Ruth: When I’m not working online in my office at home, I’m joining the new Covid craze for self-sufficiency. Once enough toilet paper and food stocks have been secured, I turn my attention to gardening, making masks, knitting and baking. Other than the making of masks, these are not new hobbies for me, but the daily routine of working to produce what our house needs ...
Our Garden Our beautiful cat Russell Street I have been working from home since Spring Break ended, and face to face classes were shut down for all, but the children of essential workers. I’ve been tuning in to listen to our Chief Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry for her daily updates. I am now hyper vigilante about following social distancing and hand washing rules. Non-essential ...
This morning we are packing up to leave paradise and return to a changed city. Living in the moment has always been easier on Valdes and yet even here I have been navigating intense emotions. I received an email from our friend Paolo in Northern Italy to let me know that he is safe. His only advice, echoed voices broadcasting from all over Italy: “follow the ...
March 17, 2020 The last rays of sun are illuminating the Straight of Georgia between Vancouver and Valdes Island. From my chair in our cabin, I watch a ferry gliding along in the pink light that bathes the coastal range. Mount Baker looks simultaneously solid and ethereal. We we’re supposed to be on route to Moncton to visit Gordon’s aunt and uncle who are 96 ...
Having crossed the Thorung La we are now in another drainage, that of the Kali Gandaki. It is much dryer than the Marsyangdi valley that we were in before the pass. It also seems much more prosperous. The Kali Gandaki is a broader valley so the road construction has been more successful in producing a reasonably good road. Fortunately, the Annapurna circuit trail often leaves ...
Gordon, Doris, Herman, Marie Anne and HervéRuth: After seven lobster meals in five days we are stumbling onto our flight home in a lobster haze. Nothing to complain about, but I do look forward to eating some vegetables and perhaps toning down the gluttony just a wee bit. We have had a lovely visit in Moncton reconnecting with Gord's mom's sister and two brothers. There is ...
Ruth: We are staying at the house of Gord's aunt and uncle in Dieppe, New Brunswick (near Moncton). Tonight Gord's Uncle Hervé cooked us a lobster feast. The plate above is just the leftovers! We offered to make a salad, but were told quite firmly that vegetables are unnecessary with lobster. I can't say I missed them. Hervé and Marie-Anne moved into an assisted living place six ...
Ruth: It's wild blueberry season in Parrsboro.Parrsboro is located on the Nova Scotian side of the Bay of Fundy. It is the town where my Great Aunt Betty was born and grew up. When I was 16 my Great Aunt and Uncle brought me here for a wonderful summer vacation. I can still hear my Uncle Archie's stories as Gord and I wander through the ...
Gordon: When I was growing up I was told that my great-grandfather had died in the mines at Springhill. I had heard of the "Springhill disaster" (there were actually three), but I was told that his death occurred in one of the smaller explosions. My grandmother was the youngest of 7 or 9 children. She was only 2 or 3 years old when my great-grandfather ...
Gordon: Much of our communication in the past 6 weeks has been in French. While neither of us is fluent, we both have an intermediate knowledge and can comfortably travel in French. We have, however, struggled with the accents in Quebec and New Brunswick (which are not the same.). But today we truly were out of our depth when we encountered Chiac at an outdoor ...