Adell made fabulous meals as usual. She even gave a deep felt grace at Easter dinner. We had a delicious dinner of meat and cheese fondue. It was good to be together as a family. Best of all, my brother Ron was at the head of the table. Mom and Dad, were they alive today, would have been so proud of him.
I remember a colourful gorgeous African lady I met at an Azerbaijan Pro Life conference with Dr. Phillip Ney. She said to me, “We Africans judge the wealth of a man by the number and success of his children.” Ron’s three sons are riches beyond compare. Adell and he are amazing parents. I remember them being so when the children were small. Everytime I spoke with them or visited, their children were centre of their lives. They set the finest example and these men today are the finest of citizens.
The youngest, Alan, doing his masters in child psychology, is highly sensitive and has a huge heart. I suspect he gets that more from his child teacher loving school principal mother. Ron while really big hearted was always more the scientist and pragmatist. With my engineer father he’d work on cars. At school following in his wake I’d hear of his exploits in the sciences. He was a really smart guy, a real problem solver and truly courageous. I’ll never forget him riding his little Yamaha 125 cc motorcycle across the country and stories of the ride through northern Ontario bear country. He and Adell met in church and their love was radiant. Then the amazing children came along with all their individual characteristics.
Alan's girlfriend, Meagan accompanied him. I’d met Meagan before and really liked her. Very bright and beautiful. I liked her mother and sister too. So she’s pretty great to have around. Allan stands taller. That’s what’s important. Eva is his cockapoo and she adores him. Somehow Eva likes the game chase and she’s got such an attitude. Allan, or anyone for that matter calls her, and she sits down waiting patiently for them to come to her. Allan walks the other way and she suddenly bursts into speed to be with him. Then she cuddles with the other love of her life, Adell. Gilbert is probably the third love of her life but Pepper is definitely now in close competition. The girls have to stay together.
Graeme today is an engineer. He’s working in nuclear energy in Deep River after spending his first years in work with the fusion energy plant in Ottawa. He makes movies for a hobby. I find this fun given my father’s love the 8 mm movie camera. He had one of those little machines which cut and spliced film. Add to that my Dad’s scottish ancestry and thriftiness resulted in a collage of half minute clips of our childhood in the home movie days. There’s Ron playing hockey, then mom getting out of the car, then the dog chasing me in the toboggan. Lots of movie camera as glorified still camera which brief clips of people waving at dad and his movie camera. Ron continued with still pictures which he and Graeme do. But Graeme actually makes movies. Straw films are productions with actors and props and sets and lots of lighting. He even enters them for competitions which are by the looks of it a whole lot of fun for everyone involved.
His new puppy, Pepper was the centre of attention this Easter weekend. She’s just adorable. The baby Hay that everyone couldn’t get enough of. Well, the adults, she bugged the big dogs with her bottomless energy nipping at their ears, romping and chasing.
Tanya, Andrews beautiful, talented (and sometimes truly hilarious wife) brought Conan the Labradoodle with them. He burst galumphing on the scene happy to be a part of everything delighted with the little dogs, and people, and life ,the universe and everything. I saw Tanya first. In the background Andrew was walking his robot. It’s quite something to see. A rover that follows him by remote control. He’s using it for some obtuse purpose. It’s part of his masters work at university.
Ron meanwhile was working on his huge saltwater tank which with fish and crabs and shrimp and coral looks exactly like the reefs I scuba dived on in the tropics. It’s like model makers, a true work of art but not just something one visits for a dive, it’s there all the time. At night the whole aquarium takes on a different character. I”ve always liked fish tanks but never made it from the fresh water tropical fish tanks to the complex chemistry environment my brother is fascinated with. Both of us have chemistry in our background. His took him to agricultural, food science. Now he enjoys managing this amazing underwater life ecosystem.
The weather was ambivalent while I was there, a sunny day that cleared away any remnant of snow followed by icy sleet and a scattering of snow that left the next day. Hay Bay was free of ice. Ducks and geese and swans passed the property beyond the beach. Tulips and crocuses were showing. Ron was watching the temperature and hoping it wouldn’t freeze his buds which had taken all the hot weather as indication to come. He’s planted an orchard of fruit trees. With the dogs we walked about the property looking at the trees and enjoying the best of civilized country living.
We visited Bath and Loyalist Cove Marina. We shopped in town a bit. We visited Ron’s aquarium store, Total Aquatics. I liked the pharmacist we met across the street. I’m used to doing this maintenance foraging alone but here it was a way to visit with Ron, or Adell or Alan. The car rides were more tourist outings especially with Ron who loved to show me the special views he’d found. Adell pointed out the goats. I liked the burrows. Endless sky too. Friendly rolling hills.
When it came time for me to go my plane was cancelled due to high winds. I was disappointed. It meant patients wouldn’t be seen and work would be backed up. Colleagues would have to cover. There’s so much work to get away for even a few days and so much work to make up when I come back from even a few days. And Ron was tired. I felt badly about putting him out. There’s only so much reserve. I know it’s lovely to see guests come but it’s always been even as good to see them go. And here was Ron having to deal with his brother and his CTScan appointment and all that anxiety.
I got away in the morning and Ron got in early for his CTScan so it all worked out. I even made it to the afternoon clinic so my colleagues and patients weren’t too put out.
All’s well that ends well.
Easter at Hay Bay was a special family time even if everything went to the dogs.
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