Thanksgiving 2019
Once again for Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, family, friends, friends of Plast and Baturyn, gathered together to celebrate life, friendship, the end of another bountiful summer and fall. This is the 17th occasion that we have been documenting this weekend on this website with a missed year in 2015 for Olesia and Pavlo's wedding. 17 years of gathering, sharing, catching up, preparing a grand meal and enjoying it together. This year the weather was gorgeous, we had a very good turnout, and we spent much of the weekend outdoors. The pictures below chronicle the weekend, not really in rigorous chronological order. I have included pictures that people shared on my Facebook album as well. They do not bear my watermark.
Our classic group shot
The weather and colours were amazing
Apple picking at the Abbey Saint Benoit
Outdoor seating for all!
Seech is not really interested in mushrooms
Sasha and Fedir's tree was still there with us
The pond in the afternoon
There were mushrooms but it was not a very bountiful fall for the edible Honey Mushrooms we like to pick in the fall (pidpenky)
Relaxing in the afternoon by the pond
The swimming season had ended for the raft
Seech was still going in
Milkweed was in full bloom
The colours were everywhere
Seech and I went up Mt Glen on the Friday
The sports field
The birch and poplars were a beautiful golden colour
The commemorative flag
People were starting to show up
The cross commemorating 1000 years of Christianity in Ukraine got a face lift this year
Getting ready for the campfire later in the evening. Unfortunately rain moved in later in the evening cutting short our singing and cavorting
Monarch caterpillars were out
Fedir's fish were sunning themselves
The ladeez went apple picking in style
The man
Seech posing patiently on our way down from Mt Glen. She indulges me.
Sandra and Greg were into the apple picking but I don't think Winston is a fan
Katrusia and Olesia under one of the old apple trees. Olesia has knit some wonderful sweaters in the last few years.
In search of William Tell
A crazy colourful stand of maples behind Katrusia
Modern metal ladders have come to the monastary
On fire!
Relaxing after apple picking
The abbey at Saint Benoit du Lac
How the cool kids pose
Zenko and Katrusia waiting for everyone to finish at the store
Beautiful vistas from the top of Mt Glen
Olesia's sweater was perfectly matched to the surroundings, naturally.
Mother and daughter catching up
Pavlo is now a resident of Canada, again!
The tables were groaning under the food
Katrusia and I prepare the turkeys, potatoes, mushroom sauce and apple pies. Everyone brings all of the rest and we always have way too much food but its brilliant getting the full variety of what everyone has prepared. You cannot even eat some of everything. Impossible.
Nadia was into the food
Kalyna and Christian made it out. They know the area well from skiing Jay Peak
The boyz had their table
Irka and Orest got a chance to catch up
Lots of groupings of people over lunch
Berries of the mountain ash
Wasyl and Tania were getting chummy
Alex always has words of wisdom to share
You saying what?
The two Ottawa teachers
Mother and child. Anastasia was there with her family
The older cool kidz
The younger cool kidz
Its like Oksana going "what was that chumminess I saw before?"
Taras catching up
It was wonderful eating in the brilliant sunshine
View toward the southeast from Mt Glen, with Mt Pevee at the extreme left, then Sugarloaf, and Owl's Head just to the left of center
Greg and Zenko horsing around
Natalia and Sandra
There were some refreshments as well
Its getting to be a good-sized crowd
Katrusia and Chrystia
A rare together shot!
We try to eat by 14:00 but the meal always stretches (as do our stomachs) into the late afternoon
Some of the younger cool kidz got into board games
Katrusia setting up the all important group shot
The road to Mt Glen. The weather was spectacular
Relaxing at St Benoit du Lac
Mychajlo had some nice red shoes, as if he was wearing apples on his feet
Winston would rather have been off leash
The Rodyna!
Some braved a last-of-the-season swim in the pond.
The brave ones went in. The water was getting kind of cool
It was late in the harvest but still a lot of good picking to do
The great weather lifted everyone's mood
For some, dessert had to be eaten elsewhere
Oksana's purple jacket shone in the sunlight
I love the contrasts with the blue sky when the air is dry
The coolest of dudes, Alvin
Some of us needed some help to get through the afternoon on Saturday
Helping to make apple pies!!
Geez, everyone looks so sad.
Still looking good
Its beautiful to see the same (ageing) faces come back year after year
Like grapes on the vine
Lots of blah blah blah was going on
Sweater weather for sure but still very comfortable
Kids were having a great time
Moss loves that time of year, cool and damp
Beautiful ladeez!
Olesia and Pavlo enjoying a local brew after a dip in the Ozero
The apple-picking crew
Well done!
They fit right in
The future generation
Everyone just chilling at the Abbey
A SERIOUS can of beer
The traditional campfire
Not often I go apple picking on that Saturday in a tee shirt and shorts.
And so we wait and start planning our 2020 get together. We are hoping, as always, for good weather and a great turnout!