Just a little endorsement ...

Jim and I are just finishing up the last of our holidays for this year.  We like to take a week in the fall - it's our favourite time of year. 

This year we decided to check out the Rideau Waterway in eastern Ontario - a series of lakes and locks that make up the navigable waterway between Kingston and Ottawa.  The waterway has closed for the year, so we didn't see anyone on the water or in the locks, but it was impressive and beautiful nonetheless.  There's just something about water that mesmerizes me.

Don't worry - I'm not going to go into a lengthy description of our little getaway. I just want to rave a bit about one of the places we stayed.  It's Millisle B&B in Merrickville, about an hour away from Ottawa. 

Millisle is owned by Debra and Hugh MacLennan.  Debra and Hugh are wonderful hosts and Debra is an extremely talented chef.  I had read reviews that suggested arranging dinner at the B&B instead of going out.  We were belatedly celebrating our anniversary and it sounded like a good idea, and it turned out to be one of our better ideas. 

Debra sent some sample menus ahead of time and we were asked to choose what we wanted - we each had to have the same appetizer and dessert but could have different entrees.  We narrowed the choices for appetizers and dessert down to two each and left it to Debra to decide which would better complement the meals we chose (chicken for me, beef for Jim).  She made the right choices and made us the most wonderful dinner.  I can't say enough about it - it started with an unexpected nibbly in front of the fire while we enjoyed a glass of wine chosen by Hugh and went through three courses of expertly prepared and beautifully presented food.   Hmmm ..."food" just doesn't seem to adequately describe what we had - "gourmet delights" might do it.   We barely restrained ourselves from licking our plates.

And it wasn't just the food - Hugh chose two quite different red wines to go with our meals and his choices were spot on.  We had earlier mentioned that we don't like to spend a fortune on wine, and he came up with mid-priced wines we might just have to add to our wine rack - they were definitely worth the price.  

Breakfast the next morning was better than your average B&B breakfast, and gave us a good start to the day.

Our room was very nice - not large, but it did have a sitting area in the "turret" and a huge bathroom (a nice treat after the miniscule bathroom we had in our room in Perth the previous two nights).  The common areas were lovely as well, and Hugh encouraged us to make use of them - right after we checked in and settled in, he urged us to come down for a (complimentary) glass of wine or beer.  We were joined by the only other guests staying that night, and we spent a lovely hour chatting before heading back to our room to read in our little turret before dinner.

Millisle would be the perfect place for two or three couples to stay and gather for a dinner prepared by Debra and served with such grace by Hugh.  With or without other couples, I'm hoping we can get back there reasonably soon.

And time gallops on

Again, it’s been a long time since my last post.  I mentioned to a friend the other day that the days just slip away, one after the other, and before I know it another week or month or – soon – another year has passed.  There always seems to be something to remind me just how quickly time passes and – sadly – how little I have to show for it.

It is easy to moan about the quick passage of time and the shortening of the days of my life – and believe me, I do moan and whine about it.   But it’s not all bad news.  Just think how quickly special occasions come around, or how quickly bad things pass.  It feels like I book holiday time and – whoosh – the first day of my holiday has arrived.  There are definitely some advantages to this middle aged problem of galloping time.

And speaking of galloping time, it’s almost time for that most wonderful time of the year – and I don’t mean the start of school* (although I have to say that the Staples commercial is one of the best around.  When my son was younger and the beginning of the school year rolled around, it was indeed the most wonderful time of the year).  I mean Christmas, of course – that most wonderful of seasons.   The music, the images, the trees, the lights … it seems to roll around faster every year, and I look forward to it as much as I ever did.  This year is no exception – I’m already thinking about how I’ll decorate the house. 

The music goes on and the decorations come out on Sunday, November 27 this year – the first Sunday of Advent.  I can hardly wait.  But then … the wait is never that long anymore.

* For those unsure of what I’m talking about – there is a television commercial for Staples, an office supply store, in which parents are dancing around the store, collecting school supplies for their sulky children, all to the strains of the Christmas song, It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

A lot to be thankful for

I just looked at the date of my last post and realized that it's been over a month since I added anything.  It's funny ... I've had snippets of things I intended to write running through my head for the last month but I've not taken the time or put in the energy to actually write them down.

What's happened is that I have been doing a lot - and I mean a lot - of writing at work recently.  Way more than usual.  I mean, most of what I do is write, with some occasional organizational stuff thrown in, but lately it's been days on end of writing and re-writing and re-re-writing and then - and perhaps this is the most difficult part - ending up with a finished product that pleases other people but leaves me feeling like there's something missing or that the piece is taking the wrong tone.  It's frustrating.  

There are, of course, lots of issues wrapped up in what's been transpiring - feeling that my work isn't valued, my opinon isn't valued, like I'm running around in circles.  The effect of all that writing is that I'm also feeling like I'm out of words, even for things I want to say. 

It's nice to have a weekend to recharge.  I feel like I'm recovering after only a day away from work. 

It helps, of course, that this is a long weekend and it's one focussed on giving thanks.  Our son is home, we'll be seeing other family and maybe some friends, and I have much to be thankful for.  The crap going on at work doesn't really matter that much.

It's good to change your focus every once in awhile.  I can very easily get caught up in the unimportant, such as the stuff I am doing at work.  That is not to say that what I'm doing at work is of no importance but, in the scheme of things, it's a lot less important than I allowed it to be.  Recently I let it take over how I functioned at home, how I felt about some people and how I felt about myself.  It's really not that big a deal.  That's easy to say now with even just a day's distance, but in middle of all the to-ing and fro-ing and re-writing and the time I took to be resentful it seemed bigger than it was.  Thank goodness for the opportunity to take a step back and refocus.

This weekend is Thanksgiving weekend.  As I already said, I have much to be thankful for - my family (I have to mention that Jim and I just had our 27th anniversary), my wonderful friends, my job (yes, despite my current frustration, I still love my job), my home, the ability to live well.  There's much more, of course, but I don't want to sit here and make a list.  The point is I'm thankful for it all.  It's amazing that I was lucky enough to be born in a time and place where all that is possible. 

May you have as much to be thankful for.