Kindly Canadians

A tiresome trip between countries today because we are now into the summer weather, which means that the ferries become very unreliable as to having enough room on them for everyone who wants to board. Gas prices and all that to the contrary notwithstanding, it appears that driving up to and back from the Sunshine Coast of Canada via the Queen of Surrey ferry continues to be one of life’s very best pleasures for a lot of people. Once aboard, they can eat, play video games, and buy tourist trinkets, or just look out the window for 45 minutes. Why not a crowd?

Today, we aimed for the 12:20 ferry, but when we got there (about twenty minutes early), we were already too late. Almost three hours later—spent in the ferry line-up lot--we boarded the next scheduled ferry, which was running a little late because of its heavy loads. Then a Sunday traffic-heavy trip around Vancouver, with an opportunity to stop at every stop light ever installed, and to the border by around 5 p.m. Blessedly, the border guard hardly even had us stop long enough to note whether the pictures on his computer matched us in our car.

Leaving your home for two+ weeks during the late spring and early summer is always a little dangerous for yard and garden maintenance. If it rains a little and is gray and overcast a little and the suns shines a bit, it usually works out okay because nothing grows too fast or gets too dry. And that is the typical pattern for the weather at this time of year. But the last two weeks have been longer on the sun and absolutely deficient on the rain, so I expected every little seedling and small plant to have simply fallen over at the ankles and not to respond to any form of resuscitation I had to offer. Similarly, Ed expected the yard paths (which are the only parts of the grass that gets mowed) to be knee high if not waist high from all that sun (they get underground water I think). But when we got here, what should we find but nicely mowed paths and plucky little plants everywhere the eye could find a little plant or path.

Usually when we are gone, I impose upon my neighbor to do a little watering for the most needy plants, and I do the same for him when he is away, as he is a Canadian and is also not here all the time. However, he is a 70+ year-old hockey player as well as a terrific friend and neighbor, and a month ago his hockey playing came to a temporary halt when he broke his ankle and some other bone higher up in the shin. It seemed an extraordinary imposition to ask a man with a broken leg and ankle to hobble over to water my plants on a regular basis, so I didn’t mention it when I left. But, lo and behold, not only did he water the plants but he mowed the lawn-paths as well. That’s a doughty fellow!

I went over to thank him for all this and he and his wife pressed upon us a pint of freshly caught spotted prawns for our dinner. Not only doughty but generous and very kindly. In Los Angeles, no one ever mowed our lawn for us or gave us prawns. And that’s why we’re here and not there, I guess.