Twelfth day of Christmas

Rue Fabre, Montreal.  7:45 am on January 6th, the first day back to school.  Minus 15 degrees.  Might be better off on skates!

After school, an iPod lesson for Doco

ICE

January 4th, 2015.
Snow, a thaw, freezing rain and then … cold!  All the trees were ice, the sidewalks glass.  But Doco, Diana, and I made it back by bus and taxi uneventfully from Aylmer Avenue to rue Fabre.   (More easily than did Rowan - on a flight, 6 hours late, arriving in Vancouver at 3am!)

rue Fabre backyard "Christmas tree" (Lobo apple) ...

… and living-room Christmas tree (Fraser spruce)

New Year's in Ottawa

For New Year's, a full house at 58 Aylmer:

• Meo and Doco
• Diana Juriloff
• Jane Anna Chapman and family (JT, Ben and Zachary)
• the usual Chow Harris inhabitants, including Rowan home from UBC
• … and Zeus

(and Janet had been worried that they would be on their own!)

The Chapman/Buchheit family had driven from Boston for 2-3 days of cross country skiing, like last year.  But this year, no snow.  So, two days of museums and games for the boys (Griffin, Ben and Zach), a ship version of Settlers of Catan for the assorted adults and almost-adults, and jigsaw puzzles!  It's a lovely gaming time of year.

For me, a New-Year's-time highlight was the Jack Bush exhibit at the National Gallery (with Doco, Colin, Griffin and Ben on Dec 29, and with Doco, Diana and Rowan on Dec 31).  Such colours!  How do they work?  Many "favourites", but this was the only one in a poster (no cards).

For New Year's Eve, we had undefined plans for some sort of shenanigans.  Teagan and Rowan were off with their pals, the rest of us seemed totally happy puzzling (adults) and gaming (boys).  We only quit as midnight arrived and we all convened for a living-room circle and "Auld Lang Syne".  Then the next day:

Rowan and JT preparing the oysters for the New Year's Day feast,
Colin and JC on the rest ...

… major cleaning and repairs to Rowan's goalie bag
 and all her goalie-padding parts disassembled and washed!

a quiet pre-supper moment at the kitchen table

Jigsaw Puzzles
Three 1000-piece puzzles got put together in about 4 days.   Donuts (done by the gang here last year), "The Accolade" (the knight-and-lady puzzle that Colin, Griffin, friend-Ben and I had chosen at the National Gallery), and "Village in the Laurentian Mountains, 1925" by Clarence Gagnon (winter - a lot of white).  We discovered that the pieces in at least 2 puzzle brands (Eurographics and Cobble Hill) are in a great variety of shapes and fun to find, even when the colours are tough.
But not as fine as Colin's marvellous "MEO" jigsaw puzzle for my birthday.  How do you do it?

…………………………………….
Jan 5-8
Puzzle-making continued in Montreal, with a second round of "The Accolade".  Doco, Diana, and I had to leave for Vancouver before it was done.  Maybe it still isn't done!

"The Accolade" by Edmund Leighton, 1901

Here, Doco and Diana are hooked, but it could have been almost any of us.

……………………..
P.S. Jan 24 from Rachel
Turns out it IS!  See erictaillefer@blogspot.com

Teagan's 15th-birthday breakfast

Teagan's 15th-birthday breakfast in the making - crepes! - by three young chefs

skaters

A glimpse of Alice and Lily at their figure-skating classes (CPA - Centre de Patinage Artistique, Centre-sud).   Not many skaters there on Dec 27th, so lots of glassy ice for practising fancy stuff.
(I'm sure the blurriness is on account of their speed!)

Alice and Lily through the glass

 

Lily

Alice

Christmas in Montreal

Christmas Day in Montreal - first-ever for Meo and Doco

first, into the stockings ...

… then, a walk-and-roll in the no-snow streets ...

… on two Santa scooters ...

… even Doco gets a turn ...

… but upstaged by a dancer on two wheels

A rue Fabre Christmas dinner for 14: a huge tortiere (including venison, chicken, duck, smoked duck) by Owen's partner, Marc; roast vegetables by Eric; soup and an "Elizabeth cake" by Paul-Antoine and Emile; and TOASTS!  After dinner, a play presented by Doco, Lily and Alice.  "The untold adventures of the shepherds on their way to Bethlehem" (Lily as shepherd, Alice as sheep) - through a forest with familiar fairies ("You spotted snakes with double tongue, Thorny hedgehogs be not seen…"), to a village tavern with flamenco dancers, to a bull-fight, and finally to the manger.  Oh, and Christmas music.

Marc, Owen, Thomas, Paul-Antoine, Doco, Mathieu, Alice 

Doco, Mathieu, Flor, Rachel, Eric, Lily, Marc, Owen, Thomas, Gabriela
(not in photos: Emile and Meo)

Christmas Eve in Ottawa

Family presents on Christmas Eve in Ottawa - Chow-Harris and Harris-Taillefer and Meo-Doco (and Dodo presents from Oxford) -  before traveling by van to Montreal for Christmas Eve night.  A lovely time.