Category: Family

Grande-Digue

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We’ve just gotten home from two weeks on the east coast. We wanted to be out of the/any city for a while, so we booked an AirBnB in Grande-Digue NB, about 30 minutes from downtown Moncton, so I could continue to work.

The place was right on the water, lovely and private without being isolated. We enjoyed the sunshine and salt air and gorgeous view across Shediac Bay. We saw plenty of birds (herons, ducks, even a bald eagle) and a deer wandered through our yard the first night. We relaxed on the back deck and on the lawn and on the couch and on the beach. We had lobster rolls and donairs (and donair pizza) and fresh produce from Les Digues and fried clams from local staple Chez Leo. We even squeezed in a quick trip to the farm to see my family, and one day Lindsay’s mom dropped by.

I did end up being in Moncton for work most days (and tried a few new places, like Mama’s Charcoal BBQ, the Moncton instance of The Old Triangle, and the Dolma rooftop bar) but most days I was pretty anxious to get home to this peaceful view:

It really felt like home by the time we left. I think it’ll really hit me the first time I have to commute on the Gardiner.

Pretty Polly

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I’m back in New Brunswick for work this week. Actually, as I write this, I’m in Nova Scotia on the farm — I flew down early to spend a few days here with my family and meet my brother’s new puppy, Polly.

We’ve packed in lots of cribbage (on the new board we got my dad for Christmas) and eating. I even got a bonus visit from brother #1 and his family who were skiing not far away — they came for dinner on Saturday night, and then drove back. That was the good. The bad was me totally wiping out on the snow-covered ice between the two houses one night; luckily no major injuries to me, nor to the bottle of wine I was carrying, apart from a slightly-tweaked knee…but that knee has been 10% tweaked since I was a kid anyway. (Thanks a lot, Osgood-Schlatter disease.)

I was also supposed to see my old friend Adam this time around, but the timing didn’t work out. Next time though.

In the next few hours I’ll head to Moncton to avoid the storm that’s meant to hit overnight. I can’t remember my crib record whilst here so I’m just going to go ahead and declare myself the champion.

Xmas 2023

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After a brief visit back in Toronto, we returned to Moncton for a few days (Highlights: sausage & ricotta pizza at Tide & Boar brewing, discovering a not-really-a-hangover cure at Carrabba’s. Lowlight: the 1:55am fire alarm in the hotel on our first night.) before driving to the farm for a couple days.

My mom was violently ill for most of our visit, but other than that it was nice to hang out with family, eat too much, play crib & Uno, and relax — even if it was for less than 48 hours.

We’ve now made the drive to Bedford, where we’ll stay for a couple of days before attempting to get a couple days to ourselves.

Taste

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A couple days ago we got back from Moncton. I’d been there nearly two weeks, Lindsay about half of that.

  • Weather was all over the place. From warm and rainy some days to full snowstorms to bitterly cold to heavy windstorms. That’s the Maritimes in almost-winter, I guess.
  • I mentioned the family & farm visits in my last post, but I also got to have a drink with a former vendor-side colleague who’s moved east, and an old university housemate who I hadn’t seen in (does quick math) 30 freakin’ years. We ended up in the same line of work, which was fun.
  • New places I tried this time: Gusto (not bad) and India King (very good), plus a bunch of delivery places because it was so g-d cold. I also got some intel on other good places, so the list has been refreshed for next time.

Movie week

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After visits from my family last weekend (Tide & Boar with brother #2 et al on Saturday; Chalet Swiss with mom & dad on Sunday) I had the week to myself in Moncton. I was able to catch up some movies while absentmindedly working in the evenings, until Lindsay arrived Thursday.

The Killer (imdb | rotten tomatoes) wasn’t David Fincher’s best work, but it was still one of the better movies I’ve watched this year.

Lou (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was far from a great movie. It wasn’t even all that good. But manoman, can Allison Janney just carry a thing. It had no business even being as entertaining as it was.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Stillwater (imdb | rotten tomatoes) so I was pleasantly surprised when the combination of mumbly roughneck Matt Damon + class politics in Marseilles ended up a relatively touching story about family connections.

Fair Play (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was okay, I guess, but I felt like I’d seen it already when I watched Industry.

After a 24-hour bout of sickness Friday, we drove to the farm yesterday and will be here a few more hours. It’s pretty nice to be able to come get this level of recharge with only an hours’ drive.

Betty’s East

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Earlier this week we met up with M2H2 at Betty’s East, the reincarnation of a now-closed King East spot that we all loved, now in the home of what was The Burren, and Ceilidh Cottage before that. It was good to catch up for the first time in ages, and to have…you know, beer. Which I don’t have very often anymore. After a nice hazy IPA I stuck to my usual poles, a light sour and an imperial stout.

They also brought a bottle of 2018 Tzum Fèis Spring Ephemeral Scorched Earth Vineyard that had been sitting in their cellar, so we walked home with a lovely parting gift.

As I type this I’m in Moncton again, having arrived last night, and I lucked into a fridge stocked with local craft beer. I’m also about to head out and meet brother #2 and family at Tide & Board Brewing, so I daresay there’s more craft beer in my very immediate future.

The new job

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My new role has me travelling to Moncton on a pretty regular basis. This past week was my first week with my new company, and it was a good one. I never say much about work here, but in keeping with the main thrust of this blog, I’ll recount the good places I visited whilst in Moncton.

There’s a Carrabba’s (!) near my office, so I ate and drank there a lot, just out of sheer convenience…a habit I hope to break in future visits. I ate meals at St. James’ Gate (decent), the Moncton Gahan House (decent), Monk10 (good), and Red Satay (excellent). I also had coffee at Brix (excellent) and picked up a bottle of wine to to bring to brother #2’s house from the new Experience by ANBL store. It’s a very nice spot with a fun selection; I reckon I’ll make a few trips there in the coming months.

Being so close to the farm, I extended my stay by a couple of days and drove there Friday evening. Brother #1 and his fam drove in Friday night, arriving shortly after I did, so just about the whole gang was here for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday — they moved it up to Saturday to accommodate my flight this afternoon. It’s a quick visit, but any time at the farm feels regenerative. I’ll get to do these more frequently now, and once we settle into a cadence Lindsay will be able to visit too.

Latesommar

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I have to say, the week or so that we’ve been (prematurely) back from New York have been pretty amazing, weather-wise. Even though Lindsay’s lingering sickness has kept us from fully taking advantage, it’s made for some beautiful days on the back deck, and out and about.

We’ve also had a bunch of (somewhat hurried) friends & family visits, like Lindsay’s friend K, drinks with old colleagues, drinks with new colleagues (patio!), a drive-by with other colleagues, a beer at Beerbistro (patio!) with my friend Matt, and a visit from brother #2 and sis-in-law which has thus far included lunch at Slowhand (patio!), some fun bottles of wine (backyard!), brunch at Avling, and coffee from Maha’s Café.

I start my new job next week, so this September of vacation — ending as beautifully as it has — has felt pretty nice.

Quick, to the farm! Quick, back to Toronto!

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I ended up flying into Moncton and visiting my family for a couple days this weekend. As I write this, I’m sitting in the Moncton airport, ready to fly home. A few observations from the weekend:

  • Driving on roads and highways this (relatively) empty is a genuine treat compared to the bumper-to-bumper bullshit on various Toronto highways.
  • I arrived just in time for heat warnings, and to remember that my parents’ farmhouse has no air conditioning. When I arrived we had to open every window to maximize breeze, and turn on several fans. That said, it does cool down a lot at night…the next morning the furnace actually kicked on around 5am because the house had become so chilly.
  • In addition to the armada of hummingbirds always found outside my mom’s kitchen window, a new birdfeeder camera has yielded some fun finds: jays, finches, blackbirds, and so on. Also: mice, squirrels, and the odd raccoon. We also saw a bald eagle circling overhead yesterday
  • Crokinole is as fun as I remember. Especially when I beat my dad.
  • It’s been a long time since I had a Tatamagouche Brewing Jitney sour, and damn was it good. Brothers 1 and 2, S-I-L 2, and I had a quite drink outside (but safe from flies) last night, when the weather was perfect and the stars were out.

Busy backyard season

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I haven’t been writing them up, but it’s occurring to me now how filled with visitors the house & backyard have been since we got home from Ottawa. A full-week visit from N+J. Another full-week visit from the sister-in-law, and a chance to meet her business partner. A full-Sunday throwdown with six friends & a lot of meat a while back. Visits from V and her new gorgeous doggo Xena, including last night when we watched Idiocracy (imdb | rotten tomatoes), a movie I’ve been meaning to watch forever, but which hasn’t aged super-well.

It really is such a luxury & privilege to have that space, postage-stamp-sized as it is. Now we just need to have it tended to.