The End of an Era

 

This week was the end of an era and the beginning of the next step in our lives.  After spending a couple of days with the grandchildren in New Hampshire, I left and drove to Montreal to begin and end the final phase of the cleaning out of my mother’s house and closing the sale.  In the big picture, we were incredibly lucky to sell the house in a matter of days and from the date of the purchase and sale to the actual closing was only two weeks.  I have bought and sold a number of houses along with John over our almost 50 years together and we have never had one that closed that fast.  I guess all the stars were lined up in the right order.  We literally had Tuesday afternoon to do the final cleaning out, Wednesday the movers came and loaded a uHaul that was to go to the United States, a truck that was going to charity and a moving van that was going to North Hatley to my house and to storage for my nephew who has bought a house there.  In between, there were many loads that went up the hill to my sister’s house.  Everything went like clockwork.  By Wednesday afternoon the house was totally empty and I contemplated heading to North Hatley for the night.  I was too tired.  I couldn’t do it.  I was too emotional so I couldn’t even imagine driving alone out to the country.  So I stayed in the city, had a wonderful evening with my sister and her husband and son and drank some wine and toasted US!  Thursday the moving van arrived right about when we thought it would and all was delivered to the various locations very efficiently.  Friday morning, my brother and I got up early and drove into Montreal for the closing meeting my sister there at 10:30am.

The closing, honestly, started at 11:00 and we were back in the car, after a stop for a quick coffee, by 11:52 and back on our way to the country.  The easiest trip of the whole summer.  To say my head is spinning is an understatement.  However, we are now done with that particular phase of our lives and we will now move on to being happy parents and grandparents ourselves.  There is so much to be thankful for as my family celebrates Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend.  My immediate family will wait until November but we can be happy for them as they enjoy a turkey dinner and some pumpkin pie.

Blessing of the Animals

We had our granddaughter Libby with us for the weekend and on Saturday morning I woke her up to go to the Blessing of the Animals with the dogs and me.  She wanted to go but she is 13 and also likes to sleep.  However, she got up and went with me.  It was a major success.  Our little church, St. Barnabas, in North Hatley, sponsors this event and this year they brought in a miniature petting zoo.  We set up just outside at the Farmer’s Market and had crowds around for a couple of hours.  I don’t know how many pets were blessed but if was at least an hour and half with people showing up with their dogs (mostly) and enjoying the market and the weather and the animals.  My favorite was the miniature piglet but they had a miniature cow (not a calf), a lot of miniature donkeys, a beautiful alpaca, and wouldn’t you know it, baby rabbits and ducklings.  Libby was in heaven.  She loved the whole thing.  In addition she got to meet Winslow who is a new addition to our friends family.

 

Walking Was Second

After a lovely walk with my daughter Katie last weekend, it rained for two days and I didn’t get out for a couple of days.  Then I had the drive to Montreal and the moving and cleaning – let me tell you I got lots of exercise and have a rather sore hip to show for it.  It wasn’t until I got back out to the country that I was able to get back out and walk again.  I am pretty disciplined about getting out there and walking regularly but even I have to just give it a pass when life takes over and not feel guilty about it.  Not an easy thing for me to do.  However, this weekend I did get out and do a good hill walk with the dogs and my brother.  He and I probably won’t get to walk again until December but we sure enjoyed our couple of walks over the weekend.  The first walk we did was a woods walk which took us up the big hill behind our house and down into the valley by Buck’s Corner, so named because our golden Buckingham, learned to swim there when he was a puppy.  We had enough rain that the stream was swollen and we had to leap across from stone to stone.  My brother said “Have Faith and just do it” and we did.  Here he is leaping, literally, from one stone to the other and the dogs are making sure he makes it.

Our second big walk was our East Side Walk or better known as Minton/Dean Road.  It is seven miles with lots of hills and the views are spectacular.  Unfortunately my camera didn’t capture the colors but they are truly beautiful and I would venture to say it was peak this weekend.

This is a favorite spot to stop and take a picture because the view is really wonderful.  The dogs were super and so well behaved.  The were curious about the cows once again but they didn’t go anywhere near them.  There was also a moment where they were very curious about the geese in the corn field but again didn’t chase them they were just curious.  They are asleep now.

Cooking this Week

The family baker, Libby, was at it again and she made John a birthday cake.  Somewhere in this week he celebrated a birthday, I think it was actually the day of the closing on my mother’s house in Montreal so he didn’t really get the attention he deserves.  However, when your granddaughter goes to the trouble of making you a “from scratch” cake you are considered very special.  Last weekend she made an apple pie that was absolutely delicious.  This week a birthday cake.  I see a lot of baking in her future.  Thank you Libby.  Your grandfather looks thrilled.

I did make the recipe that was in last week’s blog and it was delicious.  I made enough to take some to Montreal for my sister and I to have lunch on the last big clean up day and of course, forgot it in New Hampshire.  However, I did enjoy a lunch somewhere in there.

No recipe this week.  I didn’t find anything that I wanted to share.  We pack up Canada this week and head back to South Carolina.  I am looking forward to being settled again for a little while and will do my best to look for a some good fall recipes to share.  Have a wonderful week everyone.

Love Louise