Celebrating a mother-daughters’ weekend in Toronto

Well it has happened, a few snow flurries have been falling, as of this writing though not enough to do any harm. It is sure to happen soon though.

My daughters, Miriam and Karen and I had a wonderful mother and daughters’ weekend in Toronto recently. Miriam and I flew out of Moncton during a large windstorm and boy we felt it on takeoff. A nervous laugh came over the passengers when we finally got up high enough for the plane to stop rocking. Beauty of flying in a small plane.

I was just about blown over walking to the steps. Landing was pretty bad too but our smooth train ride to Union Station to meet Karen was terrific. We had rented a B & B not to far from Chinatown and Kensington Market so on Friday evening and Saturday morning we explored both venues before heading to Eaton Center for some shopping.

On Saturday evening we attended a performance of Come from Away and it was so fantastic. It ranks up there with some of the best entertainment that I have ever seen or heard. The whole cast played several roles each and they switched dialects as easily as changing shoes, no slip ups, one minute the actor is speaking Newfoundese as we call it and then with a Texas drawl or a British accent or even Middle Eastern. The singing and acting was tremendous. There was a nice musical background and then after the cast finished their bows the whole band came on stage and we had a Kitchen Party for about 10 minutes.

Sunday morning an Uber drive back to the market where we had a great breakfast and then some more shopping and then finally back to Union Station to head back to Pearson airport and back home.Plans are tentatively being made for another such weekend next year. Just sorry we didn't do it sooner.

By the time this is printed Remembrance Day will have come and gone. I do hope that everyone took the time to remember what it is all about and attended a cenotaph ceremony or watched it from Ottawa on TV.

Our family was all so thrilled to have our great nephew, Master Seaman Andrew MacDonald lay a wreath at the Ottawa ceremony on behalf of ill and injured military members.

The Chronicle Herald had a feature on Andrew and Leading Seaman Stephen MacLeod, both of CFB Halifax on Nov. 5. Stephen was chosen to be a sentry for the ceremony. So proud to have two seaman from our area taking such an important part in this ceremony.

Andrew spent an eight-month deployment in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2008 and after his return people began to notice a difference in him but it wasn't until about eight years later that he was diagnosed with PTSD. Thankfully his illness has been stabilized and he is staying with the military for another several years.

Andrew and his wife, Tracey, who are the parents of our two wonderful great-great niece and nephew, spent a great week in Ottawa. They met with the chief of the defense staff who presented them with special coins.

They did all the usual tours of Ottawa and had a chance to drop in to see our son-in-law, Brent and Karen at their church, St. Peter and St. Paul, where they had a tour of the renovations going on there. I know Madison and Will are having a great time with Nana and Papa in Dartmouth and will be looking for dad on TV.

We are going to PVR the service from Ottawa as we will be busy with our own cenotaph service in Malagash. Nine years ago Russ and I were in Ottawa and it is a fantastic place to be for this service.

Have a good week everyone and I will finish with the World Peace Prayer.

"Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth,

Lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust.

Lead me from hate to love, from war to peace.

Let peace fill our hearts, our world, our Universe"

Peace to you all.
 

Marian Durling writes for the Malagash area for the Amherst News.