It seems strange a whole week has passed since I last posted. It feels like a lifetime. This time last Sunday we were happily visiting my Canadian cousins, catching up on nearly thirty years of news in a few hours. It was wonderful to realise I still held a place in their memories and photos, even though their children and grandchildren have never met me. The new generations drift further apart no matter how much we try to keep the threads of family together.
It was good to be back in Canada, even if time was painfully short. It felt like home. The sun was hot, the purple and blue New England Aster were a perfect counterpoint to the vibrant yellow of the goldenrod. It seemed fitting the latin name for goldenrod is solidigo canadensis - something our host didn't know. She saw her colourful bank as merely untamed weeds, including the wild grape vines which ran down to the creek. I didn't like to mention how they might support her chest in times of trouble while the grape leaves could give her food a Grecian feel.
There is something about the smell of Ontarion grapes which is quite unique. I have never found it elsewhere. Another cousin's husband had to leave early to tend to his harvest - making ready to produce the local wines the area now specialises in. Crops and harvests have changed since I lived with them. Then the grapes went to large wineries, now those have gone and locals make their own wines. Good ones too if our tastings that afternoon were anything to go by.
It felt wrong to pass by the offer of supper and more conversation, but as the light faded we drove along the Niagara River to watch the calm waters and marvel at the beautiful homes built along the shore line.
The following day we crossed over the border again to view Niagara Falls and experience them from the Maid in the Mist - or Smurfs in the Mist as Chris christened them, because of the blue ponchos everyone was given to wear.
Journeying close to the base of the waterfalls taught me so many different things. The sound of thunder which grows louder as you sit and listen to it. The overwhelming mist which envelops you as you get closer and closer to point of droplet fall. You can see, you cannot hear, you are immersed within the waterfall and there is nothing else. I have so much more to add to my River of Life story now the Falls have shown me part of their reality.
Niagara Falls the town was so different from how I remember previous visits. I don't think it was just the beautiful flowers and impressive night lights from the skyscrapers. Maybe it was the ability to take our time and sit and watch the water for however long we wished rather than trying to do everything there was to do. It was so good to come back and find everything better!
Afterwards we wended our way south along the Niagara Gorge, stopping to admire the whirlpool, having lunch at a farm stand, then experiencing the streets of Niagara on the Lake - my first visit, made all the more special by tea in pots which tasted as tea should!
Dinner that night was at the Seneca Casino - a fantastic buffet for $18 each and $9 from the slot machines to take away with us. The final visit of the evening was to experience the Falls from the American side. Few people, a barmy night and coloured lights shining across from a Canadian tower onto the Horseshoe torrents. It was breathtaking to be so close to the fast-flowing rapids and watch each droplet cascade over the edge. A perfect end to a wonderful day.
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Sunday, 2 October 2011
Sunday, 25 September 2011
A quick wave from the other side of the pond
As I mentioned in my last post, I am currently touring the East coast of the US with Chris and our two, long-term holiday partners, Jacce and Pete Jeffreys. In fact, "Jeffrey's tours" have taken us around the West Coast of America, Spain and several other sites within the UK.
We were visiting some friends in Fredericksburg last Sunday and Nicole asked me how we'd all met up. It was all down to Jacce's boss getting married in 1980. I wanted to go and see "Hot Gossip" a very riskee dance group from the Kenny Everret show on BBC1 who were appearing in a Birmingham night club. Jacce agreed and soon afterwards, we decided to share a holiday to Scourie in the north coast of Scotland followed by a week in Balmacara near to the Kyle of Localsh where the ferry used to cross to the Isle of Skye. We survived two weeks together knitting and playing bridge and have spent every holiday together since. Between us we've produced seven children, so our holidays for over 20 years in Cornwall have been both noisy and memorable. Next year, when we're back in Cornwall, it will be a beach holiday for the next generation who will be nearing his first birthday!
Returning to America, while Chris has been taking photos of policemen's motor cycles and railroad tracks, I've been searching for herbs. Nicole said she'd been told her native dandelions were poisonous, yet I found our usual dandelions on the "grass" next to the White House in Washington. I also found some violets growing around the base of a tree in the White House grounds and an American conker which is now stashed in my suitcase!
New York was fairly devoid of green - even the trees along the street looked sick and weedy- but Central Park in the rain was wonderful. I even found a first year burdock plant - but it was too wet to take a picture!
Now we've left the cities behind for a while. Today is a family day with my cousins in Fonthill, Canada. It's strange to think that I could have been either Canadian or American if my Grandfather had not returned home to Stratford on Avon from his job as a logger in Winnipeg to fight in the Warwickshire Yeomenary during the First World War. He saw service mainly in Egypt and Galipoli, but shared something in common with my other grandfather - they had both ridden the length of the Rheine at some point during the war!
Tomorrow we shall be visiting Niagara Falls, then on Tuesday we travel south again to Boston through the Adirondacks. I shall be looking for more plants along the way.
We were visiting some friends in Fredericksburg last Sunday and Nicole asked me how we'd all met up. It was all down to Jacce's boss getting married in 1980. I wanted to go and see "Hot Gossip" a very riskee dance group from the Kenny Everret show on BBC1 who were appearing in a Birmingham night club. Jacce agreed and soon afterwards, we decided to share a holiday to Scourie in the north coast of Scotland followed by a week in Balmacara near to the Kyle of Localsh where the ferry used to cross to the Isle of Skye. We survived two weeks together knitting and playing bridge and have spent every holiday together since. Between us we've produced seven children, so our holidays for over 20 years in Cornwall have been both noisy and memorable. Next year, when we're back in Cornwall, it will be a beach holiday for the next generation who will be nearing his first birthday!
Returning to America, while Chris has been taking photos of policemen's motor cycles and railroad tracks, I've been searching for herbs. Nicole said she'd been told her native dandelions were poisonous, yet I found our usual dandelions on the "grass" next to the White House in Washington. I also found some violets growing around the base of a tree in the White House grounds and an American conker which is now stashed in my suitcase!
New York was fairly devoid of green - even the trees along the street looked sick and weedy- but Central Park in the rain was wonderful. I even found a first year burdock plant - but it was too wet to take a picture!
Now we've left the cities behind for a while. Today is a family day with my cousins in Fonthill, Canada. It's strange to think that I could have been either Canadian or American if my Grandfather had not returned home to Stratford on Avon from his job as a logger in Winnipeg to fight in the Warwickshire Yeomenary during the First World War. He saw service mainly in Egypt and Galipoli, but shared something in common with my other grandfather - they had both ridden the length of the Rheine at some point during the war!
Tomorrow we shall be visiting Niagara Falls, then on Tuesday we travel south again to Boston through the Adirondacks. I shall be looking for more plants along the way.
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Seeking more sun
What can one say? The sun is shining and promises to remain for the entire weekend. We shan’t be around to enjoy its Spring warmth as we’re jetting off to sample the delights of Spain for the first time with old friends.
It seems strange to be travelling to a country whose language I don’t speak, yet I’ve probably met more Spanish speakers than English speakers in California, but most of them were bi-lingual. Spain is one of the few countries which refuses to pander to immigrants. They will pay for you to learn Spanish, but won’t provide interpreters or provide any information in other languages.
This seems a completely different way of thinking from our own, where Equal Opportunities legislation impels everyone to provide access to information in someone’s mother tongue. As I sit at my office desk, I frequently receive emails asking for Polish or Punjabi speakers and several of my colleagues have Russian speaking clients. We have an office in Spain, so fluent Spanish speakers are easily accessible, but I remember interviewing a Spanish doctor once who wanted to be trained as a psychiatrist and her English was the worst I’d ever heard, so I’m not sure her country’s ethos supports those who wish to work abroad.
Richard and Laura visit Spain regularly to train with their skydiving colleagues. Richard studied Spanish at school, but like his siblings and father, did not enjoy languages. This always makes me sad, because I loved learning French, German and Latin, even writing poems in French during a long holiday in Le Mans!
Kathryn has also travelled there before me, staying in her boyfriend's Grandmother's apartment. They loved the heat and wonderful sea food, so I'm looking forward to trying some paella and other dishes.
I’m wondering what herbs I’ll come across in Spain or whether the golf complex we’re going to will only nurture grass rather than green in general. Whatever I find will be an adventure and I’ll share some of the pictures when we return.
It seems strange to be travelling to a country whose language I don’t speak, yet I’ve probably met more Spanish speakers than English speakers in California, but most of them were bi-lingual. Spain is one of the few countries which refuses to pander to immigrants. They will pay for you to learn Spanish, but won’t provide interpreters or provide any information in other languages.
This seems a completely different way of thinking from our own, where Equal Opportunities legislation impels everyone to provide access to information in someone’s mother tongue. As I sit at my office desk, I frequently receive emails asking for Polish or Punjabi speakers and several of my colleagues have Russian speaking clients. We have an office in Spain, so fluent Spanish speakers are easily accessible, but I remember interviewing a Spanish doctor once who wanted to be trained as a psychiatrist and her English was the worst I’d ever heard, so I’m not sure her country’s ethos supports those who wish to work abroad.
Richard and Laura visit Spain regularly to train with their skydiving colleagues. Richard studied Spanish at school, but like his siblings and father, did not enjoy languages. This always makes me sad, because I loved learning French, German and Latin, even writing poems in French during a long holiday in Le Mans!
Kathryn has also travelled there before me, staying in her boyfriend's Grandmother's apartment. They loved the heat and wonderful sea food, so I'm looking forward to trying some paella and other dishes.
I’m wondering what herbs I’ll come across in Spain or whether the golf complex we’re going to will only nurture grass rather than green in general. Whatever I find will be an adventure and I’ll share some of the pictures when we return.
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