My Vacation, Part II
(Since Ben threatened me with Internet Extinction if I didn't write more soon)

On the other side of Canada, one will find a large forest called "the Maritimes". Etymologists tell me that that means it has something to do with water and oceans. My eyes tell me that it means it's full of trees and people I love.

In the few days I was there, I was blessed with the hospitality of Jen&Norm&Noah, and Mitch&Mel&Maren&Malcolm. I got to do (almost) all the things I liked to do in Moncton... Saturday morning at the market, Chapters with Sara, church service at the Pool, breakfast at Dora's with Jen and Jill, and Curry with the Marshalls, and the Superstore with Mel. It almost made me wonder why I ever left...

At the very very end of my summer I found myself in Ontari-ari-ari-o. There was much to be done in that particular province. First and foremost, I got to see my precious l'il niece and nephew. Infact, I didn't just get to see them, I also got to talk to them, and hug them and read them stories. I found out that the kid's show "Blues Clues" has a new (and more handsome) host, and that it is possible to memorize Dr.Seuss's "Bartholomew and the Ooblek" in only 127 readings. I found out that
walking to the mailbox can take a really long time when it's important to discover, pick up, examine, play with and carry home all the leaves, rocks, flowers and bugs along the way, and that goodnight kisses from little lips can make me want to cry.

I also found out that while eating sushi rolls in Korea is a pleasant experience, eating sushi rolls in Ontario will land you in the hospital for a day with a number of painful and unpleasant symptoms. Only, I forgot that I'd eaten the sushi until AFTER I got home from the hospital...where the doctor had told me, "It's either gas or appendicitis. Go home. If it gets worse, it's your appendix. If it gets better, it's gas". After 2 days of it not getting better, but not getting worse, we figured it was the sushi.

While in Ontario, I also went on a little road trip. I drove down to Brockville (city of my youth) and Kingston. In Brockville, I got to visit my wonder-friend Jay. He taught me how to spit when I was in highschool. Neither one of us have honed our skills lately. I guess we're growin' up. Still, it was fabulous to see him, and to finally meet his girlfriend. In Kingston, I saw Gord. We used to spend all day every day together when I was in highschool, but I haven't seen him in nearly 10 years. We went to the pond and caught frogs, then rode the ferry back and forth across the bay. It was just like old times.

I also had the joy of going with my sister and her kids to "The Farm". You know how there's always one place that you think of when you think of your childhood? A place where you can close your eyes and picture it so clearly that you can almost smell it? Eddie and Eleanor's farm is that place for me. Eleanor even spent the day before we got their baking loaves of fresh bread because "Janice liked my bread when she was little." And let me tell you, I still do! We had such a good day. We all climbed into the back of the truck and drove out to the bush to feed apples to the cows, and pet the new calf 'Silas'. We climbed hay bales with the kids, and ate pickled carrots with lunch (how I'd missed them).
And all the while, we got to visit with Eddie and Eleanor. I don't know how they've managed to stay the same, even though I've added 23 years since I lived there...

It was such a strange summer holiday. It was full of so many things I could never do if I still lived in Canada, and may never to again. It was peppered with so many hugs of greeting, only to be salted with so many tears of goodbyes.

Sorry, I'm getting a little sentimental. I think it's Diana Krall singing in the background and my cat sleeping on my lap that's making me too mellow to write anything perky. Anyway, that was my summer, and I loved it. Thanks to all who made it so wonderful.