Sugaring Off - à la façon Québecoise!

Sugaring off!

8:30 p.m. Saturday, I shed more than a few tears over an unresolved, I think, messy unorganized house. So many high hopes, yet I still can't seem to get on top of getting this house moved-in and organized with everything in it's right place. Craig said that I should never have to cry over a messy house and it isn't really messy - it' living. OK so where's my maid?!! In the spirit that one should never cry over a messy house, here is our living.

Friday I rushed downtown to visit my dentist, the girl's were real troopers, as it took longer to find a space - at rush hour -than anticipated. We arrived 30 minutes early, but still had to park three blocks away. We paid the parking and I walked with the girl's holding my hand and running to keep up. We arrived at the office just in time!

We finished about 5:45 and rushed to pick up Craig at work a couple blocks away and than rushed home to meet our babysitter at 6:30 p.m. We were headed to the mini Montreal Temple and needed to go across town for a 7:45 session. We had never been to a mini temple and found it a blessed experience, as we had not been to the temple for longer than I liked to admit. After the session we headed to China town for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. A little note about Craig - he served his mission in Washington DC speaking Vietnamese in the early 90's. Most Vietnamese are very shocked that an American would be able to speak their language! In 1996, Craig and I moved to DC and both had the opportunity of attending the same asian branch he served in. It was such a great time, we loved it, we left when the branch was merged into the Falls Church ward in 2000 and attended the Alexandria Ward.

Vietnamese Cold Spring Rolls known as Goi Cuon.

When we arrived in China town at 10:00 p.m., all the restaurants had closed accept for one Vietnamese karaoke restaurant. Our friends had come with and were excited for a new experience. We entered to a darkened room and several nicely dressed karaoke participants waiting for their turn to sing. The food was great, the yelling to be heard wasn't so great - but the experience was fantastic. My favorite is Goi Cuon: Rice paper, vermicelli noodles, cilantro, carrots, and shrimp,pork or chicken - wrapped and dipped in peanut sauce. I'll post the recipe - something I do know how to make!

Excited about outing with friends!

Saturday is Sugaring-off day! We arrive at the church around 9:30 a.m. and begin the long process of seeing who has rides and who doesn't. Over 3/4 of our ward live and work in downtown Montreal - so most of them do not choose or can't afford a vehicle. By 11:00 a.m., we've figured it all out and the ward caravan begins to La Goudrelle. I was expecting I quiet drive to the country where we would be fed, do a wagon ride, and partake of the maple taffy.

However, this Goudrelle was only one of many syrup making houses, where 100's of people flock to from February to April. The house was really a pavilion with an all you can eat feeding hall, dance hall, and a place to sample the maple taffy. It was fun, crowded, and we all walked away very full!

Our ward consists of three sets of Elders, and a couple missionary. These are some of them and other members of our ward. We had to wait in line outside, so we could wait in line inside, to enter a huge gym-size dining hall.

We took up three long tables. They just kept bringing food out and we could eat as much as we wanted. I am not an all you can eat kind of gal, but the dessert I can definitely put away. This was a kind of sweet fried bread that you put syrup over -very good!

There was a pull wagon motorized train and this horse-drawn wagon. The girl's never get sick off these rides and we enjoyed the fun too!

Ever since the Caillou episode where he got to go to the country and watch them collect the sap from the sugar maples, I've wanted to go try it myself. So here is a glamorous picture of me shoving my face with maple taffy!

Seeing all this written out helps me realize that I can't do it all! I know I've said it before, but I have to say it over and over to myself to remind me that living is better than a house that looks like a museum!

What does your house look like?
What did you do this weekend?
How do you balance chores from living?

And here's a few quotes about living:

I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing. -Agatha Christie

Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life. - Seneca

The present never ages. Each moment is like a snowflake, unique, unspoiled, unrepeatable, and can be appreciated in its surprisingness. -Gail Sheehy