Hay Bay and Ottawa, Family

I’m thankful for family.  I’ve lost my mother, father and brother, the aunts and uncles I was close to.  There are cousins in Canada and the US and Britain I love but we rarely connect, like high school friends, in that way. The immediate family was close.  Now I’ve got these nephews and my sister in law. It’s pretty special.  Precious really.  I’ve friends but family is different.
I like Tanya too.  Andrew’s wife.  She really was the most beautiful bride. I like her family too. Her mother and sisters are truly wonderful while her father, the fisherman, has this great sense of humor.  Meagan and Alan are off to England soon because Meagan has some post grad studies.  I love Alan to bits, the baby in the family and here’s Meagan whose mother and sister I met and thought the world of.  Down to earth friendly people.  They’re all special.  I’m a bit like my cockapoo Gilbert who likes whenever the pack increases.
Dinner at Urban Turban. I did love the tandoori.
It’s comforting.  Reminiscent of growing up in Winnipeg.  Lots of projects and people dropping by. Adell, my sister in law, is calling and texting family and plans are being made here in Ottawa and for Hay Bay.  Meals are an event.  We gather as a group and go out to restaurants. I do that with the god kids and Laura but here its the norm.  Large group restaurant meals and communal eating.  I like Graeme’s ideas. I got to hear his reasoning on a matter today driving in the car. I liked listening to Andrew talk of academia and work.  Alan is writing papers for university. All the boys are bright, really really, bright like their dad and mom.  No need to explain or repeat yourself. If anything they’re light years ahead and I’m doodling along trying to keep up with the jet stream of where a thought has taken off too.  Good for me.  I work with so many people who do drugs, especially those who smoked dope and they’re slow or can’t grasp a paradigmatic shift.
Adell, formerly a teacher and principal has insights into education. We discuss politics the needs of the whole of society not just the elite.  We’re off to the National Art Gallery later.  Adell and Graeme have left me minding the dogs and house while they take a load to the storage locker and pick up more packing supplies.