Thanksgiving 2011

My youngest daughter and her boyfriend

 

    On Sunday, I had Canadian Thanksgiving with three of my children and my youngest daughter’s boyfriend. Thanksgiving Day or Jour de l'Action de grâce (fr.) is an annual Canadian statutory holiday which occurs at the end of the harvest season and is before the American one because of the northern climate`s earlier harvest. I believe that Columbus Day in the States is on the same day. The Kitchener – Waterloo Oktoberfest parade in western Ontario is today followed by a three day beer and German food festival.

Since 1969, Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest has developed its own traditions, becoming the largest Bavarian festival in North America with the greatest Thanksgiving Day Parade in Canada. Thousands of visitors celebrate annually in our Festhallen, and by attending one or more of our 40 family and cultural events. Through the celebration of this Spirit of Gemuetlichkeit, the local economy is stimulated and over 70 charities and not-for-profit organizations raise funds to support the high quality of life enjoyed in Kitchener-Waterloo. Willkommen to you, your family and friends.

Thanksgiving dinner

 

   I had Turkey with stuffing, beets, apple salad, mashed potatoes, homemade buns, squash and gravy for the main course. For dessert, I ate homemade pumpkin pie as well as homemade apple (northern spy) with whipped cream. The wine was a white German Spätlese (late harvest) to compliment the main course and an Ontario Niagara region ice-wine to go with desert. Certainly filling!

Homemade pumpkin pie with whipped cream

Homemade apple pie

Roman allusions

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   My oldest daughter just got back this week from her archaeological dig in a field about ten km. from the town of Gravina in Puglia, Italy which is south east of Naples and along the path of the former Appian Way, the main road in Roman times between the north and south of Italy. She’s working on her Master`s degree in Archaeology and decided to spent part of her summer getting some credits doing field work. It was very hot, 35 C. and she did get a touch of heat stroke. Fortunately she had the weekends off and travelled a few of the ancient sites in Italy such as the Roman forum and Pompeii.  The accommodation was a rental apartment in Gravina (pop. 40,000) which she shared with a girlfriend and where they ate their breakfast and lunch meals. They ate supper at the local restaurants such as Mamma Mia and Zia Rosa - lots of pasta. Each day they travelled by car along the narrow winding roads and through picturesque scenery to the dig site. No internet connections so I had to wait until she returned to hear the stories.

  The research group has been excavating an early Imperial Roman estate for the last couple of years and this year they found an old concrete floor as well as Roman coins. The project hopes to advance knowledge of settlement patterns over a long period of time in this part of Italy and also study the cultural exchange between the indigenous people and immigrants from other parts of Italy and the Roman Empire while correlating this data to environmental and demographic changes.

  I have always encouraged my children to follow their interests regardless of the current job market or future prospects and believe that this is the best expression of their talents during their life journey.

Myself in Capri, Italy beside the Emperor's garden

White water rafting

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  It was two years and a month ago that I was talked into white water rafting by my twin daughters and we headed north into the wilds of Quebec and travelled through bear country to reach the small village of Davidson, P.Q. and the camping lodge of Esprit on the banks of the Ottawa River about 100 miles north of the capital of Canada, Ottawa where you carry “bear spray” as well as “bug spray” and never leave the safety of the lodge alone. I was hoping to buy some Poutine (Canada’s favourite comfort food) on the trip since Poutine aficionados say that the best is made by Quebec chip wagons but none were to be found in the area. Maybe bears like it also. About Esprit and their lodge from their website:

Esprit was honoured to be ranked #1 for “Best Outfitters on Earth” by National Geographic Online! Esprit is very proud of placing first in the categories of “Sustainability” and “Spirit of Adventure” (i.e. adventures for adrenaline junkies), as we continue to expand upon our social and environmental policies, principles and practices.

Our goal of running the “world's greatest” rafting trips is still our commitment to you everyday! If you have a longing for the river, an appreciation of the wilderness and a “spirit of adventure”... join us at Esprit!

Facilities Include: Camping area, HI Hostel, Licensed Bar, Conference Room, Dining Room, Lounge, 3000 sq foot Sun Deck, Laundry, Hot Showers, Indoor Toilets, Full Meal Service, Recreational Equipment (canoes, kayaks, volleyball court, climbing wall), Internet Access, free WI-FI connection in the lodge and Mountain Bike Rentals





Myself and my twin daughters ready to raft



  As usual they start the newbie rafters on the easy runs before you get into the serious stuff and you wonder what made you decide to do this trip. I remember in particular the class five rapids called the “elevator shaft” which was a thirty foot drop at a seventy degree angle and everyone hung on for dear life. We were in a seven person raft with a guide and three female school teachers who spent a lot of time screaming during the experience. My two daughters were at the tip of the raft and had a great experience except when my oldest daughter (by 11 minutes) flipped over backwards into the water. You can see this in the video below which was taken by a fellow rafter. She is the one in the yellow helmet who takes the back flip into the water. David must have thought this was great fun since he reran the sequence twice in the tape. I was the person directly behind her. I had a limp for two months after that trip.

Twins in front, screaming school teachers behind and me

Getting into a class three rapid, nothing compared to the "elevator shaft"

Wedding Reception

One of my uncles and my cousins (sister of the bride) playing the pipes

  As I said in an earlier post, one of my cousins’ daughters got married on the beach at Sanibel Island on the west coast of Florida about three weeks ago and had her wedding reception in a small town north of Toronto last night to which I took my mother and two of my daughters. This is the Scots part of the family and they did the whole Scots thing including the haggis and pipers (one of my uncles with his granddaughter at the pipes.)

At the start of the address to the Haggis

 

   The Selkirk Grace done at the beginning of the wedding reception.

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it;

But we hae meat, and we can eat,

And sae let the Lord be thankit.

Ready to cut the haggis during the address.

 For those of you who haven’t heard the Address to the Haggis below is a rendition of the Address to the Haggis.

From Wikipedia:

Haggis is a dish containing sheep’s 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours.It’s traditional to make the address to the haggis at the wedding reception using Robbie Burn’s poem and then toast the haggis with a drink of Scotch whiskey. After drinking, you turn the drinking cup upside down over your head to prove that you’ve drunk the entire amount. The main course is haggis, and is traditionally served with mashed potatoes (tatties) and mashed turnip (neeps).

Pouring the Scotch whiskey for the toast to the Haggis.

Also from Wikipedia:

In the absence of hard facts as to haggis' origins, popular folklore has provided more fanciful theories. One is that the dish originates from the days of the old Scottish cattle drovers. When the men left the highlands to drive their cattle to market in Edinburgh the women would prepare rations for them to eat during the long journey down through the glens. They used the ingredients that were most readily available in their homes and conveniently packaged them in a sheep's stomach allowing for easy transportation during the journey. Other speculations have been based on Scottish slaughtering practices. When a Chieftain or Laird required an animal to be slaughtered for meat (whether sheep or cattle) the workmen were allowed to keep the offal as their share.

 

Bride drinking the toast to the Haggis.

Haggis, tatties and neeps.

Live band including the bride.

 

Mother and two of my daughters

Wedding cake