Such good intentions...

Two weddings and two weeks away later and here I am blogging again.  I had good intentions of a blog while I was away.  I was all set to go in the St. John's, Newfoundland airport only to discover that my somewhat antiquated Macbook  couldn't pick up the free hot spot there.  Same thing happened to me in a Kingston, Ontario hotel etc.  So here I am the morning before my first day back at work writing.

The weddings-one in Vancouver and then one in St. John's.  Both couples live in Calgary and one member of each couple was born in Montreal-doesn't that say something about contemporary Canada.  The first I was the maid of honour at the bride's parents' wedding, and the second I have known the groom since he was a toddler and can remember him refusing to take his Star Wars boots off before I attempted to make him go to sleep.  It was great spending time with old friends and seeing these neat young people taking these big steps.  Both weddings were beautiful-the first at Cecil Green House with an ocean view on the UBC campus-the wedding ceremony was outside and much time was spent admiring the views.  The second took place in wonderfully historic St. Patrick's Church followed by a reception at Murray's Pond, another beautiful setting.

In between I flew to Montreal, a visit sandwiched with a weekend in Kingston again spending time with old friends.  I am bringing my Queen's mug to school today.  The last few days I spent in St. John's.  Another former John Grant (the special ed high school where I taught in Lachine)  and I flew off to another former colleague,  Diane's son's wedding.  Ginny has been almost everywhere but had missed Newfoundland and I hadn't been there for 34 years so we were planning some serious sightseeing as well.

I really fell in love with St.  John's.  Fortunately my friend Verena had been there a couple of days earlier and made some great recommendations from coffee shots to places to visit.  Nothing like a fresh traveller to guide you.  We rented a car for the first couple of days until the wedding festivities pulled into full gear so we took full advantage.

We stayed at the Sheraton, formerly the Fairmont and we were pleasantly surprised that we had a view right up to the top of Signal Hill and into the harbour where a cruise ship was moored.  The location was perfect.  Verena recommended the coffee shop, Coffee Matters, across the street and in the next few days we ate breakfast there everyone day as well.  A friendly local transplanted from Toronto saw us studying our maps and lead us to our first tour, Marine Drive.  Okay I have to get ready for school so I will have to continue this later.  The pictures are from our drive along Marine Drive-just wanted to begin to give you a flavour!