My, it’s been awhile since I posted. Some travelling — and the many chores of summer.

A wonderful trip to Montreal with Anna and her boys. By design, we stayed at a hotel with TWO swimming pools, outside and inside, and the boys made heavy use of both, particularly Ben, who needs a pool gymnastics class as he spent most of his time underwater. I’ve never seen such energy — jumping in, climbing out, for hours. We made brief visits to the Jazz Festival and Old Montreal, where Ben wanted to zipline so his mother bravely went with him because his brother would not.

Eli is 14, and being stuck with his family all day is not his idea of a good time.

But mostly we were at the nearby Parc Olympique with its fascinating Biodôme, the Planetarium (we saw a film about black holes which we didn’t understand a word of but enjoyed – and pondered the tragedy that this province allowed our planetarium to be torn down), and its Insectarium, with a superb display of dead insects and a huge room full of stunning live butterflies and a parade of leaf-cutter ants filing by with bits of cut leaves.

We ate well sometimes, poutine and pizza at other times, and watched Canada win its game against South Africa at the World Cup, hooray! Then my brave, very organized daughter set off with the boys at 5 a.m. to drive to Nova Scotia, intending to do the twelve-hour drive in one day. I had a leisurely, lonely breakfast and got on the train late morning, travelling business class because it’s comfortable and they bring you food and wine. But the constant delays are so infuriating! Yes, we actually had a hurricane warning, which turned out to be a little bit of rain. But it’s the “signal issues” that stop VIA passenger trains, meaning CP freight trains take precedence over hundreds of people sitting motionless. Anna arrived down east, and I got home to Toronto, at exactly the same time.

I think the boys will remember the World Cup win and the pools. I will remember spending a few days with almost all of the people I love most on this earth.

An overnight turnaround and then off again. It’s a lucky person who has a generous friend with a cottage in Muskoka willing to share it with cottage-less city slickers. Ruth is such a friend, inviting Annie and me to spend three days on the island paradise her family has owned for decades. The world vanishes, though the place has hi-speed wifi and we check our feeds regularly. But it all seems far away, as the phoebe sings outside and the loon — sorry, the stupid Canadian wolf bird — and the lake beckons. A huge thank you to Ruth, and to all cottage owners who make a stay in the country possible for the rest of us. Below: toasting our country with cava on Canada Day, late afternoon g & t, and the last view of Muskoka granite as we pulled away to go back to the sweltering metropolis.

Back to the garden, which is flourishing, except for my poor raspberries, fading in poor soil once again. But the tomatoes are going crazy, and the astilbe, hydrangea, tiger lilies, phlox, rudbeckia and echinacea, of course the roses, and more. Such pleasure. A sacred space, a sanctuary of beauty and scent, growth and possibility. And a ton of stuff that needs to be done. Fertilize, stake, prune, transplant, plant! Water!

The Fringe theatre festival is on, theatre happening everywhere. Unfortunately Ruthie and I made the mistake of going to a show that sounded interesting without waiting for the reviews; we’re still talking about how bad it was, terrible acting, direction, script. Irredeemable. But mostly the Fringe is terrific. I have a ticket for 6 tonight but it’s pouring so we’ll see. Tomorrow I’m seeing the musical parody of Heated Rivalry which had rave reviews in NYC. And on Sunday, a friend’s Fringe show.

Today Anna’s bff and my daughter-by-another-mother Holly came over; I’ve hired her to help me begin to get rid of stuff. She’s invaluable. We’ve already listed a few vintage things on Kijiji that I did not want to let go but will — played with those pre-Barbie dolls a million times, made hangers out of popsicle sticks! We sorted out the basement storage area – hooray. More sorting soon.

It’s only 4 but I will have a glass of rosé anyway, just because. It’s summer. It’s raining. I’m alive, and so are you, and it doesn’t get better than that.