Canadian Thanksgiving 2024

October 12 was chosen by Susan, Mary and Joe for the funeral of their father. It was also this year's annual Thanksgiving Day, a fine day to celebrate the life of Jos Vandenboom. He was buried next to his wife Marie Vandenbogaard, who passed away 8 years ago in St Thomas where they lived for the best part of their lives and where their three kids grew up. All kids, spouses and grandkids were present with the exception of Fiona who is working a year in South Korea (but she had recorded a wonderful message which her mother Susan played as the kick-off for everybody to say a few words). It was a brief ceremony for Jos just the way he would have liked it....

Afterwards we visited the hobby farm where Sue, Mary and Joe grew up with their parents and Greta. The house was bought by a couple who immigrated from Cambodia about 20 years ago when Jos & Marie moved to a house in St Thomas town. The new owners welcomed us with open arms and let us walk around the property bringing up old memories. Afterwards our group went for a walk in a nearby conservation area where Joe, Mary and Sue spent much time as children swimming and playing. The day ended with a nice dinner in nearby Port Stanley, a place where Mary spent a lot of time windsurfing during the years between our first meeting in India (1982) and our wedding (1990). A nice day together with the Vandenboom-Laird-Nolle gang!

Josephus Vandenboom 1930

It will be something to get used to. He had a long and full life and looked sometimes like he would be around forever. The last few months he became a bit weaker, but his passing on September 30 was still a bit unexpected. We will miss having him around here in Fonthill....

At the farm in Sparta (just outside St Thomas) Joe was a fun Opa for little Hilary and Mark. And he was happiest with the whole family around him for example at the cottage during many of the summers...

His three kids stood by him intensively during the past five years when he lived in Short Hills, the retirement home nearby in Fonthill. Joe came as often as he could from Sarnia for short visits. Susan and Mary were both spending a few hours with him every day, one in the afternoon and the other in the evening. Yesterday they organized a cake and coffee event at Short Hills for the other residents there...

Hilary came over from Vancouver and Mark & Carly helped out during the first few days after Opa passed away, being a great help for Mary. This weekend they decided that it was time for some pumpkin carving. Family time well spend with some good laughs in memory of Opa...

Back in Holland again

After the 18 hour car ride back (with another overnight in Les Gets midway) arrived again in Soest with my sister Han. That evening Mary called me with the sad news that her father had passed away. I shortened my visit this time in order to be back for the funeral in Canada. Before flying back to Canada, I did have time to visit my old boss at Fokker Aircraft (1985 - 1988) together with my former colleague Aad.

Teun is at 83 still a lively and energetic person with many hobbies, among them building boats. His wife Ilse made us mussels and large shrimps (the region where they retired to - the province of Zeeland - is famous for its excellent quality fish dishes).

Aad drives a Tesla and we had to charge the batteries on the way back. These superchargers are in Holland located near some of the hotel locations, so we had a nice coffee and some Dutch treats.

The day before flying back I had a reunion scheduled with ten old friends from high school in Bilthoven. Before starting that reunion I cycled past the former house of a classmate from elementary school. His family was old "blue blood" and owned the estate pictured below. Back then they could not afford such a large piece of real estate and they lived only in a few of the rooms (the rest of the building were a memorable place for young kids playing hide and seek). The family later sold the property.

The town hall of Bilthoven is still another one of those properties with a long history. With the ten old classmates we hopped on our bikes and cycled past all the houses we grew up in, where each of us had to tell a few anecdotes from those days (1962 - 1968 elementary school + 1968 - 1974 secondary). We had some good laughs along the way.

At a few of the houses we chatted with current owners of these houses (none of these houses were small and all built pre-WW 2). It is certainly a very nice town and it was a privilege to grow up there....

This small tunnel (going under the railway) was know as "het tunneltje" (the little tunnel) and we all passed under there hundreds of times during our childhood. We ended the tour with a nice dinner together. The following day I flew back to Canada. It was again a very nice memory lane visit...

Tourrettes and goodbye brunch

We started our third (and last) day in Tourrettes with a good "cafe au lait" and a walk through the old (and very artistic) old center of the town of Tourrettes. Our hosts Pieter and Martine live just outside of Tourrettes since 2019 after they sold their house in The Netherlands. Not a bad place to be.....

The house of Pieter and Martine overlooks the valley and we were lucky with a beautiful sunny day to enjoy the goodbye brunch outside after three very nice days together. The group photo did not work out that well, but hey.... you can't win them all....

Thanks Pieter (right on the balcony). You and Martine were truly super hosts. A revoir!!

Boat ride and last dinner

Saturday morning we went for a ride in electric boats on a lake in the mountains. They only use electric boats, because this lake is used by fire fighting planes which scoop up water during the regular wild bush fires. It happened to be quite windy so we kept the fun on the water to a limited time...

We had a nice packed lunch with the French "baguettes" a bit further along the lake and walked to a gorge at the end of the lake. Afterwards we visited one of the many old mountain villages with houses and narrow streets with its hundreds years of history and ambience...

We finished the day with our third of three wonderful dinners. I think it lasted four hours! The food was excellent and the company was good with lots of old memories recalled as well as new plans made.