Family Catch-up - by Ingrid

2013 was a particularly hectic year and we have not done an update since January 2013. 
- Text mainly by Ingrid. Photography mainly by Terry.

Valentine Dance

Team Valentine

 

Heather, Stephen, Miriam, Geoff

Terry, Ingrid, Grande Amante, Luisa

Feeling the baby kicking

Ingrid and Stephen

Terry and I have been very involved with the planning and organising the Marriage Encounter Valentine Dance which was held on February 9th, which also happened to be in the middle of Miriam and Geoff's packing up for their move to their new house the next weekend.

The dance was a great success and for us an opportunity to spend time with family and friends.

We didn't know it at the time but this was the first move of four during this year.

Heather and Stephen's ANNOUNCEMENT

The Announcement

We finally ate the cake

Two days after Stephen's actual birthday on February 22 we all got together for a birthday lunch at Mark and Luisa's house. Rob and MaryAnn, Heather's parents, were with us too and when the birthday cake was presented it said Happy Birthday Daddy - their announcement of a baby on the way. While Claire and Jonty were staring mournfully at this magnificent cake ( when are we going to get some??  ) the adults were running around the table congratulating the new parents to be and each other.

Easter Egg Hunt

There must be more

Another one

Jamming

Alan, Miriam (3 hands), Judith

At the end of March at Easter, Geoff's parents, Alan and Sharon, came to stay  at Geoff and Miriam's new house for the first time. We had a wonderful Easter lunch that day followed by a very exciting Easter Egg hunt in the garden and later with a jamming session in the basement.

Heather and Reinier Visit

Two weeks later my brother Reinier and sister-in-law Heather arrived in Canada from Scotland. Heather was involved in a conference but Reinier spent time with us in Holland Landing. We did manage to get together with most of the family and Heather at Miriam and Geoff' home on the Sunday before Heather left for Ottawa to do some research. Reinier endeared himself to Claire and Jonty, allowing them to explore animal sounds on his cell phone.

Listening to animal sounds

Reinier, Heather outside LMM home

I had taken a few days off the following week and spent a very enjoyable day with Reinier at the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum). The next day Reinier and I went to Peterborough from where he took the bus to Ottawa to meet up with Heather. The next weekend we did the same arrangement in reverse and on our way back to Holland Landing we stopped at Leaskdale, a little hamlet north of Uxbridge where Lucy M Montgomery (Ann of Green Gables) lived for, I think, 9 years. The house was locked but when we went to the church just down the road we happened to meet a member of the LMM Society who offered to go home to get the keys so that we could have a look. A small group of Leaskdale residents are working hard to restore the house and church where LMM's husband was the minister and from where she did a lot of her writing. Heather has done some research into LMM and the visit was quite special for her.

Caitlyn's Birthday

We celebrated Caitlyn's first birthday in April. It was a fun day and had a surprise visit from Luisa's Mom, Connie, who was on her way to Portugal and had enough time between two flights to spend some time with us.

Welcome Gabi

Gabi getting Claire-love

Our next big event was the birth of little Gabriela Elizabeth on May 3. Like her brother Jonty she decided to come three weeks early. Her second name Elizabeth is after Aunty Bessie who was very pleased with the choice. On June 2 we had a " Meet  Gabi " event and apart from it being another family gathering it was a great opportunity to meet some of Mark and Luisa's friends from Peterborough.

Sean and Judith Move

At some point around this time Judith was finishing her exams and preparing to move to a one bedroom basement apartment in Mark D's sister's house in Toronto. This would make commuting to her first chiropractic placement much easier than from her place in North York. If I remember correctly Sean had moved to his new place in the city by then -what I remember most from that was unloading furniture in the rain .

Toronto had more rain in 2013 than I can remember in the 15 years we have been here - many floods and rivers in our garden. I think around this time  Stephen and Heather also announced that they were looking for a house to buy.

Father's Day Work Party

Mark M, Mark D, Sean, Stephen

On Father's day we had a work party at our house to shingle the garden shed. This had been planned on two previous occasions but rain (what's new?) and a downed tree forced us to change the plans both times. Finally it got done and it looks great! Thank you, all!

Aunty Bessie R.I.P.

On June 30 we sadly said goodbye to Aunty Bessie. She died peacefully at the age of 97 while praying with our friend Pat who had been staying with her when she became critically ill. Aunty Bessie didn't want to go to hospital or Frail Care and she died in her own bed as she had always hoped she would. Although our hearts were sore, we were grateful that her death was so peaceful. She was a most amazing , happy, content and spiritual woman and will always occupy a special place in our heart. Her name lives on in our sweet little Gabriela Elizabeth. Terry left for South Africa the next day and spent two weeks sorting out the estate and arranging the funeral and a memorial service at the retirement village where she lived. He managed to see some of our friends who also very kindly gave him a place to stay while there. For photos and more comment see Elizabeth (Aunty Bessie) Sessler 1916-4-27 - 2013-6-30 R.I.P.

Claire's Birthday

Terry missed Claire's third birthday party because he was in SA as well as my aunt and uncle's 60th wedding anniversary which we celebrated at the annual Holst picnic (my side of the family in Canada).

Visit from South Africa

Anne and Barbara

On July 15 I met my friend Barbara Miller who came to spend a month in Canada staying with another friend. While she was still planning the trip Barbara connected with us and I was able to take some days off work to spend time with her. Barbara is one of my oldest friends from my university days; we shared our first apartment away from home and although we had lost contact for quite some time it was so easy to pick up the thread again, it was quite amazing. The next week Barbara and her sister Anne came to spend a few days in Holland Landing. We took a trip around the Holland Marsh, went to Peterborough for a day and visited St Marie Among the Hurons. Barbara does beautiful beadwork and Newmarket happens to have a well known bead shop, That Bead Lady, which we visited too.

Heather and Stephen Move

Heather and Stephen moved into their new home on August 1. Terry and I went to help them the next day. It is a beautiful century home close to the hospital where Heather works and not even 10 minutes drive from Stephen`s work which means that it is also really close to Mark and Luisa.

Ingrid's Birthday

Discovery Harbour

Musket drill

On my birthday, Terry and I went to visit Discovery Harbour in Penetanguishene. We had planned to take more time off around that time but by then we knew that Terry`s work was coming to an end and we thought it would be better to have a break then.

Retirement - sort of

September 6 was Terry`s last day at GE and he officially retired. This is not going to be the end of work however. Terry has taken some courses for additional certifications and has registered his own company with a view to doing quality management and ISO consulting. It certainly does feel like the end of an era for us - and the start of a new adventure.

Baby Shower

The next day we had the baby shower for Heather and Stephen in Peterborough with a get to know the down-town scavenger hunt arranged by Luisa.

Peterborough Liftlock Boat Cruise

On Sunday we went on the Liftlock Cruise courtesy of Mark and Luisa - watching Jonty was a delight.

Gananoque

The day after, Terry and I went on a three day tour to Gananoque and Thousand Islands.

Osprey Squatters nest

We did a Thousand Island boat tour

Sky Deck Selfie

St Lawrence from Sky Deck

...and viewed the St Lawrence river and islands from the Sky Deck

The Socialist Pig Coffeehouse

...and had some great meals and coffee and walks around the picturesque town of Gananoque. We can recommend The Socialist Pig Coffeehouse.







I had taken the rest of the week off too  and when we came back we spent it doing some planning and talking about our new "state of life."

Lachlan James. Ta-da!

That weekend we were back in Peterborough babysitting Jonty for Mark and Luisa`s annual Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. When Stephen and Heather arrived for dinner on Friday evening Heather announced that she was maybe going into labour. During dinner it became obvious that she was definitely going into labour and we had Heather bouncing off the walls with excitement while Stephen appeared to be in shock ( not surprising as this was three weeks ahead of due date).

Lachlan James, Daddy Stephen, Mommy Heather

Stephen had arranged for somebody to fix their hot water heater which had stopped working and another company to install new shutters the next day; now it seemed that they would be spending their time at the hospital having a baby. We changed our arrangements so as to babysit Jonty at their house and supervise workers and by the time that was all done Lachlan James was born on September 14.

Lachlan meets his cousins

Grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins all descended upon the hospital for the next two days - much noise and activity to the consternation of some nurses but Lachlan took it all in stride and slept through it all.

More birthdays

Next weekend we were again back in Peterborough (maybe we should move there) for Mark`s birthday - family, friends, more children -about 50 people in all.

The day after it was Miriam's birthday celebration which we celebrated with breakfast - all the McCanns slept over at the two houses.

Thanksgiving

Cousins in a wigwam

On October 13, a whole 3 weeks later, we were back at Stephen and Heather`s house for Thanksgiving which they hosted with contributions to the meal from everybody and, especially, Stephen who, contrary to the Canadian tradition of turkey, made the most delicious lamb roast and ham. Nobody complained.

After the huge meal we all went for a walk in a nearby parkland where the kids found the remnants of somebody's wigwam. Scouts?

The rest of the year

Life slowed down as we settled in with babies, Terry's studies and preparations for his consulting business and my ongoing work. 

Reading the rhyme

In the beginning of December we celebrated Sinterklaas, Terry wrote his Six Sigma Green Belt exam and of course... more birthdays. 

Jonty got a fishing rod

Jonty turned 3, preparations for Christmas and trips to Winnipeg ( Luisa and kids) and SA (Mark for Pieter Grootes' wedding) kept us all busy.

Christmas and The Ice Storm

On the night of Dec 21-22 an ice storm hit Toronto and surrounding areas and created havoc, loss of power for more than a million people and roads that were blocked by fallen trees. We were lucky - although we could not get out of our driveway for a day and one of our trees split in half and crashed, we still had power. 

Ice Beauty in our back yard

Miriam and Geoff and the girls came to stay from Monday onwards as they lost their power and by then their house was getting too cold. The plan was to have Christmas here instead of at their house but plans were reversed again when their hydro was restored on Tuesday. Many families still had no power during Christmas, some even beyond New Year. 

Christmas Dinner

Geoff's parents came from Ottawa and I think it is true to say that I have never had such a tender and succulent turkey as the one Geoff prepared that day. 

The next day Terry and I spent the day with Stephen and Heather and her parents, Rob and MaryAnn, at their farm at Lafontaine. The trip from our house to theirs is about an hour and thirty minutes and the scenery was just too beautiful. Being further north, while they did have some ice , they did not have the devastation but rather a lot more snow.  



Stephen took Terry for a ride on Rob's new toy along the local snowmobile trail. As Stephen was driving Terry managed to take some video footage of the beautiful trail.

Winter stroll

Lachlan asleep on his sled

That night Stephen, Heather and Lachlan came to our house and stayed with us. The next day we all went for a walk with Lachlan all bundled up on the sled - he slept the whole time.

On New Year's eve Terry and I went to a dinner and dance with friends at the parish hall.

Happy New Year everybody!!

Happy Thanksgiving - 2008

To all our Canadian readers, Happy Thanksgiving. (This was a card we received from friends of ours - Brenda and Claude.)

As I said in the blog before last (September 28, 2008 Canada votes,) my family and I have much to be grateful for since coming to Canada, and much for which we are indebted to Canada and Canadians: subsidized education (elementary, high, college and university), hip replacement surgery, post-surgery unemployment benefits, the cancer treatment and other healthcare benefits we have received - to name just some of our blessings.

This Monday is Thanksgiving in Canada - a month earlier than in the U.S.A. Our family has taken to this Canadian tradition like ducks to water - or should I say Canada Geese? All at Kwa-McCann take this opportunity to thank God for all the blessings of the past year. 

Every year up until now Ingrid has been the hostess for the family Thanksgiving Dinner, but this year Geoff and Miriam have invited us all to have Thanksgiving at their place.  I can tell you, Ingrid can't wait. :-)

I found this really cool website that talks about the peculiarly Canadian Thanksgiving: "Proud Canadian Kids."

Our parish bulletin printed the following "Prayer composed by a Native American."

O Divine Gift-giver,

I stand beneath the endless waterfall

of your abundant gifts to me.

I thank you especially for all the blessings of life,

the most precious of all your gifts to me.

I thank you, ever generous One,

for clothing to wear,

for food and drink to nourish my body,

that you have bestowed upon me.

I thank you for the many joys of my life,

for family and friends,

for work that gives to me a sense of purpose

and invests my life with meaning.

I thank you as well

for the sufferings and trial of my life,

which are also gifts

and which, together with my mistakes,

are among my most important teachers.

Grant that I may never greet a new day

without the awareness of some gift for which to give you thanks.

And may constant thanksgiving

be my song of perpetual praise to you.

Father, a needy one stands before you,

I that sing am that one.

Native American Omaha Indian

Happy Thanksgiving

To all Canadian readers, Happy Thanksgiving, though I guess by the time you read this, Thanksgiving will be long past.

In Canada this long weekend is known as Thanksgiving. Like most other students away from home, Stephen and Judith have come home for the long weekend. Today Ingrid made us an amazing turkey dinner with pumpkin pie and home-made cranberry sauce. During the meal we each had a turn to tell the rest of the family something that we were especially thankful for that has happened in the last 12 months. We all agreed that Judith's response to her chemo was the real biggy. Other things to be thankful for included admission to Queen's University (both Judith and her boyfriend,) assurance of a job for Stephen when he finishes university next year, and Sean's job progression over the last year. I nearly included the Springboks' Rugby World Cup quarter final win over Fiji today after giving us all a huge fright by allowing Fiji to score two quick tries with only 14 men, but decided that wasn't quite in the same league of personal thanksgiving.

So what has happened in the six weeks since my last post?

In a nutshell:
Judith has moved into res. at Queen's University in Kingston,
Stephen has gone back to Queen's for his final year,
Sean has cracked a bone in his foot,
Luisa (Mark's girlfriend) has come back from Holland to Toronto and started her Master's,
Mark came back with Luisa, just for a week,
Heather (Stephen's girlfriend) has left to go to India for two months,
Miriam is working full-time on finishing her Master's,
Terry and Ingrid are now taking care of Judith's guinea pigs,
and, of course, Opa came to visit for 12 days at the beginning of September.

Calabogie
Ingrid and I had booked to go back to Calabogie Lodge for a week at the beginning of September and we invited my father in law in Holland (everybody calls him Opa - Dutch for Grampa - his name is Joop) to come out and join us. You can link to the photo album I put together from the links panel on the left. While there we did a one day outing to Ottawa, going to the Museum of Civilization in Hull. The highlight there was probably the IMAX movie on dinosaurs.

On another day we drove to Algonquin Park, one of Canada's most famed national parks - some would say the most famed. At 7725 sq km it is roughly 20% of the size of Holland (41 526 sq km). Seeing as Joop needs a walker to get around we chose to do the Spruce Bog Boardwalk as the most accessible of the trails. See the photos in the album.

The other big thing we did that week was eat. Every evening Joop hosted us to dine at one or another restaurant in the area. It was great. The closest we came to a fast food chain was buying the odd cup of coffee from a Tim Horton's outlet while we were driving.

On our drive back to Toronto we went via Kingston so that Opa could visit Stephen and Judith at their university town. While there, surprise, surprise, he treated us all to lunch which the "poor" students took full advantage of.




Autumn colours
Last weekend Ingrid and I took another drive up to Algonquin Park to view the fall colours - not only at the park itself but also along the beautiful drive there.

Not far from the park we stopped at a place called Henrietta's Pine Bakery to buy sandwiches for lunch in the park later. Now Henrietta is a very South African name and one of about five flags flying outside the store was South African so we could not resist asking some nosey questions. Sure enough, the store is run by a South African couple from Nelspruit and Pretoria who came to Canada two years before we did. Henrietta was the aunt who started the store many years before. Their wares did not disappoint. The carrot cake was the best we have had since coming to Canada - in no small part because they make the icing with cream cheese like you are supposed to. Here is a link to a review of the bakery.
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