Closing rituals

Saturday, 28^th September

Ritual number one. 

A wet morning, but the timber for the screen room was all already inside so we assembled that.  Not without a little altercation but amicably enough by about half-way.  

The trick now it to use the centre upright, which has little feet since this summer, to link to the south central upright (SC).  Then fix lateral uprights to the horizontal running from east-west on the south upright to stabilise everything and then to join in the north central upright (NC).  A diagonal between SC and the centre upright locks the core.  Horizontals at height reach the bays and allow the E-W bars and the N or S horizontals to be positioned. 

After that it’s just progressive around the bays!  At least, that’s how I remember it going……

Ritual number two.

 And all this before lunchtime when we went to the hugely enjoyable apple-pressing at Mark and Janis’ place.

 

Ritual number three
And finally home to collect the “Big Green” from the lake.  A couple of tugs to a lure as I paddled round from the dock to Yves’ place and then a lovely chat with him and Jeannine as Ali came to collect me. 

Once again, we left the canoe on the trolley and I sat in the back of the car with the rear door up as she gently drove us up the road.  The canoe slipped in to the barn – as had the quad but from the other end – and that’s it all locked down for the winter.  Power off.

 







Sunday, 29^th September.

Arundel for church, Bevan preached on “Come and see”.  His messages become simpler but his passion for Christ increases with the telling. 

After church, Ritual number four.  The “teenagers” took to the new little bakery and café at the crossroads for a sandwich and a chat.  It is harder every year to say goodbye to these friends and to this place.  


 


 
We stopped on the way home at the new development at the entrance to the lake - fabulous view!



And now the outside jobs; the Adirondack chairs and the parasol to the screen room; the hoses that have been trying to fend of the possible demise of the rugosa roses are wound up.  And soon the packing and ironing and cleaning.






 





Fall is well established now but we shall miss the very best of the colour I’m sorry to say.  We are not looking forward to returning to the UK, other than to see the family; this last week’s ratcheting up of the rhetoric and disdain by some of our rulers is frightening.  We arrived here bruised, we return refreshed but determined to monitor our state of mind.  We may be no slimmer (in fact, I’m a wee bit bigger) but we are in a better place than we were.  We shall have to be vigilant that that continues.

Onward! En avant!

Thursday, 26^th September

Little stuff; Ali has been cleaning and reorganising the basement.  We slung MarRon in “her” place under the rafters.  There’s a stack of old and outdated things to go to the municipal tip when we get a chance.  I got the timbers for the Screen-room out from beneath the deck and inside because rain’s forecast.  And I managed to get a bead of sealant on the window frame to our bedroom.

The contact from Excavation du Nord rang about the fosse septique installation – so that’s settled for next year!

And then to the village to buy the smoke alarm and extinguisher, to pay the rates, buy some wine and to collect the post before heading on to Lorne and Audrey’s for a great evening of their usual high standard of cuisine but equally high standard of guests.  

 

One of them was a French woman, Marlene, on sabbatical from her company.  She’s been travelling all over Canada and is due to return to France next week.  So, with her easy-to-understand, Parisian French and other folks more idiomatic Quebecois, the conversation was thrillingly an almost equal mixture mix of French and English.  A real “graduation Class”!

Brilliant!

It was a foggy drive home.

Friday, 27^th September

 

And it was a foggy start to the day as well.  But it soon cleared and the sun shone again for most of the day.  We installed the alarm and then I went to get the quad out – for the first time this year – only it wouldn’t start despite the battery’s having been disconnected since last summer.  And in addition, there’s no power to the barn or the connected cabin.  Hmmmm.  No time for that this time I’m afraid.  We brought the battery (eventually – that was a struggle) up to the house to charge it.   

But it was the last day to sign up for the fibre-optic internet, so we went to the village to do that and lo and behold, there was a children’s climate protest march.  Brilliant.

 

And by the time we came home, Yves Gagnon, the Alarm servicing gentleman had arrived.  All the alarm is working it seems and there are three new facilities on the alarm to connect us direct to either the police, the heath services or the fire brigade!  Additionally, it would be possible to install frost detectors to report remotely.  Who would have known it?

Once he’d finished, we installed the battery in the quad and carted the previously cut (weeded) little trees up to the woodland dump.  And then put it back in the barn for another year…..

I still have to erect the Screen-room scaffolding and collect the canoe from the water…..

Unplanned

Wednesday, 25^th September

Up relatively early; Metho morning, coffee for two then to Labelle to take the car for an “Inspection” and yet another oil change!  On foot to collect the report for the Waste-water system from M Daniel Laramee at his home in a lovely, quiet corner of the village which I had never previously known.  Something just over a kilometre each way.

Back down the hill to the café opposite the garage at the crossroads to meet up with Lorne; to find Mark waiting for both of us!  We had a very jolly hour or so over a typical Canadian breakfast; just old friends; family even.  Thanks guys, such a privilege.

I collected the car – an Inspection is just that.  Although it’s one of the designated kilometrage ones, nothing is actually done, just a report made of advisories.  We have a long list of advisories, coming to many hundreds of dollars, but if they are all of the same significance as “change the windscreen wipers, front and back” – which seem to me to be functioning perfectly adequately - then perhaps we’ll wait, thank you.

On to the Pharmacie to see what’s to be done with my (full) bucket of used Metho syringes.  Simple, “leave it with us and please accept this free replacement”.  “Why thank you; I don’t mind if I do”!

Home via BMR for paint and stuff and then a coat of Tremclad oil-based paint to the outside of the bedroom windowsill.

 

We’ve both been out and about.  I put together a water-deflector for the trail end of the eastern gutter.  In previous years it’s overflowed, and the water has found its way into the basement.  Let’s see what this does to deflect it if we have that problem.

 

The trees are halfway between turning (this is a red maple, Acer rubrum, sometimes called a Swamp Maple.  Wikipedia says it’s really common; sorry - not around here.  Here we are largely sugar maples.  This beauty is the exception rather than the rule.) and losing their leaves and the geese have really got themselves into migratory “gear” now.  Their calls are very close but in truth they are flying very high in big echelons.  

 

This companionable silence is lovely.  I don’t think either of us could be happier.  To be honest, whilst we’re longing to see the kids and grandkids – really – returning to the chaos which is British public life at the present is just the hugest turn off. 

These are my thoughts, my space; I can express my own view.  How anyone can say that all 11 justices of the British Supreme Court are individually and collectively wrong is frankly unhinged.  And yet such a person is the British Prime Minister.  You couldn’t make it up!