Father's Day

My husband is moving along with his recovery. His health is very fragile at the moment but at 77 years of age a lot of people's health is very fragile. He has been used to quite good health up until the issues that resulted in a pacemaker being inserted. At that time he was 69 years of age and since then he has had good years and not so good years. But we have done a lot in that time; a number of European trips and a goodly number of trips to the United States and one to Mexico. We have been east in Canada through the Maritimes and even into Labrador. We have been west as far as Winnipeg in Canada and Salt Lake City in the United States. We have been as far south as Florida in the United States and to Cancun, Mexico. We have traveled many times to southwestern Ontario but our last trip last Fall may be the last that we do by car. We have been north in Ontario as far as James Bay. That was a never to be forgotten trip and we stayed at an Aboriginal Environmental Lodge which was quite fantastic. The canoe trip to the mouth of the river that opened into James Bay was a wonderful experience. All in all it has been a busy twelve years of traveling since 2008. The British Isles and European trips gave us a window into the countries in which our respective families lived before emigrating to Canada (in my case from the British Isles) and the United States in my husband's case mostly from France, The Netherlands and Germany but also a small percentage from the British Isles. Only one set of his great grandparents and one great great grandmother came directly to Canada with the rest of his ancestors coming to the British Colonies between 1620 and 1735 although mostly between 1630 and 1700. The large majority of his American ancestors came to Canada as settlers but a  minority came as Loyalists particularly to New Brunswick but there again some came as "planters" prior to the American Revolution.

Today is my husband's 46th Father's Day and my daughters found spectacular cards to give him. The one card in particular is a pop up of his favourite bird - Blue Jay and for his birthday she found a Cardinal an equally favourite bird.

Last night we did a Father's Day feast with a lovely meat loaf, roasted vegetables, corn and a bean salad. That way we do not have to heat the house up on an actual Father's Day although we have air conditioning which keeps it at a good temperature. So today we can just celebrate Father's Day enjoying yet another beautiful warm day (it is going to have to last a whole lot longer this heat for me to complain even one iota; my arthritis loves this sun's warmth). My husband also enjoys the warm weather. The winter is long, dark and cold here so summer is always welcomed with open arms. These days we are, however, watering the gardens for about four hours a day. No watering restrictions yet thank goodness.