#WeekendCoffeeShare – This and That and Overdue

Posted on April 24, 2016 by Dale | 29 Comments

If we were having coffee, I’d say it’s late… late for coffee, late in writing these posts, late in the afternoon… but if you want coffee, please, just say so, it would be my pleasure. I am having beer so will skip the caffeine. You may join me… I have wine or other spirits, if you prefer. I truly am accommodating.

If we were having coffee (or beer or wine or what have you), I would tell you that it has been brought to my attention – more that twice (Eric and Kathy, to name two) – that I have been very remiss in my writing. I do manage to write a weekly Friday Fictioneers, most weeks, just to say I am not “sans mots” (without words) completely. I cannot explain other than to say that life has totally gotten in my way and I have allowed it to come in and remove all the things that bring me joy, or mostly. That and I couldn’t seem to get my arse into my seat and my fingers to do more than click mindlessly through Facebook and whatnot.

I have been challenged by many things lately. I’ve been procrastinating big time on clearing out this house. I keep telling all a-ya’all that I’m working on it… Yeah. Don’t believe me. Until last week, I did a whole lotta NUTHIN’! Would start, get over-whelmed and then turn around and leave… Well. Finally, I started with Mick’s office. I was challenged by a friend (thank you, Pedro) and I figured if I went with the most difficult and emotional one, it would make the rest seem easy-peasy. Still not totally done because there are starts and stops but I’m not beating myself up about it.

This was just in the drawers!!! Lord have mercy.. the man was a pack rat (if not to say hoarder…) It is far from that now but still not quite where I want it to be. Once done – no, I am not done yet. I shall provide a decent photo, I assure you.

If we were having coffee (or beer, or wine or what have you), I’d share that my house has been World War Three since our return from Cuba (I promise, a post is forthcoming). I would like to run away from home, but that is apparently frowned upon. I am starting to understand why certain species eat their young. That is all I shall say for now. A moment of peace has reigned since Friday so I dare not disturb the gods… Thank you, again, Pedro.

Today, my lovely brother-in-law, Chris and nephew, Shane, came and helped the boys and me take down the Tempo. Willow (Aidan’s girlfriend), arrived just in time to help out as well… I am sure I mentioned the putting up of such structure back in November or December. Now the eyesore is finally put away. They are the ugliest ever but boy, when a foot of snow has fallen, or the temps reach -30C, I can definitely appreciate not having to scrape the windows or brush off the snow!

Yes… we did manage to fit the tarp in the bag!

If we were having coffee or – please see above – I would share that I am starting a new job at a golf club as a waitress. “Why, oh why would you choose to do that?” I have heard more than once. Well, this is what happened. A friend that I used to work with back in the day at Corby Distilleries, then at Elixirs, and with whom I’ve kept in contact over the years, a man named François Lachapelle, gave me a call when he came back in town. He had been working up north in Val d’Or for the past four years (we are talking in major black fly country…) and was now back home, so to speak. He told me that he was in charge of the restaurant of a private golf club and would I be interested in working for him? I told him I had zero official experience in service and he said “So?” Well, now… I was getting a little tired of talking to my stove. Never had much to say except to emit lovely scents on occasion… I was going a bit stir-crazy. I have basically, without any official conscious decision, chosen to do Shonda Rhimes’ “Year of Yes”. So, I said yes.

Our official first meeting of the season, for all the staff, in all the departments, was on Saturday at 9:30. We met the General Manager and President of the Board of Directors (well, us newbies did for the first time) and then each department head introduced their team. It is the 50th anniversary of this club and it has been (and is still going) under a major upgrade. Smells like a new building and pretty much only the exterior is original. All the inside has been redone. It was fun to see the veterans ooh and aah over the changes. For us newbies, it was, well. Wow, nice place to work!

As part of the restaurant staff, we had an additional meeting on the hows and whats and then the rookies were drafted to wash and wipe all the cutlery and count it. THREE HOURS it took! I have never seen so many knives, forks, spoons! And we were four doing it until even François came in to help. We ended up being 5-6 working on the task. All good. Done by 4:30 as predicted.

Is it silly that I am excited to start this new adventure? So many people are blasé about working in service. This is a private, classy club. I’m thinking that I am most lucky to have a start in such a milieu. Tuesday we learn the new computer/service system, Thursday is the official opening cocktail for the members and Friday and Saturday I am in training for the real job. I have butterflies in my stomach and love it. I think it is good to still get butterflies at the age of 52… don’t you?

I feel like I have oodles more to tell you but must stop now. I don’t want to bore you to death…

On Thursday we lost yet another icon. Prince. I loved his music. I loved what he represented. I leave you with my favourite Prince song…. Hmmm… even that is something… Try downloading a Prince video before we lost him. Was quasi-impossible…

#WeekendCoffeeShare – A Jumble of Things

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Dale | 51 Comments

Thank you to Diana from Part-Time Monster for hosting this wonderful group!

If we were having coffee, I’d be serving it in my brand-new café au lait bowl and pretend we were sitting in a Paris Café. Since we were pretending, the horrors of last night would never have occurred and we would feel blissfully safe and unconcerned, watching the passersby go about their business.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you how pleased I am with my sons who helped to clean up the yard and put away all the backyard paraphernalia. I’m sure Mick would have been pleased with the way we packed everything in the shed! There are still a few things to take care of, but the majority of it is done!

There was only one walk worth mentioning, and that was with my sister and her two dogs in her hometown of Varennes. I stupidly did not bring my camera and only took one photo with my phone! It was such a gorgeous day and we finished the walk with breakfast prepared by sister herself. Upon my return home, I noted the apple Fairy had passed again. Still don’t know who they are from!!

Varennes

Apple Fairy passed by

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I cannot believe that in November, my roses are still blooming… mayhaps not as wild and bright but blooming nonetheless! And one day, a shrub is on fire with colour and a small windstorm later, denuded!

Still blooming

On fire

Denuded

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that there are wonderful people out there, just willing to lend a hand or offer their time for no other reason than “just because”. My eldest, Iain wants to join the military so my sister’s neighbour, Aldo, who has appeared in this blog before, and is military man himself, offered to not only speak with Iain to explain the ins and outs of joining but also offered to bring him on a tour of our very small base in St.Hubert, so he could see and ask questions to the men and women on duty. There was a bonus as we met for lunch first at a small market with a food court right near said base and where many military folk go for lunch. As I was picking up my lunch, Iain and Aldo were chatting with a guy from the Air Force. All of a sudden, Iain’s choices widened. Will be interesting to see where this goes. I am beyond grateful to Aldo for taking the time to do this and for following up and offering to help him prepare for the interviews and whatever else he will need in the near future. Aldo, you are a prince amongst men!

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I was pleasantly surprised by the Whitehorse concert on Thursday evening. This duo, made up of the husband and wife team of Luke Doucet and Melissa McClellan, were something else to watch. Just the two of them, but with a few bells and whistles. Luke would get on the drum, beat out some beats and the beatbox would take over so he could move over to his guitar. Speaking of guitars, that last picture… shows, what I suspect, is his “baby”. It has such a raw sound that both my date and I were totally enthralled with.

I was especially pleased to have discovered a new talent (to me, anyway) as the opening act. Ms. Fiona Beven, a lovely English lass, has a voice that is a mixture of India.Arie and Corinne Bailey Rae. Just her and her guitar or ukulele… wonderful.

If you are not tired of me yet, I would then add a few random things. Anyone who sits and chats with me knows that I talk and talk and talk and subjects jump from one to another, to the point that, once I am alone, I wonder if the other person had a chance to talk and, did I finish any one subject? As an example: I just received my latest book purchase and cannot wait to start them. Assuming I shall find time to read! And I grabbed the jar of roasted pumpkin seeds and am aghast at how few are left! No matter how much I try to ration them, they will not last forever. Iain and I are huge fans. Truth be told, if Mick were here, there would be none. I had to hide the jars from him!

Latest arrivals

Ever decreasing pumpkin seeds

Oh. Em. Gee. In all my chattering, I totally forgot to mention that I started a new job yesterday! At my friend Tina’s suggestion, I applied for a Christmas Season Job at Pier 1. I figured it would get me out of the house and away from my stove and give me the opportunity to meet people and exchange, and, if I’m any good, sell them items! I’ve always loved their store (MY store, now!) and fell in love with their Christmas commercials from a few years ago. “Find what speaks to you”… what a brilliant slogan… This was one of them (hopefully the link works as all the others were made private).

Now that I’ve talked your ear off, so to speak, do tell me, how have you been? What have you been up to this past week? Truly, it’s my turn to listen, and I will gladly pour us another cup. Please do share!

Weekend Coffee Share – My First Attempt

Posted on November 7, 2015 by Dale | 83 Comments

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I had planned to participate in this most lovely challenge (though I prefer to call it, collection of like-minded souls) two weeks ago. It is totally nuts. I don’t really know what I was thinking and Saturday comes and goes so quickly that here I am at 6:00 pm writing because I just do not feel like cooking (I am a caterer and cook every day, almost) and my boys have both abandoned me (to be sure, at 17 and 16, they’ve much more interesting things to do than hang around with Mumzy on a Saturday night) and the house is quiet. Sounds like an opportune time.

If we were having coffee, I’d ask you how your week has been and what are your plans for the week-end. Will you be relaxing by a fire (though we’ve unseasonably warm weather) and reading a book, glass of wine in hand or would you be doing all that end-of-season gardening stuff that should have been done weeks ago? No, no, I’m not talking about me, I’m talking about YOU! I read recently that they say we should NOT rake our leaves. Who am I to argue with “they”?

I would say, that after making one of the meals for my clients (pardon my crappy picture, didn’t look that awful on my phone!), I did empty the pool of the extra six inches as I was counselled to do, had my eldest remove the extra leaves in said pool (my shoulder is out from doing it last week) and then called my lovely neighbour, Robert, who came and helped me close the bloody thing. I am still in awe, pretty much every day, of all the things Mick took care of. Sigh. Would that I had been a better wife and helped him more when he was around. I’d be feeling a lot less guilty and a lot less ignorant of all that needs to be done.

If we were having coffee, I would mention that last Saturday (when I wanted to post), I was blessed many times over. Mick’s buddy, Armen, came all the way from Laval, crossing two bridges, to come and help my boys put up the Tempo (sorry, this is an eponym for a structure that protects automobiles from the elements. It’s not the most attractive thing that exists, but once you’ve had one, you so appreciate not having to scrape ice or brush snow off your car before leaving the homestead!

I would also mention that I had three couples over for dinner : friends of Mick’s who have become mine as well – after almost 20 years, one would hope! We reminisced and laughed about Mick and his shenanigans. It was warm, fuzzy and special. I never once felt it was an obligation on their part to be nice to “the widow”. Sounds silly, I know, but when the main link is gone, one does not assume things will keep going along in the same fashion. That said, Iain, my eldest, came home from work early and had to torment the guests with his hot peppers, sauces, powder. He managed to get André and Bill to each try a little piece. Bill’s reaction was worth it. One must understand, Iain is a huge fan of all peppers with deadly names (à la Scorpion, Reaper, and the like) and, if he likes you, will cajole you into tasting one. André was lucky, he accidently swallowed his whole so would only feel the effects the next day! 😉 Bill, on the other hand, did what he was supposed to and chewed it before swallowing. I cannot help but show his reaction!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that my (almost) daily walks with Zeke keep me sane in times of chaos. I allow my mind to wander at will, many times seemingly totally blank, though I know I’m actually seeing how the foliage changes over the course of weeks, seasons; I notice the little things that normally I would probably step on callously, I smell the scents around me and hear the various birds. It is amazing how calming it can be to just put one foot in front of the other, walking for kilometres, taking photos, throwing sticks for Zeke and on occasion, running into friendly folk who are willing to stop and chat.

Sometimes, I’ll just stop in my tracks because a colour combo grabs my attention

Or, as in this case, the stark, leafless tree perfectly placed before another in full foliage, giving the former an almost creepy look.

Often on my walks, I use both camera and phone so I can Instagram images along the way – I’ve a friend in South Africa who has asked me to keep taking her along on my walks, as she misses her hometown. For you, Linsey! This particular image was taken by phone and by camera but for some strange reason, the phone one came out soft and fuzzy, giving it a dreamlike quality. I much preferred that look!

I don’t know how I ended up arriving at Parc des Coutances by the other side but it gave me a new perspective! Funny how I can cross that little bridge going in the opposite direction but never think of turning around just to take a picture. Things that make you go hmmm.

On my way back towards home, a squirrel was kind enough to give me the time to change lens and come a little bit closer – I kept Zeke in check, lest he scare him away before I got a good shot in. So kind of him (her?) to turn towards me for his (her?) closeup!

Later on this week, I decided to go out during the “Golden Hour” hoping to catch the good light but by the time I reached the destination, I almost missed it! Let’s just say that, next time, I shall choose a different one with more opportunities. This is walking along the Industrial area, towards the highway. Who would think this was right next to noise and traffic?

And, of course, I cannot very well keep talking about walking with Zeke without included at least one image of him! He is, after all, the reason I get up and take these wonderful walks!

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that sitting in a quiet house, on a Saturday night, writing my Weekend Coffee Share is almost, but never as good, as having you right beside me on my couch, exchanging your stories of your week. And then I would tell you that I truly have to get my butt into gear as I am a couple thousand words short on my NaNoWriMo so I must leave you now and get to it!

I wish for you a week filled with exactly the types of moments you wish to have!

***

I am such a doorknob! In my excitement of doing my first ever coffee share, I totally forgot to mention that the weekend coffee share is hosted by Part Time Monster

And that if you want to check out other participants’ stories, just click right here!