I left off in my cross Canada ramblings having departed from Toronto, loaded up with Erin’s Musser M-55 vibes and a bunch of my mic stands which had been sitting in a basement for the last 4 years. I had a leasure drive to Montreal where I stayed with my great friends Anne and Julian and their cutie Tessa. They are wonderful and seem to have become my default hosts when ever I’m in Montreal. The next morning Anne scooted out to St. Viateur to grab 3 dozen bagels. 1 dozen to eat for breakfast (there was a remainder there) and 2 dozen to take back with me to my Montreal bagel loving family. The sweet smell of fresh bagels emanated throughout the car for a good portion of this days drive. I’m not sure what Furnando the hamster must have thought about this. Oh wait, he was asleep the whole time.
My driving goal for the day was to finish off the the epic driving portion of this adventure and land on the Long Reach, Kingston Peninsula, NB.
There Erin awaited my arrival… Grace and Norah had left earlier that day to hook up with their cousins to go see Anne of Green Gables on PEI. As soon as I crossed over into New Brunswick, a wicked electrical storm hit. I had to stop as the visibility was terrible with the pounding rain. When it let up I hit the road and the sky quickly opened up. One thing about New Brunswick is the sky is incredible. The variety in texture and colour when you look up is amazing.
Erin, Bill and Geri (Erin’s Mom and Dad) greeted me when I arrived. I’ve rolled into the Long Reach many-a-time before and felt elated to be there… but this time was different. I was arriving in the Maritimes which was about to become my home one again. I left the maritimes in 1987 for Montreal. Almost a quarter of a century later (yikes!), I return. Never thought of it that way. Makes me think of what I’ve done in the last 25 years! A LOT!
What better way to arrive in a region that will become your next home, than by family with big smiles on their faces: My Mother and Father in law, the next day My Mom and Dad, my kids, my nieces and nephews, my sister (visiting with her family from Bangladesh), my brother and their partners. What a welcome.
Now that my drive is done I’m wondering where this blog will go. It’ll certainly go in a direction that will reflect and comment on the new home Erin and I have chosen. We move in on August 2nd and there are a million little details that need to be figured out and sorted away before really feeling grounded. Actually I take that back. I already feel grounded. Grounded by familiarity; grounded by Family.