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| Brothers: Laurie, Mike and Ken acting clever?? at the wedding |
As we write this, at Grand Lake, NB, we have weather
patterns of winds and snow passing through in quick succession. My outdoor chores for the winter are completed,
and we’ve finished up ordering parts and sorting out our needs for Grenada.
The most significant happening this season was the flooding
of the lower St. John River valley.
During the rising waters in May, we helped our neighbours scramble to
move goods out of basements, then sandbagging, then out of yards and storage
buildings, then out of main floors of homes and cottages. We put our feet up during the peak flood to
watch furniture, decks, and refrigerators float by our house in the ice (with a
few rowboat trips to retrieve neighbours’ items); then went into high gear to
remove sodden remains in garages, basements, and homes, rip up carpets and
underlays, flooring, exterior walls and cupboards to get out wet insulation and
disinfect. We had a short break again while
everything dried; then helped whom we could with reinstalling insulation,
vapour barrier, new floors, and wall finishes.
It was the year that wainscoting came back in fashion, as many
properties reconstructed the bottom third of their walls. I even had to relearn how to hang
doors.
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| Sandbagging ahead of the flood. Note: the water crested the bags. |
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| Laurie fetching the neighbour's stairway. A hard row before breakfast! |
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| Fridge, float and iceflow in front of our cottage. |
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| Finally making progress against the wind. |
The flooding involved cottages on numerous lakes and bays,
and the complete valley from Mactaquac to and including Saint John. Numerous properties have been condemned, and
some of our near friends and neighbours are still fixing damage, five months
later. Our side of Grand Lake, regardless
of the damage, fared better than other areas.
At high water, a north-west 90km/h wind arrived that delivered waves to
some areas that destroyed properties better than bombs could.
Our own property only suffered some erosion and exterior
damage, a wet mess in our crawlspace, and the loss of less than 100 square feet
of insulation that was buried under the deck, along the front wall. With no living-space damage, (we had 15
inches spare before we would have had serious damage inside) we were free to
help out others until their basic needs were met. Indeed, yesterday’s chores just put complete
on our own damage.
It was not all drudgery, however. Our work teams got together for numerous
meals and camaraderie, and that was fun.
After all, we can’t get that feeling of accomplishment without actually
doing anything.
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| Jeanne and Doug's cottage. Wainscoting?? Very stylish after the flood of 2018! |
We had our usual parties at the Lake over and above the
flood-workers’ fare: with a barbecue every Friday night. Dawn and I were able to host out of doors on
our deck twice without a mosquito problem, as the wet spring was followed by a
drought.
The spring, summer and fall had other events as well. As soon as we got home, we were off to attend
the most fantastic wedding of our lives.
Our niece Marilyn was marrying her man Sean, and put together a fantastic
weekend in St. Andrews at the famous and historic Algonquin Hotel. Family get togethers, fantastic food, dancing
and music, and all as the newlyweds’ guests.
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| Sean & Marilyn. What a beautiful wedding. Thanks for letting us share your wonderful day! |
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| Getting reacquainted with nephew Peter and his daughter Emily at Marilyn's wedding. Lolly is stitting in the background. |
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| What is it with these brothers and napkin hats? |
Soon after that, I gave two historical presentations
regarding Fredericton’s old water treatment plant – one to engineers and one to
citizens, resulting in one more big brass plaque on the building. It was exciting for me, and reawakened some
serious interest in things historical.
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| Laurie gave a public presentation at a plaqueing ceremony. |
As is custom, we did a little trip with Brian and Paula of s/v
Magique (for sale now); a camping and biking expedition in Kejimkujik National
Park in Nova Scotia. It was a
blast. Dawn showed off her new 8-person
barrel tent that she insists is an appropriate 2-person, and her new 11x11x7
kitchen tent – at least she will tent! Dawn
and I followed the camping with two nights in a spa hotel and a tour with
Uncorked Tours NS, where we were the only showups that particular day. We had intimate visits to a vineyard and
winery, a brewery, a distillery, and finally a cidery. A most enjoyable day.
We got visits from my brother Paul and his wife Alida from
Calgary, and Dawn got to spend time with her sister Lorna and her husband Brian,
in the company of her other sisters and her mother. Of course, we both enjoyed time with our
friends and relatives at so many opportunities.
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| Laurie, Paula & Brian biking in Kejimkujik |
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| Paula, Dawn & Brian biking |
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| Dawn's new roomy, deluxe tent |
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Dawn's new picnic tent!
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| Wine sampling in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia |
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We also got out on the Hobie 21, “Madman Across the Water”,
a few times. One day it was windy enough
for Dawn to trapeze – but as there were no other boats out there and rescue
would have been an issue, she didn’t much care for it. I also got to do some racing on brother
Mike’s Laser 28. We didn’t do so well,
but we had a good time with fun sailing, and I got reacquainted with his
sailing club.
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| Laurie crewing for Mike on a Wednesday night race (Laser 28) |
Now, for some upsetting news: I (Laurie) have had some gastro-intestinal
pain that we and our Doctor agree must be sorted out. We have had testing with inconclusive
results, and are waiting on some imaging scope work. The normal scheduling problems are occurring
as fair triage puts me a little bit back behind some others likely in worse
shape. Having been bounced ahead of the
pack in the past, it is time to take a turn in the “waiting room”. This means we’re giving up our tickets and waiting
for the opportunity to reschedule on the far side of this, whenever that is.
So, the anticipation of a week of hard work in the boatyard,
and the excitement of the launch is being replaced with plans for short trips
and possibly another round of visits with friends and family. Not so bad.
We’ll keep you posted.
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| Laurie moves quickly when the happy hour bell rings! |
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| Sisters Valerie, Lorna, Kathy, Jean (mom) and Dawn at a lunch at Windsor Court. |
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| Host Liz, and guests Jane and David at the 14th and final Pig Roast. Looking forward to others taking on the task next year. |
