A few weeks ago I posted about Ray and Bill driving to Ottawa to help Heather and Murray after the storm. We’ve known Heather and Murray for 23 years. Unbeknownst to us at the time, Heather and I gave birth in the same hospital two days apart. We lived in the same neighbourhood and met when their twins and Nick were just a few months old. A couple of years later, we met Rob & Sue through daycare, and Heather & Murray met Rob & Sue at the park, and the six adults and six kids started spending time together.
For their 50th birthdays, Heather & Murray rented a condo at Mont Tremblant and the six of us sent our kids to camps and gathered for the annual Blues Festival.
It became an annual tradition, and over the years, they’ve invited other couples to join them. Our friendship group expanded to include Rob & Traci, Jen & Gary and Anne & Sanjay.
Given their generosity and the pivotal role they’ve played in creating this tightly-knit friendship group, it was no surprise that so many people showed up to help them with their trees.
Last week, after a covid-enforced break, the 12 of us got together once again to celebrate their 60th birthdays at Tremblant Bluesfest.
We’ve developed a few “Tremblant traditions”, the first of which is the ladies-shop-guys-golf day. This year, our shopping trip began in our suite because Jennifer, our resident artist, recently added her artwork to a clothing line, aptly titled Kindly. I’ve asked Jen to stop adding new artwork to the page because it’s too hard to choose, but she went ahead and added a Bluesfest design, so I guess I’ll be ordering a few more items. Beautiful stuff: https://www.legaleriste.com/en/jennifer.boudewyn
After the fun fashion show, we picked our outfits for the day and headed into St. Jovite to browse the boutiques, have lunch and eat ice cream.
Meanwhile, a foursome of the guys got together for a game of golf. Ray cycled to the golf course to join them for lunch.
Another annual tradition, initiated and spearheaded by Ray, is to climb the mountain. The first year I climbed in sandals. Why would you climb a mountain in sandals, you ask? Well, because I had no intention of climbing a mountain. We were just going for a walk and Ray neglected to mention that it involved an hour and a half of vertical climbing and then several hours of downhill.
This year, six of us joined the trek, but I struggled to keep up. Traci kindly stayed back and kept me company for the climb up, but it was a good reminder that I need to work on my fitness.
There are a couple of different routes down the mountain and, of course, Ray and Gary couldn’t resist taking the long and tricky route.
The buildings on the left are where we stayed.
The other five got home several hours later and there was definitely some grumbling about the chosen route. I was very relieved that I’d spent that time eating lunch and drinking margaritas on the balcony with Sue.
We were having a lot of laughs, enjoying the Bluesfest performances and spending time together again, when we received a harsh reminder that covid has not gone away.
Murray tested positive for covid and it hit him hard and fast. Ray and I cancelled our plans to stop for lunch with friends on our way back to Brighton, and cleared our schedules for the week.
Over the next few days, one after another of us got hit, with varying degrees of severity. More than half of us got covid, including Ray and I, and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to why some got it and others didn’t. So, here we sit, coughing across the room at each other, feeling blechy with standard cold and flu symptoms, but nothing too severe.
While we were away, Nick and Meg stayed at the house to look after Juno, who was very sad the whole time we were gone.
Normally I’d be concerned that these pics would make my sister jealous about being displaced as Juno’s favourite, but Juno has also been bumped down the list of Karen’s favourites. Tom’s daughter Meghan gave birth to a baby boy named Jack, who is, from what I understand, ‘perfect’ (even though so far it’s unclear whether or not he has eyes).
So hoping you all feel much better, very soon! 🤞
Well I am still jealous of how Juno is looking at Megan but I think perhaps Megan has smeared peanut butter all over her face and that’s why Juno is looking at her so adoringly.
And as for perfect little Jack, he’s just been sleeping every time we see him, just like a perfect little baby does so no pictures with his eyes open yet. Although he did briefly open his eyes today (while I was holding him 😁) and I can confirm they are a perfect blue.
Glad your bout with covid seems mild and not surprised to hear that Ray got over it quickly given he’s fit as a fiddle! Whatever that means…
That’s a very fashionable shopping outing! Sorry to hear Covid spoiled your festivities…it sure has a way of doing that…but I’m glad to hear you’re on the mend! Considering I still remember playing with you and Karen as children, I am having trouble wrapping my head around one of us is a Gramma! But she’s sure a pretty and youthful one at that.
Dave and Lisa are grandparents a couple of times over! And my youngest cousin on dad’s side is up to four already! Hard to wrap my head around. Certainly granny seemed much more granny-like than any of them. Thank goodness for hair dye. Lol.