GARY & MARIE...OUR LIFE IN QUEBEC!

Saturday, April 4, 2020

April 2020. A World Turned Upside Down

As I write this the planet is reeling from the ravages of the Coronvirus, changing lives, economies and the way the 8 billion people on Earth will react with one another now and in the future, God willing there should be one. Unprecedented in our lifetime or the generations who have gone on before, the Covid 19 virus has made us here on the mountain rethink of the word isolation. I cannot imagine the teeming masses in Africa or Asia and what they are experiencing right now, the fear, the utter hopelessness only made worse by their situation and then compare it to the fairly safe and sense of normalcy Marie and I are experiencing here in our little corner of the world. Here we can go days without seeing or hearing another human, now more than usual and yet still have the opportunity to shop and commute in reasonable safety. We don't kid ourselves that we are as in much danger as anyone else should we let our guard down and ignore the warnings our government, both provincial and nationally, have issued and keep repeating 24 hours a day. So now we live our lives without the physical pleasures of family and with the most minimum contact with friends, awaiting the arrival of warmer weather that will certainly gladden our hearts and spirits. Our much anticipated six week trip to Europe planned for last month, now put on hold, seems almost like a dream that just cannot be deciphered. How could this have happened so fast and why? What will the world be like in 18 or 24 months? And will be able to hang on till then? Nobody knows the answers to these questions for we are reminded every time we turn on the news the worst is yet to come. It is time to remember the days just so recently passed we innocently enjoyed, sharing and being together, the future yet full of promise. The pictures of our kids and grandchildren from the past three months that follow have happy, smiling faces. Let us pray we will be able to touch and kiss them again one day. To each and everyone of them stay safe and be strong. gws

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Christmas and New Years

This Christmas Fernanda, Phil, Amy and William drove out from Montreal to spend a few days with us on the mountain. The weather was great - warm and with just enough snow to to let the kids go tobogganing. Marie made a turkey with sausage stuffing and a raspberry trifle for desert - we all enjoyed it thoroughly! We had cut and dragged a big spruce home that week. Decorating it was a challenge but we managed to get our almost 36 years of special ornaments up without toppling the tree and it looked good. After Christmas Marie and I drove back to Montreal, dropped off Ben and caught the VIA train for Toronto where we were to meet up with brother Richard and Nancie. The day before New Year's we all attended a fantastic Christmas concert performed by the Trans Siberian Orchestra at the Scotiabank Arena. They started out with their famous Carol of the Bells and thrilled us all with an amazing light show, beautiful vocals and non stop excitement. We stayed in the Marriott downtown that night before driving back to Richard's place in Cambridge the next morning. We brought in the New Year, staying up till the new decade began, wishing one another a prosperous, healthy and happy 2020.. Thanks Rich and Nancie for a lovely supper and your very special company! We returned to Montreal on the 2nd where we met up with Christina and her two boys, Damien and Declan and had Christmas all over again. Then it was time to head back home and to the snow and ice that seemed to be the norm for this winter. An eventful year to be sure. But now too all - the very best of the new year! gws