Nothing Lasts For Ever But The Earth And Sky

But memories are sure nice!

It all began when Mom invited her brother Daryl for a visit. Daryl is the eldest of five and lives in Cranbrook, British Columbia. At seventy-four, he is an avid hiker (he hiked the Grand Canyon last spring: top to bottom, bottom to top), has a keen eye for a good picture and makes his own fly fishing rods. Cool guy! "Daryl is coming to visit," Mom announced this past summer. "We'll be there," was my reply. As the visit date grew closer, the plan evolved. Mom's younger siblings accepted her "Wouldn't it be nice" idea.

Mom and Dad live on Lake Louisa in the Laurentians north of Montréal. We refer to their home as "the cottage" since that's what it was before they moved there permanently some twenty odd years ago. The question begging to be asked: Where on earth would everyone sleep? Problem solved, Mom and Dad found an available cottage up the hill, by the spring, a stone throw away from their place. So that is how I found myself moving into 131 chemin Seale for the last week of September. Travelling from Timmins Ontario, Wayne (70) and Trina (58) were the first to arrive. From Pine Falls Manitoba, Terry (60) and his wife Louise followed two days later. That same day, Dad and I drove to Dorval Airport to pick up Daryl.

During their stay, relatives navigated between Mom and Dad's place down the hill to the cottage up the hill. Some drove to town for a bit of shopping and sightseeing while others went to look for old stomping grounds. People came and went as they pleased in between breakfast, lunch and dinner.

On Thursday evening everyone gathered "up the hill" for a fine steak dinner BBQ. Patio furniture was brought in from outside along with chairs to sit everyone. My brother Bud, aka Daniel, was the chef BBQ-er and cooked everyone's steak to perfection and to top it all, he prepped a mean Greek salad! Louise was the potato-pro and table setter extraordinaire. Simple meal. Great crowd of people. We chowed loudly, laughing and talking! Much to everyone's chagrin Mom had a bit of a spell before dinner and asked to be driven home. She did rejoin us a little later.

After dinner the guitar came out and we broke into song. Darcy Farrow, well...maybe not Darcy Farrow. Perhaps it was more that everything came together when Darcy Farrow was sung. Eyes met and tears were shed. I'll never forget it.

For reasons dear to her, Mom called her family to gather in the month of September. In our hearts, we all know the reason but dare not speak it.