As we headed down the east coast of Florida last March 10 we were getting close to completing our planned track for this tour . Had the truck not intervened to knock us off course we would have proceeded to Fort Lauderdale and flown out to Montreal, home of grandchildren Joseph, Evelyn, and Amelia. Absolutely without doubt, readers following along with this blog would have been subjected not only to photos of these three, but also of the city - normally stressing bakeries and urban architecture This at least has been the pattern of past blogs, where readers have sometimes had to hang around with us for up to a week, looking at kids and bakeries in Montreal while waiting to carry on cycling, somewhere like in London, or other maybe more interesting city.
This time, of course, we had to get back to medical care at home as fast as possible, and that increased the sting of not being in Montreal. So now, just as soon as humanly possible, we have put ourselves back on the planned track.
This of course does not mean we have flown back to bloody Titusville, Florida. We're not that crazy. But we did zoom back to Montreal, by way of Seattle.
Amelia and Evelyn have not taken events lightly. In the past month they worked to absorb the facts, repeating "Gampa Steve - hit by truck!". Next they took action, devising magical devices to send me healing forces. Being able to finally make it to Montreal and to be together with these little healers has meant a lot to me. So here are first the Seattle and then the Montreal Grampie support teams, complete with some mandatory bakery and (in this case) chocolate store reporting:
Demonstrating the use of an exercise resistance band
The bagel bakery is in a neighbourhood with many Hassidic Jewish residents. The men wear long black coats and black felt hats (or ones with large fur trims.) Here in the rain, this fellow has a plastic cover on his traditional hat. It just struck me as funny looking (more than usual).
These soup cans are too large yet to be used as arm strengthening weights, but the brand is right. Habitant soup is still made right in Montreal. "Habitant" is the name given to the class of tenant farmers in the French settlements of Quebec in the 1700's.
Another reason we needed to come to Montreal was to present Amelia and Evelyn with the books we made describing their bicycle trip adventures from last Summer. We also need to have a discussion on where we will go with them this time, and what kind of bikes/trailers we will use. We are voting for the "Route Verte" bicycle path system that has been developed in Quebec.
Down the street there is a chocolate shop run by a lady from Switzerland. She has this large Swiss bell hanging. Medium sized ones are worn by the cows, while one this big is used to call the cows. Each bell has a unique tone.
The lady demonstrates the tone of her cow calling bell. Later we spent some time poring over a map of Switzerland with her. She pointed out where her family is from, and where a good chocolate factory to visit is (near Lausanne). This was not just idle chat, for in several months we expect to be cycling in Switzerland (Belgium, France, Germany, and Italy too --- stay tuned!).
To make hot chocolate, the lady melts pastilles of highest quality Swiss chocolate in hot milk and blenders it. For $26 you can also buy a big bar of this same chocolate. I am planning to buy this for Dodie, since she gave away the hot chocolate she got from the factory in St. Augustine.
Flash: Amelia and Steve Make It To 4 and 67 (respectively)
A birthday party was held today with much jollity all around. A big feature was yet another Sabrina cake creation, featuring Steve and Amelia visiting the castle of the Red Dragon. Steve had clearly recovered enough from his injuries to climb to the castle!
This depiction of "Hit by Truck" was an "accidental" bonus of sabrina's fondant technology.
