A day at Morin Heights

 I'm so lucky to have such fun cousins! James, Jane and Maddy live in Nashville but have a cottage about an hour from here in Morin Heights, Quebec. Above is cousin Rick (from Ottawa) with James as Nyla (from Tennessee!) looks on.

 Jane and Nathalie took a spin around Lac Notre Dame in their pedalo.

 Matt and Nyla got along great!

 Ooh, while we were at the water, a family of mergansers swam by. Fourteen babies. Oh my!

Nice to see first cousins Maddy and Matt get together for a bit.

 Richard enjoyed some "me" time with the water. So calming!

 Before dinner, Jane showed off her new chairs and a new sport she invented: chair yoga.

I'm so blessed to have such a great family. Most people don't even know their cousins. I'm lucky enough to call mine friends.

BBQ just over the border...

 

My cousins from New Hampshire were driving to Canton, NY to attend their daughter's graduation from  St. Lawrence University. They asked if we wanted to come down for a bbq and a visit. We jumped at the chance! (It's only about 1.5 hrs south of here.)

We picked up some beer, once we crossed the border. I loved the label of this IPA craft beer, and it tasted pretty good too.
 

 Ellen and Bill are on the right. Ellen's mum Renee, beside her is my mother's first cousin.

 After the bbq, we walked around the grounds of the university. Lovely place. And very empty since all the kids except for the graduates were there.

 Richard had a wee stroll on one of the open spaces.

This brand new residence was built with funds from Kirk Douglas who is a graduate of SLU.

Back at the grocery store, I just had to take a pic of one of the signs. Kinda funny.

We saw this lovely old sign, formerly neon, at a deserted motel just outside of Massena. Love old signs!
All in all, a fun and crazy afternoon. Going to another country for a barbecue! Love it.

Happy birthday Richard x 2

I made a cake for my cousin and my boyfriend, both cat lovers and both named Richard.

 It was a so-called "naked cake" where there is no icing on the sides...so little fondant cats could be seen coming in and out of the layers.

 Bonus: my other first cousin from Texas, Len was in town too. He doesn't have any cats but that's okay.

 The two Richards with their kitty cat birthday cake.

 Happy birthday Richard 1 and 2. You are both terrific guys!

Happy Chanukah

 It's Chanukah and time for latkes. Richard's really got the hang of doing latkes!

 I was running around all day but tried making the brisket in the slow cooker. And it worked out great!

Richard lit my grandfather's menorah on the left and I lit a candle on my late parents' menorah. Lovely to have family mementos and great memories to make the holiday special.

Memories of Ben's Delicatessen

 If you're from Montreal (or have ever visited there), it's likely that you visited Ben's Delicatessen. Or maybe you wish you had.

 Ben's was downtown Montreal's hot spot for many years until 2006. I have many memories of tall smoked meat sandwiches and Ben's special drink, that kinda tasted like melted cherry Lifesavers. When I was young, my dad's office was right next door to this institution, so we visited it often.

 I had cousins visiting from the U.S.A. over the weekend and we ended up taking in the show at the McCord Museum, devoted the the history of Ben's Delicatessen.

A fun exhibit with clever displays (famous quotes were on the ketchup and mustard squeeze bottles) and a great place to take my visitors to ... what a fun day!

To read more about the exhibit, click on this CBC link. 

Canada Day Parade in Alexandria

 My cousin, all the way from Texas, was visiting us up here in eastern Ontario. Perfect time to introduce him to our local Canada Day parade in Alexandria.

 It was super hot, like 30+ Celsius so we found some shade before the parade began.

Pierre Lemieux, our federal member of parliament, sailed by in his convertible.

Then, all of a sudden Federal Liberal party leader Justin Trudeau appeared! 

Major photo op ladies and gentlemen! Fun or what?

 The rest of the parade was really fun. Little horses pulling tiny wagons.

Gussied up tractors, festive for the season.

Loved this float with historical Canadians aboard...

A few more horses, this time, full-sized ones!

My cousin Len posing in front of my place of work, in beautiful downtown Alexandria.

 After the parade, time for ice cream!

Perfect ending to a perfect day. Happy birthday Canada!

Dear Mum

 I had a very cool Mum. Yesterday would have been her 89th birthday.
That's her on the left in the shades with her sister Sylvia in Saint John, NB in the '50s.

Mom rode an Indian motorcycle and was one of the first women radio operators in WWII.

She died in 1997 and I miss her every day!

Back to the Old Neighbourhood

 I was  at the dentist today in Montreal and decided to pop in on my old next-door neighbour. She's so great. We had a great visit and she even gave me lunch.

I lived right next door to these great neighbours, from age 5 to 22. I can sill picture my grandfather sitting on a similar chair, watching all the kids playing on that quiet street. A great place to grow up.

Tomatoes and Visiting

 My cousin Jane has collected vintage tomato-ware for some twenty or so years. When we both lived in Toronto, we'd spend time on the weekends searching for them at flea markets and antique sales. I was lucky to find this teapot and one salt shaker at the Lachute Market last September and even happier that both pieces were stamped "Made in Occupied Japan."

Jane and her husband James and daughter Maddy now live in Nashville but keep their cottage up in Morin Heights, QC. Richard and I met them for lunch last weekend, halfway between our homes in Lachute. And I was able to give Jane her tomatoes as a belated Christmas gift. She was tickled pink, or maybe red!

Happy Birthday Sis!

Today is my sister Marci's birthday.

 She was such a cutie!

My mother loved to dress my brother and sister up. I think my brother actually had leiderhosen that Mom brought back from Austria.

My sister is a great big sister!

 She was the coolest because she played guitar.

We all wanted to be like her. There's my friend Roberta holding onto the guitar case!

Looks like I'm having a grumpy birthday here. My brother is trying to whisper something to me. My sis looks angelic.

Mom won these dogs at bingo or bridge or something. I got the brown guy, Marci got the black poodle. Kinda funny because now she has two black poodles (real ones, that is).

I love this photo of my dad and my Uncle Gus and Marci. Not sure of the date.

 Happy birthday to the best big sis in the whole world!