Vancouver Wedding

Despite what you might think, these cherries were not in Vancouver but right here on our own tree in Kerrobert, Saskatchewan. Between holidays I picked two ice cream pails and today another. That part is easy but pitting them by hand is time consuming. Now if only I could make pie crust.








Alicia [Nokony], my chum since grade two met Carl and I at the airport on Sunday, August 19. We delivered Carl's bags to the Rosellen Suites and then visited Janet and Nicky at their Granville Island townhouse.









That evening Terry and Jeannie Moore hosted a barbeque at their new home in Kerrisdale for the Snell and Langley families. The surprise visitor was Heather [Gray] or was it Gail? Jim Langley, Ian and Florence, his folks were there too. Terry's daughter Cloe sang a beautiful song as her wedding gift to Janet and Nicky. You could hear a pin drop and there were lots of tears shed as a result of her moving performance.





On Monday Alicia took me shopping to one of her favourite stores at Broadway and Macdonald. Carl had the wedding gang in and out of his place storing decorations for the next day.

For lunch on Tuesday I had a surprise visit from Mary Lou and Joseph who were en route from their home in Sydney on Vancouver Island to visit her sister Janice on the sunshine coast.
Weather continued to be fabulous for the afternoon wedding which was held on the fifth floor penthouse patio half a block from Stanley Park.
























Cliff gave a beautiful toast and welcomed Nicky into their family. Nicky's older son Dan gave a very funny speech ending with 'Mom, you're here, you're queer and we love you'.










Wednesday afternoon Simon took time from work and drove Alicia and I up to Alice Lake after a brief stop at one of his building projects at Squamish. We had a picnic and I walked around the lake while Simon and Alicia read.









Thursday morning, the day of departure Alicia and I walked over to Granville Island and visited another of her favourite shops full of beautiful imported cotton clothing and bedding. I couldn't resist getting some lovely colourful Indian pillow covers. We had brunch and coffee in the market building and wrote a card to our buddy
Annabelle in Scotland, who was missing from our usual trio.

Brockville was our first stop

After a shaky start when our Edmonton flight out of S'toon was delayed we finally got the red eye at Calgary and arrived in Toronto Wednesday morning. We picked up a rental car and drove straight to Brockville since Brendan had a very busy week rehearsing two Summer Works plays. We kept seeing boy scouts - at the airport and the two rest stops along the 401. After a short power nap I left the 401 and took the very pretty Thousand Islands Parkway at Gananoque to Brockville. Amidst all the visiting with the Hendry family - Hank, Susan, Chris, Blake and Adam, David, Kelly and James and later Neil and Alex arrived - we managed to find a few things to interest Dylan. He saw two new movies, we swam in the rock quarry at Lyn Pitt and canoed on the St. Lawrence from Susan's peaceful cottage on the bay. Neil gave Dylan a guitar lesson and Grandpa Hendry drove us along with Kelly and Chris to see the Iroquois locks where we had ice cream but didn't see any big ships.

On Saturday morning I loaded up on fresh veggies from the Farmers' Market and made a big pot of soup and invited Chris and Alex to the cottage for lunch.

Since Brendan had Sunday off we headed out early and arrived at 471 Broadview at noon.

Eastern Canada Summer Holiday

Downloaded 350 plus photos onto Brendan's computer so hopefully will be able to include a few here?? This has been an amazing trip down memory lane, especially the six day jag to Halifax and area staying with old friends Bob Hudson/Carol Anne James and Brad Hodgins/Ella Holmes otherwise known as Brad'n'ella. We arrived there in a downpour. Hudson met us and took us to the Chickenburger in Bedford, a very old institution where I tasted my first real maritime fish and chips in 19 years.

We visited Peggy's Cove twice since Heather and Jill Hudson busk there every summer and we had a great lobster feast. This is Heather who just graduated from high school. Over the week we climbed the Dingle tower in Flemming park, wandered the grounds of York Redoubt, enjoyed the beautiful Public Gardens and toured Citadel Hill. While Dylan swam with friends at Centennial Pool Hudson and I hiked Point Pleasant Park.

Dylan took this shot on the ferry to Dartmouth. We travelled over with Bob Lawrence and very briefly saw Sue Dexter at the other side before catching the ferry back to Halifax.

Bob drove Carol Anne, Dylan and I down to Lunenburg via Chester and Mahone Bay with its five churches. Here is Dylan beside the Bluenose.

On Friday Hudson drove us down to the waterfront where we met Brad and Ella for lunch. They haven't changed and graciously said the same about me - but we know that 19 years must have done something to us! Out at their beautiful home on Grand Lake near Enfield Dylan helped Brad raise their swimming platform and we enjoyed a refreshing dip on an otherwise very warm day. Their son Taylor had changed from the last time I'd seen hi at four to a handsome young man of 22. After visiting the Elmsdale Saturday morning market Dr. Bob came out for a visit and we had another swim. He looked younger than any of us [well, except Dylan]. I had chased all over for batteries for my camera and am ticked that I didn't even get a photo of him.

On the flight back to Toronto in the dark we flew over a wild lightning storm, took a taxi and got to Trish and Brendan's about midnight. After a lazy morning Sunday we took the King streetcar outside their flat and had a wonderful brunch buffet - waffles with mounds of real whipped cream and strawberries, couscous, shrimp, mussels , salmon nd everything else you can think of.

We have walked miles in this city and visited lots of great music and book stores. Dylan got the new Harry Potter but was more intrigued by Suicidal Bunnies that Brendan showed him. Here they are looking at it walking down Front St.

It is such a treat to watch my two boys interact. Two nights Dylan went with Brendan while he did his plays and I visited and stayed overnight with my good friend and mentor Caroline Goodfellow. Her co-op apartment is just a short walk from King and Jarvis and the streetcar has been so handy. Its hard to believe that she's 91 as she continues to challenge my mind as she did when we met at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax/Bedford in 1985.

On Tuesday Trish and Brendan and his high school buddie James took Dylan to Canada's Wonderland while I took the GoBus to Milton to visit Shelagh and Alan Dobson. We had a great pub lunch where Alan had his last pint-or so he says and Shelagh and I sipped club soda. Before I had to leave the next day we hiked up and around Rattlesnake on the Bruce Trail which is a beautiful piece of the Niagara Escarpment.