Home Sweet Home!

We drove back home yesterday after spending 4 weeks in Montreal. It really is nice to be back amongst our own stuff! I hadn't realized how frustrating it can be to live in someone else's house... you can never find anything, they may not have appliances or supplies that you consider a "must have" - like a garburator or a rice cooker, how can you live without those??lol And BBQs with tanks are for the birds, you never know when you'll run out in the middle of cooking...at home we have gas heat and therefore we have an outlet on the patio to plug our BBQ into - no tank, no refills and you never run out - is that setup common or unusual? We also mainly used paper plates and plastic glasses. Perhaps the owners take away the good stuff for the summer, but the dirty chipped glasses and 6 cracked and/or chipped plates they left just didn't cut it...then again, that could be my issue since I use Wedgwood every day dishes and even my 2 year old uses them - I figure the "good" stuff should be used, not stuffed away in some boxes somewhere. Oh but I did love that huge, huge kitchen window all along the counter above the sink - so nice to be working in the kitchen and getting fresh air and seeing the lovely greenery. As for Montreal, it really is a beautiful city. We had some great meals, got to hang out with friends and family and generally relax and explore. I won't miss the one way streets and the no turning right on a red, but I will miss the wonderful architecture and quaint shops. Many of the houses in our neighbourhood dated from the late 1800s and were maintained in such a lovely manner. It was fun to explore the neighbourhood and check out these old homes with their lovely intricate facades. They sure don't build them like they used to! It was fun to live in a rambling old house that was over 100 years old when our own home is a modern linear home.

I have to say though that it took me a good 2 weeks to adjust to a new home and neighbourhood. I guess I'm really a creature of habit. We may well do this again (either in Montreal or another city) and we'll have a much better idea of what to expect.

BTW, this woman from whom we rented the house must be one of the most relaxed people on the planet. She mailed us the key to the house and we let ourselves in. She called once or twice (she was living at her summer house a couple of hours away) to see if we were settling in well or had any questions about anything. She called the day before we left to tell us she wasn't coming into the city but a friend of hers would pop by to give us back our damage deposit. I told her we'd be happy to have them come through the house and she told me not to bother. Sure enough, friend came, refused to even step into the house, quickly handed me a cheque and left. How trusting is this woman?? She says she figures anyone who can afford the rent is trustworthy...that sounds like a pretty iffy strategy to keep your house safe, but she says she's been doing this for 5 years and has never had a problem. While it's true that most of the furniture is older and has seen better days, she does have lovely antiques and artwork...you'd just think that after allowing a family with 2 kids (and 2 cats!!) to live in your house for a month, you'd check it out... man, don't I wish I could be that relaxed about life!!!lol