Saturday, September 5, 2009

We're Back

We've been gone on a wonderful 3 1/2 week holiday trip out East, having left on August 11.  We flew to Hamilton, Ontario on the 12th, and Jim's sister and brother-in-law picked us up at the airport.  On the way home we had lunch with another sister, and she joined us in going to Tina and Kryn's home near St. George.  

That evening they hosted a wonderful gathering of relatives, including Jim's other sister and her husband, Jim's brother's 
widow, nephews and nieces, and great nephews and nieces.  We had a terrific time becoming reacquainted with them, and even meeting young people we hadn't met before.  I discovered another organist and music lover in one of his nephew's boys, so the following morning Tina took me to their nearby home and I was treated to a regular concert by Bryan.  That young man has FOUR organs in their home.  He also gave me a copy of one of my favorite pieces of organ music, Bach's version of Now Thank We All Our God, which I had lost recently.  Our few days with them were a relaxed and joyful beginning to our holiday.

That Friday Kryn and Tina drove us to Niagara Falls, where #1 daughter lives with her three children.  Our oldest grandson is entering his final  year at York University in Toronto, but he was able to come home for the weekend, which was a special treat as we had not seen him for four years.  In the meantime, he changed from a lanky teenager into a young man.  We so enjoyed him and his budding sense of humor.

The weather was brutal in Ontario--terribly hot and humid.  Fortunately we were able to spend time in K's backyard pool, so I give you here the three generations of "bathing beauties."  Our sweet granddaughter is in her second year of nurse's training, following in Mom's footsteps.

Her second son, a high school senior, had just had his first stint as a DJ, which due to circumstances, turned out of be a less than stellar experience.  Better luck next time, Zack!

Monday morning Jim and I left early from N.F. and travelled all the way to Vermont to visit my cousin Walt, my dear favorite cousin who is closest to me in age, and who was a close companion of mine when we were both in college.  I hadn't seen him since 1976, so it was just a huge treat to visit with him and to meet his vivacious wife Evelyn.        
 They have built a beautiful home in rural Vermont and furnished it with antiques and art.  Evelyn has impeccable taste, and their home is a testament to her abilities.  They have a marvelous view of the Green Mountains, although during our time with them there was a lot of haze in the atmosphere, I did get one good picture.  I hope they get the urge to see the Rockies, and come visit us in Alberta, sooner than we went to see them in Vermont!

By the way, I bought a new digital camera before we went on our trip, a Canon PowerShot G10, and have been very happy with it.  There's a one day photography workshop this month at our local Arts Academy, and I plan to sign up for that.  See if I can improve my skills in that area.

I'll tell you more about our holiday in my next post.  We're calling this the "cousins" vacation, as we are only just started on that particular theme.  More to come....

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