Life's a Stitch

Although it's technically a Christmas gift for their family, I had to show my daughter, as she is in town this week and her son  is the subject of my watercolor:

First snow (12×16):

 

Food and travel can be one of the best combinations.

Or worst:

Air Canada calling it pizza is a stretch. Coincidentally at the same time Lufthansa's caterer has announced that they will begin home delivery of airline dinners. Interesting.

On to the best meals of the trip. Seared sea scallops ($21) at New York's Mersaille, 630 W 9th. 

Lobster rolls in Portland, Maine:

Food as art – while Lynn learned to make sushi on the ship, I painted pictures of fruit:

I'll save the food of Quebec for another post as it's in a yummy class of its own. The irony of this post is its vicarious pleasure, as in the same week I'm recovering from the post flight cold, root canal and crown prep plus the decision to start treatment for H Pylori.

Catching up with a chance to practice my high school and college French. So many updates, so I'll work backwards. For today, it's the colors of fall having just returned from la belle provence du Canada – Quebec, having landed there after a Canada/New England cruise.

A word about my language skills. My parents were born into families where English was a second language, one Polish and the other Puerto Rican, hence my claim to Polo-Rican heritage. I chose an academic curriculum in my NY high school where French was the only language option, my version of high school age rebellious decision making. 

Advance three years, I was a college freshman at age 17 with little guidance, academic or otherwise. So in my first year I took French, Spanish and the following summer, immersive German. I can't tell you what a dog's breakfast my languages are. One recent New Year's my resolution was to erase  French from my brain and concentrate on Spanish, a difficult proposition when living in a country where French shows up on cereal boxes and all other product labelling.

I am happy to report, however, my visit to Quebec proved to me that it is possible, with a high degree of concentration, to focus on one language. It encourages me for our upcoming trek on the Camino de Santiago in Spain. That being said, there is a large portion that goes through Basque and Catalonian regions. If all else fails, I can point in any number of languages.

Back to the vacation, the colours of fall were apparent in the Quebec City vicinity, along the 46th parallel. South of that it was over 80 degrees Fahrenheit at the end of September, not yet cold enough for the dramatic colour change of autumn. 

Fall decorating in old Quebec City:

On the Ile D'Orleans:

Fall knitting to go along with the foliage, finally, a half done Taize:

 

 

 

I can live without the cigarettes and skateboards, but no Scotties, smoking or otherwise, nor wine? Next thing they'll add is knitting needles and yarn. Sounds like a sign at the entrance to hell.