THE WAY HOME

Well, my last day in Moncton has been absolutely lovely.   Zane made breakfast and showed me around their property.   It is a lovely spot, backing onto a valley that provides privacy within a pretty and well-kept neighbourhood.  I loved the little log cabin built in the trees and thought if Bronwyn saw that, I might never see her again!   Zane is a guy who likes to keep busy and showed me some of his projects, from making his own miniature cannons to the ottoman made from his father's WWII trunk.  They have an interesting collection of antiques and unique items acquired through family over the years. 

​Through Claire's work, they have travelled to Europe and had so many great experiences.  They had lots of great stories about their travels and experiences and I was very happy that we ran into each other (no injuries sustained).    Zane and I share an irreverent and somewhat smart-ass sense of humour and fortunately for me, Claire tolerated this nonsense with extreme grace.

Claire and Zane took me out for a drive and we made it out to Cape Enrage, stopping on the wind-swept, pebbled beach to appreciate the beauty.  Along the way, we stopped at an old cemetery where they knew there was a bald eagle next.  We saw the huge next, but no eagles were at home.  We also found a pottery shop with an artisan that Claire knew of, and also stumbled upon a glass blower’s studio on our route.   Pleasant little detours that got us out of the car to meet cool people.

Making our way to Alma, we stopped for lunch at the Alma Boathouse Restaurant.  The food was fabulous and we left feeling we would survive until supper time.  Alma has a few lobster stores and we stopped at one to have a look at the poor beasties that were destined for lobster rolls and other dinners.  I have never seen lobster so big!
 
Claire had said there was a bakery in Alma that sold the best sticky buns ever.  Thinking we would pick some up after lunch.  While the place only had one other person in it when we arrived, it filled up right behind us and there was a collection “AWWWWW!” when we heard they were sold out of sticky buns.   So we left empty-handed and determined we would stop for ice cream on the way back to Moncton.  We (or rather I), were so busy yakking away that we passed several ice cream places and never did manage to stop in time. 
 
Back at “home”, we had a bit of a break and freshen up before heading to the Blue Olive in Moncton for supper.  Goodness knows we don’t want to starve to death!  This was a Tunisian restaurant with a varied menu and the food was great.  They were a little haphazard about service, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway and had another good meal.  
 
Martha and Ellie (the household pets), were a bit disgusted with us for leaving them alone most of the day, but readily forgave us once we were settled for the evening.  I bored Zane and Claire with videos and pictures of the kids and my trip before heading for bed.   
 
This morning, I was treated to Zane’s blueberry pancakes and eggs and coffee.  After some last-chance pictures of us all, they drove me to the airport and we made our farewells.  Their hospitality has been above and beyond anyone’s expectations and I hope there will be a chance to repay it in the future.   While I am looking forward to being home, it will feel strange when I am boots-on-the-ground at home again.  I suppose I had best make use of the travel time to adjust my mind to “normal” life again.   Grand finale post still to come.  😊