If you had a choice: rain in the first half of your trip with good weather for the ending, or, good weather first, followed by rain, which would you pick? Though I subscribe to the best for last mantra, I'm happy we started off grand. It was not a disappointing introduction for the kids, for us too. If all else fails going forward, we still remain satisfied.
Of course, we don't have a say in how these things play out. But I do want to note that we have been exceptionally lucky. The trip -- a first for a family of five now -- has been a fantastic adventure, with plenty of high points along the way, played out well because the weather cooperated.
But this morning we've been warned: it's going to rain out there. Or maybe drizzle. Wetness for sure. Well fine: I have work to do rewriting another PR piece on Like a Swallow (what can I say, I'm fussy!) and so I settle for another breakfast at the hotel. Oatmeal no less!
And the kids -- they are oblivious to weather. They are drawn to outdoor activities and they press for us to move forward with their favorite bouncy stuff. We're agreeable, though I'm taking along an umbrella. I have little confidence in the weather at the moment. Those clouds look mighty thick: like they may want to stick around for a while. A long while.
I take the metro and once again we meet up just outside the Biodome. This time it's the whole gang of five plus me. And guess what -- despite an internet page claiming otherwise, the bouncy castle thing is deflated and closed. We ask at the Biodome, we try to find some person of great authority -- no luck. No one knows. A shrug, a shake of the head.
Are the kids disappointed yet again? Well yes and no. Only Snowdrop cared deeply about the activity and she was content to switch focus. Sparrow is at an age where he still sort of rolls with it and Sandpiper? Well, he bounces around plenty without the aid of an inflatable castle.
We go back to the Olympic training field (this used to be the center of Montreal's Olympic Games back in 1976). Sparrow bounces on a trampoline in his own gentle way and Snowdrop finds new ways to strengthen her arm muscles!
We're nearing the lunch hour. There's an outdoor cafeteria just by the entrance to the Botanical Gardens and so we head there. I'd say the food choices made several of the kids very happy.
Good lunches make good energies flow.
And since we are so close, so close to the Gardens, wouldn't it be a splendid idea to show at least a little of them off to mommy and Sandpiper? They missed it yesterday.
Yes! It's unanimous. In we go.
I'm itching for a picture of the kids against a background of color. That same color that we long for in early spring. They oblige, the gardens oblige, the weather obliges.
And now be patient with me. I'm posting a half dozen pics from our walk through this corner of the Gardens. You have to understand: I grow flowers. I love flowers. I love watching kids move freely between flowers. So, six photos, in a row.
Okay, I cheated. That was seven.
Note in that last photo that we have had another piece of blooming luck! We hit the peak peony blooming season! I had to horn in on the act here. I set up the camera and the two big kids and I had some fun doing a timed release photo. I like this one best:
I'll leave you with one last glance at the peonies, with a dab of iris. I mean, just sublime!
Our dinner tonight is just for a group of five. Adult five. We were to be six, but a friend's flight got delayed. Wait, the traveler did arrive in the end? Yes he did. Alright, five, but eventually six.
The kids are home, us big people are trying out Maison Publique.
Wonderful food. Small plates, so we have to share. Baked oysters, asparagus, seafoods, wild mushrooms, tartare this, tartare that, halibut, pork, pasta dishes, desserts. We ate it all.
When my daughter's friend finally does arrive (straight from the airport), I have a chance to sit back and just take it all in: these guys have all been together, and therefore part of our extended family since college. So for over twenty years. (Here's the original threesome...)
Their banter has come closer to being the banter of older adults (rather than very young adults), but not anywhere near that of my generation. The energy level is high, the conversation far reaching. From the personal, to the political, to the inconsequential. Always with humor, because really, if friends can't help you find reasons to laugh, then you're in trouble.
And then the evening ends. Well, not for my daughter and her friends, but it does for me. I walk in the drizzle of a Montreal evening...
... and I think -- knowing when to say goodnight is perhaps the most important lesson.
Yes it is.
Goodnight,
with so much love...
