Fall Happenings 2017

Contrary to my post about summer 2017 being a wet one, fall in the area was quite lovely. It was a pleasure to continue with activities such as bike riding, golf, walking etc. late into the season.

There were a few late summer events that I neglected to mention in my previous post that I feel should be mentionned here because they were truly some of the highlights on the summer.

Events to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday occured in every province and territory throughout the year. The city of Ottawa (and neighbouring Gatineau, Quebec) hosted an abundance of activities because they are, simply, the National Capital Region. Many events were free, some were offered for a nominal cost or donation, while others were paid events.

Two events I thoroughly enjoyed were: La Machine and MosaïCanada.

La Machine – This is a fantastic visual combination of artistry and theatre! The creators use technology, creative movement, storytelling just to name a few…and the outcome is spectacular. The amount of people and talent required to bring this art from concept to reality is amazing and probably far more complex than my brain can imagine. Watching how it all came together was a true wonder. Be sure to see it if La Machine comes to your city.

Kumo

Kumo

MosaïCanada – This was not your average botantical garden. The “art” exhibited through this program was exceptional. It was a beautiful representation of Canada’s provinces, territories, peoples, culture and place in the world in vibrant colours. It was truly a “living exhibit” that warranted multiple visits to see the seasonal, natural change for each piece.

Dragons

Hockey 72

Puffins

Last fall, I crossed my last Canadian province off my list (only the territories remain)! I briefly visited a very chilly Winnipeg, Manitoba for work. While in the city, I enjoyed a tour of Canada’s newest museum: Canadian Museum for Human Rights. It is a somber yet hopeful place. There are many stories of sadness highlighted in the museum’s exhibit spaces but there is an effort to find a balance with stories of positive change in Canada and throughout the world. The best way to describe how I felt when I left the building is thoughtful. Not certain if it was thoughtful good or thoughtful bad…just thoughtful.

Museum for Human Rights

And I stood at the intersection of Portage and Main . This corner is well known as the true centre of the country. It is a pretty wildly busy place and smartly, the city of Winnipeg does not permit pedestrian crossing of the intersection aboveground. If you want to cross the road, you must do it underground. But the city also erected these handy signs to allow visitors to get the shot that says “I stood at the centre of Canada!” without having to dodge oncoming traffic. I, for one, very much appreciated the city’s forethought.

Source: MetroNews

So that is how 2017 ended. The shape of travel affairs for 2018 is starting to gel and will consist primarily of a lot of mini-trips (4-5 day jaunts). Needless to say I am looking forward to them already!

Summer – In Summary

Summer – it was the best of times, it was the worst of times…actually that last part isn’t true. It would be more accurate to say it was the wetest of times. That’s right. Summer 2017 will go down as being…well…soggy. Spring rains blended seamlessly into summer rains and I can’t begin to tell you how many outings were postponed or soccer games cancelled. And some days, the best approach was to say “to heck with it, we are going out anyway!”.

It must be kismet!

My last post was exactly one year ago today. Even when, over the course of the year, the idea of returning to prepare a new entry would come and go at various times, I would say to myself “Ya, ya, I’ll get to it later.” And not to be too clichéd about it, “later” never came simply because I would become distracted by one, ten or a hundred other things or I wouldn’t take the time to sit down and commit to the effort of writing. So for that, I apologize.

Cruising the Caribbean – St. Maarten/St. Martin

Port of call #1 – St. Maarten/St. Martin

This dual Dutch/French island has always intrigued me from afar…why, I am not entirely sure. Is it because the linguistic history of the two colonizing nations are so different? Is it because I admire the fact that the island has the same name on both sides of the “border”? I cannot say.

Cruising the Caribbean! Take 1

I was remiss in not preparing my post immediately following my recent trip with my husband.

We thoroughly enjoyed a 7-day cruise of the southern Caribbean – sans enfants! It is only the second time we have done this (travelled for this length of time while leaving the kids at home) and it was awesome! Don’t get me wrong, we love travelling with our kids but every so often it is wonderful to just be on our own. A huge debt of gratitude goes out to my sister for staying with our boys – for the second time. We certainly feel very blessed to know that our boys were in good hands while we were away.

The planning for this trip centred on our wedding anniversary. We started looking last summer just to get a feel of the places and pricing options. We stumbled upon a “last minute” cruise deal for May 2016 in August 2015. So we checked with our travel agent friend to say “is this for real?” and when she said “100% yes”, we said “here is our credit card.”