Same old, same old ....

Yesterday was a gentle day, highlighted by the second coat of varnish inside Burlesque and an early bed-time.

Today, Sunday the 31st January, started at 03.15 when the alarm went off so that Ali could get up to listen to the tennis from Australia.  She's been able to tune in to the ABC commentary for the big matches and last night / this morning was the men's Final.  Mr Murray didn't win - but it was, by all accounts, a tremendous match.

Up properly at 08.15 (Peter'd been back to sleep almost all of this time!) and off to Arundel for church by 09.45.  We stayed on for Vestry Meeting, essentially the PCC AGM, which was fun and useful all round.  Oh!  The delights of arranging ecumenical activities when you have to provide for a second language and only one or two monolingual visitors might come.  A bit like laying on Junior church when no kids turn up!

Anyway, Rona, Canadian Tire and IGA on the way home and then a break with tradition; supper at Giselle's - the cafe - here in the village.  A lovely welcome and a good natter.

The last (for now) internal coat of silk varnish inside the boat and then a fascinating prolonged, public-driven interview with the Canadian P.M.  on the live network.

I don't think that bed will be long away!

An extra little something......

Fall Sunset 1

Fire and ice - well, sort of.......

Thursday, 28th January.

Real snow at last; not very cold but plenty of it!  The drive only gets cleared under the new arrangements - Yves is not doing this wonderful service this year! - when there have been 5 cm of snow-fall.  So in the morning, when I went in to the village for various commissions, the drive was treacherous but safely negotiated and the road hadn't been cleared either.  And it was snowing hard.

Look hard; this is a picture of trees - honestly!

Mark and Janis were due to come to supper so I emailed the snow clearing team before I left and they had been and cleared the drive by the time I got back!

But by nightfall, the snow was so heavy that four deer solemnly made their way up the path at the front of the house before heading off across the meadow to the capsized bird-feeder and then on to the shelter of the big fir at the far side of the meadow, which has a natural hollow beneath it and may well be their overnight shelter.....

I grabbed this picture from an upstairs widow - hence the fly-screen interposed; we haven't taken those down.

So, with guests due, we lit the fire which really got a hold this time, and continued blasting away all evening to the extent that we eventually moved to the other end of the room for desert!



And, for the first time ever, the automatic fan on top of the fire - a gift from Karen and Denis who no longer do cold weather, swung in to action.  It's powered by the contrast between the heat of the base and the cool (!) of the surrounding air.  Hmmm.

We had a very jolly supper; the fish pie worked OK, the desert, courtesy of the Patisserie in the village, was fine; the chat was great - thanks for coming guys!  We finished the evening, just the two of us, listening to Beethoven, quite snug.

Friday, 29th January.

MORE snow!  just as well I had an assignation with a boat in the basement.  First coat of varnish inside; doesn't look like much but believe me, it's such a relief.

And then a leisurely afternoon. The deneigeur came again.  Ali is still entering polling data from the last UK election, a task which is taking an inordinate length of time, but should be worthwhile - next time around!  She took a break over supper so that we could listen to Vinyl Cafe -- from Tofino on Vancouver Island, a place we visited on our Big Trip West.  Vinyl Cafe is a great Canadian Tradition of gentle story-telling.  If you have a little time, make a cup of whatever you fancy and have a listen!
 

"We're busy doing nothing, working the whole day through....."

Tuesday, 26th January - the good mood of Burns' Supper carried through in to the day; we slept well, rose at a sensible time and each headed off to our particular interests; me to the basement and MORE sanding, Ali to her lap-top and political information handling.  Still, it takes all sorts!

Later in the day I surfaced to continue the new oil painting; not ready to show yet.  Heaven knows how and if I'll get it back to the UK for the Church Art Show in June!  Ali went out to put seed in the bird feeders (what sort of feeders?) and then carried on politicising.  Chicken casserole for supper and a divided bed-time; me at about midnight, Ali at about 4.00 am, having stayed up to listed to the Murray match on Australian radio!

Today, Wednesday, 27th January, I came downstairs at a usual sort of time; Ali rather later....  Her feeders had certainly livened things up a bit!  There were prints all over the place; deer, rabbit perhaps, squirrel, goodness knows what!

 This is the tunnel down to the basement, presently not in use.  Little, hopping prints all over!

And this guy probably responsible.....

Anyway, sitting, admiring the view, we had a (human) visitor!  A lady from the regional council turned up to measure the screen room - because of the previous planning application.

I know that everything is O.K. as far as measurements are concerned, but you always wonder, in a language not your own, should you have done something different before now?

Anyway - a determined return to the basement saw the canoe's internal sanding finished.   I need to apply a bit more exterior filler overnight and tackle the inwhales tomorrow, and then we're ready for the start of varnishing!

Wow.

But the dust has been prodigious :-(

Burns' night!

OK.  Sunday, 24th January.

Church in Arundel was lovely; always such a warm welcome and a really good welcome from the Rural Dean, Ralph.

I've been worrying over the recent deliberations of the Anglican Communion meeting of Primates in Canterbury.  Ralph Leavitt, the Incumbent of the Laurentian Regional Ministry - A Group Ministry in British terms - preached very helpfully.  This Reflection by Canadian Archbishop Fred Hiltz forms the core of Ralph's sermon and highlights the anguish and the determination felt by so many to "see this through".


The by now usual perambulation home via Rona, Canadian Tire and the local shop for various stores saw me back in the basement by about 14.00 - whence I surfaced, stopping only for a hurried supper, at about  22.30!  Sanding!

Today, Monday, 25th of January.

In to the basement by 09,30.  Ali came to help me drive some of the (hopefully) last tacks in to hold the planks on Burlesque on to the ribs.  Then it's back to sanding.  By 12.30 I needed a break and thus started an oil painting - first for ages.  ANOTHER new style!

At about 16.00 I pottered off to visit Gilles and then Yves, returning after dark.  It's not very cold and there's even slushy snow forecast for tomorrow.....

And then Burns' night supper.  We brought a vegetarian haggis with us; not bad.  Ali read the Ode to the Haggis, I said the Selkirk grace; we spoke of Burns the man and offered the toast to "the immortal memory", followed soon after by the toast to the lassie(s) and the response.  We have neither sung nor danced, but the night is yet young.....


So, wherever, and whoever you are; may the joy of the Dumfries Bard fill you with midwinter cheer.

Sláinte

A surfeit of lampreys.... Not

Whilst Henry the first, King of England and Duke of Normandy, might have died from a a surfeit of lampreys, and whilst the lakes "above" Niagara may have seen their fish numbers dwindle following the opening of the Welland canal in 1919, which permitted the Atlantic lamprey to extend its range in to the upper Great Lakes, you cannot die, or become parasitised, by a surfeit of fine art!  And the collection of early 20th century Canadian painters' works in the National Gallery of Canada  in Ottawa takes some beating!

Friday, 22nd January.

We had a noon rendez-vous with some free tickets generously supplied by Peter, on the way we stopped to gaze down at the now-empty Rideau locks, with happy memories of last summer.

Then along the road which passes the architecturally dire American Embassy, to the gallery with its massive bronze spider......

It's a remarkable building, the gallery; massive, grey, full of light; something like a Gothic cathedral but sparse, angular and easy to become lost in.  We picked up our tickets and headed first for the Monet exhibition. The video clip just about says it all, but it can't capture the riveting experience, dawning on us on this second day of visual gastronomy, of seeing the actual brush-strokes for yourself.  Hmmmmmm.

Time for a cold drink, and then on to the Canadian art gallery.  The last time we were in this space, my favourite painters' works were unavailable - but not today.  We were another three and a half hours.  I'm not going to take you painting by painting through the gallery, but we wandered, dutifully, and with some pleasure, through the most modern pieces.  I don't have the visual or contextual vocabulary really to enjoy many of these works.  My own work is definitely "holiday snaps"; places or, rarely, people which and whom I want to remember.  I haven't tried painting "emotion", let alone "system".  I might, but I haven't, so I don't appreciate it in other works.

At the "far" end of the long series of galleries, after you have moved back in time to the beginning of the twentieth century, you are introduced to that group of painters, many from England originally, some not, who made a huge change in Canadian art, as fundamental a change as - and not unlike - that which the Impressionists had made in France.

The originals are bigger than I had envisaged; Tom Thomson's Northern River,   Pine Island, Georgian Bay and Autumn's Garland   fill a wall by themselves.  Painting after painting after painting that I had seen in books was there; sometimes surprisingly crude in brush-work, sometimes breathtaking in the effect it generated.

Three for now.

Decorative Landscape, Lawren S. Harris, 1917;

 Frost-laden Cedars, Big Cauchon Lake, Tom Thomson, 1915-16;

The Red Maple, A.Y.Jackson. 1914.









And  a detail - from Northern River;  bought by the gallery direct from the exhibition in 1915 for $500.

What a day!  We visited Peter in the Gallery's library which he runs and then Ali (never stand when you can sit... :-) ) went for a rest in the rotunda cafe whilst I went back to try to do justice to the more modern artists for another hour, followed by a return to those 8.

After their work we met up with Peter and Greg in the bar of the Fairmont Chateau Laurier and then went on with them to a great little, German-inspired restaurant for a delicious meal and a wonderful chat.  They kindly gave us a lift back to our hotel (which was just as well; feet?  What feet?).








Saturday, 23rd January.  The most beautiful weather for the drive back; ice-fishers at the ferry crossing; a view all the way up lac Labelle;




a huge moon tonight.  The logs slump in the stove, we're about to slump into our beds.

Surfeit?  Never!  (but a rest would be a good idea!)

Ottawa

A full day of family things yesterday.  Time for Peter with Guy and more time for Ali with Julie and James.  And a treat of a Thai supper to finish.  Thanks so much, we had a great time.

A chat with Ziggy, the owner of the accommodation and a teacher of art, before we left today about light and colour and the South of France and other trivial stuff...

Then just a short visit to collect forgotten items from G and J before the truly beautiful drive up the 7 to Ottawa.  Supper at a very, very good Greek meze restaurant and home to the Lord Elgin - just a stone's throw away from the Rideau locks of last summer.  Here's the view from our window as we arrived.

AGO fix

Canada is planning to legalise marijuana.  It's not a big issue yet, but it was a clear promise in Justin Trudeau's  election manifesto and so will happen - they say.

Meanwhile, a visit to the Art Gallery of Ontario - the AGO - served to transport us to a different place...  These two, iconic images ("The Jack Pine" and "West wind") painted by Tom Thomson are very rarely seen together.  Such a treat to be able to sit on a bench with the two of them at 90 degrees to each other and just lap them up.

And then, to be able to see the field sketches in the same space - wonderful.

New to us and a wonderful surprise.....   Here from 1920 - 3 years after Thomson's death - is Beaver Swamp - Algoma, by Lawren S Harris; so reminiscent of the former's Northern River, painted in 1915.

And also new to us was this, "Potlatch welcome" by Emily Carr, from 1928.


Otherwise, it's been baby and food, food and baby all the way.  Great!

Babies eat time!

Friday the 15th.
We took Julie and James to the breast feeding clinic on the other side of town.  The sat-nav said the best and definitely most direct route was right through the heart of the city.  We ended up half an hour late!  Never mind, all went well and they 'graduated' and had their photos taken.  Smiles all round. It was cold and we were a bit peckish after breakfast quite early so we popped into a Vietnamese diner and had a very tasty bowl of noodle soup, or spring rolls, or red curry, depending on who you were.

Back in time for Guy and Lila to come home and pizza and salad before G and L and A and I went off swimming at their local pool.  Super warm and busy with happy families.  Home in the rain.

Saturday, 16th.
The last of the croissants for breakfast.  Lila had already been to dance class by the time we arrived and the day passed with passing James from shoulder to shoulder before the four of us left The Two J's and headed off to Port Credit yacht club to take Dave Dubras's coat back to him.  He'd left it at Ann's.  He and Kim, his wife, live all year on their winter-wrapped boat in the Marina.  They have submerged fans in the dock fore and aft of the boat to keep the ice away, and say that the inside temperature remains in the 70's F.





On the way back we saw the local rescue services practising ice rescue in one of the lakes.  Dry suits I assume!

Back via Lee Valley tools (you could spend hours and a fortune in there) for brass nails and a scraper and then home for pasta and baby sitting whilst G and J took the rare opportunity to pop out for time together.





James was pretty peaceful throughout but he is a little by little feeder and gets a lot of wind, which makes him writhe in discomfort quite a lot.  But, in between, lots of laughs and fun all round.  He's quite one of the gang!

Home in light snow at 11.00







Today, Sunday, still early here.  Just had breakfast and up now for church and to see what the day brings :-)

Later - the day brought - amongst other things - a broken down heating system in church and Minister and Musicians (and all of us) in street clothes, encouraged to bring mugs of coffee to worship to keep our hands warm!

 And then on to a HUGE outdoor pursuits store attached to an enormous out-of-town Mall.

I find choosing fishing tackle difficult enough without this much choice!


Home to pork and apple casserole and the battle of the toe-nails! .....

The big TO

Wednesday, 13th.

We picked up the damaged tire / tyre from Marcel and headed off for the airport to take the rental car back.  Ali lead off in our wagon and I followed, at a very sedate 80 kph, all the way there.  We wait to see how much that will cost!

Just before the airport we stopped for petrol (gas), currently at about a dollar a litre - just under fifty pence U.K. and a McDonald's.  I know, I know.......  but there was nothing else on offer!  The handover went O.K. and then the interminable 20 and 401 to Kingston.

We arrived at Ann's place to a lovely welcome, to more than one glass of whatever (it had been a very long day) and to a great supper of tourtiere and much Arty chat with Pat, Ann's neighbour.  Bed came too soon and not soon enough; we were shattered!

Thursday, 14th.  This was the view from the breakfast table....


We left Ann and Stevie at about noon, did some shopping at the excellent local store and slugged it down, in good weather, to our accommodation here in Indian Grove, and on to meet James - and his Mum, Dad and Sister of course.  He's great; quite  / open eyed now and only a bit noisy.  We had a simple but happy supper and have come home, to start taxi duties tomorrow!.

We have a little suite; http://bythepark.ca/high-park/ oak suite,  bought juice, coffee, spreads and croissants for breakfast.  We shall be fine!

HOW long have we been here?

It's Tuesday - and we came out on Saturday!  But it seems much longer...

So - Saturday, 9th January.  Friends warned us that Frankfurt airport is not of the best.  We agree.  It's very big, not clearly signposted, you have to go through security from air-side to get into the airport - which seemed strange - and then hardly anyone knew where the Air-Canada desk was for us to get our boarding cards for the next flight.

We'd decided to try Frankfurt for a change since the eventual flight would land us in Montreal two hours earlier than the Amsterdam route - but, of course, that meant leaving home correspondingly earlier - waking at 03.45!

Hmm - grey walls, grumpy folks at the AC desk; poor signage.  Back to Amsterdam next time I think!


But arriving earlier was a good move; easy through arrivals, easy to pick up the hire car (rental!) and easy in the last of the light to get on the the road north.  Awful weather driving up; +4 degrees and torrential rain!  Still, home safe and sound after shopping in the village.  Phew!

Sunday, 19th January; awoke pretty early after a decent sleep and then down to Arundel for church.  What a lovely welcome!  Back via Rona (where else?) and the IGA in St Jovite  and home by about 14.00.  The rain continues ant eh path and drive became almost completely clear of snow!  This is the weirdest year.

I built frames for the new water-tanks cupboard - Claude has beautifully rearranged the cold tank so that you can actually get to the pump-resent lever - and the power board cupboard.  I'll paint these later.  The cold threatened so we lit the fire.  Lovely!


Monday, 11th January, began at -14 degrees - what a change!  I went to start the car in the barn.  I re-connected the battery and  it started very reluctantly so I began to reverse it out - and it stopped; and wouldn't re-start.  Battery out and up to the cottage and on the charger for six hours.  Do it all again and it started fine.



Later, the sky cleared and the light was beautiful. 







We went to Mark and Janice's for supper - lovely food and very good company.  They married in the Fall - many, many decades after their graduation ball photograph to which they went as a firm couple.

Funny thing, life!

Today is a bit warmer. Another good night's sleep.  I've pootled in the basement, warm and dry since the work of the summer.  I HAVE to get the boat done this holiday - and the Vermontian's boats. too!

But I see that my readership has dialled up the site and found no news!  We're well, warm and safe - off to Toronto tomorrow!

Update!

I took our car in to the village just to be sure that it was running OK - prior to tomorrow.  The heater fan was stuck.  I dropped in the Marcel's to find him up to his ears in work - so I agreed to ring Ali, get her to come and fetch me and pick up the car tomorrow.  Just out of the village on the way home - we picked up a big screw-bolt of some sort and the tire went down.  So; at minus 7, with me lying in a snow-drift -  we changed the wheel on an unfamiliar car.  Back to Marcel to check the air pressure in the slow-running tire and to leave the main tyre for him to consider repairing.  Home fairly bushed to ratatouille!

I've just heard from him to say that the repair is not possible - but that the fan is fixed!  I'll ring the rental company in the morning to see how we proceed with the tyre.......  But aren't we blessed that it didn't happen tomorrow; that the wheel nuts came off with only minor standing on the wheel-brace handle and that we were almost properly dressed for the weather!  Supper was very welcome!