CHARLES LONG
When we were younger, the weekends flew by so quickly they often seemed to be over before they had begun. We were always busy with one thing or another hockey games and practices, soccer games and practices, cubs, scouts, school activities, family obligations, entertaining
The first big void in our lives came when hockey and soccer ended we were sports parents through and through. Most of our close friends were also. Who else could you invite for Saturday dinners at 9 or even 10 at night after a game or practice?
I didn't know what I would do with all the extra time so I took up painting oils, not walls. And my wife took a succession of courses at the local high school or CEGEP.
Then he left for university.
Well, it wasn't quite that simple. He has been away for the past five years or so but back regularly for summer jobs in the local area. However, we realized this year when we took him to college and he doesn't travel lightly -- that it was likely the last summer he was going to be with us.
It hit my wife first she got teary the minute we left his residence. I think it struck me when I walked around his empty basement apartment downstairs and stopped hearing his phone ring umpteen times a day.
So I registered for a painting class and my wife joined an aquatic exercise class. And we are taking dancing lessons again. Last time I tried this was 26 years ago, and I was not very good then.
Saturdays are not too bad with chores, groceries, and entertaining but Sundays need of some structure for now. We still haven't learned how to relax at least not completely. So we've decided to start doing some day tripping again.
And Wakefield, Quebec, was our first destination.
Wakefield is just a few minutes away by car. It's an English enclave is a sea of French communities, although you can get service in both languages in most shops and businesses in town now.
This was not our first visit and I suspect that it won't be our last. Some years ago we stayed overnight at the Motel Café Alpengruss to celebrate one of our anniversaries.
This time we drove but we've also taken the train in the past an authentic steam-powered train from Hull to Wakefield through the Gatineau hills and by the Gatineau river. It's a wonderful five-hour excursion into the past, especially when the Outaouais region is blanketed with fall colours. And you can even watch the trainmen turn the locomotive around by hand -- for the return trip.
There are some wonderful restaurants and bistros -- including the venerable Earle House. The shops full of local crafts, preserves, art work and other interesting things. We parked our car at the Pearson Hotel and walked the rest of the time. And we ended up buying some metal hooks for hanging plants, a wicker lamp table for the den, some apple jelly, and several great oatmeal raisin cookies at the bakery.
We also took a walk over the local covered bridge rebuilt several years ago when the old one burned, and wound up our day trip this time at the scenic Wakefield mill which was under repair at the time.
And we were home in time for supper and "Who Wants to be a Millionaire"?
Next weekend who knows? Charles Long is a freelance writer and communications consultant based in Gatineau, Quebec.
© 2000 Charles Long/Log Cabin Chronicles/11.00 |