Summer 2007 in Canada

Highlights of my month-long visit to Canada...

Jen, Ben and I all flew to Canada on May 16th via three different airlines and three different routes! Ben went back via Amsterdam while Jen and I flew across the Pacific, meeting up in Atlanta where Steph joined us for the final leg to Montreal. In their typical fashion, Delta had overbooked the flight and was offering "compensation". The girls remembered their father's coaching and raced to the desk to put our names on the list! We ended up flying via NorthWest Airlines through Detroit to Montreal, arriving about two hours later than planned, but with a travel voucher for $400 valid for a year in our hands! However, due to the change, and the fact that I had a very tight connection in San Francisco the previous day, my luggage didn't arrive until the next morning...which was the day we drove to Gananoque, Ontario for our niece Lindsay's wedding! Thankfully my bags arrived just in time to repack and set out on our way!




























The wedding was delightful, most of the Bourque family were there from Alberta and the day dawned bright and sunny! It was a perfect occasion at the beautiful Glen House Resort right on the St. Lawrence River in the 1000 Islands! Congrats to Brad and Lindsay!










Steph, Kathie and Jen















Ben and Jen








I spent a week in Southern Ontario at some of my favourite haunts with old friends in Mississauga, Burlington and Niagara-on-the-Lake. Steph drove up from Auburn, Alabama with boyfriend, Lou, to work for a dermatologist at his clinic in Oakville for part of the summer. On the way north she received the exciting news that she had been accepted into medical school at Louisisana State University in New Orleans, starting in early August!







Joan and Kathie
Royal Manor
Niagara-on-the-Lake

Downtown
NOTL



















Karen and Kathie at
Vineland Estates
for lunch








The weekend flew by, Joan returned to Texas and I took VIA Rail back to Montreal in time for Jen's graduation from McGill at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 31st. The day was not pretty...dull, gray, drizzly and chilly! However, four of us were there to cheer Jen on as she received her M.A. in Religious Studies: Steph had flown in from Toronto, we brought Mary in from St. Lambert by taxi and Ben and me.

Jen processing in the rain to the graduation ceremony on McGill Campus









Steph and Jen

Steph, Mary
Jen and Kathie




















Jen and Ben

I had the occasion to join the Board of Directors and volunteers from the Greenwood Centre for Living History on their annual day trip in early June. We crossed the Ottawa River on the ferry from the Hudson side and spent the day in Oka, first touring the beautiful Church there with a wonderful animated local guide, Rosemary, then wandering around the old part of the town along the river, seeing where various North American Indian tribes had their specific plots of land and farms. Descendants of those natives still reside in Oka today. All my life I grew up with the view of this pretty parish church across the river and only this year did I ever step inside it!

Interior

Riverside property
in Oka, Quebec

Pat joined me for a few days at the end of my visit on his way to a business meeting in Cincinnati. We stayed at cousin Helen's B&B at Riversmead (my great-great-grandfather's home), enjoyed lunch on the patio at Willow where summer is at its best! On our last evening, we entertained our newlywed niece, Lindsay, and husband Brad along with Jen, Ben and Steph for dinner at a posh restaurant in Old Montreal, Les Heritiers. Ahh, summer in Canada...

Patio dining
at Willow Inn
Hudson, Quebec

View of the Ottawa
River ferry from
Willow Inn patio

Until next time...jumpa lagi!