Birthday Bathroom

No one can say it wasn't an original gift! While my mom and sister were here, they decided to do a make-over on my downstairs bathroom. You have to understand this bathroom must have been a last minute thought when the house was built in the 1940's. It's under the steps. It looks like the only thing that had been done for it since the house's construction was to paint it. Pepto-bismal pink. Yuck. This photo doesn't do it full justice. It was much worse. Concrete floors and cinder block (PINK) wall. Bulging sheetrock walls too. So scrub, scrub, scrub. Work, work, work. Paint, paint, paint. Glue, glue, glue. Hammer, hammer, hammer. Calk, calk, calk. Six days of work. And voilá! A yellow bathroom, with one grey wall and nice tile floors. And these photos of the "after" don't do it justice either. It looks twice the size it was before. It looks all nice and clean. I don't think I will have to apologize anymore when I tell people they can use the basement bathroom. Looks downright decent. It really is a transformation. That has to be the most original, as well as useful present I've ever gotten. I know I will remember it every single day. Thanks Carolyn and Mom. It was fun to watch the work (I didn't lift a finger to help) and will be even more fun to enjoy the fruits of your labour.

Family fun

Last week my mom and sister arrived to spend a week with me. They've been working hard at my house (and more about that on another day), so today they got their reward. We took them on a boat cruise down the St. Lawrence River to see the thousand islands ( well we probably only saw 20 odd islands I guess). Here they are at the left boarding our boat. I couldn't believe we had such a spectacular day in October! We had to run the air in the car. Of course it was windy on the boat. (See mom on the bow of the boat? She says it looks like she has horn - it was just the extreme wind.)
I think everyone enjoyed the day. The only disappointment was that the trees hadn't turned much. We thought the drive down and back would be beautiful, but this year the trees seem to be late. Well that's okay. We are glad for the warm weather. Hope it lasts a while.

A Journey of 10000 steps

Today the three of us went to the Gatineau Hills to check out the hiking trail. Tomorrow, on Saturday, we are taking a group up to walk, to kick off our month of "walking" at the church. It's something new we are going to try. We've got pedometres and our goal is to make at least 10,000 steps a day. He who walks the most, will win the contest. I think it will be interesting to see how we really do. So on our walk today we did over 8000 steps. So in the evening I am sitting at 11, 377 steps. Pretty good for an old lady, eh? Well Nora, Sandy and I had lots of fun our hike. We didn't hit all the side trails or anything, but it wasn't a hard hike at all. A nice young man offered to take our photo at the high point. It was all downhill after this. Those who are going on the hike tomorrow are looking forward to it. From quilting last weekend to hiking this weekend. We are a unique group, aren't we? Tomorrow I am looking forward to really looking around. I decided today that João and I need to go up to the park weekly and walk or hike. It's just nice to get away out of the city. Next year I want to be sure to do this in the spring when the wild flowers are at their peak. God's world is truly beautiful and I am glad I have eyes to see and health to appreciate it.

Eastview Women's Retreat

We had a wonderful women's retreat this past weekend. There were 28 of us total (I think) together with the theme of "Patchwork People". We used quilts as our theme. We talked about God as our Master Quilter who takes all the scraps of our lives and makes them into something beautiful. As you can see we were quite an attractive group. We were so pleased because everything went so well for us. Everyone arrived safely on Friday night, albeit two cars arrived late enough to have us worried, as it was raining. We started making our quilt blocks on Friday night and everyone was pretty reluctant and nervous about it. But before we knew it, it was after 11PM and we didn't even realize it was so very late. The next day (after a not so good night of sleep) we did so many things, it's hard to believe we left by 6:30pm. We had lots of praise and worship, we had a message from Ephesians 2:10 and another from Isaiah 49:16, two small group Bible study times, time for quilting and eating, lots of eating! The weather was just great, as on Saturday it was warm, but not hot. Some people even found time for naps and walks. We had lots and lots of first timers - more than 10 of us, but amazingly the group really jelled. Everyone was just so congenial. It's fun for us to get together and do this. I will confess, though, that the drive home on Saturday was tiring. I fell into bed by about 9:30 on Saturday evening. And even today, Sunday, I was tired enough to take a 2 hour nap. I think I've recovered now. I feel so satisfied. The words of Is. 49:16 (Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands) continues to echo in my ears and I can remember how special I am to God!

If you want to see lots of photos of the retreat, visit my photo album on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peggyfonseca/44509773

At Lac Philip

João and I had a great Labour-less day! We went to Lac Philip with Moises, Ellen, Matthew, Martha, Nora and Brian. We had such so much fun. We had 4 guitars going, and before long a group of Lebanese children fascinated by the music and they came to hear us sing and eventually sing with us! I loved hearing the little girl singing "This Little Light of Mine", even though she was francophone. I think we have some new talent for our Praise team at church. It sounded really good. (The guitar players, not the little kids)
The little children were thoroughly entertained by João's antics as well. He ended up playing games with them, even though we had no idea who they were.
We found time to take a nice canoe ride (João and I didn't even tip over or go in circles!) and take a a walk along the lake. It was so relaxing. João said he thinks canoeing may well be an addictive activity. Can't you just see the two of us buying a canoe????
The food was good and the company was even better. We stayed for most of the day - singing, eating, playing soccer, canoing, walking, and of course talking. I don't think anyone will have to rock us to sleep tonight, do you?

She's go-n-n-n-e

Today was our last day with Sissy! There was lots to do. I took her to get her hair done and then we shopped a bit. In the afternoon, we worked (or she did and we watched) on the suitcases. Boy it was a tight squeeze. Finally we headed out of here around 5:45, for her 8:00 flight.
On the way it rained and the sun shone and we saw the most beautiful rainbow. We told her it was a promise that she would come back! We got to the counter and they decided to put her on the 7:00 flight, to give her more time in Toronto for her 10:15 flight. So then it was rush, rush, rush to get through security and board the plane - we only had about 15 minutes. But they were so nice, as suprisingly they let João go through security with her. She had so much electronic stuff, that it was really helpful (cd, mp3, camera, computer). I was able to grab a few shots of them from the viewing glass on the next floor up. That's why the shots are a little foggy. As soon as they cleared security she got in line to get on the plane and off she went. Her plane arrived on time in Toronto and she just called from there. She will leave for São Paulo in just a little bit.
Our house is a bit quieter... our hearts a bit lonelier.

And now the time is near

I guess this photo says it all... tonight is Sissy's last night here. We took her to Wakefield for a going away lunch today. We had a really good time. She is excited about going home and seeing her family and friends. I know she has missed them, but she hasn't complained and has been a real trouper. We will miss her so much. Her scandalous laughter and easy smile. Her joy at little things. And the fun we had as a "family." We've enjoyed our time together and rejoice that we had this opportunity.
There had to be one last "event" in her time here, so Barb invited her out to the cottage and Sissy actually went canoing. As usual, she had a great time. We loved watching her. Here she is.

On the way home

Since we got away late from Quebec City, we found we were unable to drive all the way back to Ottawa on Monday. We decided it would be the better part of valour to stop and spend the night on the road. We were tired from the walking and heat and just not up to facing Montreal traffic. We stopped just some kilometres out of Montreal. We laughed since the name of the place we stopped was Mt. St. Hilare, and one hotel we stopped at was $250! Hilarious, but fortunately there were no vacancies and we were spared the embarassment of saying we were too poor. It was a great looking spot along the river, so we decided we might return there on our 25th wedding anniversary. This was a big tourist area, so it was hard to find a place that we could afford, but at least we stopped at what looked like a typical 1950ish motel, where we got the last cabin. It was a cute little 2 bedroom cabin, which was nice for us. Again, we tried in vain to find something open for supper after 8:00PM. Ended up eating fast food, alas. At least we had something in our tummies.
On the way home the next day, we decided to take a drive through Montreal, since Sissy had only seen it under several feet of snow. We even stopped at the Olympic Park and went up in the tower (largest of its type in the world) to get a good view of the city. It was a cool cable car ride up. We even pretended we were Olympic gold medal winners!
We took a drive down through old Montreal, downtown and ducked by McGill University before getting back on the expressway.
Our new old car, did a great job on the highway and was very comfy as well as easy on gasoline (and considering it was $1.15 in Montreal that was a relief!). The air worked like a charm, which made all the difference in the world.
When we saw our little house, we were glad to be back home again. As my mom always said: "The best part about travelling is coming home."

Quebec City

Since Sissy is in her last week here, we thought we would like to take her to Quebec City, so we took off Sunday afternoon. We decided to wing it, leaving late, but surprisingly finding it an easy trip, arriving before it was too dark. We found a nice (read cheap) hotel and slept well after hunting everywhere to find anything open for supper. We found something, but wished we hadn't. Not too good... But the next day we had a wonderful time in old Quebec. We just loved the city.
Although they had predicted rain, we had a hot, humid day. On the left João is at the Royal Plaza, that made us feel like we were int he 18th century. On the right, I am at the beginning of a great shopping street, with tons of people. I especially enjoyed the flowers in all the windows. Of course the Chateau Frontenac was one of our favourite spots - we just kept looking and taking photos. This is Sissy and her dad looking down on the hotel from the Citadel. We walked more than we had walked in a really long time - we counted about 12 kilometres, and most of it up and downhill. We started the whole day down at the docks you can see down by the water. On the right you see a few of the steps we climbed in the process. I think I made everyone tired by oohing and ahing over everything. It was a feast for the eyes and we learned a lot of history in the process. By the time we got around to the cathedrals, we were ready to just sit and be quiet. I especially enjoyed the Anglican Holy Trinity Cathedral. There were so many beautiful churches in town. Finally we just had to stop and eat and think about heading out of town. We found a charming little restaurant where we sat in an open window/door and enjoy a delicious full course lunch. Of course, being french, the quantities were microscopic! But the atmosphere was great and the view was terrific. In the end, we had to bid adieu to the lovely walled city. It was a lovely, lovely day. Tomorrow I'll write about our trip home from Quebec City.

Thousand Islands

Today we finally got around to getting down to Brockville to take the 1000 Island Cruise. We couldn't have chosen a more beautiful day. It was sunny and bright and warm. It was a quick drive down to the St. Lawrence River and then a short wait to get on the boat. It was a smooth ride, but so relaxing to see the islands, water and big blue sky. It wasn't crowded, so we could wander around the boat and just generally enjoy ourselves. Since it was only an hour ride the time went by way too quickly. We saw lots of nice homes as well as people who were camping on islands. It really was a lovely way to spend the morning. On the way home we just HAD to stop at the Hershey's Chocolate Factory. It was a very busy place today. We got to see them making lots of candy and of course brought some home. Sissy doesn't have much time left here, so we have to make haste to have fun while she's here.

We took me out to the ball game

Here in Ottawa we are home to the Baltimore Orioles farm team, the Ottawa Lynx. The stadium and field (to left) are really quite nice, although evidently the sport is not too popular here in town. Every year there is rumbling about the Lynx leaving. I suppose there are just too many immigrants. I tried to get a group from the church to a ball game and there was very little interest. I gave up. But Sissy and João and I did go to a game this afternoon. It was a great day. Very sunny and moderately hot ( we actually switched seats since we felt like we were roasting where we were.). I tried and tried to explain the game, but although they understood a few things, it was pretty useless. Despite their confusion on when to cheer and when to boo the umpires, and a 7-4 loss, we did have a good time. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon. I enjoyed being taken out to the ballgame, even if there were no crackerjacks or peanuts!

Coffee maker

I am currently an enthusiast of my new hobby. Since coffee, which I really do enjoy, although am really not addicted, causes me so much grief (heartburn), I don't drink it much. One day I read, if you roast it fresh and grind right before perking it, it won't bother you. That peaked my curiosity and I had to discover... how do you roast coffee at home? After lots of research on the internet, I learned about the process. Next step? Buy green coffee beans (not so easy to find). Then the hunt was on for an old air popcorn popper (and not just any old one, it had to be a kind where the chaff wouldn't fall into the motor and catch on fire.). Found one at Value Village and another at the Salvation Army - dirt cheap (much better than professional coffee roasters than run hundreds of dollars - after all, who knew if I could enjoy doing all this). When I assembled my equpment, my big question was: would it work??? Yep, it did. Here (on left) you see the beans as they are just starting to brown. It only takes about 5-6 minutes depending on how dark a roast you want. After roasting, I have to immediately find a way to stop the roasting process. The smell is so delicious. You have to toss them around for a while in a metal basket to stop the roasting. Now supposedly they have to "de-gas", or get rid of the carbon dioxide, for several hours. The best place to store them is in a ball mason jar, so I found some old ones I have and voilá - de-gasing coffee beans. I only do enough for a couple of days, so I always have fresh beans. Of course, the trick is to be patient enough to wait to make your coffee when you can smell that heavenly fragrance of freshly roasted beans. Torture. I usually have to make some fresh coffee on the spot. Grinding just one spoonful of beans is enough for two cups of coffee. Now I'm no gourmet, so I don't have any of these fancy coffee machines. I just want that fresh coffee taste. And I get it. It is so smooth that even I (queen of half coffee/half sugar) can drink it with no sugar. Look closely, you can see the steam rising and almost smell the fresh - really fresh coffee. Now steam some milk, add a shot of vanilla syrup and a dash of cinammon and you are in coffee heaven. Join me in a cup? The whole process only takes about 30 minutes or so. Isn't it worth it?

Sound and Light Show

Since Sissy only has two more weeks with us, we are trying to do a few more things together. Tonight we went to see the Sound and Light Show on Parliament Hill. It was so well done and creative. It really was a show for the ears and eyes. Sissy took her camera and got some great shots and she generously shared them with me, who was too dumb to take her camera! Cool, huh? Don't you wish you were here? It was chilly though. We huddled together to stay warm. Reminded us that fall is definitely just around the corner. It's at 59 and should get down to 50. Nippy out there!

Greek Fest

Last night we were off to the Greek Fest here in town. Seemed like a good portion of the city came with us. What a crowd. We had a very interesting tour of the Greek Orthodox Church (very beautiful) which was quite educational. Not many people participated in that, of course. Then we ate Greek food. I think the main thing they really do well is quantity. Lots of food. In vast quantities. Then we squeezed our way into the watch the dancing. The people come just to participate in the dancing I think. There is a live Greek band and folks just love to do the circle dance. Couldn't find anyone to join with me, so I stayed seated :). Guess we just needed some of that 80proof ouzo. At the end the men do the zorba dance, throwing around and breaking plates and drinking ouzo and throwing about the cups. It's a lot of fun.

NEW OLD CAR

We took the two-tonne challenge and lived without a car for five months. It was a great experience. I learned the bus system, got in shape riding my bike (and got a good tan in the process) and saved a lot of money. Still, when we thought about doing that in the winter, it was not a pleasant thought. About a month ago we began to look at cars and I began to do research.
Last week, we finally narrowed things down and even found a car we liked. After more work and research and some negociation, we made a deal. Today we picked up our 1998 Toyota Corolla - new to us - old to someone in Buckingham, Quebec. We are very happy.
Cute, isn't it? After we brought it home, I kept asking everyone if they didn't need to go somewhere. I was dying to take it out for another spin. So we did a little arm-twisting and Sissy agreed to eat a Blizzard at Dairy Queen. Then we went grocery shopping where we stocked up. When we came out of Loblaws, João went to the wrong car. I laughed! There was another Corolla, same colour just two spots down. I had already memorized the first 4 letters of our plates, so I knew which one was ours. Funny!!! He says the car handles and drives quite well. He drove it on the Queensway on the way home, and had a hard time keeping the speed down. So he put it on cruise control. So we are happy with our new old car.

Mama Mia!

Last night I went out to see Mama Mia that's here in Ottawa for a couple of weeks. I went with a women's group from another church. What fun it was. Of course I knew almost all the ABBA songs as they had been so popular in the 70's. I suppose the vast majority of audience were women about my age. Everyone laughed and giggled and had a really good time. At the end, the cast came out and sang a couple of ABBA songs. By that time everyone was on their feet dancing and singing and clapping. It was such good fun. I really had a blast. I felt like I had been there about 15 minutes when the whole show was over. I didn't have a hard time catching a bus home and as I walked up our street I saw Sissy and João sitting out on our porch. I thought: "How sweet they missed me and were anxious to see me arrive." Nice thought. Not true. The two of them had locked themselves out and were anxious to see my keys (not me) :). It was after 11:00, so they had waited for 2 hours. Isn't that funny? I made pizza and we got to talk about the day. We all just about fell asleep at the kitchen table.

Flowers

Not too much is happening around here these days. Things are pretty quiet. Tonight I was with my favourite little girl and she "helped" me water the dahlias. She just drinks in information and pours it back out again. There is nothing more precious than seeing her grow. Tonight we sang (in portuguese) "Who made the pretty flowers... I know it wasn't me! 'Twas our heavenly father." Soon she could sing it to her parents when they came, as she showed them the "pretty flowers."

She always reminds me of the joy of being alive! Look at this face. I hope you feel this alive too!

Back down to earth!

I suppose Sissy and I are back down to earth, but we certainly had an exciting morning. After just a few hours of sleep last night, we got up early (5:00) and headed off to Carleton University where we went ballooning to celebrate Sissy's birthday. Wow what an experience. It was fun to watch the balloon being "assembled" and filled with air. It was an adventure to get into the balloon. And then we took off.

It was such a calm, tranquil experience.. no bumping or jumping. Just gradully moving up into the air and watching the world below float away. There were two other balloons that took off together with us. It seemed like all the noises and hurry were just gone as we hung in the air and looked around us. It was surprisingly un-alarming and amazingly still.

The only real excitment came as we approached land. We went down a couple times (I was even able to grab leaves off the tree tops) and once we did a "Splash and Dash" (Thankfully avoiding the Plunk and Dunk). That is, we dropped down into a river, touching the water with the basket and then took off for the skies again. The photo below is our reflection in the water. I've kept the photos to a minimum, but I took 70 in the one hour we were up there. It was irresistible.

I must tell the funniest part, which was our landing. After we jumped out and had our champagne toast, the guys went to roll up the balloon and the rest of us stood around in this farmer's field. Suddenly a herd of cows appears to investigate (I think they liked the champagne). Everyone was rather in a panic, as there were a lot of them and they didn't seem to happy to see us there. We laughed until we cried. The "chase car" rescued us and then drove us back to the University where Sissy and I caught a bus home. It must have been 10:00 or so when we arrived - to João's relief. What a morning. Glad you could share the fun with us.

Saturday

Last summer we had 24 Alabamians here to help us reach out to our neighbourhood. As a fruit of that work, this year our church people decided to do it on their own! Cool idea. They did a great job handling it all. They came out in droves and really did a wonderful job setting up and cooking and making things happen. We had good attendance of our neighbours and really enjoyed getting to know folks. The kids did face (and arm) painting in the back, in the shade.

The little ones stayed for the whole affair and eventually began to play with bubbles in the back yard. I'm not sure who had the most fun... the wee ones, the church folks or the neighbours who stopped by. But it was a great day. I wish our "southern" neighbours could have seen it -as they were our inspiration.

Saving money on a visit to the dentist

Sunday I had a great day. We had a picnic lunch to celebrate Rosemarie and Manuel's 20th wedding anniversary. It was a great day to be outside. And the food was just great.
After lunch, I was inside for a bit and one of the Mary's birds, took a "liking" to me. It was her Love Bird, who gave me lots of "kisses". He even gave me a thorough cleaning - even of my teeth. I guess I won't have to go to the dentist any time soon, huh? What a hoot. Just had to share it.

Book Club

This is the book club (minus Anne who took the photo) that met on Thursday. We had a GREAT discussion on the book "Eve's Daughters" that we all highly recommend. We had a wonderful time being out at Barb's cottage. It was a gorgeous day outside and we enjoyed a peaceful walk all around the lake. The photo below was taken down at the lake. As we talked about the book we enjoyed this great view. Everyone brought something for a potluck lunch and we ate like queens. What a great way to spend the day. It's good to have friends and good to enjoy spending time together. It's fine to read interesting book and talk about them with others.

Oh, Canada!

We enjoyed Canada Day (July 1st) here in Ottawa. It's a great place to be. The night before we enjoyed the RCMP Sunset Musical Ride. It's really quite a show with horses, dogs, bagpipes, choirs, even Sky Hawks (parachute team). You can see the horses in their star formation below.

Canada Day was a good one here in town. Sissy and I especially enjoyed going to the National Art Gallery and seeing a special display on the Florence Rennaisance art, with pieces by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

In the photo above, Sissy is standing by the giant spider sculpture outside the museum. Note the ominous sky... We got caught in a rainstorm on the way home and were two drowned rats by the time we got home. João just laughed hysterically at us!!! The rain cooled things down a bit, so when we went back out to see the fireworks around 9:00, it was quite cool. Of course, the fireworks were late and some people even went home, thinking they had been cancelled. They weren't, and it was well worth the wait and all the nasty little bugs. What a show.
Sunday was a gorgeous day and we had a great service. Even being a long holiday weekend, the church was full. We had both baptism and Lord's Supper, so that kept the sermon short, especially being bi-lingual. Vince, who was baptized is Italian and his whole "clan" came in for the occasion. Filled up two pews. They sang and played the piano and flute and made for a lively service. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the whole experience. It was different.
In the afternoon, João squeezed in some visits and I was able to make sure all was clean and closed up at the church, as well as at the house. The evening, while Sissy went out with friends, I worked in the yard (as did João, until a visitor arrived). When the crew came home about 9:30, we ordered in pizza and talked and laughed until after 11:00PM. It was a wonderful day.
Today Sissy is off to start English (Intermediate Level) at a new school downtown. Tomorrow night she will start her French classes in the evening. She will be a busy little girl. In the afternoon, she has aerobics. No moss on her. Hope you are as busy and happy as we are.