Spali_2007

I don’t remember much except for: eating unripe strawberries in my aunt’s garden, the neighbour feeding me winkles..ICK and having an ice-lolly after daycare one day.

I don’t like gambling and I don’t have blue hair so….not much fun!

I’ve actually been to France..as a two year old…and I have no recollections save for a few images conjured up by my imagination’s response to my mother’s story of this trip. So I would really like to return.
In ‘79 we took a russian steamship across the atlantic which took nearly two weeks due to having to sidestep a rather nasty hurricane. We were all seasick and pale from eating third class shipfare and once off the ship, my mother and I went straight away to find real lunch on land. We found a little boarding house that was open to the public for lunch and was run by a small, round woman with blonde ringlet curls all over her head. She asked where we were from and as soon as she heard we’d just gotten off of a ship, asked a two-word question:
“Fresh fruit?”
My mother exclaimed that that would be lovely and she took us to eat in her parlour (away from the dining room where the fisherman and transient boarders were fed) and brought a large tray of cheeses, sliced fresh pears and mueslix. Her parlour had double glass doors that opened onto the courtyard of her boarding house which was lined with 200 year old pear trees (hence the fresh fruit). My mother remembered it was like the garden of eden hidden in the midst of a muddy litte french fishing village.

I have been to Montreal several times since I was about 11 and it has remained a favourite destination. The city never sleeps..it is always alive with a colourful cornucopia of people..especially rue St. Catherines..
Montreal is a MUST visit place for fine dining, dancing, culture-seeking travellers.

We drove through this mountain pass in the clouds to get to Charlotte NC and it was gorgeous from the word go. The weather was totally balmy and I could smell sea air. I’ve wanted to return ever since..

My cousin Charlotte moved to New Zealand from the UK about 2 years ago when she met and married Mark the Massive Aussie. She sends pictures of their beautiful 2 story rental house on a piece of land that juts out into the ocean and writes emails about getting the boat out in the wee hours of morning to catch the week’s fish. They live a simple, day to day life on the beach in Whangaparaoa Bay, with the ocean in their ears….