Summer 2010

"August rushes by like desert rainfall,
A flood of frenzied upheaval,
Expected,
But still catching me unprepared.
Like a matchflame
Bursting on the scene,
Heat and haze of crimson sunsets.
Like a dream
Of moon and dark barely recalled,
A moment,
Shadows caught in a blink.
Like a quick kiss;
One wishes for more
But it suddenly turns to leave,
Dragging summer away."

- Elizabeth Maua Taylor

How quickly the days fly by since last I posted! - the poem by Elizabeth Taylor aptly conveys the hectic and rapid passing of the past few months! It's been almost 4 months that we left Ottawa for Montreal and work on our duplex continues and will do so for some time yet. But between painting, scraping, sanding, nailing and sweating Marie and I have had time to spend a few weekends at our cabin in the mountains, take a week off for my birthday in June to fly to Florida, and enjoy a day by the ocean in Booth Bay, Maine. It has been an unusally hot summer here in Quebec so we finally had to break down and buy a portable aircon to make working on the renovations bearable. As you can see from the pictures the old place (built in 1924) is hardly recognizable. Phil has been busy as well - tearing down concrete block walls in the basement and adding electrical outlets to his workshop, and installing a beautiful deck in the back yard. Upstairs we have yet to install two new windows in the dining room, replace some doors and completely redo the front balcony. Meantime we have enjoyed the fruits of labour from the garden and the masses of flowers I planted this spring (see pix above) and are slowly getting to know and appreciate the neighbourhood - the varied and international shopping, parks and the convenient access to the Metro. As well as living in close proximity to ones neighbours - forget about privacy here!! But renovations have occupied most of our time and I often wonder where we can still find the energy, drive and pleasure to continue. We never realized the sheer volume of work that had to be done to bring the place up to our standards. As an eventual rental unit there are things that can be completed a little cheaper but in the long run everything we do really reflects on our own personal satisfaction to a job well done.  So, without further ado, the before shots......

and after....

Alot of things yet to do as you can see by the photos - I am presently sanding the stairs in the main entranceway, painting it a 2-tone blue and relacing the old banister with a new oak one, and putting limestone tile on the floor as you come in. Most of the electrical work is completed - much done by Phil who has been a great help, especially updating the old fuse-style electrical panel with one with breakers. All the light fixtures have been changed, switches updated and the old baseboard heaters removed to be replaced with newer, more efficient models.So work continues until the end of October at least - hopefully before the cold weather arrives we will have completed the replacement of the doors and windows. The rest can be done anytime, but I would like to have everything finished by the spring so I can concentrate on the next major job at hand : our new house! 2011 is just around the corner and time grinds on...

It was great to be able to fly down to Florida on my 60th birthday and surprise Mom - she turned 83 as well on the 25th. Marie and I drove to Plattsburgh, NY, our favourite jumping off place to anywhere south as its cheaper to fly out of there, its only an hour from Montreal, and parking is free! We flew Allegiant into St Pete, where we rented a car for the week. We picked up some flowers from us and Phil and hid behind them when we rang the doorbell at Lyns place when we arrived. By prearranged agreement Mom was to be there and answer the door and look suitably surprised. Dad said he knew it was us at the door posing as the flower delivery men! We had a wonderful birthday party there at Lyn's with everyone pitching in with the food and cooking and were even successful at getting Mom into the pool. Don and Lyn took us out to a Thai restaurant the next day and Dee and John, with Tyler, took us out to Skippers Smokehouse in Tampa. Later in the week we all went out to Homosassa Springs on Don's new boat before heading down to visit with Dee and John, before heading back to the airport. But before we left Marie and I drove down to Ft De Soto and spent the day on the beach and explored the old fort. The beach was voted the best in Florida last year and the Fort, built during the Spanish-American War, actually never fired a shot in anger. The weather was hot while we were there but returning to Canada we never thought it could actually be cooler in Florida!

When we returned to Montreal Phil had finished his deck so we enjoyed the use of it as well as tasting some of his famous ribs he has perfected on his new BBQ. The deck itself is over 20 feet and as solid as a battleship - it was his first attempt at carpentry and should outlast the building itself!

The next weekend I drove up to the cabin with some tongue and groove pine planks to start the inside walls. I had laid cedar planks on the floor just before we went to Florida and was happy with the way they looked and was eager to finish the interior. We have had the cabin for 2 years now and slowly getting it to look the way we want it. I moved the outhouse a foot away from the dripline of the roof to prevent ice and snow buildup and installed our Separett composting toilet.  The first picture was taken during the World Cup - I still am flying my England flag. Phil and Fernanda spent that week touring Cape Breton and as predicted Fer fell in love with Nova Scotia!

Lara turned 30 on the 20th July and we invited her and Chad over for cake and wine. They are both eager to move into their new duplex that is being extensively renovated. They actually gutted the whole first floor and are completely bringing it up to date. There are some roof and foundation problems that have yet to be addressed and after working on this place since April I can sympathize with them both. They are about 5 minutes from us by car here in NDG so I'm sure we'll see more of each other. Next milestone will be Fernanda's 33rd tomorrow on the 6th of August and then Christina's 30th on September 23rd! Why do I feel so old?

A few weeks ago we went back to the property for a long weekend to work on the van which I will be driving down to Florida in September for Dee and Johns wedding and purchasing another 10,000 square feet of land to our north, just where the edge of the house will be built. As it was a rainy weekend we spent Saturday in Maine, crossing the border at Coborn Gore and taking SR 27 south to the very end. We try to find a different spot on the water everytime we go and this time we ended up in Boothbay Harbour, a very touristy spot in Lincoln County, near Bath. I did not remember at the time but part of the 1956 movie version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel was filmed there.

Tonight we are off to see Michael Bublé at the Bell Centre downtown for Fernandas b-day then heading east to our property on Friday to finish putting up the walls in the cabin. Hopefully the weather will be nice and we can do what we most enjoy there at night - sitting around the campfire and watching the stars! I will try to post sooner next time as I know you are all eagerly awaiting our further adventures!Till later, much health, happiness and love     gws

Random Thoughts and Mother's Day 2010

Hello to all my friends and family (and, of course, those of you who have stumbled upon my blog). Today I was trying to rationalize and question my personal belief in existence, and how to live and how to deal with certain difficult situations life throws your way. Of this Francis Bacon once said -  "a little philosophy inclineth a man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion." Now, as I get older and I look down into the deep well of my accumulated experiences and memories, I discover, after waiting for the plop of that pebble I tossed in, that the only things I really regret are the things I didn't do. And then I start to think how much longer I have to do them. Everytime I go into Chapters or Archambault's bookstore I come across titles like "1000 Places to Visit Before You Die" or "500 Movies You have to See Before It's Too Late" or "997 Things to Do While You Are Stoned" and think there is no way I'm even going to bother checking out the lists and see how many I have yet to see, watch or try! I'll console myself knowing that for everything I've missed, I have gained... something else. What is more important now is to live well and prepare for whatever lies ahead. Maudlin thoughts of my not too distant sunset years(!)pop up more often and I have visions of crossing the river Styx and being buried with that coin for the boatman Charon (unless I threw it down the well.), especially when I hear the Moody Blues sing "22,000 Days" ( Let me go onto tomorrow, One day at a time, Now I know the only foe is time - 22,000 days, 22,000 days it's not alot, It's all you got...22,000 days ). I immediately start counting backwards to 25-06-1950...Why is it that only an Englishman like me could say that "maudlin" ( I discovered it is a very early pronunciation of Magdalen) was a reasonable way to pronounce MAG-da-leen. We are constantly pronouncing things like WOR-CES-TER-SHIRE as "worstershurr" and all that. If we don't leave at least one whole syllable unpronounced, it feels wrong to us. I think we learned this from that period when we were ruled by the French, who resolutely refuse to pronounce the last syllable of their words. My English ancestors, not paying close attention to their overlords, shifted it to the next to last syllable! Anyway, I digress...as I was trying to allude to growing older I think we need to consider that how we grow old is far more important than how old we grow. I try not to associate growing old with loneliness - our very conception of what it means to be old is...isolation. Old friends move away or die, and whether we like it or not our memory reminds us of what we have lost or have failed to do. Hope and love, as well as faith, will be my key to successful aging! As to the aforementioned faith I'm trying not to become less dogmatic as I age and express less interest in the tenets of what the churches preach. I still acknowledge a power greater than myself and feel, in the past few years, I have a deepened spirituality.   So as I attend various services here in Montreal, whether at St. Patrick's or one of the many churches around us, I ponder anew my own beliefs...A few words about Saint Patrick's Basilica for those who might be interested: this great old church sits on fairly high ground in the city centre (Beaver Hall Hill) and once, when Montreal didn't have so many skyscrapers, had a clear view of the St. Lawrence River - but not anymore! When Marie and I first visited this beautiful structure it seemed lost among the other modern office buildings on Rene-Levesque Boulevard. (It's just a few minutes walk to Marie's new office) In the 19th century St. Patrick's was very important to the working-class Irish Catholics who lived in the rundown slums in the area - now it feels closed in, a little stained by over 150 years of pollution, although by all the scaffolding and piles of lumber I saw scattered about the main entrance this past month major renovations are ongoing. Everywhere inside the Basilica, in the vast space, you'll see beautiful oak wainscotting, stained glass windows made in Austria and NY, statues, pillars, gothic panels with over 150 oil-painted figures of the saints, marble plaques with 12 small crosses (denoting the consecration of St. Patrick's in 1906), pews of red Indiana oak from 1894, and tons of elaborate gold decorations. According to the pamphlet available in the Basilica it is "one of the purest and grandest specimans of the 14th and 15th centuries gothic style in Canada". Inside, if you look carefully (it's rather dim inside) you'll see both the shamrock of Ireland and the fleur de lys of France, evidence of the close association with the Montreal Irish . The organ which played during our service for Patrick was built in England, installed in 1852, and over the years has been rebuilt by local Quebec craftsmen. It's been just over 20 years since St. Patrick's was raised to the status of Basilica by the Vatican in Rome and classified as an Historic Monument by the Quebec Ministry of Cultural Affairs. Worth visiting if you're in town..
Yesterday Marie and I took in the exhibition 'Bodies' at the Eaton Centre - it was extended for another month so we decided if we don't go now we'd never see it. For those who haven't heard of it the exhibition was put together by a German, Dr. Gunther von Hagens, to help us better understand the human body by taking you through various galleries that provide a close-up look inside the skeletal, muscular, reproductive, circulatory and other systems of the body. All of the specimens - I kept telling myself that these were once real people! - have been dissected to show all these systems and preserved using a procedure known as 'plastination'. Not for everyone...

We also finally had the opportunity today to see the top apartment of our duplex as our tenant finally moved all her junk out. We have three weeks to make it presentable so we can move in but after going over it I think 3 years might be more like it! I'll be taking some before and after pictures so stay tuned. We are getting used to living here in Villeray, the Italian part of Montreal, and will be here until the end of the month... Tomorrow is Mother's Day (Monday in Mexico) so I want to wish all the mothers out there a wonderful and blessed day! Phil and I will be cooking dinner for Fernanda and Marie - that should be interesting! Happy Mother's Day to my own sweet mum and I hope you enjoyed the flowers! Love, gws

Sister Lyn

Marie and I were pleased to welcome the arrival of Lyn earlier this month! She had driven up to Cambridge, Ontario in her Saab to celebrate her birthday with Rande and family before heading east to Montreal for four days. It was an exhausting trip for her and I get the distinct feeling she'll be flying next time! We had a good time together, zipping around the city on the Metro, walking up to Mont Royal Cemetary to see Patrick, shopping in only a very small part of the enormous Underground City, checking out the goodies from all over the world at the Jean Talon Market a few minutes walk from where we are staying, having lunch with Chad and Lara, meeting our new friends Rafa and Pilar and, of course seeing Phil, Fernanda and her mother Rosalia in the new duplex. You can't appreciate Montreal in four days so we didn't try, just spent time together and enjoyed seeing each other again. The few days here went by quickly and then it was back to Florida for the arrival of Carolyn and Rachel from Utah. Perhaps though when she returns I can promise better weather!

Coffee and French pastries, rue Henri-Julien

with Rafa and Pilar

Marie and Lyn acting the fool on autobus 90, NDG

awaiting metro train at station Vendome

on the orange line Metro, station Lionel-Groulx

fresh rabbits at Marché Jean-Talon

fruits and veggies, Marché Jean-Talon

enjoying the free samples, Marché Jean-Talon

Lyn and Phil, 2027 de Clifton

at the entrance to Mont-Royal Cemetary

Mont-Royal Cemetary

station Jarry, Montreal metro

Lyn in front of painting I did for Phil and Fernanda



The following Saturday was lovely and warm so Marie and I decided to drive out to the property. Although the snow was gone and it had been raining the roads were surprisingly dry and easily manageable, and the dreaded spring thaw seemed to be almost over. I even managed to get up our driveway without sinking into mud. We aired the cabin, picked up some gardening tools and my wheelbarrow from the shed to bring back to Montreal and tramped about in the woods - it was another beautiful spring day, tiny salmon bellies, bloodroot and trilliums were just starting to pop out of the damp leaf mold. You have to be quick to spot these tiny flowers that are gone once the trees leaf out and shade the forests floor. But for now, as we near the end of April, our thoughts turn to warmer weather, preparing the garden and making plans to renovate our duplex before moving in at the end of May.



 

Marie and I, with Phil and Fernanda, had the opportunity last night to attend "Totem" the new Cirque du Soleil musical/spectacle/event in Old Montreal! Wow! If you get the chance don't miss it at a big top near you! The stunts and performers were spectacular, funny and sexy and the music amazing! TOTEM traces the journey of the human species from its original amphibian state to its ultimate desire to fly. The characters evolve on a stage evoking a giant turtle. This is supposed to represent the symbol of origin for many ancient civilizations. The show presented, through a visual and acrobatic language, the evolutionary progress of species, but I still am wondering where exactly the two bimbo beach boys that strutted about and swung through the air fit in! We had excellent seats and felt the $100 per ticket was well worth it. Word of warning : bring your own liquid refreshments if you can. At $6.00 a bottle for water I guess Mr Laliberte needs to pay for his trip into space last September...

"Sweet May hath come to love us,
Flowers, trees, their blossoms don;
And through the blue heavens above us
The very clouds move on."
- Heinrich Heine, Book of Songs

Till next time...peace gws

April in Montreal, Canada

View of Montreal from Columbarium

Marie and Patrick, Columbarium, Montreal

Cesar and Gary, Columbarium, Montreal

Patrick Penagos-Steward, our little angel

It has been over three weeks since I last posted. Here in Montreal and beyond we all still mourn for Patrick. His death, like a pebble thrown into a still pond where the ripples of despair sweep out in all directions, has affected many people but we are finding solace in the thought of our little Angel watching over us. And now, with the passing of Easter, the coldest days of winter have retreated north and spring buds and fresh green grass remind us daily of a new beginning - life and love and peace are all new born. For Marie and I it was a real honour and pleasure to meet and spend this time with Fernanda's family: her father Cesar and her mother Rosalia, her brother Cesar and sisters Anais and Rocio. We explored the city together on foot and metro, worshipped at St Patrick's Basilica and visited with Patrick at Mont-Royal Cemetary. He has a niche in a beautiful Columbarium that overlooks the city - it is peaceful and, although still in its late winter grey, will be a green and inviting spot to visit during the summer. I had the opportunity to take Cesar and his son out one very warm day earlier this month to visit the property in the Eastern Townships. They were both amazed at the views and the fact we still had snow! It was a sight to see them struggling up the driveway in summer shoes through three feet of snow, the temperatures nudging 80F, and the sound of rushing water tumbling off the rock face. We drank from the stream and dried our socks in the hot sun before returning to Montreal, stopping off for a quick view of Mt Megantic Provincial Park. Cesar and Rosalia finished their month here with a day trip with Fernanda to Quebec City. And now, as they return to Mexico City, we wish them many blessings and happiness - May the sun always shine on your windowpane; May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain; May the hand of a friend always be near you; and May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you! (An old Irish prayer) We will see you again in December! To our families and friends in the United States, Canada and Mexico who have sent flowers and cards I would like to thank you all on behalf of Philippe and Fernanda. God bless you all! gws

Un ángel siempre está contigo ahí,
Un ángel te ayuda,
Un ángel es algo celestial



Phil and Fernanda, Columbarium, Mont-Royal

Marie & Rosalia, Mount Royal Funeral Complex

organ, St Patrick's Basilica, Montreal

St Patrick's Basilica, Montreal


The two Cesars, eastern Townships, Quebec, now official Canadians after visiting Tim Hortons...