I’m Fine, Too – Friday Fictioneers

Posted on May 10, 2017 by Dale | 70 Comments

Good morning/evening, my Reader Friends. It is time for Friday Fictioneers – the next two days I start work early so now was the most opportune time to get my 100-word story in.

Thank you to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields of Addicted to Purple for not only herding us cats every week, but for supplying this photo this week. One that drummed up a few memories.

If you would like to try your hand at this challenge, click on Rochelle’s name for the rules and regs. If you only want to read a few interpretations of this here photo, then, please, click on the frog!

Genre: Memoir

Word count: Always 100

I’m Fine, Too

She thanked the good Samaritan for the ride home and made her way into the house on wobbly legs.

“Where’s the car?” Dad shouted.

“It’s in the ditch. And there is not a scratch on it,” I replied, still shaking from the whole ordeal.

“What do you mean, ‘It’s in the ditch’? Why did you go out when there is black ice all over the roads?”

“I didn’t realise it when I left, Dad. It seemed okay from our street.”

“Well, you are going to pay for getting it out of the ditch!”

“I’m fine, too, Dad. Don’t you worry.”

***

Small note: My father was not good at showing his true worry so he made it about the car… and he didn’t make me pay for the tow truck to get the car out of the ditch 🙂

#WeekendCoffeeShare – In Which I Played Tour Guide

Posted on April 24, 2017 by Dale | 19 Comments

Good evening my Blogger Friends! It’s Sunday evening and I am in no mood for coffee. Red wine for me!

First things first, however. Thank you Emily from Nerd in the Brain for hosting our Coffee Talk! For anyone wanting to join in on the fun, just click on the coffee cup above and you’ll be directed to her site where you can add your link or click on the link and read other stories.

Now, without further ado… My week. Oy! What a fantabulous week! No, I shall not talk about my water woes other than to say that one issue has been fixed and one has been diagnosed – not in the manner in which I would prefer… Next subject!

If we were having coffee, or frankly, it is Sunday night, so, if you want that hot beverage spiked, just say so, I’ve got a lovely collection of liqueurs that could be added. I might even be able to whip up some cream as a topping, should you wish! I, on the other hand, shall go and get myself a nice glass of wine. I also have white or rosé, should you prefer!

If we were sharing a nice beverage, I would tell you that I had a most wonderful week with Alison. Who is Alison, you ask? Would you imagine? Last September, I went to Tuscany for almost three weeks. The first week was a cooking week with Cook in Tuscany and where I met Alison. I wrote part of my story here. (I’ve got a few posts still to go to bring it all up to speed – yeah, yeah, I know. Way late! Anyway.) Well, as happens when you spend a full week with a group (we were 14 in all), friendships form. We exchanged emails and quite a few of us are now Facebook friends. Alison asked me if I was serious when I said, should you come to visit Montreal, let me know. I responded absolutely!

She said cool… She’d be in Montreal from Tuesday, April 18th, till Saturday, April 22nd. I offered my home for her to stay in but she is very allergic to cats and I’ve two of them. She was very content to stay in an AirBnB in downtown Montreal and I was happy to go pick her up daily so we could do the tourist thing.

Alison really wanted to see our Montreal Symphony Orchestra and had asked me to look into buying tickets. Then Punta Cana happened and I got all involved in the passport thing and the trip itself and…. When she texted me saying, “So? Where are we sitting?” I had to sheepishly admit I had failed at purchasing them. I did manage to get us tickets for the first night but we’d not be sitting together. She said what did it matter? It’s not like we are going to talk while the music is playing… she had a point. I had never been to our new Symphony House so I didn’t know what the seating was like. There were some seats behind the musicians but I didn’t dare take them. I should have. It’s not like I could see the faces of anyone way up in the balcony!

Picked up Alison at the airport at 5pm, drove through the traffic to bring her to her apartment. She changed and we made our way down to the “Quartier des Spectacles” in Montreal, parked and attempted to find something decent to eat. Problem was it was also a hockey night so all restaurants were filled to the rim. Ended up eating two steamies and greasy fries at Lafleur! Sheesh. Quite the beginning!

We made our way to the new (well, new to me, but open since 2011) MSO Symphony Hall to enjoy the concert Brel Symphonique. Fans of Jacques Brel were treated to interpretation by mostly Québécois singers. We were not disappointed. Alison’s goal was to hear the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and she found the 81 members for this concert amazing. I was not disappointed because I love Jacques Brel’s music and I found that the 10 artists did a wonderful job interpreting his songs along with the wonderful orchestration by the MSO.

Alison and me

The musicians are arriving

The final bows

As Alison had been up since very early, she was ready to hit the hay for the next day of adventures!

Wednesday morning, I picked her up and we made our way to St. Joseph’s Oratory. We explored every floor, nook and cranny that we could. Of course, once we were ready to go, it started to rain, so we didn’t take a picture of the oratory from the street! Alison didn’t believe me when I told her that you could always find at least one person climbing the steps on their knees…

The Votive Chappel

Virgin Mary, originally outside, now next to the mountain rock

View from Observation deck

Altar of main Chapel

We worked up our hunger (it was near 2:00 pm!) so we made our way to Côte-des-Neiges Street and into McCarold’s Irish Pub for a delicious burger and fries.

My son’s friend was coming to do some of the plumbing – no, we’re not talking about my water woes! – and I wanted to be there when he did so we made our way to my house. A tour of the mess and then we just sat and chitchatted. And eventually got hungry so I made a vegetable & tortellini “Stoup” and heated up a frozen baguette. Voilà! Supper is served. Alison was my expert stirrer…

On Thursday, we drove around the different boroughs of Montreal so I could show Alison the “Stairs of Montreal” and we wound up in Little Italy and the Jean-Talon Market. It is such a fabulous place in summer but does remain open year-round (maybe 1/5 to 1/4 of it?) We then made our way to Outremont, which has a totally different vibe, drove up Mount Royal, walked around Beaver Lake then made our way to the Camilien Houde Promontory to see a view of Montreal. Though not raining, it was sort of clear… Oh! And as I drove around to the front of the entrance of Mount Royal where there are statues and, in the summer, the Tam-Tam players, I kept wondering why there were so many cops! I sent Alison out to take some pics while I stayed in the car, illegally parked, and she came back stating there was quite the scent around the place. D’oh! It was 420 – Weed Day!

Flower Shop

Taste!

Colours

Parking aids

Beaver Lake

Waiting for Summer

Posing for treats

Montreal – view enhanced

420 – Weed Day!

All that walking around made us hungry, so we made our way to Old Montreal. We had a show at the Notre Dame Basilica (Aura) at 6 pm so we figured we’d have time to walk around and admire the old buildings and whatnot after lunch. We ate outside in a heated terrasse (yes, I spell it the French way because we say it the French way!) I wanted to bring Alison to the Jardin Nelson but it was closed for the day. Grrr. So we went to Le Fripon. No regrets! After a delicious pizza, we made our way to the Basilica and enjoyed the Aura light show. Truly beautiful. A tad pricey for the amount of time we spent there, I have to admit but there was still no regret at having watched the light show.

Lunch at Le Fripon

Notre Dame de Bonsecours

Jardin Nelson – where I wanted to eat!

Château Ramsay

Alison and the Basilica

Altar Notre Dame Basilica

One of many Images

Ceiling of Basilica

I had never seen these two statues and the plaque explaining them…. They are so representative of the English-French thing that we have going on in our province!

English Pug

Story of 2 statues

French Poodle

Not yet hungry, we decided to go have a drink. I decided we should go to Crescent Street where there are so many happening places. I was telling her about Winnie’s and Margo and how she was THE bartender for years, knowing many Montreal writers and such but that she had taken her retirement and… bloody hell! Who is at Winnie’s? Margo! Unknowingly, it was the 50th anniversary of the club and it was Bartenders Alumni Night! Score! What a perfect ending to a perfect day. We decided to stay and have a late supper. Introduced Alison to poutine, to boot…

So now it is Friday. Our last full day to do stuff. And I’m expecting a plumber to come and check out the mess – but we’re not talking about that, right? As well, I have an 80th birthday cake to make for a friend of mine so my time is kinda wack. I pick up Alison at 10:30 and off we go to the Biodome or Biosphere. This was originally the American pavilion during Expo 67. It was a spectacular sight then and in 1976, the outside walls (or membrane) caught fire but the original structure remained intact. The Biodome became a natural museum and is most interesting. I figured it was close enough to my house so we would be able to get to my house quickly should said plumber call. There are a few halls closed for preparation of Montreal’s 375 birthday celebration so price is cut in half. I’m jiggy wid it… We enter one of the rooms for a 360º presentation but 2/3 of the screens are blank. Not good. I go out and advise the people in charge and they come and fix it. In the meantime, we go to see other interesting things on the planet, global warming and such and make our way back to the original hall for the next presentation in English. Very interesting and as we leave, my phone rings and it’s my son telling me the plumber is there. Sigh. So much for him calling first…

Living Wall

Biodome (or Biosphere)

We decided to lunch on my leftover stoup and, once the plumbing done, made our way back to Montreal. It was a bleary day. (Seriously, Alison was so not lucky weather-wise!) We decide to take in the Chagall exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Park the car, make our way there and I find it weird there is no one at the reception. Wait in line at the VIP line only to be told that the museum closes at 5 pm. It was 4:50. Ugh. Only on Wednesdays is the museum open until 9 PM. Dammit. A lovely woman tells us, hey, if you want to, across the street at the Bourgie Hall, you can have a concert and a private tour of the exhibition. Well. We immediately crossed over and paid the fee. Oh my goodness! What a score! We had the most wonderful guide Elena (Elaina? Elayna?) who knew her stuff. It was a speedy tour, to be sure, and just whetted my appetite to return before it is gone.

: Chagall

: Violinist with Green Face

: Ballet Costume

: Blue Circus

: Tapestry with Chagall Images

: Alison, Elena, Me

After that, we settled into our seats in the converted church and enjoyed – well, I cannot lie, I am not a fan of Stravinsky but still. The first half was a Stravinsky piano piece for four hands and the second was a piano duet for two pianos by Francis Poulenc. The pianists were James Anagnoson and Leslie Kinton, celebrating 40 years of playing together!

Stravinsky for 4 hands

Poulenc Duet

They did a bang-up job! By the end of the concert, it was almost 8 PM so we were hungry and I brought Alison to the Gay Village and my most favourite restaurant, Mozza Pâtes et Passions. There is no place like it. I told Alison she must go to the bathroom. And to bring her phone with her… 😉

Bathroom at Mozza

The next morning I had to go to a work meeting from 9:30 till 11:00, rush home to meet the foundation guy – no, we’re still not talking water woes – then finish the cake for my friend Martin B. I picked up Alison around 1:30 and drove her to the airport. Our five-day-extravaganza had come to an end already.

I cannot believe how many things we did in such a short time! It was a blast and I was told I was a good tour guide. Phew!

I hope I’ve not rambled on way too long. It took me almost three days to write this thing as the weather has finally turned (doesn’t that figure, Alison?) so I did come in and out of the house between raking and stuff to write this!

Oh. My bad. I almost forgot all the goodies Alison brought me as a thank you. Sheesh. She spoiled me with Louisiana hot sauces, an apron and a bottle of wine! All products from her home State of Louisiana. Spoiled rotten, I tell ya!

Thanks to any of you who stuck it out and read the whole shebang!

See you next week! I can promise you it will be way less exciting!

Lotsa love,

Dale

xoxo

#Weekend Coffee Share – Sunshine, Water Woes, Birthdays and Easter

Posted on April 16, 2017 by Dale | 32 Comments

Hello my friends! Welcome to this weekend’s Coffee Share! I did mention two weeks ago that I could not play with you last weekend as I was… sigh… “stuck” in Punta Cana! 😉

There was access to WiFi but, let’s face it, other than sharing my Instagram photos, there was no gathering of thoughts and such!

First, let me thank the lovely Emily for hosting this shindig! Just click on the box above if you want to join along and add your link!

Without further ado…

If we were having coffee, I’d share that I had a most relaxing and wonderful time in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (I specify, because so many think this is in Mexico!) The weather was perfect, the beaches wonderful, the food excellent. Check-in was a nightmare and totally disorganised. We got there for noon but didn’t get checked in until 12:50 where we were told our room would not be ready until 3:00 pm but to go ahead and eat and drink (now that we had our bracelets). Check-in was so long the guy at the counter ordered us two beers while waiting! Once checked in, we went to the dining room. Which wasn’t open until 1:00. 10 minutes to wait. Let’s just say not a grand debut to our week… Things looked up immediately after, though!

Only thing I would complain about, and this pains me greatly to say, were the Russian guests. Oh my gosh. The rudest, most pushy and disagreeable sort they were in general. I don’t like to generalise but here, I must. There were constant looks of shock and disgust by all other guests every time one of them pushed their way into the food line. If all were going in one direction, they inserted themselves and pushed in the opposite! Every. Single. Time. At one point, there was no one in front of me, I was making my way and two botox, bubble-lipped, boob-implanted-barbie dolls planted themselves in front of me, facing me. Wrong direction. I waited for them to move out of the way and nope. They practically ploughed me over. Ridiculous. It does not give one the urge to go visit their country; as ambassadors, they suck! On a positive note, here are a few pics!

Above the clouds

Moon, a different angle

Under the tiki hut

Any angle

Driftwood

Wedded bliss

Lined up

Favourite bartenders

Full moon

Peacock finally off the roof

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you the morning after I arrived home, I walked into my dining room and saw this:

I poked the hole and let out the water. Then let out a wail. This is my favourite room that Mick and I had redone the year he died. Where was the water coming from? I called my cousin Marc, who just happens to work in construction, to ask him if he was free in the next few days to come and assess the damage. He said he would come the next day (Good Friday).

My son also advised me that he didn’t know what happened, but that he did not have an accident with my car while I was away…

He did use it to get to and from work as he was working two jobs. In good faith, I am willing to admit that it does look like someone backed into the door. Dammit. Another thing to fix.

Good Friday came along. Just so happens to be my birthday. Oh no, no fuss, please! I can’t handle more right now! Marc came by before lunch and cut away at the ceiling, trying to find the source of the wet. He determined it came from the boys’ bathroom shower. Seems there is a joint that has been dripping for a good while.

Ceiling in dining room

Boys’ bathroom

I had also noticed that the carpet in the basement was wet. It had been a bit before I left and I figured someone had spilled something. However, now it was wet halfway across the room and on the other side! Oh for Pete’s sake! Stop already!

Trying to find the source

Marc determined that there must be a crack in my foundation. Bloody hell. On Monday I shall be calling my insurance company. It appears there is work to be done before I can put this Mothaf*** for sale.

As I refuse to end this post on a negative note. Just not my style, I tell you, I shall finish with this:

My sister, Lisa, made supper and my most favouritestiest spice cake for my birthday. So nice!

Never too old

While having the last of our coffee (or really, should I not deserve something stronger by now? I would tell you that Zeke and I took a nice walk yesterday and I was thrilled to see that I finally had a crocus!

Crocus!

And today, is Easter. And I had to work. It was the first official event of the new golf season for our members. A lovely Easter brunch. Everyone was in a grand mood. It was nice to work with more of the regulars who didn’t work with me during the winter events. After the event and the cleanup, we all sat down and ate a nice meal together and I got to take home a bouquet of tulips.

On that note, my friends, thank you for sharing some of your time with me (I promise I will be catching up on your Weekend Coffee Shares as well!)

Happy Easter! Happy Passover!

Lotsa love,

Dale

#WeekendCoffeeShare – Sugar Shack, Taxes

Posted on April 1, 2017 by Dale | 28 Comments

Welcome dear friends, to another epsisode of Weekend Coffee Share or If we were having coffee… hosted by the lovely Emily over at Nerd in the Brain. To join in on the fun, just click on the box above which will bring you to her site and the linkup!

If we were having coffee, cappuccino, lattè, tea or whatever your heart desires (we are quite accommodating over here at Casa Rogerson/MacIsaac) I would say, please do come in, make yourself comfortable and let’s get our chat on!

I would tell you my week started with a nice visit from Tonia who managed to get a weekend away from basic training (she started week 1o this week!) Kudos to this woman who joined the military at age 50 and is whupping a lot of 20-somethings’ butts!! Thank goodness for Facebook and me seeing her post Saturday night that she was waiting for one of her friends at the Starbucks – a whole two minutes from my house! I, of course, messaged her and made arrangements to pick her up the next morning. It was wonderful hearing about all her exploits of running with a bazillion pounds on her back and being considered one of the Bad Asses of Training!

I would tell you that following my coffee with Tonia, my friend Martin picked me up so we could join a bunch of his friends to partake in a fabulous Quebec tradition called the Sugar Shack or rather, Cabane à sucre, en français. Yes, I know they do something sorta similar in Vermont and such but over here, it is a feast. Not for the lettuce crowd is all I can say… Over here, you get to sample the down-to-earth true Québécois fare. Stick-to-your-gut eats made for the working man (and woman, of course!) This is a traditional spring-time affair. It’s time to celebrate when the sap from our sugar maples is flowing and maple syrup becomes the nectar of the gods (at least to us!)

The feast is basically the same, no matter which Shack you go to. It is a very traditional meal. Of course there are places like Le Pied de Cochon that are out-of-this-world-crazy and zero anything to do with tradition. The waiting list is ridiculous to get in, and yes, one day I will try it! But even there, the seating is always the same. Long tables that you share with other groups or families. Rustic decor – if there are no wooden seats, bare beams, wood walls… hightail it outta there! It’s not authentic! You do not want some place that is all shiny and white and pristine. Oh, and expect mud. Lots of mud outside. These place are always set deep in the woods to be close to their trees and definitely do not include asphalt.

That said, there is nothing like having the standards. We went to the Érablière Charbonneu, listed in the top five. Do click on the link. I stupidly didn’t take any pictures of the food. D’oh!

Side view of the Cabane

Cute hanging lamps

Cool bottle of maple syrup

My grandmother had chairs like this

They all start off with pickled beets and pickles (either sweet or salty) and coleslaw, cretons (a fatty, delicious pork spread) with hot bread, followed by delicious pea soup. Then comes the smorgasbord of stuff: fluffy plain omelette, ham (regular and/or smoked), sausages cooked in maple syrup, bacon, “oreilles de crisse” (deep-fried pork jowels), bacon, baked beans, meat pie, ragoût de boulettes (pork meatballs in brown gravy), roasted potatoes. And all served with the Cabane’s own maple syrup – poured liberally over whatever one likes. All very, ahem, “light” and “low-calorie” fare. NOT! This is obviously a once-per-year treat… or in my case, it had been over ten years since my last visit.

Now, that said, the BEST part – the reason Sugar Shacks came into existence, in the first place, was to boil down the sugar water until it becomes syrup. Boil it down further and it becomes super thick… pour it onto snow and it hardens and becomes taffy. Oh man… slurp! Most Cabanes will have their taffy station set up outside with a roof to protect the pourers from the elements. In this case, the taffy was in a separate little shack complete with fireplace. Lucky for the employees! I took a photo of my stick but didn’t realise it was totally out of focus… Must be a result of the overeating that you always promise yourself you will NOT do but cannot help yourself…

Pour the syrup

Keeping warm

Monday’s coffee with Andrea turned into breakfast as neither one of us had eaten. That was a nice treat! We have determined that we are due for a girls’ get outta town something like a spa or a visit to Quebec City just for the day or whatever. That will definitely be something we’ll be planning.

Tuesday I had to go visit the accountant. Thank goodness for Raffi, my accountant. For years I used to do my own taxes. Then Mick started his company and things got too complicated for moi. So, thanks to Armen (Mick’s business partner), he was introduced to Raffi. And since he was doing Mick’s taxes, it was nothing to add mine. Now the company is finally closed though there are still a few issues to iron out. It is so long and complicated to close a company after death and I’m still getting invoices to pay taxes and stuff for Mick. More than two years later! Hopefully this is the last year to deal with this…

Wednesday and Thursday I worked at the golf club. The banquets themselves went really well but I swear, I feel like a part-time mover sometimes! We had to reorganise the room on Wednesday evening for Thursday’s event and then on Thursday, after the event, we had to move all the tables and chairs to line against the walls in the restaurant and all onto the dance floor in the banquet room. Somehow I found the energy to make not one but two chicken thigh meals – oops… forgot to take pictures to torment you with 😉 Needless to say, I deserved a nice, hot bath by Wednesday evening… A massage would have been nice but, alas…

Yesterday I managed to do all my laundry and vacuum the upper floor… the rest of the day, I must admit I pretty much faffed: read Friday Fictioneer submissions and comments to my own story, chatted on-line with friends, watched some boob tube… and then… oy! Besides, it was eldest’s 19th birthday party and he was expecting friends. Why the hell should I bother cleaning the floor BEFORE they come in? I escaped the house and caught the 10:10 viewing of Beauty and the Beast. Needless to say, I have a variety of tunes totally stuck in my head since… I figured if I caught the later showing, the party would have moved on to another venue by the time I got home.

Wrong.

It was in full swing at 12:30 a.m. And. I came home to THIS.

Needless to say, I am not pleased. I admit I may have snarled at him, grabbed myself a beer and gone up to my room, slamming the door (yes, I know, totally childish, but I figured it was better than taking a swing at him… 😉 ) to watch an episode of something on Netflix on my iPad…

After the quiet returned to my house, I’d say about 2:45 am or so, I also turned off my light and was asleep by 3-ish. Up and at ’em today as I had an appointment to have my hair dyed and cut. This short hair business is more work than when it’s long!! Not bothering to share a photo. First because, it’s basically the same thing, maybe a tad shorter than last time and second, because the picture I took, looks like shite!

I shan’t be playing with you next week as I shall be toasting my buns in the sun in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic! I’ll tell all a ya’all about it the following week! Now, they said my passport would be delivered by Monday…. I am leaving on Wednesday….

Omigosh! I have just realised it is April 1st! Somehow I have to find a way to write as I’m participating in Camp Na No! Oh Lordy…

I think I’ve kept you more than long enough, eh? Time to turn the keyboard over to you! Do tell me, how have you been?

Have a marvellous week and we’ll see ya soon!

Lotsa love,

Dale

#WeekendCoffeeShare – Spring Walk, Paperwork, Breakfasts & More Snow?

Posted on March 25, 2017 by Dale | 26 Comments

Hello my friends and welcome. Please do come in. You’ll have to stamp your feet to remove the snow. Yes. Curse, cuss, swear, sigh. We got more snow last night. Hello? First day of Spring was Monday? Remember, Ma Nature? Oh well, welcome to Spring in Quebec!

So, if we were having coffee, or tea, or some other beverage, we would complain a bit about yesterday’s snowfall. It is what one does when one is done with it. I, for one, am done with it. No, no, don’t try. You can’t convince me how pretty it is. It really is, isn’t? I don’t care. Come back next Winter.

OK… getting ahead of myself.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you what an absolutely beautifully, gorgeous day we had on Monday! Oh my! First day of spring and the sky was blue, the clouds were white, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the snow was melting! Zeke and I were way overdue for one of our super long walks and man… oh man… did we ever take one!

That 10.9 km is 6.8 miles… just sayin’…

I had decided I wanted to make my way to the St. Lawrence River so we could watch the ice pieces float by and hopefully catch some wildlife. We did so and we ended up all the way into the Old Boucherville section. What a walk! Leaving my house, we walked along Industrial Boulevard to Fort St-Louis. Those who are on Instagram got pretty much a play-by-play of my walk!

And there were honest-to-goodness buds on the trees. Really! Considering last Wednesday’s snowstorm, who’d a thunk?

Crossing the tracks, we walked along a road that runs parallel to the highway until we reached the overpass to the river’s edge. I always stop and admire this house. It speaks to me!

We continued on, past the ever-present construction until we reached Marie-Victorin. This street/boulevard goes through at least six towns (I will have to verify that one!) running the length of the St.Lawrence River. Boucherville, Varennes, Verchères each have their special cachet that I shall have to share with you further!

Reflections

Loons

From my home town, we get to see the various Boucherville Islands that are now a Provincial Park and we can access via mini ferry (holding bicycles and people only) during the summer season.

Dock to the ferry

Visitor

I’ll just wait here

I started taking a bunch of pictures of many of the old houses and realised that I shall share them with you on another post. They deserve to be front and centre! However, I do think it worthwhile to share our big Paroisse Ste-Famille, where I was baptised many a moon ago…

Paroisse Ste-Famille

Shining in the sun

We walked around the little streets, snapping pictures of old houses and I was struck by the gold of the hedge that seemed to pop out of nowhere.

By now I’m wishing I had someone I could call to pick us up and take us the rest of the way home! We were both pooped and decided our evening was going to be one of vegging on the couch!

Tuesday was paperwork day. I realised my passport was due to expire by June of this year and decided to bring it in directly to the passport office. I mean, come on, what if someone comes into my life, sweeps me off my feet and wants to take my on a trip of a lifetime! I must be ready! Of course, reading all about Cady Luck Leedy’s story about HER passport woes is what really made me look at mine in the first place! The whole sweeping off my feet thing is more of a, well, okay, I’ll admit it, a girl can dream, right? I was shocked and pleasantly surprised that the whole thing took a mere one hour and fifteen minutes from beginning to end. How do you like them apples? To think I was going to set my alarm at stupid o’clock to wait in line for the doors to open at 7:30 am. Pfft…. I got there at 11:30 and was in my car by 1:00 pm. And that’s because I did some window-shopping on my way back to my car. Pretty darn good, let me tell you!

As I had sold my car for scrap, I also had to go the S.A.A.Q. (DMV for ya’all) to register the transaction to no longer be liable for the hunk-a-junk. And, lucky me, I got $165 back for the registration! Woot!

On Wednesday, I had breakfast with my youngest sister. Always nice to break the fast with her. Actually, am overdue for breakfast with second sister as well… Hmmm… will have to make arrangements. My mom, Yvon and their grandson arrived at 1:00 pm to visit the apartment my sisters had found for them. It was a big moment and we all (sisters) hoped that Mom and Yvon would fall in love with it (or at least in good like) and agree that it was the place to move to. For those of you who read my Friday Fictioneers this week, you will note it was totally based on this happening! They not only liked it, they signed the lease for June 1st! Wonderful. Now we will all be within 15 minutes of each other. It will definitely take a load off my mother’s shoulders. Of course now we have the lovely prospect of moving them from a house to a 3 1/2 apartment. That will be so much fun. Not.

Nothing much I feel the need to share for Thursday but Friday – yesterday. Well. We’ve come full circle to the beginning of this tale. I must repeat. What in the name of hell is up with Mother Nature? Oh man! That snow is pretty. To be sure. If it were elsewhere. I will admit that Zeke and I enjoyed taking a walk in it and of course I had to take a couple of pictures. Cool the different effects of no flash and flash and a little fun with PicMonkey…

No flash but street light

Flash

I would have sent this out earlier but this afternoon we all went bowling for my niece’s volleyball team. What is it about bowling that is so much fun? Almost the whole family participated and a good laugh was had by all. Now, I’m not one to toot my own horn but I did have to ask for a printout of my scores because man oh man… I was on fire!

Action shots

Uh huh… yeah…

I think I have gone on long enough. We must have gone from coffee to water to wine by now, eh? I hope you enjoyed my little tour of Boucherville and my sharing of my week’s stuff. Now, it’s your turn. Tell me how your week was!

Thank you to our lovely hostess Emily of Nerd in the Brain for hosting this weekly coffee gig. You can click on her name to make your way to her blog where you can find the link to add your coffee talk, should you like! (I haven’t figure out yet how to get the link working on my blog as yet. Mostly because I’ve not really tried!)

Have a marvellous week and see ya’all next week!

Lotsa love,

Dale

Don’t Fence Me In – Friday Fictioneers

Posted on March 22, 2017 by Dale | 101 Comments

‘Tis a beautiful Wednesday. Sun is shining but still bitterly cold. Spring, eh? Riiiiight….

So, what better to bring our spirits up than to participate in Friday Fictioneers! This lovely image was provided by J.Hardy Carroll and chosen by our hostess with the mostest, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. What does this picture make you think of? Why not share that in 1oo words by clicking on the Blue Frog below and adding your version?

Get the inLinkz Code

Genre: Fiction (ish)

Word count: ALWAYS 100

Don’t Fence Me In

I need wide open spaces.

You can’t get around alone anymore.

So. I still need to breathe.

So do I. And I can’t here.

This is my home. I don’t want to leave it!

It was our home. We have no choice. We can no longer handle it alone.

I can’t even decide for myself now? Have I no say?

Yes, you can decide to stay. I, however, will not. I’m tired. I miss my family, who want to help us.

Tears in his eyes, his good side slumped to the now-defunct side. I know, It’s what we must do.

#WeekendCoffeeShare – Snowstorms, Work, and Hello Kitty

Posted on March 19, 2017 by Dale | 44 Comments

Hello, my friends. Welcome to this week’s coffee share where I am so late it is Sunday and it is five o’clock in the early evening and I’ve had just about enough coffee for my day. I have decided to splurge on a nice Kilkenny beer. However, please do not be shy, should you want a coffee or tea or hot chocolate, I will be more than happy to provide. There is also wine and some limoncello and aranciacello left so, those are options as well. I don’t want to ruin your appetite, so I am only offering some delicious Miss Vicky’s lime and black pepper chips.

I cannot believe I forgot to mention my Skype session with my friend Raye over in Portland, Oregon, last Tuesday. Should have been mentioned in our last coffee share. She is very special to me and we were way overdue. That said, we have decided that we are going to try for a monthly get-together! Should be wonderful indeed.

OK. So back to business! This week started off with work at the Golf Club. Monday was a nice day. We were basically there to set up for a trade show on Tuesday. A very physical day. Tuesday’s group people very nice. Their show ended at around 3:00 pm and we were able to start setting up for Wednesday’s event. The snow started slowly round noon. I had been there since 9:00 a.m and by 5:45, I was sent home. as they had called in another woman to help with the set up. To justify her being there from 4:00 pm, it was considered best I should leave. Lucky me! By then, the snow was becoming quite the mess. This was the road leaving the golf club, towards the highway…

Took me almost one hour to get home… a usual 15-minute drive. I consider myself lucky as I did get home. My boss and co-worker never made it! The boss got so disoriented leaving the club, he was driving towards the highway, through the golf course! When he realised he had no idea where he was, he got out of his car and walked back to the club, where he stayed to sleep. My poor co-worker managed to get to the highway but got off (probably near my house!) and parked her car in a gas station and slept in her car! I wish I had known because I would have gone to pick her up and bring her to my house…

Needless to say, all activities at the club were cancelled on Wednesday. I got a call at 7:30 telling me to stay home. This was another trade show and people were coming from far and wide so no choice but to cancel. Only person who did not get a snow day was Iain! Here are his steps out of the house!

After sitting at my desk watching the snow accumulate on the windows, Zeke and I decided there was some shoveling to do. Some. I have two teenagers. Just had to leave some for them, right?

Depending on the regions, there was up to 75cm (2.4 feet) total snowfall. Though I live on the “sunny side” of the street, it also happens to be the “gusty side”! I usually have six steps going down to my driveway. There were none to be seen.

This is fun

I’ll just watch you work

Only the top part was done

More views to give an idea…

Each of the boys did a section and even the neighbour’s son helped out… To think that two days later, there would be so much melted, is crazy!

I also got an order for a Hello Kitty cake for a two year old. So Friday night I baked the cakes and Saturday, I put it all together and decorated it. I had a dinner date with a friend Saturday night, so I offered to deliver it on my way. Otherwise, the client would have picked it up Sunday morning. Admittedly, depending on how late Saturday was, I wasn’t sure I wanted to have to be out and about at 9:30 am!

I have to admit, I was quite pleased with the end result.

Zeke and I went for a nice walk before I had to get ready for my outing. It was a glorious day but I underestimated the coldness. That sun was shining something fierce so I was fooled into thinking the temps were warmer than they were! As I had changed coats for one that is lighter, I had no gloves stashed in the pockets. Poor Zeke ended up with a much shorter walk! Will make it up to him this week!