made pistachio but they didn't have any :(

Clearly, when Dad was teaching us the delicate process of dipping eggs he needed a beer for support!

Rhys Visits the Sugar Shack

To round off Rhys' Canadian visit and introduction to Montreal we took a little trip to the Sugar Shack. This time, my best friend Cheryl joined us for the outing. I've known Cheryl since I was 8 so if anyone does, Cheryl represents my life before England so I'm glad Rhys got to meet her.

We all piled in the car and drove out to Morgan Arboretum where I can remember going to visit the sugar shack on school field trips in Kindergarten. It was so nice to be back there, with Rhys on his maiden visit. We arrived and decided to wait for a trailer to take us out to the sugar shack as the first one was over flowing with small humans. While waiting for the second trailer, we headed over to the pic-nick tables, and I got a sausage in a bun, while Cheryl and Rhys waited for our trays of taffy on the snow. At first, Rhys looked at this with a furrowed brow as he tried to work out the mechanics of actually consuming this strip of amber deliciousness. After a brief tutelage from Cheryl and from me: take popsickle stick in hand, place flat over the taffy strip, and begin to roll, he got the hang of it and was right in there digging in. In fact, he loved it so much, we got a second tray.... oh boy, the sugar pulsing through our veins. In an attempt to let some of the sugar settle, we hopped (precariously) onto the next available trailer and went out to see where the magic happens. Though they weren't boiling while we were there, there was the Sugar Master to tell us how it's done. We then stopped off at a small cabin for some hot chocolate and roasted marshmallows to warm our chilly hands before heading back to the car.
Rhys definitely came away with a new love for maple syrup and taffy...signs that he will be back!!!

Oh good....more sugar :)