This place; this place!

Later – “Oh no, they don’t”!

More conversation with the support folks.  They’re sending us a new router!

Ali is a little, just a little, better.  I went to try to sort out the mechanics of boat-washing.  Apparently we have to take all and any boats to the very nice man at the boat wash; who just jet washes the outside.  So I fitted the little boat Kit into the car and we did that.

The weather became increasingly heavy and so, although I did go out to shoot, it was only about 2 ½ dozen arrows before spots of rain drove me indoors. 
Supper was legumes farcies au façon Niçoise.  And very tasty too.

Friday, 29^th.

A beautiful morning and a pretty good day weatherwise.  There is absolutely no internet now, although various messages turn up on the phones; I guess that’s the EE roaming at work.

Shooting twice today; I trimmed back the shooting path to 40 and then on to about 45 yards.  One can but hope!  I think I need to get hold of a stop net; a few too many incorrect sight adjustments are ending up in the barn wall.  It looks like massive woodworm! 
And then I cut the lawn in front of the house for good measure.  The thyme is past its best now although there are still patches in full flower.  The French Marigolds which we planted opposite the house are carrying on.  They need dead-heading.  The little roses in the same place really aren’t doing very much I’m afraid.

As I eventually walked out to shoot the first time, a doe and her two this-year’s fawns watched me from the other side of the middle ridge.  We faced each other for perhaps five minutes before the doe led them off. 

Ali is trying yet another way to clarify the parents’ estate…

When I went to shoot again later in the day I was once again met by a deer beyond the ridge.  This time we really seemed to communicate, in the way that people do with horses in Natural Horsemanship; nodding, mouth movements, mock feeding. 

It must have been a full five minutes before I gave up and started to shoot.  I shot an end of six arrows from 30 yards with the deer still in place, perhaps 20 yards to the left of the shooting line and level with me.  I went to collect my arrows and as I turned the deer was nonchalantly grazing in the middle of the shooting path at the 20-yard mark before it rather leisurely loped off across the front of the house.  Wonderful.

I faced up to my small apprehension about canoeing and took Kit (– the boat, not Ali) down to Yves’ place.  Denis was there and helped me to launch.  It took until just out past the islands to settle me down but I had confidence in the secondary stability of the boat throughout, it’s so wide.  A bit of rearranging the fishing kit and we were fine.  But no fish!  Still, it was very good to be back on the water, although getting out of the boat was hard work. 
Home late as the dusk set in only it wasn’t (well, it was, but not just then) it was a torrential rain fall.

Sort-of-smoked haddock for supper, with a mixed bean supper.  Tasty but needs work!

 

Saturday, 30^th July.

To Grace, Arundel, on my own as Ali is still recuperating, for Gerald Trineer’s Thanksgiving communion and interment of ashes.  He died during lockdown and Wanda has waited until now to arrange his send off.   Quite a lot of mention of the Masons – of which Gerald was a long-time and very proud member it seems - and a piper. 

I had a chat with the piper afterwards; he plays a “plain” style with little use of grace notes and some alternative fingerings.  And he played Highland Cathedral.  Why did I not bring my e-pipes?  Well, mostly because we actually came away in something of a hurry if you hadn’t noticed 😊.  That’s the task for winter 😊.

Some shopping in Tremblant on the way home; still no internet so I made up a brine for a piece of salmon to smoke later.  How long do you leave it brining? 

And then a made-up recipe for meatballs; 1/3 finely diced white onion, sauteed to soft; 1/3 minced pork; 2/3 minced chicken; much thyme from the lawn; 1/3 finely chopped chestnut mushrooms; salt and pepper.  Make into dessert spoon sized patties, fry to crusty brown on both sides.  Simmer with a quantity of Marinara sauce.  Very acceptable indeed.  I just needed something “recognisable” to eat.

The gloaming settles; the deer wander across the meadow.  Ali tried the internet once more; Eureka! 

(We are very blessed).

 

Canada - at last!

 Saturday 23rd.

Awake very early but then things sort of slowed down!  We seemed to have a lot of time somehow.  Anyway; the taxi arrived ¼ hour earlier than planned and whisked us and our prodigious amount of luggage into Bristol in good time.

The trip to Heathrow was smooth, the trip through Heathrow Check in and security was busy but well organised.  There was a new protocol at Security; you had to take any belt off, even a plastic one which I was wearing (haven’t been able to use a belt to hold my slacks up for years!!), and jackets, and empty your pockets, but otherwise you left everything in your case.  The device simply identifies anything of potential interest in that bag.  It spotted my nail scissors with 1cm long, rounded tip blades, but that was all!  Remarkable.

We had bought sandwiches at the bus station in Bristol (more of those later!) but nevertheless decided to have a bite at Fortnum’s.  Same choice as before; tasty.  An impeccably, casually-dressed chap and his equally well-turned-out partner circled the bar, trying to anticipate seats emptying but, in the end, like all of us, had to queue.  Ah!  The nearly-lost British art of queueing!

Eventually, time to head for our gate; overheard muttering from North American travellers, “This is the worst airport ever; Heathrow.  THE WORST!  I’m never travelling through here again.”  Hmm hadn’t been our experience I have to say.  But the lack of power for the very long escalator at the end of our journey might have made me change my mind a little…..

World Traveller Plus; wide seats, good recline, fancy blankets and airline-provided noise-cancelling headphones; very tasty food with metal cutlery.  What’s not to like?

40,000 feet above the very western edge of Canada, a huge thunderhead to the North, covering an area the size of an English County, reached above us before flattening out against some invisible glass ceiling.  And then we entered thick cloud from the Saguenay onwards to Trois Rivieres, eventually punctuated by shafts of unbearably bright sunlight.   

A very smooth landing and easy out of the cabin.  A waiting mobility wagon driver offered us a ride; who’s going to decline that? 

Automatic immigration booths; and then the sandwiches!  I’d declared the cheddar cheese, and the gin and the biscuits for Wanda and the marmite ( 😊 ); they were OK.  We mentioned the sandwich given us on the plane; “What kind of sandwich?”  “Chicken”.  Tapping of computer keys. “Sorry, no”.  Prepacked bundle into the bin.  And then Ali mentioned the sandwiches from Bristol Bus station; we rummaged in the Parcs Canada Rucksack for the optimistic triangles. “Ah, I’m sorry, there’s no way they’re going to make it into Canada”.  Another shame-faced trudge to the disposal bin. 

I didn’t mention the Archery tackle; it just didn’t seem to me to be a “weapon” in the way that the information listed weapons.  Was I wrong?

“You’re good to go.  Thank you for your honesty!”  Really?  Endless lock-down watching of Australian customs officials berating travellers for not realising that duck tongues were food!  Was I going to risk the ridicule, nay the fine?  There was never a choice – once we’d remembered the sandwiches that was…..

Downstairs, clutching our P95 scribbled immigration slip – which again had refused to take my photo; is it the now-white beard?  And then the wait for luggage.  A busy hall; lots of flights landing at once.  Would the bows make it through?  Would anything make it through?  The much be-ribboned and rainbow belted shoe case made it almost straight away!  My big case sometime later; then Ali’s case still later.  (Slightly anxious now; should I head back up to Customs to tell the young lady about the bows; should I?)  But, finally, the garishly “Fragile”-labelled Bow-case arrived!  Relief.

Out then into the queue for the taxi and on to Wanda’s for overnight; 30 degrees and really high humidity. 

Winston – the dog – stood at the top of the inner stairs completely bemused by our arrival.  “What is this? Who are these people”?  And then his nose-memory latched in, and the tail thumped, and the muzzle nuzzled…. “I know you”.

We knew that Wanda and Rod would be out when we arrived; what we didn’t know was that they thought that our flight – along with many others – had been cancelled.  So, when they came home, our luggage in the hallway a bit of a surprise!

A long day and oblivion at about 10.30 Canadian – 03.30 UK time! (Little black cat, hungry for company, came and shared our beds at various times; not unwelcome with the newly installed air conditioning!)

Sunday, 24^th.

Up at about 07.00 Canadian, then to Grace for Morning Worship with Peter T leading.   Finally, to La Minerve, a rather expensive shopping trip in the village and home – Second Home that is.

Just whacked I’m afraid.  Karen and Denis (and Roxy) dropped by on their way to play cards with Stephane and Sylvie; they’re well now.  Apparently, Denis has been in touch with M. Lalonde and although he has time to do our fosse, the pipes are on back order!  Oh well, it looks like next year after all. 

The thyme has been left to flower for the first time to our knowledge.  It’s beautiful and so good for the bees.

 

Salmon and many-bean salad for tea.  And then I fell asleep on the bed and Ali fought the tiredness until about 11.00 pm local.  Sleep was not long in coming again.

Monday, 25^th to Wednesday, 27^th.

Writing on Thursday morning at 08.42; I’ve somehow “lost” a day.


The place is, of course, just as glorious.  Sometime over the last three days I have bought a discounted field archery boss, shopped; changed one of the panes in the porch for a fly screen (not that the weather’s particularly hot – about 24-26 degrees in the afternoon; been super-frustrated by our internet which will link to our phones and our Kindles but not to our lap-tops; shot once or twice a day at twenty and then, with increasing confidence, at 30 yards, only hitting the barn once in a little while ☹; failed to obtain a permit for boat washing – since the Mairie was shut last time I was in the village….

In the midst of all this, Ali continues to fight the Estate accounts.  It’s so very frustrating.  

 And, to add to it, she’s come down with a cough and a sore throat and a fever; not so badly but badly enough to be debilitating.

Is this Covid?  It’s suspiciously alike to it.

However; the peace and serenity of this place soaks into our bones. 

All will be well.

Thursday, 28^th

See?  I told you so!  Long chat with the tech person at Access Communications; we had a cable in the wrong port of the router – which confused their system (as you might expect) and then the router settings were a bit adrift as a result.

But now (for now and after about an hour!) things work!

100 years

 

Saturday 16^th to Friday 22^nd

Goodness gracious.

Lots and lots of heard work on Saturday preparing both the worship for Sunday 17^th Café Church (Martha and Mary; tread carefully Peter!)  A service largely prepared by the Mothers’ Union, so it went very well.  Great hospitality by Mel!

Later in the day, Olana and Adam arrived and our lives are forever changed!

And later still Bryony came over and we raised a glass (and later several more glasses) to Daddy's memory on what would have been his 100^th Birthday.  A fine man; much missed.

Monday 18^th

A visit by Emma Watson – not that one – from the Council Refugee support group to vet us and explain what’s available.  They really seem to be doing a wonderful job.

Tuesday, 19^th

Morning worship – good to see James back – then much work on the estates (mostly by Ali it has to be said) before a very helpful ECO-Church meeting in the afternoon.

Wednesday, 19^th

To Barrow for Parish Prayer, then into town to occupy the bank!  A very nice lady who had met us in reception and parked us in the old Premier account area (none of that anymore!) took pity on us after 45 minutes and came to rescue us.  We were in the delightful position of distributing Ron and Mary’s legacy.  It took an age; from 11.45 to 14.45 by which time we were ready to fight the technology at Yo Sushi!

Home to more E-transfer, which failed I’m afraid.  We (and I in particular) are frazzled.

Thursday, 20^th.

And the day didn’t start too promisingly but three people in particular snatched victory from the jaws of chaos.

My medicines have been causing issues.  The Prescribing hub have not paid attention to my email of ten days ago.  Thankfully, very late in the day, one wonderful receptionist at the practice here took it upon herself to get the Medics to countermand their previous ruling, to agree to issue the scrip and to chase around to find a source of supply.  Thank you.

Secondly, we have struggled to make an overseas payment of the bequest to Guy.  A thoroughly conscientious and helpful man at Premier Banking likewise took it upon himself to sort that out.

Thirdly, a lady at Lloyd’s – which used to be Daddy’s bank – found and read out for us the statement for a missing month in our records.

So, with the Lady in the Branch the day before, such help and kindness has made life lengthy but effective.

 

Thank you all.

 

And SUCH legacies!

Friday, 22^nd

OH, so very busy.  10.39pm and Ali is still tied up with Church finances.

I have it easy!