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.

Hot - Hot - Hot

After 3 weeks I'm back, but it's been an eventful 3 weeks. João and I went the Baptist Convention in London and really enjoyed ourselves. We learned a lot and got to see a lot of people. We got back on a Saturday and had all the preparation for Sunday.
The following week I was off to Toronto for a board meeting of the women. It's now my third year on the board and I finally feel I'm catching on to things. It was a productive meeting too.
In the meantime we had a tremendous thunder storm that zapped my computer. The damage was extensive, but fortunately repairable. More than could be said for my modem, router, cordless phone and remote control fan. So there went $500 down the drain.
Then last week Denny, a church member, had a bad motorcycle accident and we really felt that deeply. I'm glad to say that although he will have a long recovery, we feel he is well on his way now. But there were a few tense days.
One of our church members, Odete, has returned to Brazil (boo-hoo - we will so miss her!). She left us her car and we were excited, although it was quite old. But after spending money getting it partially fixed up, we discovered it couldn't pass the safety test. Alas and alack, more money down the drain and no license. Oh dear!!! But the guy at the garage is looking for the parts to fix the problem in a scrap yard and if he finds it, there won't be too much cost involved.
It's been quite warm here in Ottawa - with a humidex of 45 (that's around 105 or so) and we are feeling it in the house. I've been hibernating in the basement to be honest. The heat gives me a headache! So Sissy I went to the Rideau River (by bike) and jumped in. We were having a good time as you can tell. It cooled us down quite a bit. We needed a little bit of fun, that's for sure.
So that's enough news for one day, right? Stay cool and enjoy.

Under the Lilac Tree

João and I are offfffffffffff! Away we go the the Baptist convention for the first time since we've been here. We are looking forward to understanding things better, meeting new and old friends and learning new things. We will be in London (alas, Ontario, not England).
Couldn't resist showing you my beautiful Lilac bush in the back yard, taken as Mom and Carol were leaving to go back to Kentucky. Isn't it lovely? (you decide, us or the tree!)

Smith Girls

It was a whirlwind week with a lot of things happening and no time to write. But it was a great week. I so enjoyed having my Mom and Sister here. Although we didn't do a lot, we had fun hanging out.
Since all good things do come to an end, they both had to go back to their own homes, so on Thursday we all said good-bye, but here we are in my living room on our last night together.
After so many years of being far from my family, it is so nice being able to be together. I think now more than ever I appreciate ties - being able to talk about our mutual past and remember the same old stories and sing the same dumb songs. We are so much alike in so many ways. I think you can see - but I can feel - the family resemblance.

Merrickville

This has been a great week, as my Mom and my sister arrived for a nice visit. It's been a long time since they have both been here. We are enjoying our time together.
Today we drove down to Merrickville (except for Mom who wasn't feeling up to the trip) and enjoyed the day. Here you can see Sissy and I at the canal.

We particularly enjoyed eating at the Charles Dickens Restaurant and doing some shopping as well. We ended the day by having some delicious homemade gelatto.

Tulip Festival

We finally had a lovely day here in Ottawa so off the three of us went on our bikes, with our picnic lunch to see the Tulips. Here was a bike break, since it was a rather long ride.

The weather was warm, so we thoroughly enjoyed walking around and seeing the flowers, watching the buskers, and generally being glad that Ottawa has a great Tulip Festival. I've been able to go every year since we've been here, so this was my 5th Tulip Festival.
They were magnificent, but our "flower" threatened to outshine them all.