Surprise!

sunny, mild, temps 25

Another beautiful day. Couldn't mention this before because I don't really know who reads this blog, but we spent today at a surprise birthday party for our friend Jacques. left home at 8am and drove to Laval, which is on the other side of Montreal. Party started at 11am - we got lost for almost an hour and arrived just in time. Surprise!

Loads of fun. it was his 60th birthday, and his wife/partner Louise had spent almost 2 years organizing it, or at least, thinking about it. His mother was there and all sorts of relatives. Amazing buffet lunch, and just a hoot.

Drove home and arrived back about 4:30. Nice to be back.

And had a lovely long chat with my brother Doug, who is just back from his annual visit to India. he visits Amma there, just outside Chennai. Goes for a bout a month every year. There he finds peace and renewed faith. I have so much respect for Doug to go from a high powered, high paid job as an investment dealer in Toronto, give it all up, and decide he needed more meaning in his life. So for 11 months of the year he works building homes in Toronto, and looks after his children, with his amazing wife Mary - and one month a year he spends in India, pursing and working on his practice.

I learn so much from him. he was saying he was taught this time that the outcome of what he does, whether it's gardening, building homes, even raising kids, is beyond his control. All he needs to do is each thing with love, humility and faith.

How beautiful. I hope to remember that.

Oh, and wanted to tell you about Ryan's Books, in Johnson, Vermont. What an amazing time! met Isabeth the owner, Bradley the manager and the two really wonderful women who work there. And Susanne (sp?) the former manager. And a whole lot of people who came out for the talk/reading. It felt so comfortable. And the bookstore? You'd LOVE it. Exposed brick, wooden floors, wooden shelves - and a pie vault. Anyplace with a pie vault is fine with me... I thought it used to be a bank, but someone explained (oerhaps pulling my leg) that it actually used to be a bakery and they really did lock up the pies. That sounded more likely when said outloud - written down it sounds ridiculous. Ph well. Locking up pies makes perfect sense to me.

the drive from Sutton to Johnson was exquisite. Like moving from one postcard to another. Stunning.

Before I go wanted to pass on a fun email from a friend - Art - about being Canadian...

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May,you may live in Canada .

If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you may live in Canada .

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you may live in Canada

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you may live in Canada

If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Canada

If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may live in Canada

If you have switched from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again, you may live in Canada

If you can drive 90 kms/hr through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you may live in Canada

If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you may live in Canada

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you may live in Canada

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you may live in Canada

If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction, you may live in Canada

If you find 2 degrees "a little chilly", you may live in Canada

I don't often pass on 'jokes' but this one seemed to have quite a bit of truth to it.

Speak tomorrow. Hope you've had a great weekend.