For the Love of Dogs

With Ella

When I started loving dogs

I started loving dogs the moment I was picked up in the Volvo 240 Wagon (to move in with my family).  Mom’s house, AKA “Erin’s House”, had 2 dogs at present: a red Golden Retriever named Katie and a smaller mixed-breed dog named Nicky. 

Why I started loving dogs

Nicky 

When I got to the house the dogs Nicky and Katie came to greet me.  As this picture shows, Nicky spent lots of time with me, and sometimes he slept in the basement room with the piano with me.  On a Sunday drive to Salisbury, New Brunswick, we went to a puppy farm and all sorts of Retrievers and Spaniels gazed at us.  A man led us into the heated basement, and immediately some Retriever puppies of all colors came to greet us and bark and whine  as if to say “Please take me home!”  Our original idea was to JUST LOOK at the puppies…but with the McGraths, there is no such thing as Just Looking at the puppies, because they are irresistible…and so we purchased a puppy…and named him Simon and added him to our pack.  All 3 dogs joined us for our camping trips. 

My most favourite breeds

With Ella

From my adoption day to Grade 8, my favorite breed was, in fact, the Golden Retriever, and I used to watch PBS’ Lamb Chop’s Play Along and there was a live Golden Retriever that looked exactly like Simon.  For Christmas in Grade 7 I got the VHS Homeward Bound which had an old Retriever that looked like Katie, who had passed away shortly after we had gotten Simon.  After I left Bessborough School after Grade 8 Jennifer picked up our first Border Collie, a male tri-color, named Dillon, who spent most of the summer with me in the basement and in our cottage while I was playing the guitar I had gotten the previous Christmas.  Shortly before Easter I pulled out an old dog book and looked at the Border Collie and read the page’s facts.  For Easter we got the VHS Babe, and on seeing Fly and Rex and the puppies in the movie, the Border Collie, in fact, bumped the Retriever out of my favorite breed file and entered the #1 breed spot up to the time I writing this Blog and always will be.  The fall after graduation I got my own Border Collie, a female who looked like Fly, named Molly, for 6 years.  Unfortunately, before moving to Saint John, I lost her at 6 years to a tumor right on her nose, and I was no Elsa, because I thought I could never Let it Go.   But before moving I got another Border Collie, this time named Ella. 

My least favourite breed

My least favorite breed is, in fact, the Pug, because they look like they chase parked cars with a flat nose, and they cause traffic jams.  Our neighbors on Alexander Avenue had, in fact, a Retriever named Toby who was Simon’s litter mate, and a couple pugs, one named Kirby and one named Huey.  Kirby always spent most of his/her time on Alexander Avenue…which slowed down our road trips to the grocery store, haircuts, movies, CD/Tape stores, my piano lessons, school fall fairs, school science fairs, school talent shows, piano recitals, guitar lessons, school choir and band concerts, church, basketball games, and local plays/musicals. 

The Meeting

I had been living with my foster parents and foster brothers.  A High School Musical 2 blue Volvo 240 wagon pulled into their driveway and there were Marlene and Erin, there to pick me up for my first night with them.  I went into the backseat and enjoyed the nice drive, having a nice conversation with my sister-to-be and mother-to-be. 

At home in Hillsborough

We went through a narrow, but neat bridge called the Gunningsville Bridge.  Then we rounded a corner and passed stores and a gas station.  Then we went down a lovely country road past towers and past a convenience store.  Minutes later, we entered a beautiful town called Hillsborough, New Brunswick with my school-to-be, a gas station, a convenience/drug store, a post office, a train with a lot of cars known as the S&H Dinner Train, and a couple of beautiful white churches.  We rounded another corner and went up a steep street called Taylor’s Lane.  Then we rounded another corner, which was the driveway to the house.  I finally saw the house.  It was odd shaped, like a slide with windows (I’m not putting it down).  When I got out of the car, a Golden Retriever that looked like Shadow in Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey named Katie and a Lassie sable and white mongrel named Nicky greeted me.  Then out of the house came 3 other sisters-to-be: Stephanie, Melody, and Jennifer.  Across from the house was an old barn in which I was told there used to be horses. 

Pat and Erin

I went in the house and it was the nicest thing I had ever seen.  There were also 2 cats: a scratchy black and white cat named Gloria and a scratch-free Calico named Sally.  There was an atrium-like living room, a few couches, a kitchen/dining room, a porch, a bathroom and an apartment for my grandfather-to-be on the middle floor; a bathroom and lots of bedrooms and an attic on the top floor, and on the bottom floor was a room with a piano!  It didn’t take me long to figure out how to open it, and immediately I started to play some notes and Melody taught me the names of those notes, and that in Germany there was a note called F.  Pretty soon my Dad-to-be showed up home from his work in his High School Musical 1/3 red Datsun pickup.  He was very cheerful.  Mom and I went back into Moncton to go grocery shopping at this cool store called the Co-op, which not only sold groceries, but there was a bottom floor linked by escalators that sold toys and electronics.  I spent the night there and enjoyed it there.  There was another night I spent there weeks later. 

 Chapter 2:  The Adoption/Family/Friends/Adventures

 At my foster family’s house I was patiently awaiting the arrival of my parents to take me to my new house, or as I called it, “Erin’s house.”  Shortly, the same Volvo 240 wagon showed up.  We took the same beautiful drive, and we arrived at the house.  Dad was already there.  I soon met friends and relatives in the family:  Our neighbors Sandy, Allen, Ryan, Jeremy, and Jordan McWilliams and their Airedale Terrier Abby; my grandmothers Florence Richard of Toronto AKA Gram (Mom’s mother); Helen McGrath AKA Nana (Dad’s Mother); and my grandfathers Ed Richard AKA Gramps (Mom’s father); and Harold McGrath AKA Granddad; Bill McGrath AKA Uncle Bill, also AKA Ubie; Lynn McGrath AKA Lynnie; other aunts Marion and Betty; uncles Jake and Don; and cousins; our plow operator for snow days Dids Woodworth (if I spelled the first name correctly); school bus driver Mack Woodworth which I will mention later (Dids’ brother); house cleaner Marjorie; school mates which I will mention later;  the Wissinks who also had a piano, daughters and a son all of whom were musical, and a Border Collie named Duff who I thought at the time I met her was just another Nicky, only black and white instead of the sable coloring; the Woods who owned a lobster shop quite close to Fundy Park; our priest and people who went to our church when I was there; our friends Norma and Steven and their son and daughters whom I will mention later; and teachers in the schools I went to, also whom I will mention later.  Friends who lived near the Hopewell Rocks named The Smiths were friends we visited often, and they had 2 pianos in the house:  one like the Wissinks’ upstairs and what looked like a coverless, less than 88-key, and apartment-sized Yamaha downstairs.  I forgot to mention in the last chapter that they had lots of nice music tapes that we listened to:  Huey Lewis Sports; Huey Lewis Fore; Mike and Michelle; Sharon, Lois, and Bram; Don McLean; Anne Murray; and lots of memorable songs that I like to look back on.  Soon I went by school bus for the first time for my first day of school.  The aforementioned Mack Woodworth seemed very friendly and funny and sometimes for a joke I would take off his hat.  There were so many pianos in that school.  I met lots of friendly kids in the school, some of which I had already met before during visits, although some were not as friendly.    

We gathered near the end of the day at our neighboring classroom to sing some songs accompanied by that room’s teacher on the piano, which I noticed was 2 notes off key.  If she played O’Canada in E flat, it sounded like it was in the key of C#, and if she played Happy Birthday to someone in C, it sounded as if it was the key of B Flat, and if she played Silent Night in B Flat it came out A Flat.  There was a music class as well, and the teacher was very nice.  In fact, all the teachers in that school and all the schools I went to were nice and friendly, some funny at times. One day I went to school and came back home to a surprise:  We got a second piano on the middle floor that looked almost like the one in the school’s music room, only this one was mahogany in color and the one in the music room was black, our new one was a Tadashi and the one in the music room was a Yamaha, ours had 3 pedals: right damper, middle to put fabric between the hammers and the keys to quiet playing, and the left to push the hammers closer to the strings to soften playing. And the one in the music room only had two: right the damper and left the one that pushes the hammers closer to the strings to soften the sound.  With the one downstairs, the middle pedal for some reason just raised the bass dampers and left the upper ones down, as did the other ones in the houses and the school that I saw.  The downstairs piano, by the way, was a Mason & Risch, the Wissinks’ was a Sherlock Manning, and I never got to read the names on the ones at the school other than the one in the music room.    

Soon I met a speech pathologist named Dr. Rubell, who also helped me in school.  He was helpful to teach me vocabulary.  He had a moustache and the kind of suit I saw my Dad wear to his office (by the way, Dad is a lawyer).  After we were finished with him, one day Mom and I ran into him at the Co-op and he was in his tank top as if he was in a marathon.  Another time we met him at that grocery store he changed his look.  He still had a mustache, but he looked like Jeffrey Jones in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, only black hair instead of red. 

Pretty soon, because we grew as a family and we were to take some camping and hotel trips and for the camping trips we were taking our dogs, we bought a brown Ford van from a friend of ours which came in really handy.  We went on camping trips, a few times to Fundy Park, and a few times to Cabot Park in PEI.  We also went a few times to Halifax and once to Boston and for both those destinations we stayed in beautiful hotels with pools, and in Boston, when you get in the elevator, it’s a glass elevator, and through the glass you can see this grand piano.  During the trips to all those destinations, since we FINALLY had a tape player in a car (the Volvo and the Datsun had American Graffiti-style radios with no tape or CD player) and we listened to music like Traveling WiIlburys, Dirty Dancing, Lionel Richie, James Taylor, Paul Simon, The Big Chill, Stand By Me, among other memorable ones.  During summers we would have barbecues with our Uncle Bill as the cook, and I also watched him cook pizzas and other fine recipes he did very well at.  I would watch him cut up the vegetables, like the green peppers.  We also had bonfires in which we roasted marshmallows, and it was then I noticed that mosquitoes flying by my ear would almost always buzz in the same note. 

With Nicky.

Some nights Nicky would sleep on a pillow right by my bed and it was his presence there that calmed me and helped me have less nightmares than I did when he was not there.  Soon we took one of our “Sunday Drives” to a place between Moncton and Riverview called Salisbury, New Brunswick, and we came to this farm house and when I got out these Golden Retrievers of all colors and styles and spaniels gazed at us and started wagging their tails at us.  We went into this farm house and down the steps to the basement in which there were cages, and in the cages were these cute-as-a-button Golden Retriever puppies who came to us and whined at us as if to say “Please, take me home!”  We purchased one of the puppies, whom we named Simon.  Shortly after we had gotten Simon, Katie passed away, which saddened all of us.  Thank God we still had Nicky and Simon.  Simon also joined us for camping trips. 

Another thing I noticed was that my oldest sister Jennifer was into stories, literature, fictional figures like you see and read about in the Chronicles Of Narnia books and movies like unicorns, fauns, giants, minotaurs, centaurs, and other fascinating myth figures and things from Greek Mythology, horses, dogs, and livestock.  Before I ever saw the house, she had horses in the stable in the old barn named J.D. and Leah.  Also, in addition to the Volvo 240 wagon, the red Datsun pickup, and the brown Ford van, Gramps had his own car: a Matrix green Grease-style Comet coupe, which he traded later for a Finding Nemo blue Plymouth Reliant coupe.  Granddad had a Pontiac sedan.  Gram had a Volvo 240 sedan, same year as our wagon, only tan in color.  Bill had a matching truck to our red one, only his was re-named Nissan and nickel silver in color, and a newer year, but same shape as our red one.  Sometimes Dad and I would go to the dump in the red truck and during the drive Dad and I would listen to the radio and sing I Had A Dog and Swingin’ On A Star.  CBC radio had this program called Swingin’ On A Star.  Sometimes we would go to Alma and have the Sticky Buns from the bake shop.  Sometimes we would play games like Scrabble, Monopoly, Crazy 8s, Go Fish, and this cute board game with cards, game pieces, and dice, called Benji with the dog of the title from the Joe Camp movies in which if you land on Fierce Dog, you have to go back to Start. 

Love music.

Another thing we did for fun was just outside of Hillsborough there was a road with 2 covered bridges, 2-3 feet apart from each other, and when we went in each covered bridge, provided there wasn’t somebody outside by it, we would stop, honk the horn, and make a wish.  There was a time when we actually took the S&H Dinner Train and it was a lot of fun.  Sometimes we went to the Albert County Exhibition and my favorite thing at the time was the cars ride in which you sit in the drivers’ side of sports car replicas and it takes you around like a carousel and you can pretend you are driving the car.  If I could go back to that time I could fantasize I am listening to Mumford & Sons and Adele as I am driving and I am going to Halifax or Saint John.  There were a couple of times my family and I saw Sharon, Lois, and Bram in concert in a theatre in Sackville.  We even visited Gram in Toronto a couple of times, and I was amazed by the size of the city and the speed of the subways and the size of the buildings in that city.  During that era I also used to watch this Looney Tunes VHS with Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Elmer Fudd, Pepe Le Pew, Granny, Sylvester, Daffy Duck, and other funny Looney Tunes, in which Elmer Fudd’s house fills with acorns and he attempts several times to blast Bugs with his rifle..  Sometimes I also watched Disney movies like Lady and the Tramp, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, Bambi, Robin Hood, and lots among classics.  I also watched Sharon, Lois, and Bram’s shows. 

An A+++++++++++++++++++++ New York City Christmas Week!

Chapter 1: The Food

The day we landed we went to the hotel, the Smyth Tribeca, put things in our room, freshened up, watched a bit on our rooms’ LG flat screens, and went to a nearby restaurant and I had a New York meatball pizza with Pellegrino sparkling water for lunch. 

That night we went to a restaurant (Minetta Tavern) and I had a hamburger with fries and some others in our group were having the same thing, so I could say the famous When Harry Met Sally line “I’ll have what she’s having” after Meg Ryan’s oohs and aahs. 

The next day we gathered in the hotel’s restaurant and I had a New York bagel with cream cheese. 

The lunch was a Chinese buffet at a restaurant with a sparkling orange drink. 

The supper was a Fettuccini Alfredo supper with both sparking and regular water at an Italian restaurant in Times Square near the location for our play. 

The next day breakfast was Greek yogurt with berries and a croissant with sparkling Orange Pellegrino. 

The lunch was a McDonald’s McChicken with fries and a strawberry smoothie. 

The supper after the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall was chicken tenders with fries, sparkling water, and an ice cream plus some shared New York cheesecake at Rockefeller Center’s café and we had not only a good meal, but we could see the outdoor rink and fountain where Buddy the Elf and Jovie kiss on their date scene. 

The breakfast was a brunch at Mom and Dad’s luxury suite with fruit, yogurt and berries, crackers, croissants, and sparkling lemon and sparkling orange Pellegrino. 

The lunch was a New York street-stand hot dog with ketchup, mustard, and relish RIGHT IN FRONT OF MADISON SQUARE GARDEN!  [See the full story of why this part is great in the Sights chapter] 

The supper was at Mercer Kitchen and I had Fish and Chips (Flounder, Ariel’s friend in The Little Mermaid, as opposed to the cod and haddock I order in Canada) with sparkling water and mango sorbet for dessert. 

The following breakfast was another yogurt and berries with orange drink. 

I had one of the store-purchased New York cheesecakes with a Starbucks strawberry smoothie. 

For lunch I had a pizza sub at a Potbelly’s sub shop with sparkling blood orange Pellegrino. 

For supper before the Movie On-Location bus tour, I had, yet, another street-side New York hot dog with all 3 condiments. 

For breakfast before takeoff I had another New York bagel with cream cheese with water. 

Chapter 2: The Sights

From the first plane during takeoff I could see the highway and most of Moncton before dawn. 

When we landed in Montreal I could see the Olympic Stadium, home of the Bio-dome and the old MLB team the Montreal Expos. 

After customs we headed to our gate and I could hear final boarding calls for places like Chicago, Orlando, Minneapolis, and then finally...Newark, where we were landing. 

When plane #2 finally landed in Newark it looked like the opening of The Blues Brothers before Jake is freed and is picked up by his brother…”IN A POLICE CAR!”  When we got out of the gate we went up an escalator…and met up with Stephanie, Glen, and Mary! 

When we got in the shuttle van, I could see the Statue of Liberty, the Chrysler Building, and the Empire State Building. 

Enjoying Smyth Tribeca to the fullest.

When we got into the hotel and finally saw our rooms I could see we had a large LG Flat Screen, a bed, a luxury bathroom with shower, and an excellent street view. 

Then we went to a few shops to browse and one had lots of good clothes, and another had great jewelry and another had lots of furniture…and a Steinway grand piano with a picture of New York City above the Steinway logo on the cover. 

The first day we went to Schwartz’s Toy Store where the giant foot piano Tom Hanks and his friend/s play with in the movie Big and I was hoping the foot piano would be there so I could play Let it Go from Frozen, but it was not there. 

Then I saw the Empire State Building and the inside looks almost exactly like in Elf.  The decorations throughout the building were beautifully lit up for Christmas.  When we went into the elevator we soon arrived on the 25th floor where we were to meet Glen’s friend at LinkedIn, who would give us the free tour to the observatory.  When we went through security, we went onto another elevator, which took us to the 80th floor.  And there was the observatory.  Too bad it was too foggy to see the buildings from the observatory, but we went anyway.  Then we saw the gift shop and I bought the movie Sleepless in Seattle, which ends right in the observatory of that very building with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks finally together with their son!  Mom also bought some souvenirs for McKim House! 

Waiting to go up to the observation deck inside the Empire State Building.

After this we saw the giant department Macy’s, AKA Gimbel’s in Elf.  We went up several wooden escalators and had drinks at the 6th floor’s restaurant.  Between floors Stephanie and Mom bought clothes there and I wanted to see the electronics/movies/music section if there was one. 

After this we walked down the streets and I saw and went in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and I wondered what New York’s bishop’s name was as it is often read in the Eucharistic Prayers before communion at Mass, and I thought of my grandparents, Stephane, and Marilyn.  I paid 2 American dollar bills and lit a candle in memory of my grandparents. 

After this we walked past several stores and then past Rockefeller Center and saw its giant Christmas tree and its outdoor skating rink where Buddy and Jovie skate in the date scene of Elf before the big fight with Miles Finch.  Then, after walking for several miles, that’s right, US miles (if we were in Canada I’d say kilometers) we took a cab back to our hotel room. 

We then saw Times Square at night and the lights were unbelievable!  It was like giant flat screens and video screens on giant pro arena and field scoreboards. 

The following night we went to an Italian restaurant in Times Square [see the menu in the food chapter]. 

Then we saw It’s Only a Play, at a nearby theater, starring Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’s Matthew Brocerick, Grease’s Stockard Channing, and Stuart Little’s Nathan Lane, whom you may know as Snowbell, the snooty and funny white cat.  Each star, on their appearance, got a rousing cheer and applause. 

Across from the theater was a huge Marriott Hotel, which, judging by the size, was, I guess, very expensive to stay in.

We took a cab after this through and past the big, amazing lights of Times Square back to our hotel. 

The following morning Mom, Stephanie, and I, and Mary, all went to Barnes & Noble, and we went up an escalator...and there was the bookstore.  Originally, I was going to buy, that’s right, buy, my own copy of Nop’s Trials, expecting it to be in stock here, but it was not in stock, so instead I bought a Border Collie book and Stephanie bought me a James Herriot book, a compilation of short dog stories, and Mom promised me she would order Nop’s Trials and Nop’s Hope for my birthday, in fact coming up on January 7th. 

Then we went to Whole Foods to pick up some local groceries for the hotel room, like small New York cheesecakes, 2 Pellegrino sparking lemonades and 1 Pellegrino sparking orange drink, BBQ chips and nachos, lots of berries, Greek yogurt, and croissants. 

Tonight was the big show at Radio City Music Hall, where Warbucks and Farrell take Annie for Camille in the movie Annie, with the Rockettes and a fabulous Christmas Story with real live sheep and camels!  There was a huge rising stage, a 3D movie, a giant moving orchestra pit, and 2 huge pipe organ keyboard sets with 2 organists dueling with each other! 

Then we had supper at the Rockefeller Center Café and it was amazing.  [See the food chapter for the menu}  From where I was sitting I could see some Christmas trees and the outdoor skating rink, where some people were putting on skating shows.  When I walked around I took a picture of the giant tree where Kevin and his mother meet up near the end of Home Alone 2 and the rink. 

The cab that took us home drove, unexpectedly, past Madison Square Garden where the Knicks and Rangers play. 

When we got to the hotel, channel 26 had started 24 Hours of A Christmas Story and it was probably the only year I got to see this movie on a hotel’s LG flat screen, and as you see in the picture, something else rare, on the LG flat screen in the hotel, the closed captioning under Miss Shields reads a famous Christmas Story line “You call this a paragraph?” 

The following morning Mom gave me my socks back, which I had given her to use as Christmas Morning stockings, and in it were a package of mints from the Empire State Building with the picture on it, shower gel from the hotel, a New York t-shirt, a New York key chain, and 2 extra US dollar bills.   

I watched my new Sleepless DVD on Mom and Dad’s suite’s flat screen and took a picture of the Empire State Building scene where Hanks and Ryan meet in the end.  We noticed that from the suite we could see the peace tower, which replaced the World Trade Center after the horrible terrorist attacks with hijacked planes on September 11th, 2001, and the Empire State Building, which is beautifully lit at night, as you can see from Kevin’s room in Home Alone 2.  We also Face Timed Melody and Erin. 

Then we took the subway to a place called the High Line, where there used to be train tracks and a train, now a park, with good views.  Also from here we could see the Empire State building. 

We looked for a place to have lunch… and where should we find a hot dog stand on a nice sunny day…but Madison Square Garden, where a Knicks game just finished.  My memory associated with that arena was that every February the Westminster Dog Show happens in 2 days, and my favorite year was 2005, where there was a Cardigan Welsh Corgi by the name of Harry Potter, and the winner of the herding group, the last group before Best in Show, was, in fact, a Border Collie by the name of Merlin, a big moment for Border Collie lovers like me, and I hoped he would win Best in Show, but he was shortlisted.  Other events that happen here include pro hockey games, pro basketball games, college basketball games, and concerts.  This building is also Penn Station, a train station.  And from where I was standing it looked like a giant mall, linked by escalators.     After this…we went in to find a gift shop.  Then we found the subway station…and took the subway to our hotel.  Tonight we went to a restaurant for supper by cab [see chapter 1 for the menu].  Then we walked down a street past several stores, including the furniture store.  Then we picked up a cab and went back. 

Madison Square Garden

The next day some of us went to Central Park by subway and it was like living in the movies set there.  At a gift shop mom bought a book called Strawberry Fields.  We thought of going to the zoo, but we decided to skip it.  We walked past the Plaza where Home Alone 2 was set.  I took pictures from all angles.  Then we walked past this and went past several stores.  We went into Tiffany’s Jewelry Store, where the new locket comes from in Annie.  Then we walked past several other jewelry and department stores, one more time past St. Patrick’s Cathedral, one more time past Rockefeller Center and its giant Christmas tree, and past Empire State Building, which now had a 2-hour wait to see the observatory due to the now nice sunny day. 

The Plaza

We played with the idea of going to Macy’s again, but it was crazy busy.  We steered out, picked up a cab, and went to the hotel to relax and freshen up.  Tonight we went to Time Warner Center, a giant mall, and we had another street side hot dog, went into the mall, browsed a little, and went to the second floor to watch the Christmas light show and to gather with a group, as this group was to be led with a tour guide to a bus, and this bus was to take us on a guided tour of Christmas movie locations, with clips and trivia on the screen.  This took a couple of pit stops, and at one, at Barney’s Department Store, we had to stop for 15-20 minutes, as we witnessed a robbery in progress, where a woman was caught red-handed stealing a purse and was screaming at the top of her lungs, denying that she did it when she knew she was caught, and fighting as security guards, dressed and posing as fellow shoppers, were holding her until NYPD cars came and took her to jail, and someone behind me on the bus said it was not her first time doing this and being caught here.  After a few locations, we bailed at a pit stop at Macy’s, flagged a cab, and had it take us back to the hotel room.  It was so sad to see New York at night for the last time. 

The next morning we woke up, had breakfast, enjoyed our hotel for the last couple hours in which I made a video to thank Franck, our hotel’s concierge as I had not met him yet, flagged a cab, and had it take us to Newark Airport.  And it was so sad to see New York City and its amazing sights in the cab’s rearview mirror after such an amazing once-in-a-lifetime Christmas vacation.  We went through security and found our gate, and I was expecting to go through customs here.  Within hours our plane showed up, and within less than one hour we boarded.  We took off, and after less than an hour we landed in Montreal and I saw the Olympic Stadium.   After we came out of the gate, we saw Stephanie, Glen, and Mary en route to their gate, next to ours!  We gathered, went through security one final time, found a restaurant, and ate together one final time on our vacation.  We went to our gates and within minutes Steph and Glen’s plane showed up, then ours showed up.  Within hours Steph, Glen, and Mary, boarded their planes and later we boarded ours.  When we landed in Moncton it was about 11:30pm!  We were so tired. 

Thank you, Stephanie, Glen, and Mary, Mom, and Dad, for making this possible.  And thank you, Franck and the Smyth hotel staff, for the hotel room and its many great amenities!  A thank you to the salesperson at Barnes and Noble who sold me the Border Collie book, a thank you to the LinkedIn people at the Empire State Building for the free tour of Empire State Building, a thank you to the salesperson at the gift shop who sold me the Sleepless movie, a thank you to the waiters at Minetta Tavern, Mercer Kitchen, the pizza place on the 22nd, and the hotel’s restaurant, a huge thank you to the hot dog stand people who sold me the hot dog, and all the people I met who served and helped me during the whole trip, all without whom this trip would not be a huge fun success! 

A FROZEN-TONGUE-ON-METAL-FLAGPOLE-FREE CHRISTMAS STORY

Editor's note: 'Tis the season to be joyful. Patrick has revived this 2005 holiday essay for your reading pleasure. Stay tuned for updates on his upcoming NYC trip in the weeks to come.

My first Christmas with the McGrath family, 1987, was merrier than the last one I had with my foster mother.  It is more fun spending Christmas with a real family than with a foster family as you will live with them forever.  Every Christmas season we would sing Christmas carols, listen to Christmas carols, decorate the tree, watch movies like A Christmas Story, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Santa Clause, Elf, Santa Claus: The Movie, and Muppet favorites like The Muppet Christmas Carol and Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree, get out the Christmas lights, go for nighttime drives to see other houses’ lights, lighted snowmen, lighted Santa Clauses, “Merry Christmas” signs, and lighted reindeer, read stories like The Night Before Christmas and Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas every Christmas Eve, have French toast every Christmas morning, open our stockings, and then open the big presents, and then call everyone we know who sends us the presents from far off places and thanking them for the Christmas gifts.  Every Christmas night we would open crackers, wear the crowns that came in the crackers, read the jokes and trivia questions which also came in the crackers, and then we would have our traditional: Turkey with dressing and cranberry “sarce,” potatoes, turnip, carrots, and for the final touch, we would have our dessert.  Some would have plum pudding while others had Mom’s Special Apple Pie with ice cream.  My top 4 Christmases were 2004, 2003, 2002 and 2001.  2001:  This Christmas saw me get a grand total of 10 CDs from Stephanie, a Border Collie calendar, the movie Cats and Dogs with Jeff Goldblum and the voices of Tobey McGuire and Michael Clarke Duncan, and a couple of gift certificates.  2002:  I was working at Community College that year, plus we had just gotten a new Land Rover Discovery and on Christmas Eve on the way between church and Jennifer’s we listened to Cowboy Christmas on 96.9 and I recognized one of the songs because it had played in my office at Community College. 

Jennifer gave me a present that said “To Patrick from Tessa.”  Tessa was the name of Jennifer’s Collie whom she had gotten two springs ago.  The present was a framed picture of the lovely Collie by our back door with the others looking in.  Stephanie got me a gift certificate.  Christmas of 2003 saw me get a Toshiba 19” TV/VCR Combo as my second TV as I was living both on Alexander Avenue with my family and with a younger couple on Twin Oaks Drive and I didn’t want to take my little one back and forth each weekend and I wanted to watch my own at home while Dad would watch golf or Mom and Dad would watch 24.  We had cinnamon French toast with syrup as a special breakfast.  Jennifer gave me a picture of Dillon, her Border Collie, having fun on the marshlands near her house.  Stephanie gave me the movie Finding Nemo.  Mom and Dad got me a MuchDance CD.  Erin got me a hockey team claw and the people I lived with gave me a shirt with the hockey team logo.  Christmas of 2004 saw me get a karaoke machine and two karaoke CDs from Stephanie, Erin and Kyle, a ghetto blaster from Mom, a hockey team horn to blow whenever the team scored a goal, and a hockey team poster with the game schedule.  Once again, it began with Erin’s cinnamon French Toast.  My best gift in 1995 was my first Timex digital watch.  My best gift in 1996 was my keyboard.  My best gift in 1997 was my NOW! 2 CD.  My best gift in 1998 was a book called Floss, a story about a Border Collie who has to sacrifice play with children to start working on a farm.  My best gifts in 1999 was a Timex Ironman watch and the soundtrack to the musical Mame.  My best gift in 2000 was my first TV.  I did not even try sticking my tongue to a metal flagpole like in A Christmas Story, asking for “a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle”, or making a lightning-fast slide down the hill like in Christmas Vacation.  I didn’t even try “putting a light of candle in anybody’s hair,” like in Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree.  Like the song says, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!”  

My 8 Years in L'Arche

Chapter 1: Year 1

Pat & Gray goofing around during the holidays - here they take inspiration from the movie The Christmas Story after a night of Chinese food and a screening of the flick. 

    I moved into L’Arche Saint John, A.K.A. McKim House, shortly after Molly’s passing, Ella’s arrival, my visits to Saint John to visit the house and stay in the house, and after my first Toronto Autism Symposium where I had met Temple Grandin, stayed in Royal York, and went to multiple HMV stores and malls.  Besides me, there were 3 very friendly Core Members: Krista Simmons, Debbie Turnbull, and John Pike, friendly and humorous Assistants Gray Gillies, Teresa Bond (no 007 ammunition, cars, or relation, sorry), and Marilyn Moore, and a Community Leader Dan Kirkegaard, also a United Church minister.  Since moving in, I attended mass at Holy Trinity Church, went to the gatherings at Stone Church, watched classic Christmas movies in the living room, played the organ that was by the door, had Friendship Circles at McKim House, had Community Prayer at the house, went to Christmas parties where I danced and played the piano and guitar if no piano, went to my first Sea Dogs home game, browsing at Superstores using their 4 listening stations each location, browsing and buying at McAllister Place HMV and Brunswick Square CD Plus, celebrated my first McKim-Mas, performed in my first of many New Dawn Players mimes based on bible stories and fairy tales, including different and updated versions of The Nativity Story, The Prodigal Son, The Good Samaritan, The Princess who Never Laughed, and The Golden Pears, celebrated my first Birthday in L’Arche, gone to my first Super Dogs show since I’d had Molly and Ella with Mom, Dad, Jen, Brian, and my nephews Brennan and Connor, went to concerts and musicals at local theatres and high schools, went to my first Prayer Partners’ Retreat, said goodbye to Teresa, welcomed a German Assistant named Marc, went to my first L’Arche vacation in our new 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan with DVD player...in Montreal, said goodbye to Marc, went to my first Faith and Sharing Retreat, welcomed Paul Martin (not Canada’s ex-Prime Minister) as an Assistant, bought my first Babe DVD, had my first Halloween in Saint John dressing as Harry Potter, attended a Cursillo Men’s Weekend at St. Joachim’s Church, attended my first Santa Claus Parade, and made an appearance on The Empty Stocking Fund and Channel 10’s Daytime.  I also celebrated my first Anniversary! 

    Chapter 2: Year 2

   This began with my first Anniversary!  Then we decorated the Christmas Tree again!  Something different:  John Pike had to leave the house for multiple hospitals and later various nursing homes.  Then again came McKim-Mas!  Then came Christmas, and I was met with a surprise:  Mom got me 2 books:  Nop’s Trials and Nop’s Hope, both books about Border Collies, like Ella, Molly, Dillon, and another one I will mention later in this story, were, and these stories are like reading a Bond film or a Mission: Impossible film, full of action, peril, and touching stories.  Before I had moved into this house I had been reading nonstop Jennifer’s green copy of Nop’s Trials at home, in Upper Cape, in the car, during trips, and with Molly with me, and even after I lost her at age 6.  See the whole story in a separate story which I may send to this Blog.  Now I had BOTH books!  I already had a copy of the sequel, but Blake and Kansas Cameron’s Shepherd/Husky Mix Oskar had chewed it, so there were dog tooth marks on the book.  Now I had mint condish copies of each book!  At the time I am writing this story, they look as rickety as the screaming restricted book from the Restricted Section in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone when Harry sneaks to the restricted section to find info on Nicholas Flamel and almost gets caught by Filch and Snape.  Then came my second Epiphany mime concert.  My birthday came up again, and then a young Acadian man, named Stephane Bastarache, who was a faithful Catholic and went to the local French Catholic church, moved in and he had a guitar.  Then I attended a course at the City Market which lasted until May.  One weekend during that Gray and I went to Antigonish for a Community Exchange and we had fun, staying at Yeshua House, visited other houses, shopped at Superstore’s DVD/CD section, and attended mass at St. Ninian’s Cathedral.  This spring we went to Cape Breton for a Regional Gathering at St. Anne’s Gaelic College.  Later we went back to Cape Breton to celebrate L’Arche Cape Breton’s 25th Anniversary.  This involved concerts and a dance.  Then I went home...to celebrate Erin’s wedding, where a friend of Erin’s and I were impersonating Jake and Elwood Blues from The Blues Brothers, all guys were wearing rented tuxes and there was catering and a rented electric piano and sound system.  Then we went on my second L’Arche Saint John Vacation, this time on P.E.I., going to a musical, shopping at Confederation Court Mall, went to Confederation Festival with covers of the top 40 music from that year, and explored P.E.I.  After this we said goodbye to Paul Martin, said goodbye to Dan Kirkegaard as our Community Leader, said welcome to Rosaire Blais, said welcome to a Chinese Assistant named Trevor...and later said goodbye to Rosaire and welcomed Jocelyn Worster as our Community Leader.  I started working with Krista at a sheltered workplace which used to be a school on the East Side called United Catena Training Centre.  John Pike, passed away at his nursing home and we attended his funeral service at Forest Hills Baptist Church with a touching rendition of Beautiful.  I joined the Assumption Church’s Senior Choir as a tenor.  Rosaire had me stay at his place in Wolfville for a weekend.  During this time we went to 2 movies, a hockey game, a basketball game, meals out, and Rosaire told me McKim House was being donated a piano!    Our family, including Granddad and Bill, all took a trip to Halifax, staying at Cambridge Suites, shopping at HMV Spring Garden Road, shopping at Park Lane Mall, watching Christmas with the Kranks at Stephanie and Glen’s apartment, attending the 1st Sunday of Advent Mass at St. Mary’s Basilica, and having breakfast at the Lord Nelson Hotel’s restaurant. 

    Chapter 3:  Year 3

    My 2 Year Anniversary came up.

McKim-Mas came up too.    This Christmas Mom gave me a stuffed Border Collie which I named Shadow, and when I first brought it down the stairs that Christmas, Lisa, our Coton de Tulear, thought Shadow was a real dog, and got frightened and started barking.  On New Year’s Eve we watched the DVD of the movie Mamma Mia!, based on the musical.  And I loved it so much I bought a Mamma Mia DVD of my own.  Then the Epiphany Concert came up with the mime.  Then my Birthday came up.  The March that followed Mom and I went to Halifax for the Atlantic University Basketball tournament, again staying at Cambridge Suites, shopping at HMV, and visiting Stephanie and Glen.  Then I saw the movie Marley & Me, and I was touched by the fact that it was story about a family’s dog who gets into trouble but loves the family nonetheless and dies in the end, so I bought the movie myself.  Then our basement underwent a facelift with a bathroom on my floor, new flooring...and our new piano, a Heintzman upright donated by the Sisters of Charity.  Then Jocelyn, Trevor, and I, all went to Halifax...to run/walk in the Bluenose Marathon in which most of L’Arche Atlantic was involved.  We took the 5k.  Then we met Stephanie and Glen at their apartment, went out for supper, shopped at HMV, and attended a Sunday mass at St. Mary’s Basilica.  This summer we started watching Family Channel a lot.  On Vacation we went to Halifax for half a week...and then to Wolfville for half a week.  In Halifax we went to Mic Mac Mall, went on the Harbour Hopper, went on the Halifax-Dartmouth Ferry, went out for supper, and went to Toy Story 3.  In Wolfville we visited Rosaire, went to Applewicks, and visited L’Arche houses.  Stay-Cation came up and we went to Baptist Book Room, went to Moncton where we went mini-golfing, to St. Hubert, Costco and lots of fun things, and came home with one of Baptist Book Room’s listening stations for me.  Shortly after this, I got a saddening e-mail to call Jennifer.  I called her...and she told me that Dillon, who for some time had been getting elderly and developing arthritis, had passed away at age 14.  The summer after Grade 8 when Dillon and I first met he was a playful puppy who loved being serenaded by my guitar playing that summer.  So when we went to Faith and Sharing, I took a picture I had taken during high school of Dillon with me.  Later Jennifer got another playful Border Collie puppy...from Saint John, named Danny.  I met and he was sweet and playful.  We welcomed an Indian Assistant named Janet Christy...and later our second German Assistant, named Christian.  The Winter Olympics were coming up in Vancouver and now the torch relay was happening and we watched the flame go up our street. 

    Chapter 4: Year 4

    My Anniversary came up, as did McKim-Mas.  This Christmas I got the book Imminent Dogs, Dangerous Men... and a DVD of a movie I had seen at Zellers, called Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy.  The book and the movie were touching.  The movie was like Homeward Bound, as each animal had a voice but their mouths don’t move like humans’ mouths do, and no CGI effects, and it was all a real and touching story.  Later Janet left...and later Gray left, and an Assistant from The Philippines named Nova moved in.  This St. Patrick’s week we did something different:  we went to O’Leary’s, a local Irish pub, for breakfast with music that supported our house.  Here traditional Irish folk songs came up.  This continued every St. Patrick’s week after this year.  Some of us got a tour of the new Marco Polo Cruise Terminal and I loved it.  Janet came back to stay with us for some time.  Jocelyn, Christian, and I went to Halifax to walk the 5K Bluenose Marathon and met Stephanie and Glen and did the usual Halifax things.  This summer we went to Halifax...again.  This time we stayed in L’Arche Halifax.  We shopped and explored and ate out.  Then we went to Cape Breton and stayed in one of their houses.  This house had a piano and I played it, and we watched my Mighty Ducks movies and the house’s copy of Sister Act and we loved the Motown hits that come up in that movie.  We also visited the other houses and their day programs.  Later we welcomed a 5th Core Member: a young blind speechless but communicating and loving lady named Kristina Cooper, from a nursing home called Mill Cove, and so the sitting room became her bedroom.  She had her ways of communicating:  when we asked her a question, when her eyebrows went up, that meant “yes.”  A humorous, pun-loving, music loving Assistant named Britney Shaw came with us.  In October a local theatre company, a local symphony orchestra, and 2 high school choirs, all joined forces to bring together a musical about the world’s fastest ship (sorry Pirates of the Caribbean fans, not The Black Pearl) The Marco Polo, called Marco Polo: The Musical.  In November Mom and I flew to Toronto for the Autism Symposium for our 2nd time, meeting Temple Grandin, and this time getting a Home Alone 2 style luxury suite at the Royal York with a view of the CN Tower, and at night the Tower looked like a giant Christmas tree with multi-colored twinkle lights.  Here we went to 2 HMVs and met a couple of friends of ours.  Shortly after I got back I got my bottom wisdom teeth pulled out, which was nerve-racking. 

    Chapter 5: Year 5

    This Anniversary marked my 4th year here.  This was my last full year at United Catena.  McKim-Mas, of course, came up, as did Christmas.  The Epiphany concert with the mime came up too.  On July 4th of this year Krista and I started work at Key Industries.  I started folding shirts for events and organizations and joined their choir, which performs at nursing homes once a month and attends the Summer Sounds concert at the nearby United Church.  I also started volunteering at the local SPCA, walking the dogs there and at a local nursing home playing the piano for the residents there.  Our family took me to Upper Cape, where now we had a cottage washed to our beach by a winter storm surge, which was now ours, where our trailer used to be.  We stayed there then too.  Marilyn retired as House Leader and moved to Yarmouth and Janet took over the role of House Leader.  I was later chosen to go to Mobile Alabama with ex-Regional Coordinator John O’Donnell, Jocelyn, and board president Don Dickson for a weekend and to Atlanta for an International Assembly at a local college. 

    Chapter 6: Year 6

    My Anniversary marked a big year: my 5th year in L’Arche.  Our 3rd German Assistant, named Anna Bingel, who spoke German, moved in and I started doing Zumba every Wednesday with Anna and Krista.  Another female Assistant then moved in, named Andreanne from Quebec, who spoke French.    This Christmas I got a Toshiba 19” flat screen LED TV to replace my Citizen 19” TV/VCR and Jen got a huge Samsung LCD TV too.  The Boxing Day after I saw my first Mission Impossible movie and it was gripping and I jumped.  The Epiphany concert and mime, of course, came up.  This spring, as planned, Mom and I went to Halifax, met Stephanie for supper, and met John O’Donnell...and he and I went to the Quality Inn Halifax Airport hotel, so my first hotel with a flat screen and a pool since I got my own flat screen, and since we had a pool, I used it.  The next morning, bright and early, we checked out of the hotel and the airport shuttle picked us up and took us to Stanfield Airport.  We bought our ticket, went through security, and awaited our first of 3 planes.  The first took us to Toronto.  Then we went through customs and took the 2nd plane to Atlanta Airport...and took the 3rd plane to Mobile Alabama.  We went to a house with a pool and stayed 2 nights there.  We went to shops and a nearby house with a pool and a beach nearby.  Then our whole group, a 3 Chevy Impala convoy, all took off for Atlanta, stopping at the Cracker Barrel for lunch.  Then we proceeded to Atlanta for the International Assembly.  We went to speeches, services and mass at local churches, exploring the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Site where I heard about the racist stuff that was going on before King’s famous speech which I already knew from watching Forrest Gump, My Dog Skip, and The Help, night-after-night pub crawls, shopping at local stores, and I got to share my gift of music and humor with lots of L’Arche people from across the globe.  There were also catchy songs sung for this event in all kinds of languages.  Since this event I played the songs on piano and guitar from then.  This summer we went on vacation to Cape Breton and I played the guitar at a Cape Breton fudge shop with a stage and listening posts and was the first to play Beatles songs there and bought a CD from a local rap artist. 

    Chapter 7: Year 7

    The Anniversary marked my 6th year.  This Christmas was spent in Halifax with Stephanie and Glen in their house with a musical at Neptune Theatre based on the movie Elf. 

   Then came my birthday.  The St. Patrick’s Breakfast came too.  This summer we went to Antigonish for summer vacation. 

The fall that came after summer I went on an exchange to Antigonish with an Assistant from Kenya named Justine, and they had a Halloween dance. 

 Chapter 8: Year 8 

    This Anniversary marked my 7th year.  McKim-Mas came, as did Christmas. 

This Christmas I got a Sony CD player and a BlackBerry cell phone and since then I was texting a lot. 

Of course my Birthday came up, my 33rd Birthday.  And on this day it was announced that we had won the Kia Canada Drive Change contest and we were to get a 2014 Kia Sedona for one year...and then a 2015 Kia Sedona for another year! 

Then again we had the St. Patrick’s Breakfast at O’Leary’s. 

Easter came and before then our new van arrived:  A titanium gray Kia Sedona, with automatic almost everything. 

This summer my group had a stay-cation in which, my idea, we went to Fundy Park to walk a trail and to other local New Brunswick attractions, including St. Andrew’s for whale watching and to see Eleanor Roosevelt’s place for Tea with Eleanor. 

Then I got a call from Stephanie, Glen, and Mom in the form of a conference call and they said the next Christmas would be spent in New York City where we would go to a musical, go to a play, have meals out, enjoy the sights from Christmas movies, and stay the nights at the Smyth Tribeca with our own hotel rooms! 

Then fall came and with that 50 Fest!  We went to Citadel High in Halifax for a speech and concerts where we met lots of people from different communities, a local church service and breakfast at an Anglican Church, and we stayed at the Best Western Chocolate Lake hotel, my idea, so we used the pool there, watched the flat screens, and enjoyed the continental breakfast. 

2 days after we went back Gray and I traveled together to Toronto for the Autism Symposium, meeting Temple Grandin, shopping at local shops, and staying at L’Arche Toronto!  I give that trip an A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++! 

    Then the weekend came and L’Arche Saint John, also part of 50 Fest, put on a concert with show tunes, and Gray and I performed I’d Do Anything from Oliver, dedicating to my new nephew, Erin and Christopher’s new son Oliver.  Then the rest of the house went onstage and did Hakuna Matata from Disney’s The Lion King, and did the final chorus with the whole ensemble joining in. 

   Then Gray and I did a presentation for the Assistants and House Leader about what we heard and learned at the Symposium. 

    Chapter 9: Year 9...so far

    My 8th Anniversary was touching.  When they passed the candle around at prayer the peoples’ comments about me were beautiful. 

   Then I went home for a weekend.  Shortly after I went back to Saint John I came home again to see Bill.  This weekend is the time I have finished this story.  

L’Arche’s 50th Anniversary

Fifty years ago, Jean Vanier, son of famous politician Georges Vanier, whom one of the Metro stops in Montreal where the Bell Centre where the Montreal Canadians play hockey, is named after, was touched by 2 things: the biblical story of Noah’s Ark and Martin Luther King Jr’s famous “I have a dream” speech. 

Arriving at the concert in Saint John. 

This inspired Vanier to open his first L’Arche home by welcoming two disabled people to live with and have meals with him.  Back in the day, this historical figure had a show called Jean Vanier in Conversation, shot at his L’Arche house in Trosly, France, with video clips of his core members and assistants, shown on Vision TV, home of Daily Mass and Murder, She Wrote, and old shows that do not play there anymore, Touched by an Angel, 7th Heaven, and Doc, starring country star Billy Ray Cyrus, known for Achy Breaky Heart and his daughter, Miley Cyrus AKA Hannah Montana. 

Since the opening of his first home, lots of communities have opened with residences, apartments, and day programs across the world, including Canada. 

In Atlantic Canada, there are communities in Cape Breton, Wolfville, Antigonish, Halifax, and Saint John, and projects to open a house in Fredericton and Newfoundland. 

L’Arche Cape Breton’s community has day programs The Ark, the Angels’ Loft, and The Hope Chest.  It also has houses and apartments.  Along with these L’Arche Cape Breton also has a chapel where they hold multi-faith services.  L’Arche Cape Breton’s core members and people have starred in videos I Am and We Are. 

L’Arche Antogonish has houses and day programs.  Their day programs are Horizons, formerly LEAP and an art place. 

L’Arche Wolfville, also known as Homefires, has houses and a day program called Applewicks, known for homemade fancy and beautiful candles, used for prayer services, which we, L’Arche Saint John, for meals and Advent candles. 

Now, it is safe to say that Halifax now has a L’Arche duplex, as this house is 2 houses connected to each other, but this community does not have a day program. 

And finally, L’Arche Saint John, has only one house to date, but we, as L’Arche Saint John, hope to open a second house and/or a day program to expand our community. 

When L’Arche turned 50 a series of celebrations came up. 

For the Atlantic Community, the first of two 50 Fest celebrations came up.  This was held in Halifax, with lots of friends from all over L’Arche Atlantic in attendance, with a speech and a concert at Citadel High School’s Spatz Theatre, a Pub Crawl with a karaoke party, a breakfast and church service at a local Anglican Church, and, thanks to me who came up with this neat idea, two nights at the Best Western Chocolate Lake Hotel with a swim in the pool and Jacuzzi and LG flat screen TVs in each room and a continental breakfast. 

The second and final celebration of 50 Fest was, in fact, held in Saint John.  This was a concert at Imperial Theatre with lots of people, including friends from L’Arche Atlantic and my Mom in attendance, called A Few of our Favorite Show Tunes, involving musical numbers by people, including selected samples of the upcoming musical The Sound of Music and ending with Gray and me singing I’d Do Anything from Oliver, honoring my new nephew, and then McKim House, and later the whole ensemble singing The Lion King’s Hakuna Matata.  ​

A Very Excellent 50 Fest

Congrats to L'arche's 50th anniversary! This blog post is dedicated to that happy occasion. 

Chapter 1: Speeches at Spatz Theatre

My group took a rental car, a Buick, to Halifax, stopping at Tim’s for a smoothie and a rest on the way and Subway for lunch. 

We soon got to Halifax and went directly to Citadel High School to set up at Spatz Theatre. 

Then we went to supper with a few friends, including our speakers. 

Then we went back to the theatre to hear the speeches, and it was wonderful, except I was starting a cold, my second in 2 seasons.  I caught one when I wanted the Abba CD and the Marley & Me: The Puppy Years DVD. 

After this we went to Best Western Chocolate Lake Hotel to stay there and our room had a view and an LG flat screen TV. 

        Chapter 2: Swimming and Music at Spatz Theatre

Today we woke up in our hotel room, met, and got some breakfast. 

Then, since our hotel room did have a pool and I have never stayed at a hotel with a pool and not used the pool, we went to the pool and the hot tub and enjoyed it. 

Then we went back to the theatre to set up.  Today there was to be music from Nova Scotia’s Men of the Deeps and Terry Kelly, known for his Remembrance Day song A Pittance of Time, which he wrote in a Dartmouth drug store when an announcement came up to observe 2 minutes of silence and everyone, except a father with a little girl, observed 2 minutes of silence, as this father tried to engage conversation with the store’s salesperson. 

Also I was to use my new guitar to busk, raising money for L’Arche. 

This went very well, and Stephanie came and took pictures and videos of me playing.  And we raised lots of money and I got a blue T Shirt. 

Tonight we went to a pub for supper and a karaoke party.  This also went very well until I got a headache, and I thought my immune system was super low and I may now have had a cold and the flu, as Dr. Ross’ cold and flu chart said a headache was rare with a cold and more likely with the flu.  At karaoke I sang with Stephane for Yellow Submarine.  Later, due to my headache, I headed back to the hotel room. 

        Chapter 3: Breakfast, Church Service, and Drive Home

Today we had breakfast with the various communities at Trinity Anglican Church. 

Then we had a church service with some of us, including me, playing music on various instruments, me on the new guitar.  

Then we drove home with various stops, and got home with the Autism Symposium 2014 trip in JUST 2 DAYS and New York City Christmas 2014 to look forward to!  Just imagine, 2 flying trips to a big city in one whole year!  

An Absolutely Grand-In Toronto Trip!

Patrick Skywalker

Chapter 1: Take off/finding the L’Arche Toronto House

Today we went to Saint John Airport.  We were to take 2 different planes:  A Bombardier Dash to Halifax International Airport and from there in 2 hours we would take an Airbus jet to Pearson International Airport. 

We went through security. 

Then within minutes our plane to Halifax showed up, again a Bombardier Dash with one row per side, so Gray and I sat across the aisle from each other AND we had window seats. 

Gray and I put our cell phones on Airplane Mode.  Within minutes the engine started and we headed to the series of lines…then took off! 

In just 45 minutes we landed at Halifax International Airport.  Then we went through the gate, up an escalator to the other gate, then down another to browse at stores and have supper at Burger King, eating like a king and queen, as we had a 2 hour layover. 

Then we went through security again, up an escalator, then to the gate, and within minutes our second plane showed up: An Airbus, the same kind John O’Donnell and I had taken to Toronto En Route to Atlanta 2012. 

Later we boarded, and in no time we took off. 

I looked at the En Route magazine that was in front of me…and put it in my backpack when we landed.  We got off, and then we went through the gate to Pearson International Airport. 

We went to the baggage claim, through 3 escalators and 2 moving walkways. 

Before the alarm went off denoting the bags were on their way to the baggage carousel, I texted Mom and Stephanie, saying I made it there safely and was having fun.  Then the baggage carousel started and we got our bags.  Then we left, going up 2 escalators to catch the TTC Airport Rocket to Kipling Subway Station. 

The name of that subway station makes me thing of Disney’s The Jungle Book and my Cubs years.  Once there we got off the bus, gathered our bags, went down an escalator to the Subway station, and awaited the Subway. 

Within minutes a subway arrived and we boarded.  It took off. 

We went to Greenwood Station and caught a bus that would take us to the L’Arche House we were supposed to stay in and got there…only to discover there was a change of plans, so instead of Greenwood House, we would stay at Gamble House, which had a piano! 

So the house people called a Beck Taxi to take us to Gamble House, charging it to Greenwood House.  Within minutes a green and orange Toyota cab showed up…and took us to the house.  We settled and met the house people who were friendly. 

Chapter 2: Symposium Day 1

We got up quite early, had breakfast, and then we freshened up. 

Then we called a Beck Cab, and within minutes another orange and green Toyota cab showed up.  The cab took us through the city and within minutes we came to the North Building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. 

Then we went in, took a long escalator down to where the speeches would happen…and went to registration.  We got our badges…then we browsed where the books and the copies of the Temple Grandin movie starring Romeo & Juliet’s Clare Danes as Temple, Home Alone, Home Alone 2, and Beetlejuice’s Catherine O’Hara as Temple’s Aunt Ann, and Julie Ormond as Temple’s Mother were all sold.  I kept convincing Gray to get a copy, that way we would both have a copy. 

Then we went to the first speech: Antecedent Manipulations: The Behaviour Analyst’s Crack Cocaine, by Dr. Merrill Winston, not only a brilliant expert on autism, but also a comedian who did a legit and entertaining rap, compared behaviors to movies, and finished of with a mixed up clip with The Blues Brothers cussing at the nun and getting slapped with the ruler with Aretha Franklin swearing in the restaurant scene. 

Then Gray and I looked for a place to have lunch, so we went through the Skywalk, where my Grandmother and sisters used to go through En Route to a Blue Jays game when they had the players that helped them win the World Series in the early 90s.  The last time Mom and I went through there we had found an A&W restaurant there, but due to recent construction, now it must have either moved or closed down.  We went to the Toronto Tourism Office and we got some information, like maps and pamphlets that had info and pictures. 

Then Gray and I went to a nearby Tim Horton’s and we each had kettle chips, me with a chicken burger and I forget what Gray had.  Then we were supposed to attend a the next session in the same room as Dr. Winston, but the subject didn’t seem appealing, so we decided to do more exploring.  We did go to the North Building. 

We went through the CBC museum and it showed artifacts from old shows.  For example there was a TV at an artifact that played the Mr. Dressup theme, which remained stuck in my head from that moment on. 

Then we went through mall after mall, trying to find the P.A.T.H. 

Then after more exploring we found the Royal York Hotel, took the P.A.T.H. from the Royal York to the Union Subway Station, discovering that this was under major construction.  We took the Subway to Bloor/Yonge and transferred to the line, getting off at Broadview Station, and taking the #87 bus to Todmorden Street, then getting off and walking around the corner to our H.A.F.H. (Home Away From Home) 

Then we relaxed and had supper with the Gamble House friends, and then we had a prayer service, then I played the piano, doing songs from our L’Arche Songbook which we had used the previous weekend in Halifax and songs from the Disney Movie Frozen.  Then we settled down and headed to bed. 

Chapter 3:  Shopping/Aquarium/Tiago/Souvenir Day

Today we walked down Gamble to Pape Street.  A bus picked us up and took us to Pape Station.  From there we took the Subway to Bloor/Yonge and transferring and getting off at Union. 

Then we tried successfully to find the Toronto Eaton Centre.  There we went down an escalator and down the hall from this was HMV! 

At HMV I bought School of Rock and Jumanji. 

Then we went to the food court for lunch and I got the KFC Popcorn Chicken with Fries and an iced tea, while Gray got a pita. 

Then we met Tiago at Ripley’s Aquarium, and boy were we in for some fun together! 

First we met, then we registered, and then we got some tickets!  We saw all kinds of sea and marine life!  We saw some stingrays, sharks, and all kinds of fish! 

There was a whole section about Disney & Pixar’s famous Finding Nemo with an aquarium with clownfish like Nemo and blue fish like the forgetful Dory who keeps singing Just Keep Swimming/Just Keep Swimming.  Then Gray got me to touch a crab and if I did she would treat me to an ice cream…so I did! 

Then after seeing all kinds of marine life we walked down streets to find the Real Sports store where they sold lots of Blue Jays, Maple Leafs, Raptors, and Marlies merchandise, and I bought a Raptors keychain.  We walked down more streets…and saw a busker playing ragtime on an old Willis upright piano outside!  I gave this busker 2 toonies. 

Then we went to the North Building of the Convention Centre…as Temple Grandin was having a book signing…and as a bonus…if we were one of the first 100 customers to line up to get her book signed, which we were, we would get a free signed copy of her book The Autistic Brain!  So we not only got a book signed and had our picture taken with her…but we got a free book!  So now I have 2 copies: a hard cover copy…and a paperback signed by her!  Gray took some pictures of the 2 of us and I told her I saw the movie, as last time I did not see the movie, but I saw the cases were there, and I found the sight of this appealing, so when Mom and I got back last time she showed me a PVR recording of the movie and I loved how she thinks in pictures and in the end gives a speech on autism in a convention centre, just like I see with Mom and now Gray! 

Then we went to St. Lawrence Market and at a gift shop I bought a Blue Jays water bottle, as on seeing it I thought of Gram and thought she would be smiling in Heaven if I bought this. 

That night Gray and I went to Lone Star Café for supper and I had Quesadillas with rice and vegetables with a Perrier.  We went home, taking the Royal York P.A.T.H. to Union and getting off at Broadview, taking the same bus to the same street and arriving at the same house, remembering the way. 

Chapter 4: Temple Grandin speech/pack up/take off

Posing with Temple Grandin

Today we took the Beck Taxi to the North Building, went down the escalator, and went to the theatre. 

Today’s first speech was by Drs. Paula Kluth and Stephen Shore, called The 5 Myths of Autism.  This lasted from 8:30am-10:00am. 

Then Gray and I went up an escalator to Second Cup and each got a Strawberry Banana smoothie…then headed back to the theatre for the next speech. 

The next speaker really doesn’t need introduction, like the MC said at this speech and the ones Mom and I attended in 2006 and 2010.  This was writer and animal behaviorist, Clare Danes’ character, Dr. Temple Grandin!  This was interesting as she compared her brain to normal people’s brains, and her comparisons of Airports and her Cattle Machines on farms which she herself had designed, as seen in the Temple Grandin movie.  She talks how people like her were sensitive to sounds, colors, and other things.  In the 2006 speech Mom and I had attended before I had moved into L’Arche Saint John, Temple mentioned that in school she was harassed, being called “Tape Recorder” because she was constantly repeating the same stuff over and over again. 

Then Gray and I went to Boston Pizza and I ordered the 6” 4-topping pizza with Caesar Salad and Perrier. 

Today’s third and final speech was by former U.S. Supreme Court Judge Helen E. Hoens, Moderator Jennifer Krummins, and Temple Grandin’s mother, Julie Ormond’s character from the movie, Ms. Eustacia Cutler.  Here Cutler talked endlessly about her daughter Temple, using endless references to the movie and its concepts, and talked endlessly about Temple’s school years, like how Temple had hit someone with a book, injuring that person, and that person reported it to the school, and the school expelled Temple from that school, ordering her not to go back after New Year’s, and that they found a suitable school for autistics and disabled people on a farm with horses and cows, which gave Temple the idea of designing cattle moving devices, also shown in the Temple Grandin movie.  Cutler also mentioned that most of the beef used in Burger King and McDonald’s burgers came from farms at which Temple Grandin had installed some of these brilliant devices. 

Then we headed to the Union Station…only to discover my water bottle was left behind, so we went back and I said a prayer to St. Anthony, the Patron Saint of Lost and Founds, and went back to the North Building…and found it in the theatre where we had gone to the Temple Grandin speech. 

The water bottle is safe!

Then take 2 on the way to Gamble House.  We got back, packed up, signed a card, left a candle as a gift, relaxed, said goodbye to our Gamble House friends…and headed to Kipling Station, catching the Airport Rocket to Pearson Airport, and checking our bags.  We went through security, went on 2 moving walkways, browsed at the stores, located our gate…and had supper and then Gray had a smoothie at Starbucks and I had a Frappuccino.  Then we waited for the plane to show up, and we boarded.  Within minutes we took off…and in 2 hours and 15 minutes we landed in Saint John, getting picked up by Jocelyn and grabbing our bags…and heading home, with New York Christmas 2014 to look forward to!  

An Epic Thanksgiving Weekend!

Chapter 1: Day 1

I took the Maritime Bus Service to Moncton, the 10:30 bus that got into Moncton at 12:40, but I arrived later due to waiting in Salisbury on some transferring passengers.  But nonetheless I had a great first day. 

Ella

Mom and I went to the nearby Sobeys to get things for the Thanksgiving weekend meals.  This included 2 bottles of sparkling apple juice. 

Then we went to Shoppers Drug Mart and Mom bought me a 4 movie collection that included Bingo, a movie about a circus dog who saves the life of a boy whose father is a place kicker for an NFL football team, that I used to rent in Grade 11 and used to own on VHS with my old tubes that I missed. 

Stephanie showed up later from work. 

Then we headed home and Erin and Oliver were there and we had fun together. 

Then I played the new guitar for Oliver which he loved. 

Pat & Oliver just hanging out

Then we had supper together and then I watched the new movie. 

Later that night we planned Days 1 and 2 of our New York Christmas. 

Chapter 2: Day 2

I woke up and had breakfast while Erin and Oliver were having fun.  We were singing Oliver a song from the Stand by Me soundtrack, except instead of “Lollipop” we sang “Oliver”.  He loved it and laughed. 

Best Buds

Later Mom, Erin, and Oliver, all went shopping, stopping at the Banana Republic and buying some new pairs of pants for me, one of which I kept to wear back at home, and the rest to save for the New York Christmas 2014.  Then we went to OshKosh and the clothes and the logo made me think of Brennan and Connor used to wear as toddlers when we filmed them for Gram while I was in Grades 11 and 12.   Originally we were going to do this and see if I could get a haircut.  But Oliver was feeling tired and we went home.  

Then I watched the show The Best of New York where this wacky and funny Food Network host goes from restaurant to restaurant to see the recipes for the local cuisine and get some samples.  It was also interesting when this host walked through the streets of New York to get to a certain restaurant, diner, or tavern.  And it seemed fitting that I had lunch and then resumed the show while having 2 of Mom’s oatmeal cookies. 

Chapter 3: Day 3

Today was shopping/browsing/haircut day.  I had breakfast and then Stephanie and Glen took me to Champlain Place to get a haircut at Cut 2000.  First we went to Sobeys to buy pumpkin flavored baby food so Oliver would have a Thanksgiving meal just like the rest of us.  Then we went to Starbucks for a drink and I had a strawberry banana smoothie.  Then we went to Cut 2000 for my 10:30 hair appointment and during the whole haircut I chatted with the barber about L’Arche, the 50 Fest in Halifax, the Toronto Symposium with Gray where we see Temple Grandin, and the New York Christmas. 

Then we went to HMV and we browsed, looking for New York movies such as When Harry Met Sally…, but that was not there. 

Then Steph, Glen, and I went to Moxie’s for lunch.  Jen showd up and let me borrow her copy of the book Finding Danny and I loved it.    Then we watched The Best of New York again and I loved it again. 

A selfie at lunch

Later that afternoon I peeled potatoes while Brennan peeled apples for pie.  Later Glen took Brennan and me to Spin It and Mom gave me a polymer $20 and I got the DVDs Dante’s Peak, Sister Act 1 and 2 collection and the CD Jock Jams 4 for Zumba music, and I got the CD for free with the 2 DVDs.  This evening we had supper with a sample of Mom’s apple pie for dessert.    Tonight we also planned Days 3-6 of New York Christmas 2014.  Tonight I watched Sister Act and I loved the 60s Motown hits that come up. 

Chapter 4: Thanksgiving Meal day!

Today was not only Thanksgiving Meal Day, in which we had turkey, Mom’s Apple Pie with ice cream, AND Jennifer’s Strawberry Shortcake, but Ella got 2 surprise walks.  The first was with Mom and me and we saw beautiful leaves and a Corgi-Border Collie mix, which made it look like Ella was playing the giant in My Giant.

Our beloved border collie Ella 

Later Glen took Brennan, Dad, and me to the BMW dealership, not only a nice car dealership with lots of cars to look at, but close to the Moncton Airport, from where we will fly to New York City this Christmas. 

Family shot before our walk

We went home and within an hour or less we were seated at the table awaiting the Turkey buffet with the sparkling apple juice we had bought earlier at Sobeys.  This meal included, of course, our turkey, our “cranberry sarce,” which is what Dad calls cranberry sauce, the turnip, Jennifer’s Sweet Potato Casserole which I took a stab at several times at L’Arche since I had gotten that cookbook with the pictures that Christmas, and 2 kinds of dressing: sausage dressing, then the traditional kind we use in Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Then, as planned, came the pie with ice cream and it was a hit!  Then we went for a group walk down the path to the field, again with Ella on leash with me.   Then we paused for a photo op, for which I did the Jean Vanier pose from his pictures in our house and on some of his books. 

Yum!

Then Jen served the Strawberry Shortcake, which made up for the fact that I did not get any strawberry shortcake with the McGrath family this summer or get to Upper Cape. 

Then we watched a movie called Chef with Elf’s actor and director Jon Favreau and it was funny with lots of Twitter tweeting action.  The food pictured was delicious looking. 

Chapter 5: The Journey Home

This morning Steph, Glen and Mo all went back.  Then I had breakfast and had fun with Erin and Oliver.  Then I realized how much better Lupin was getting with me, with little to no growling or barking at me.  Then Mom and I played Take 2 and I schooled her big time in 2 games.  I brought my stuff up and returned Jen’s copy of Finding Danny on the desk between the stairs and the porch door. 

Then I said good-bye to Erin and Dad and headed to the bus/train station.  Within minutes it was announced my bus was boarding, so I boarded, and so ended the Family Thanksgiving 2014 Together with the 50 Fest in Halifax, the Toronto Autism Symposium with Gray, and New York Christmas 2014 to look forward to! 

Grade 8

After a bit of an absence, the school year stories are returning. Catch up on all the school years.

This was my last year of Junior High.  My homeroom teacher was my French teacher, newcomer Miss Cote.  My gym teacher’s name was Mr. Adams.  My social studies teacher was Ms. McClafferty.  I had the same shop and home economics teachers. 

Miss Cote introduced us to French music by pop artist Roch Voisine, playing his famous English/French Album Helene, and I liked all the songs, so I bought the tape myself. 

In band I played the tuba, later the clarinet, and then finally, I started playing the trombone. 

Again I played the sports and watched them in intramurals. 

Erin played house league basketball.  She also played for Hillcrest. 

I was reading Listen for the Singing by Jean Little with help from a teacher who was a coach and sports teacher, named Mr. Bowser.  We adopted a cat:  a Japanese Bobtail, and I named her Maggie, getting the name from a character in this book I was reading in school. 

I started going to the YMCA’s teen drop-in every Friday. 

I wanted to learn to play guitar, so I asked for a guitar for Christmas, and this Christmas, I did, indeed, get a guitar, and with it a video on how to play chords and I learned them all in no time.  Later Dan McArdle and I got together at his house to jam together with a blues song. 

I joined the school drama club and I was in a play for the Drama Festival called What Cool Is.  I did not have lines, but I had to change places between scenes. 

I met a friend who also liked to play guitar named Jana.  She and I jammed together with our guitars.  We played in the school talent show, playing The Beatles’ Twist and Shout and Nirvana’s About a Girl. 

In no time, this school year was coming to a close.  The prom came up, and we danced to familiar dance and pop hits from the radio station.  The school year finally ended, but the last day was so heartfelt, that I was up all night, sad about leaving Bessborough School after 5 years. 

But the summer was a lot of fun, as we had the same cottage as last time, only this time lots of relatives joined us as Jennifer was about to be married to Brian, and the celebrations were in our house and our cottage, and some of our relatives had their own cottage near that area, and Aunt Betty and Uncle Don’s cottage was the host venue for a treasure hunt as a wedding celebration, plus Jennifer just got a new puppy: a Border Collie named Dillon, and he was playful and fun to be with.  Plus this was my first summer with a guitar, and whenever I watched the guitar instruction video and played along with the instructor Dillon would come down and spend time with me, watching and listening to me play.  The wedding took place at our church, followed by a reception at the Keddy’s Hotel.  We watched movies a lot, and one of them was Angels in the Outfield. 

I was earlier told about a music camp near Bouctouche called Camp Wildwood.  At this point Dillon was still a playful pup.  I went there for a whole week, and there was singing, lots of good meals, 2 pianos:  one on the top floor of the lodge and one on the bottom floor, a tuck shop with all kinds of great treats, campfires with singing, a pool, several cabins, and a musical in the end about a girl named Grace who teaches children to say grace and I played the piano and I was to touch Grace’s forehead to see if she was feeling well during the numbers as part of the play. 

When I got back after a week at camp we went to our house, and Dillon came around the house from the backyard, now full-grown and a changed bark, but I recognized him because he recognized me. 

Weeks later I went back to Camp Wildwood for another week, this time for Basketball Camp.  This time each day we went into Bouctouche to a school called Mgr. Michaud School with a gym for the basketball.  We had the great meals, the tuck shop, campfires, swims in the pool, and a bonus showing of the movie Angels in the Outfield.  I rented an electric guitar with an amp: a Peavey Preditor. 

The Exciting News of the New York Christmas at the Smyth TriBeCa Hotel

This morning I was given news that Mom, Dad, Stephanie, and 2 others, and I, were ALL going to New York City for Christmas 2014!  This meant my first time in New York where Annie, Home Alone 2, When Harry Met Sally…, Elf, and You’ve Got Mail were set!  I was so excited about the very fact that I had a hotel room to myself like Macaulay Culkin does in Home Alone 2.  We are to enjoy a few musicals, Rockefeller Center, great New York shopping, great New York cuisine,and lots of fun things!  I love hotel rooms with views, a flat-screen in the room, hotel pancakes for breakfast, and walking distance or within subway/bus/taxi distance to shopping, restaurants, and entertainment venues.  I was so excited about this news I went to the piano and played Do Re Mi and Tomorrow!

   I love to play music from musicals when I hear about future travel to big cities because I love the musicals I have been to and seen on VHS or DVD.   

   I love the idea of staying in the Smyth TriBeCa Hotel because I love any hotel that, according to my Eyewitness New York book, has had a history with celebrities and has views from the room, one of the amenities I look for in a hotel. 

   I love Stockard Channing because she is in Grease as Rizzo and The Muppets’ Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree as the maid. 

An Absolutely Wonderful Family Time!

I had gotten back from vacation and was almost back in the swing of things.  But this Thursday, supposedly to Monday, I was to spend time with Mom and family.  So I bought a round trip to Moncton and took the Maritime Bus system to Moncton.  Mom picked me up and told me (my brother-in-law) Matt and (niece) Clare were there and (sister) Melody was to fly into town that same night.  We got home and I greeted everyone there, including our dogs Liza, Lupin, Ella, and Sprocket. 

Topping up Clare's juice.

I was told Sprocket had developed similar health issues Emma had had before she passed away of the cancer tumor. 

I was also told that after some time off the air, famous TV dog trainer Cesar Milan started a new show called Cesar 911 and I watched part of an episode.  Back in the day the National Geographic Channel showed him on a show called The Dog Whisperer.  There he worked with famous people, like John Grogan the genius behind Marley & Me, a book which became, in my description, The Titanic of Dog Movies, starring Owen Wilson and Friends’ Jennifer Aniston, and the late Ed McMahon.  And nonstop during my visits to Moncton I would watch that show on that channel and whenever Lupin or Mo barks wildly at me or some stranger I do Cesar’s famous “Sssss” or “Shhhhh” sound.  I can also impersonate his accent. 

(Matt’s parents) Chris and Milton showed up and we had lunch and Chris had made her family-famous Orange Salad which I enjoyed with lunch, AND supper later that night.  Mom, Clare, Matt and I went to the Moncton International Airport to pick up Melody and (niece) Emily and Chris and Milton met us there. 

Within just under an hour the plane landed and within minutes Melody and Emily showed up. 

As I do when a new assistant from another town or country comes to L’Arche by plane, I helped Melody with the bags by carrying them to the car and said to them, like I say to anyone moving into L’Arche Saint John from another town or country, “Welcome to New Brunswick!”   

We got home and had supper where Jen, Brian, Brennan and Connor joined us.  They had just gotten new guitars: Les Paul guitars, one blue, one burgundy, one a Gibson, and one an Epiphone. 

We even Face Timed Erin, Christopher, and Oliver. 

The next day we were informed that now Dad had an issue with one of his eyes, so Mom and Melody rushed him to the hospital, and they said he had to be rushed to a Halifax hospital, the only place with a specialist who would do surgery for Dad’s eye condition. 

Later Stephanie and Glen showed up with Mo.  It looked like, though I bought a round trip ticket that would send me back on the 12:30 bus back on Monday, I would have to go back early on Sunday.  But Stephanie and Glen and I were to have a great time. 

Stephanie, Glen, and I went to the Superstore to do some grocery shopping, which was an activity I loved to do all my life, so I helped find the food we needed for the meal, which is why sometimes when an assistant has to go to Sobeys I ask to come along to help.  We got a few pizzas, some sparkling drink, and vegetables with ranch dip in the middle, and some dessert.  Kelly and her children showed up and we exchanged gifts as their birthdays were a few days ago. 

We played Desert Island Discs too.  For my song selection I chose Gangnam Style as if I were on a desert island I would need music to exercise to, as that plays at my Zumba classes. 

Jennifer had brought up a movie called Away to Me.  As any Border collie lover can tell by the title, it’s about sheepdog trials in the States.  This DVD shows an entire tournament with documentaries on each competitor, each dog and where each team is from and what they do when they are not trialing.  It talks about terms I read about in Nop’s Trials and Nop’s Hope. 

I watched it and I loved it so much that Jen said she would watch it and then mail it to me at McKim House to keep!  This would mean I would have Babe, Babe 2, 5 Mist Sheepdog Tales DVDs AND an entire DVD of sheepdog trials. 

The next day Jennifer, Brian, Brennan, Connor, Glen, Stephanie, Matt, Emily, Clare, and I all went to Champlain Place and Glen bought me the DVD set Problem Child 1 and 2.  Since I changed from the Citizen 19” TV/VCR Combo to the Toshiba 19” LED TV, I had missed Problem Child as I only had that on VHS.  I first saw the movie while I was in my second year in Cubs.  Now I had both.  After the purchases we went to Dairy Queen and had our treats there!  I had the Strawberry Cheesequake Blizzard, sharing some of the ice cream with Stephanie after all the great things she and Glen and the family had done together with me.  

Glen tries to steal Clare's Dairy Queen ice cream.

Then we went to Chapters Crystal Palace and I looked at the travel books and local books while the others looked at other kinds of books.  Then we went home, and Emily, Clare, and I watched Problem Child 1 together.  That night the family gathered together and used NetFlix and watched Honey, I Shrunk the Kids together, sharing popcorn together. 

The next day, as planned, Stephanie, Matt, and I, went in Dad’s Toyota Tacoma and headed to the Moncton Bus Terminal, also the VIA Train Station.  I asked if we could change the return ticket to this day instead of Monday, but I was told it that bus was sold out!  It was the first time I heard that with either of the bus services I used.  So we got a ticket that guaranteed me a seat on the 5:00 bus that night.  Stephanie bought a return ticket from Moncton to Bathurst as she had a business trip there. 

Then we went to the Pump House Brewery to have lunch.  It was my first time there, so I had the fish and chips with a Perrier.  I shared some of my fries with Stephanie like I had done with the ice cream from my Blizzard at Champlain Place Dairy Queen. 

Then we dropped Stephanie off at the VIA/Maritime Bus Station. 

Then we went home and within minutes Mom Dad and Melody came home and I told them I was praying everyday for Dad to get better, which I was and still am. 

Later Mom and I got in the car and left after saying goodbye to Melody, Matt, Emily, Clare, Jennifer, Brian, Brennan, Connor, Danny, Sprocket, Ella, Liza, and Lupin. 

We got to the Terminal, and within minutes my bus boarded, and within minutes the bus took off and I texted Stephanie and all my sisters as I had promised I would, and I texted them once I got home and emailed Mom, like I promised.  

An Epic and Fanci-ful Vacation

Chapter 1: Monday 

At St. F X in Antigonish

          We got into the new just-won Kia Sedona van and headed to Antigonish.  We stopped at the Salisbury Tim Horton’s and I got a smoothie, trying it with the Greek yogurt.  We connected our phone to the sound system and played our summer mix, then played the other group’s mix CD.  Our group, by the way, consisted of me, Stephane, Silvana, Justine, and summer student Tricia.  We entered Nova Scotia and went through the Cobequid Toll Booth.  We passed the Only Exit to Halifax, which we skipped.  We then passed Stellarton, not only the birthplace of Sobeys grocery stores and Big 8 water and pop, but where Mom and I picked up Ella, my second Border Collie, after losing Molly, my first Border Collie, at 6 years of age before my move into Saint John.  Within minutes we entered Antigonish.  We first stopped at Sobeys to pick up groceries, including our traditional vacation snack Sun Chips and traditional vacation cereal Cap’n Crunch.  We went to Hope and Dixie Houses, and then went to find Horizons, formerly L.E.A.P., as someone there had the key to our house, Covenant House.  I learned that Yeshua House had closed and was being demolished, and I was saddened.  It has to be sad for a loyal L’Arche person when L’Arche houses in the Atlantic Region close and get destroyed.  We went to Covenant House, down the road from the former L’Arche House and down the road from the Sobeys.  We set up and got settled.  Tonight we wanted to have a campfire and noticed we did not have a lighter or matches, so we walked back to Sobeys and picked up a lighter.  Tonight we had a campfire with a guitar and songs and roasted marshmallows. 

Chapter 2: Tuesday 

          Today we drove to a close beach to Antigonish and some swam while I took pictures with my Blackberry and played the guitar.  We also picnicked.  We went back to Covenant House and walked to a nearby dairy bar and got ice cream.  Then we walked back, and tonight we went to a nearby pub to have a drink in hopes that live music would be playing, but none was, so after my Perrier I went onstage and sang Danny Boy, Cockles and Mussels, and When Irish Eyes Are Smiling. 

Chapter 3: Wednesday 

View from the Harbour Hopper

          Today we took a day trip to Halifax.  First we went to Mic Mac Mall and we shopped.  At HMV I bought Bruce Almighty/Evan Almighty collection on DVD and the Simon & Garfunkel Greatest Hits CD.  We headed to Downtown Halifax and got tickets for the Harbour Hopper.  There I saw a book I really wanted called the Harbour Hopper’s Best Halifax Stories.  Then we took a walk, caught some of the Busker Festival, walked some more, and then headed back in time to board the Harbour Hopper.  Within minutes it took off, and the narrated tour commenced.  The narrator got us to go “Ribbit-Ribbit” twice on this tour.   We went up a hill, through the Citadel, past the Public Gardens, down Spring Garden Road (I saw the place HMV used to be and I also find it sad when an HMV I had shopped in and listened to top 40 music in since grade 11 closes), back to the waterfront… and went into the water.  The narrator talked about history I already knew about from school and the Heritage Minutes videos from TV.  Then after going past ships that were there and then past the waterfront, and then emerged from the water.  Then we got off the Harbour Hopper.  Then we went to the ferry terminal and took the ferry to Dartmouth… and took the ferry back… and went to Cows Ice Cream and had our favorite ice creams in waffle cones there.  Then we went to the Old Triangle where the Alexander Keith’s commercials with the angry guy was set and had supper there.  I had fish and chips with a Perrier.  Then we headed home.  

Chapter 4: Thursday 

Basketball

          Today Silvana and I went to Coles Antigonish Mall to see if I could find the book, which I did, and buy it, which I did, and to see if I could find a souvenir for Debbie who always felt left out if I mentioned vacation.  We headed back… and went to a local interest store and I bought a book for Debbie to enjoy and to read to Kristina.  We also bought a bottle of blueberry syrup and a CD for Covenant House as a thank-you for letting us stay there.  Then we went to Hope/Dixie Houses for a multi-community barbecue and I played the guitar.  Then we went to Hearts and Hands and got a tour and then we went to Horizons and we got a tour, and there I played the piano.  I played while Stephane and Silvana went back to Hearts and Hands and bought a souvenir for Stephane and one for Silvana: artwork by Tom Landry like we have in our kitchen at McKim House.  Then we headed home, had supper, and then some of us got a tour of St. F. X.  University where Mom, Dad, and Jennifer, all went to university, and which had the basketball teams I loved to watch play.  There I saw the big football field, the hockey rink, and the basketball court where the varsity teams I watch plays and practices.  I went home and enjoyed my book.  Then Stephane, Silvana and I walked to Sobeys and we got snacks for the drive home:  I got Sun Chips and Stephane got Lay’s Old Fashioned BBQ chips. 

Chapter 5: Friday 

          Today we visited an old friend of Jocelyn’s and our community’s in a nursing home named Carroll.  Then we walked home, packed up, got into the car, fuelled up, and headed home, passing Stellarton and the Only Exit to Halifax along the way… and stopping at Holly’s in Hampton, where I got chicken strips and fries and a strawberry milkshake.  Then we headed home!  So ends Vacation 2014.  

Saint John New Brunswick Tour Guide: 2014

Hotels connected to shopping and restaurants.

Hotels

For accommodations in Saint John nothing beats the Delta Brunswick, with a pool, a hot tub, a fitness center, flat-screen TVs in each room, connection by pedway to Brunswick Square with 3 levels of shops linked by escalators and elevators including a cool glass elevator, a restaurant with lots of great menu items, and a massive parking garage. 

If you love seafood, try the hotel restaurant’s Fish and Chips.  If you love pancakes, nothing beats a hotel restaurant’s pancakes with fruit and whipped cream and/or syrup.  Rain Man would be impressed with the timing if Charlie Babbitt would order pancakes for them because as Rain Man says, “Maple syrup’s s’posed to be on the table before the pancakes.”

Escaltor

Another great accommodation is the Hilton Saint John.  The rooms have a view of the harbour or the city.  From some rooms, on Wednesday in summer, you can see Saint John Idol from the room.  It is the same thing on Thursdays for Alpine Country Star. 

There is a pool, a fitness centre, flat-screen TVs in each room, luxury suites, and a restaurant with great meals.  There is a pedway link to Market Square, another mall with 2 levels lined by escalators and elevators with a library, a museum with historical and neat artifacts, some stores, a food court, and a nice fountain that gives it a park-like feel.    Again fish and chips are a favorite here among seafood lovers and pancakes with fruit and whipped cream and/or maple syrup is a hit with breakfast lovers. 

Cruise Ships

 In summer cruise ships visit Saint John.  The Cruise Terminals, the Marco Polo, and the brand new Diamond Jubilee, named after Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee, are awesome to see, especially when cruise ships are in, because down the escalators at these places come visitors when the ships dock, and up they go when they are about to take off.  These ships are fun to watch too.  At take off time these ships slowly, in the same speed as the alien ships in Independence Day, turn around to prepare for takeoff, blare their loud, low horn, then take off, and you can wave goodbye to these ships’ passengers.  These cruise terminals also host things like charity barbecues, dances, parties, and also conventions for organizations. 

Digby Ferry

Digby Ferry

The Digby Ferry, also known as the Princess of Acadia is another fun thing.  Although pretty soon this boat will be replaced with a new one in a year, this is fun To Do activity.  The Digby Ferry will take off at a certain time, and prior to take off, foot passengers can board, while passengers with vehicles also board.  The sailing will take approximately 3 hours.  During the sailing the vessel’s Sea Breeze Lounge will play a movie on its huge LED flat-screen TV, while the Fundy Grill will serve great cuisine, like Fish and Chips, famous Digby scallops, and famous Digby clams.  On the upper level there is an LED flat-screen TV and a Starbucks coffee shop.  Sometimes if the weather and things are right, during the sailing there are whale-watching opportunities.  After approximately 3 hours this vessel will dock at the Digby terminal.  There is also a gift shop with books and lots of souvenirs.  The best time to come back, if it sails at this time, is at night when it is dark, as the lights of Saint John are beautiful.  

McKim House

McKim House

 L’Arche Saint John, also known as McKim House, is home to residents with and without disabilities.  Visit here and you get a tour, you may get a hot chocolate or tea, and you may be serenaded by someone with music.  That someone is me.  The people in this house travel, celebrate, and have had assistants from all across the globe, including Germany, India, Kenya, the Philippines, and other places. 

L’Arche Saint John, AKA McKim House is not only welcoming, but also has friendly residents, tours, music by residents, and often tours around the neighborhood.  Some residents can play the piano and guitar, some love traveling, some love dogs, cats, and children, and others love to talk about their family and past events.  The house also has a lending library. 

From some rooms or the fire escape you can see the buildings of uptown, cruise ships arriving and leaving, and fireworks for Canada Day and New Year’s Eve.  This house is about to celebrate 50 Years of L’Arche International. 

Martello Tower

Martello Tower

Across from McKim House, just a short walk, is Martello Tower, what CN Tower is to Toronto, Chateau Frontenac is to Quebec City and Cinderella’s Castle is to Disney World Orlando:  skyline domination. You do not have to go into the tower or to the top of the tower if afraid of heights, just walk around, to get a good view of the city.  You can see McKim House, its neighboring church Our Lady Of The Assumption, cruise ships if in or during cruise ship season, The Delta Brunswick Hotel, Brunswick Square, Market Square, The Hilton Hotel, The Howard Johnson Hotel (formerly Fort Howe Hotel), The Harbour Bridge, St. Luke’s Church, The Digby Ferry and its terminal, St. Rose Of Lima Church, The Irving Pulp And Paper Mill, The Irving Oil Refinery, and Partridge Island.  There is also a museum with audio narrations in English and French.  Just take the phone receivers, put it to your ear, and press the buttons that read English and French, and a voice will come on the receiver telling you history behind the tower and the figures that made this spectacular attraction such a wonderful historical site.  On Canada Day, tours of the tower and the museum are free. 

O’Leary’s

Nothing beats pub life in Saint John.  Its only Irish pub, O’Leary’s, does not serve lunch or dinner, but hosts concerts by well know artists and on Tuesday evenings, be sure to go there, order a club soda, Pepsi, Ginger Ale, or any kind of beer and a bag of chips, and go to the back area, and listen in as a group of Irish musicians sit in a circle and go around the circle, singing well known Irish tunes and reciting Irish poems and stories.  On St. Patrick’s Week this pub hosts a breakfast to support L’Arche Saint John, so if you are here at this time, purchase a ticket, present it, get a nice breakfast of sausages, hash browns, eggs, bacon, and orange juice, go into the back area, and listen in while you enjoy your breakfast as Irish musicians play and sing well known Irish songs.  Sometimes the main area where you were just served breakfast plays CDs of well known folk tunes like the Great Big Sea albums Play and Up, The Chieftains, and The Irish Descendents.  The main area also has flat-screen TVs tuned to the important sporting events like C.I.S. basketball, CHL, NHL, NBA, soccer, and football. 

Harbour Station

Harbour Station

Harbour Station is THE place to be for things like sporting events.  The well known hockey team - the Saint John Sea Dogs, who were Memorial Cup champions in 2011 and Memorial Cup Runner Up in 2012 - play here.  The city’s first professional basketball team, the Saint John Millrats, formerly from Manchester, also plays here.  In winter 2014 the Ford World Women’s Curling tournament was hosted here and played on TSN.

Sports are not the only things hosted here.  Well known musicians have concerts, like country sensations Carrie Underwood and Reba McEntire, and pop sensations Rihanna and Fredericton’s own David Myles.  Musicals come up as well.  In October 2010 this fabulous facility hosted a wonderful musical in which the Saint John Chorale, the Saint John Theatre Club, and the Harbour View chorus, and a well known orchestra, all joined forces to create a wonderful musical, called Marco Polo: The Musical, about the world’s fastest ship (sorry, Pirates of the Caribbean and Jack Sparrow fans, not The Interceptor or The Black Pearl but it was savvy, and, to quote a repeated Commodore Norrington line with my own version, it was, without doubt, the best musical I had ever seen)The Marco Polo, after which our first Cruise Terminal had been named after.  It was wonderful and spectacular.  It outshined The Lion King.  The Saint John Theatre Club also did comedy plays at the nearby Imperial Theatre, like The Importance of Being Earnest. 

An Epic, Fanciful Stay-Cation!

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Enjoying a New Brunswick Stay-Cation

Chapter 1: Monday

Today was Day 1 of Stay-Cation.  Sophia, Silvana, Krista, and Stephane, were in PEI to go camping in tents.  Debbie, Tricia, Gray, Kristina, and I, all went in our brand-new just-won Kia Sedona van with automatic-almost-anything, and went to Rockwood Park to walk and picnic.  Then we went bowling at Bowlarama.  The first string Debbie had 95 as total, I had 87, Kristina had 82, Tricia had 73, and Gray had 70.  Debbie won that one.   And in the 2nd and final string I had 94, Debbie had 93, Kristina had 90, Gray had 78, and Tricia had 73, so I won that game. 

Chapter 2: Tuesday 

            Today Jocelyn, Debbie, Gray, Kristina, Karen (Kristina’s Mother), and I all went to Campobello Island via 2 ferries: one to Deer Island, and one to Campobello Island.  On Campobello Island we picnicked with Karen’s niece who was a Border Patrol officer.  Then we walked to the nearby beach to the picnic table.  We got a tour of Eleanor Roosevelt’s cottage.  I took pictures of these with my Blackberry’s camera app.  Then we had Tea with Eleanor Roosevelt, where we had tea (in my case water) and lemon cookies and gingersnaps as we listened in on a speech on all of Eleanor Roosevelt’s great accomplishments.  Then we got a cookbook on cookies.  Then we went to the beach.  Then we went for a nice scenic drive, stopped at a restaurant where all of us, except Kristina and Debbie, had fish and chips (Kristina had chicken strips and a baked potato and Debbie had a cheeseburger with ketchup and relish and fries).  Debbie was allergic to fish, and Kristina’s eyebrow went up on chicken strips and a baked potato.  Then we headed home by ferry. 

Chapter 3: Wednesday 

            Today Debbie, Kristina, Tricia, Jocelyn, Gray, and I all went to the Kennebecasis Island for some time and supper at Jo’s camp.  On the way we took the Peninsula Princess, then a smaller ferry.  I played the guitar and sang some songs from Frozen, Camp Rock, and The Wave.  We barbecued sweet potatoes, and salmon and pork chops for Debbie who, again, is allergic to fish, and me, who only likes fish if it is fish and chips.  We then had s’mores.  Then we headed home, taking the same 2 ferries. 

Chapter 4: Thursday 

            Today was like living all 4 Free Willy movies, Flipper, and Andre.  Debbie, Stephane, Krista, Kristina, Jocelyn, Sophia, Silvana, Justine, Gray, and I, all went to St. Andrew’s to witness a whale-watching cruise.  It was my first whale watching tour. First we picnicked again, and then we went to a store to buy a rainproof hat for the tour and a St. Andrew’s hat with a whale on it.  We then went to the building, paid for our boarding tickets, and then waited to board a boat.  Then we boarded the ship and within moments it took off as fast as an Air Canada Jazz jet on takeoff mode, so, imitating an airline captain, I told a joke, “Please make sure your seat and tray tables are in their upright, locked positions.”   Within moments we passed where we had taken the ferries to Deer Island on Tuesday en route to Campobello Island, then we came to a little island where a whole bunch of seals and porpoises were playing together, so it would be safe to say we took this trip on porpoise!  Get it?  Then we took off again.  Later we saw some eagles and 2 kinds of seagulls: gray-backed, and black-backed.  We also saw some dolphins.  Then we passed Campobello Island and its ferry.  Later, within moments, we saw a few whales!  I tried to capture it with my Blackberry’s camera app.

Sorry, Free Willy fans, no orcas, no Willy.  After an hour and a half, we turned around.  A tour guide then came with a tank, and in it were a starfish, a baby starfish, urchins, crabs, and other sea creatures.  Later we docked at the wharf from which we had taken off.  Then we headed home and celebrated Jocelyn’s Birthday! 

Whale-Watching off St. Andrew's New Brunswick

Chapter 5: Friday 

            This was the nostalgic day.  Today Silvana, Stephane, Justine, and I took the rental, a Nissan Pathfinder, to Fundy National Park.  The reason this was nostalgic was, back in the day, while I was a child and we lived on Taylor’s Lane, Mom, Dad, Erin, Stephanie, Jennifer, Melody, and I, all, several times, took the Ford van to Fundy Park to go camping, listening to Dirty Dancing, Lionel Richie, The Big Chill, Stand By Me and other memorable music along the way, all three dogs:  Nicky our mongrel, Katie our older Golden Retriever, and Simon our young Golden Retriever, all with us. 

Back to now. 

We hiked in the Caribou trail, or should I say, the Karibu Trail? (Karibu is Justine’s language, Swahili, for “Welcome”).

Hiking the trails in Fundy National Park in New Brunswick. 

 Then we picnicked, and we went to the visitors centre as I remembered, as a kid, this had a series of shops, and I had a question:  Why the direction signs had changed colors from dark desert tan with yellow lettering like some that remained, to dark green with white lettering, and they said the previous color was for Provincial Parks and this was a National Park.  I noticed they had Jennifer’s second book in stock: White Cave Escape.  And I totally forgot to tell the salesperson that the author was my sister.  I had already told the salesperson in the Digby Ferry’s gift shop that the Chocolate River Rescue author was my sister.   Then we took a scenic route to Moncton, and on the way I gave a Harbour Hopper-style narrated tour of Albert County, Hillsborough, Riverview, and all points in between, then we passed Bessborough School and I showed them.  Then we went to my Mom’s house, and we talked over a Pellegrino mixed with orange juice and Greek yogurt.  Then we walked to Jennifer’s house to show them Danny and the house.  We were just about to leave when Jennifer showed up with Brennan and Connor, who all got brand new electric guitars!  So they gave me back my electric.  We headed back up to Mom’s house and a couple expected guests showed up.  Mom prepared supper and we had it here.  Then, using my returned electric guitar, I gave everyone a concert of Catholic hymns and well known old songs.  I played a song written by one of my fellow Key Industries In-Key Choir members, called Passion for Music.  Then we headed back, and I took my stuffed Collie from Universal Florida, which I named Troy, and my black and white stuffed dog, which I had gotten Christmas of Grade 12, which I named Kevin, after Kevin Jonas from Camp Rock. 

So ended Stay-Cation 2014!  Stay tuned for a story of Vacation 2014!  

Same L’Arche Time, Same L’Arche Channel! 

Grades 6 & 7

Chapter 6: Grade 6

Grade 6 was not only my last grade in Elementary, but it was my first grade with a male teacher, Mr. Muir.  I got a couple of field trips with my new T.A., Mrs. McArdle:  First, to the Moncton Museum with a trip to McDonalds in the end for the Grimace Burger and Fries, and to City Hall to meet with our present mayor, Leopold Belleveau, which also ended with a trip to McDonald’s for the Grimace Burger and Fries. 

I joined the school band, playing the xylophone. 

Erin was playing basketball for house league and also her elementary team for her school, Hillcrest School, so I decided I would be like her and get into sports, so I started playing in the noontime intramurals for floor hockey, soccer, basketball, badminton, and volleyball.  Sometimes I watched the sports, and sometimes my best friend in my class, Warren Pollard, and I would work the scoreboard in the gym. 

Once again I went to Cubs and did the same things as last year. 

Our Volvo 240 wagon was starting to go and we were borrowing Gramps’ Plymouth Reliant K car for things like grocery shopping and my piano lessons.  We bought a new Jeep Cherokee, our first brand new car!  Before this the cars we got were used and did not have the new car smell.  This had 4-wheel drive and a radio just like Gramps’ car. 

Mom started a job with a local cable channel narrating and interviewing people on a TV show called Medium Express on subjects like housing, the Hillsborough Choir, the Terry Fox Run, and lots of interesting subjects.  I got credited as Production Assistant once. 

Mrs. McArdle and I went to the movie theatre to see Homeward Bound and it was not only funny, but it was cute and I fell in love with Shadow, the optimistic wise old Golden Retriever, because he looked AND barked like our neighbor’s Retriever Toby, who was Simon’s sister from the litter. 

Nicky, our mixed-breed dog was getting older, and he later passed away of old age.  Later we got a Cocker Spaniel named Pete.  Unfortunately, he could not be trusted near children, so he had to stay in the porch when children visited. 

I had to leave school early before it ended for the summer so Mom and I could go by train to Montreal for auditory training with a doctor.  Mom and I took the Metro and it was not only fun, but the names of the stops were again easy to remember.  We stayed at a apartment belonging to a friend of Melody’s from her time at McGill University who had a Roland electric piano.  Gram joined us for the time we were there.  Later we started staying at a nearby Delta, swimming in their pool.  At the auditory training doctor’s office they put a headset on my head and I listened for an hour to music, sounds heard on a Hallowe’en tape or CD, sounds from movies, and other kinds of sounds.  We not only did that, but we shopped at toy stores, and a CD/Tape store with an instrument store with guitars, pianos, ukuleles, violins, and all kinds of instruments called Archambault and I bought the tape of the soundtracks to The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast. 

Then we went by train further... to Toronto to have even MORE fun!  We took the subways, at which the stops, again, were easy to remember.  We also shopped and I bought a Lego set at the big Lego store.  We went home after some time, and later Dad and Mom took the Jeep to drive us back to Montreal and we stayed at the Delta again, swimming in their pool again.  And we shopped again.  I joined a day camp at the Moncton Y.M.C.A. and there we swam in the pool, played gym sports like basketball and soccer, walked around the neighborhood, took the bus for field trips, and lots of other fun stuff, and I made friends, some of which I saw in the next grade of school. 

Chapter 7: Grade 7

This was my first year of Junior High, which was very different from elementary, as I had a series of teachers for each subject. 

My homeroom teacher’s name was Mrs. Parlee.  She also taught art.  I forget the name of my French teacher there.  My shop teacher’s name was Mr. Landry.  My Home Economics teacher’s name was Mrs. Marcel.  My gym teacher’s name was Mr. Harwood.  My science teacher was Mr. Brewer.  I forget my social studies teacher’s name then.  

The movie The Mighty Ducks came out and we watched the movie on VHS and one of the songs in the movie, Queen’s We Will Rock You got stuck in my head.  It was playing on the radio at the Y.M.C.A. Day Camp.  The movie was about hockey.  And I was in my first year of Junior High when we first watched it.  For that reason, now when I watch it I think of my Bessborough years and pull up the photos I have of that time. 

I joined the school band again. 

Once again I played and watched intramurals, and sometimes Warren and I would work the scoreboard. 

The following Christmas I got the VHS Homeward Bound and again I loved the Retriever in the movie so much I would watch it with Simon next to me. 

Erin again played house league basketball and also basketball for the Hillcrest basketball team. 

Sometimes I went to Mrs. McArdle’s house a lot, and sometimes she and I would go to the Co-op and she would use her member number.  Just to be clear, back then families who shopped at the Co-op were members, and they had their own member number, a 4-digit number.  Mom and Dad’s number was 3942.  Mrs. McArdle and I would go to her son’s basketball game for house league, and one time she and I went to one of her daughters’ basketball game, my first time at a high school basketball game, and that is when I learned what the referees’ signals meant for each call.  She had 3 children.  She also had a husband named Dan who played guitar.  This house had a small keyboard, a Super Nintendo system, 2 TVs with VCRs, 2 acoustic guitars, and one Fender Mustang electric guitar with an amp.  She also had 2 cars:  A green 1980s Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and a black 1992 Chevrolet Lumina. 

The summer that followed, we were met with a surprise:  Our MLA at the time had sold us a 1987 BMW 325i sedan, which we used to drive to a wedding and its reception.  We also used this car to drive back and forth to a cottage we rented in a place near Shediac called Caissie Cape.  We also drove this during this to Shediac to shop at the Co-op there and Shoppers, listening to the soundtrack to Grease on the BMW’s tape player.  We also listened to Sleepless in Seattle and The Commitments in the car during drives. 

Later we had our old friend Kelly join us for a trip to Charlottetown, P.E.I., and we went to Cow’s Ice Cream and went to Anne of Green Gables The Musical, and one of the songs from there, titled Ice Cream, got stuck in my head and got stuck in Kelly’s head.  From that moment on, I would sing that number to get it in Kelly’s head as a joke. 

Some family members later went whale watching, and for some reason I did not go, but on the bright side, Kelly stayed with me, and we drove to stores, her place, and her parents’ place in her Ford Tempo.  At her parents’ place I fell in love with their Duck Tolling Retriever, Prince and played their keyboard.  Then we went to the nearby Midnight Video, and since my family was whale watching, I thought it would be fitting to rent Free Willy, and the end song there, Michael Jackson’s Will You Be There got stuck in my head.  

Grades 4 & 5

Chapter 4: Grade 4 

     Grade 4 was a good grade.  My teacher’s name was Mrs. Jochelman.  We, of course, had music class, and a music teacher named Mr. Livingston taught us music. 

     The Hallowe’en that followed, the teacher got the class to go down the hall to another teacher’s classroom to watch Beetlejuice and I cried at the part when Geena Davis’ character and Alec Baldwin’s character crash the car over the bridge, becoming ghosts, because the car that crashes over the bridge was a Volvo 240 wagon, just like ours that I was picked up in on Adoption Day, except the car in the movie was yellow, and ours was dark blue, but since it was the same model, I cried.  If it was any other model but the 2 we had or Gramps’ Plymouth Reliant K, but maybe the same kind of car Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith drive in Men In Black, I would have, like the song I quoted earlier goes, Let it go, let it go. 

     Sometimes Melody would be in concerts in the NBYO, playing the flute, and sometimes playing in Saint John, and we would go to Saint John to see and hear her play, staying at the Delta Brunswick, with its own mall with toy stores, clothing stores, and food court, on 3 floors linked by escalators and a cool glass elevator, and sometimes then I would buy Lego toys, like their pirate and knight toys, and also, we would swim in that hotel’s pool. 

Later we went to visit the Wissinks, who then lived near Charlottetown, P.E.I. and did fun things.  They videotaped us singing songs, filming a movie with Erin as a vampire and the rest of us as victims, me singing Little Rabbit Foo Foo, and us singing our own jingle for Sandspit P.E.I. 

Again I went to Camp Centennial and did all the fun things.  Later we went to Toronto to visit Gram, which was my first time on a plane.  We watched Disney movies like Dumbo, The Jungle Book, and Alice in Wonderland.  We took the subway lots of times and the names of the stops were easy to remember and the ride was fun. 

Chapter 5: Grade 5 

     Grade 5 was also a wonderful grade.  My teacher’s name was Mrs. Brydges.  My teacher from the previous grade got me to play some music for students.    I started piano lessons with a friend of the family’s named Mrs. Macarthur, who had the same piano as the Wissinks, except new plastic keys instead of the original ivories.  Later, we found another piano teacher, named Mrs. McKenzie, who lived a few blocks from Sunny Brae School.  She had a nice piano which was like the music room’s piano.  There were recitals at St. John’s United Church.  Again, sometimes concerts for Melody came up in Saint John and we stayed at the Delta, swam in its pool, and shopped in its mall. 

I joined Cubs, which started off with a bottle drive from house to house, met in a nearby church to our house, did apple days where we went from house to house selling apples, though I made a slip of the tongue: I said $50 instead of 50 cents by mistake.  We also did a Christmas concert at a very old seniors’ home.  

Grade 2 & Grade 3

Chapter 2:  Grade 2 

Grade 2 was my last school grade in Hillsborough as we were about to move into the city of Moncton. 

Again I waited for the bus, and, sure enough, he came, and we went to the school. 

I had a new room and a new teacher.  The piano from the Grade 1 room was moved into the hall to join the other 2 in the hall.   It then moved into a room near the office.   The classes were similar and we had the same music teacher for music classes, with the same songs and the same record. 

  Hallowe’en came up.  Then the school got decorated for Christmas and our Music Class sang some Christmas carols beautifully, and, of course, Christmas came.  This was wonderful.  Then Easter came. 

 I successfully graded from school, and summer, sure enough, came, and with it, camping trips in Cabot Park and Fundy Park, hotel trips, and beach trips, along with barbecues and bonfires in which we roasted marshmallows. 

We sold our house (and I wish I could go back in time with the DeLorean Time Machine from Back to the Future to the time I lived in that house), and we moved into a new house, but before we moved, we rented a house with a pool, which we enjoyed.  The downstairs piano was moved to the McWilliams’ house.  Our red Datsun truck had had it and one day Jennifer was driving it, and the hood flew up!  (Bummer, right?)  Like Dad says, on Nissans, formerly Datsuns, “Hoods fly up!”  We got rid of that truck and now we had just the Volvo 240 and the Ford van. 

Chapter 3: Grade 3 

 When I moved into Grade 3, we were still in the rented house, and it was a new school to me.  It was called Bessborough School. The Grade 3 teacher’s name was Mrs. McPherson, and my T.A.’s name was Mrs. MacBeath.  The lessons were similar to those of Grades and 2.  The music room had the exact same piano as the music room at Hillsborough School, but the music teacher then was different: a supply music teacher, who was later a choir director at a local church called Holy Family, named Mrs. Doucette.  The Physical Education class was great. 

Later, one frigid, cold, snowy day, we moved into our new, just-built house, which was walking distance from the school. 

 The Christmas that followed we got a keyboard and a Nintendo system, on which we played Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Excite Bike, and other games in a 30-games-in-1 cartridge.  We were playing it and enjoying it so much that the days in school that followed, I, who was autistic, was moving my thumbs and fingers in the motion of using a Nintendo control to pretend play Super Mario and humming the Super Mario themes from the game so much, which was distracting to the teacher and my classmates, that I was cut off from that for some time. 

One of my sisters, Melody, was in Moncton High School and starred in the musical The King and I, as Tuptim.  10 years later the same musical came up at that school and Erin had the same role.  I saw the musical too. 

Other than that, studies went well for the rest of the year.  

During this grade I was baptized into the church and Jennifer was my Godmother.  Later I got my First Communion.  

 The summer that followed I went to summer camp at Camp Centennial, just down the hill from my house.  Moncton was celebrating 100 years.  There we sang songs, did campfires, swam in Centennial Beach, roasted marshmallows and hot dogs, had juice time, and sang Johnny Appleseed for grace every lunchtime where we yelled at the top of our lungs “JOHNNY APPLESEED!!!” in the end.  The lodge had a piano that was very out of tune, I mean it was in tune, but it was twangy.  

Remembering My School Years

Chapter 1:  Grade 1

   I had just been adopted by the McGrath family, my first family and my first time living in a house with dogs, cats, and a piano, and a family that traveled frequently. 

Pat and Ella

    We went to the bus stop, which was around the corner from the house, and halfway between the house and Sandy McWilliams’ house.  We walked together, Nicky right behind me, and my lunchbox in hand.  Later a school bus pulled up, and Mack, my bus driver, was friendly and funny.  I boarded the bus, which made a few stops and minutes later finally reached Hillsborough School.  When I got into the school, I had never seen so many pianos in a building.  I met a teacher’s assistant who would help me named Mr. Flynn.  I then met my Grade 1 teacher and the students, some of which, I must admit, were not so friendly, but some were.  My grade 1 room and another room, also a grade 1, were connected to each other, and the adjacent room had a piano, which was a whole step flat and twangy.  We started lessons in math, science, social studies, and Phys. Ed.  At the end of the day, we gathered in the adjacent room and the room’s Grade 1 teacher, Mrs. Weldon, got us to sing songs like a choir, the teacher accompanying on us on piano.  We started with O Canada, and moved on to other kids’ nursery rhyme songs. 

     The days that followed were alike.  When we finally had music class, I met the music teacher, Mrs. Schiller, the Mrs. Schiller who was known for directing the famous Hillsborough Choir, which Jennifer and Melody were singing in, which had a record of famous songs.  The music room had a piano, and we sang some songs together, and one of them we sang frequently: the nursery rhyme Fish And Chips And Vinegar.  She had a record we listened to called The Beady Glass Eye.    My speech pathologist Dr. Rubell helped me not only at his office, but also in the school. 

     There was a nerve-racking time when the fire alarm went off after my gym class, and they said I pulled the alarm, when I didn’t.  They must have thought my hands hit the wall running from one side of the gym to the other, and when I turned around, my index finger accidentally pulled the red pull station! 

     One day I went to school…and came home to a surprise:  We had just gotten a brand new piano on the middle floor: a brand new Tadashi with 3 pedals, that looked like the piano in the school music room, except ours was mahogany and the music room piano was black, and a Yamaha with 2 pedals.   We now had 2 pianos: the brand new Tadashi on the middle floor, and the Mason & Risch on the bottom floor. 

     Celebrations, of course, came, and one of them was Thanksgiving, another was Hallowe’en, and another was Christmas, my first Christmas with the McGrath family, and the Grade 1 teacher and our Music teacher all got us to sing some beautiful Christmas carols.  Christmas, of course, came, and we all got some cool gifts, and one of my gifts I got for several Christmases: a small jigsaw puzzle with a picture of a car.   Then came Easter. 

     I should mention this detail that I did not mention in the Adoption Story, which I realize now I should have.  In the Adoption Story, like the Frozen song lyrics go, I Let it go, Let it go.  From my adoption day to half of Grade 1, I used to say silly things that I wonder now if come with autism.  I used to say things like “It’s a Kraft Dinner”,  “It’s a Garbage Bag”, “It’s a Funny/Happy Face”, and other silly things that drove the others crazy at the time, but are fun to look back on and I think about whenever I pull up pictures of the Blessed Hillsborough Years, like me and Mom learning shapes, me sitting next to Nicky, us camping, us traveling, me playing the ukulele, me waiting for Mack, me with the dogs, the Volvo 240 Wagon that picked me up on my adoption day, and me going to my mini toy kitchen in the attic.   Some of the schoolmates were friends and neighbors from our neighbor.  I must mention that sometimes Dad and I would take our red Datsun King Cab truck to the dump and on the way we would sing High Hopes, I Had a Dog, and Swingin’ on a Star.  On the truck’s American Graffiti-style radio with no tape player we would listen to CBC and one of its programs back then was called Swingin’ on a Star.  A famous Dad phrase was: “Thank you, thank you, thank you…so much!”  The Volvo 240 wagon also had an American Graffiti-style radio with no tape player.  I also had fears:  Sometimes Mom would make frozen orange juice, using the blender to mix the water with the orange juice, and it made a loud noise which frightened me.  Whenever we were in a hotel and in a pool, there were water jets underwater, which made a tickling feel when it hit the skin, and I was scared of that.  The vacuum cleaner’s carpet attachment made a loud squealing sound and I was scared of that.  My Dad’s office had photocopiers and the moving light reminded me of space shows my foster brothers used to watch that were scary, and that frightened me, but I overcame this and all the above fears soon. 

     The spring that followed I had an ordeal:  I got a new bike and had I had training wheels, this would have not happened.  I was driving my bike around the house, pretending my bike was the Volvo, which for a time I saw myself driving myself, and the barn was the Co-Op where we went grocery shopping, and apparently I was driving and I suddenly fell over, breaking my collar bone, which was nerve-racking, because I went to the hospital, and I was to get x-rays, and little did I know that x-ray moved and made noises, and I was afraid. 

     The summer that followed was wonderful.  We took our van, which we got before Grade 1: a brown Ford Econoline van, on trips to cities and campsites.  First we went to Halifax and stayed at the Holiday Inn Select hotel, and I enjoyed the pool.  During the drive for this trip we listened to James Taylor, Paul Simon, and the soundtrack to The Big Chill.  For camping trips we went to Fundy Park and Cabot Park in P.E.I.  in our van all of us, and all 3 of our dogs (When I started Grade 2, we had 2 dogs:  a Lassie sable mongrel named Nicky and a dark red Golden Retriever named Katie.  Later that year we got a Golden Retriever puppy named Simon on one of our Sunday road trips.)   During the camping trips we listened to Dirty Dancing, Lionel Richie and The Chieftains.  There was a time we drove to Boston to stay at a hotel with a pool and glass elevator through which you can see a piano, to enjoy things like subways, shopping, and lots of fun things.  We also had Barbecues and roasted marshmallows in the backyard. 

....  Coming soon: Grade 2!