Sandra Woods
Art despite pain

In the news

(posted on 23 Jul 2023)

When my dad passed away this past weekend, we'd been making plans to do a few things together over the summer...
My sweetheart had retired this spring, and he and I had already written up a list of outings with my dad - all dates weather-dependent, of course:
1. Next Thursday, July 27, we were planning a day-trip to Rawdon, to where his family had a summer cottage for decades (and where we spent all our summers 'til 1976).
He and I had talked about this day-trip by phone last Wednesday night, and were meant to finalize our plans last Friday night during a BBQ at our place.. but my dad had already passed by then.
We'd talked about stopping to see Dorwin Falls, the lovely old stone Church where his dad is buried, and the house he rented the summer I was a newborn in the late 1960s.
Then we'd head to his favourite place in Rawdon for French fries, for either a late lunch or an early dinner, depending on what time we'd hit the road;
2. Thursday August 4th we'd go to the beach at Voyageur Provincial Park in Ontario, where he had a season's pass. Depending on the state of my old camping gear, we might stay and camp overnight;
3. August 10th we'd drive to the Long Sault Parkway, near Cornwall (Ontario), for another beach day and maybe another overnight tent-camping stay;
4. Aug 17 my husband and I had planned to take my dad out in our canoe, from the Anse à l'Orme Nature Park onto the Lake of Two Mountains, and paddle to La Petite Plage (the 'hidden beach') for a swim;
5. Aug 24 we'd take my dad to 'our' beach, the one just a few minutes from our home, at the Cap Saint-Jacques Nature Park.
I wish we'd had just a few more weeks with him, one last summer.
Miss you already, dad.