Yuka Sakata (from Japan) arrived December 1st, 2006.  The bus was delayed over an hour due to an icy rain storm, in which I drove with Lisa and Jean-François to welcome Yuka at the St. Jerome Bus station - it was a very long drive.  Yuka called us from the bus to say they were in Bois Briand...so we went for hot chocolate! Lisa and Jean-François stayed for supper.  Lisa, Yuka and I, prepared supper together somehow making a good team in the small kitchen.  We had a nice supper starting with a soup with noodles.  Then then Yuka had her first cup of tea in my place.  While having desert we all watched the Japanese version of Shall We Dance.	On Sunday, December 3rd, Christine & Joe Belmonte came, invited us for breakfast at Mikes in Lachute and we went to see Marielle Thibodeau in St. André d'Argenteuil and an exhibit of Barbara Elmslie. Yuka spent a few days with the Bentley's daughter in law Colleen who had a week off.  Then she came back here and spent time with me. Yuka at the Red Hats Xmas party in Mille Isles, 11th  Dec.	Yuka & Takako with their cameras, while Bob Bentley is preparing his special Café Flambé, pouring flaming coffee from one cup to the other. Wednesday, December 13th, 2006: Yuka took a photo of me Olivier Marchand and Takako Horikita, looking at the map of Japan that Shoko Kojima gave me, on which I marked all the places the Japanese Wwoofers came from. Note: June 2007:  Yuka wrote from Japan, she is back home.
Rami, Ken, Takako, Yuka at the Barb B Barn West Island on December 15th.  Than we went home and I little Shabbat Candles and Hanukah Candles.	On Monday, December 18th, Yuka and I went back to do shopping in Montreal and meet with Takako.  I took them to eat at Mazurka, a Polish Restaurant.  Yuka photographed her vegetarian dish with Pierogi, Blintz and Potato Pancake.	On December 20th, Yuka went back to Coleen and Mark Bentley to help with the kids who are off from school, until January 6th, 2007.  She plans to come back here and so may Takako, after her trip to New York City.

Lisa Rahlmann (from Germany) arrived Friday 24th November 2006, after spending two weeks at the youth hostel in Montreal, with two very big bags, for one week.  Then she is going to Ontario.  We went for coffee at Brulerie des Monts in St. Sauveur.  We really had a good time together.  We had lunch in La Cafétière in Morin Heights.  Lisa loves to help, in anything even in the kitchen so we cooked some stuff together - she also likes to eat and laughs a lot.  She raked the garden, put the porch furniture away and cleaned the porches.  She met some of my friends.  We spent an evening with Jacques & Ljubica.  Lisa also met another artist that I went to interview.   We had Jacques for dinner before his trip to Europe. Since we were receiving friends and also one of Lisa's friends was coming up to spend a day and then drive her back to Montreal, we prepared apple crumble cakes:

First Lisa cut the apples into thin wedges. The 1-2-3-pastry is pressed into the spring form. Put the filling in.

We made two cakes! My friend Eva who joined us for lunch said it was scrumptious. Finally Eat the Creation! Jean-Francois arrived and we had supper and ate the 2nd apple cake. Lisa and Jean-François left for Montreal, after the ice storm quieted down and the snow-ploughs did a great job on the roads.

Emi Tanosaki arrived at the St. Jerome Bus station from Ottawa on Thursday, October 26.  We started off at the Chinese Buffet for a late lunch, since they have a Sushi bar. The next day we woke up to a snow-covered garden and low temperatures....so we could not do much outside.  However, Emi went for jogging and we went shopping and she helped a lot.  And then painted her own pumpkin.	Friday, We were visited by Eva and Richard and had a nice luncheon together.  Eva brought Halva and other Polish specialties. Saturday was terribly rainy.  But we did visit two places.  An exhibit in Montfort and the new Henry Giroux Gallery in Morin Heights (Henri gave her cards of his paintings.)   Herb & Linda Hart joined us for supper one night.	My friend Bob Bentley took her for a ride in the forest, driving an all terrain motorcycle.  The next day, Emi hulled a and cut a pumpkin on one side funny face and on the other, her own name in Japanese. We invited Georgette and Bob Bentley to join us for supper:  Pumpkin soup, baked meat, potatoes, onion & carrots, bean sprouts with wild mushrooms, and blintzes with cheese-raisin-nut stuffing.   Georgette baked us a Cranberry cake.
On October 31st, Emi worked in the garden and then we drove to Lachute and ate a vegetarian wrap at Restaurant Labelle.  Then, Bob and Georgette took Emi to the Halloween parade in St. Sauveur.	On November 1st, it was a bit nicer and finally Emi could help a bit with cutting off dead stems and branches in the garden.  She also tries to jog daily, weather permitting.  Emi learnt how to make north-American style pancakes and we ate them with maple syrup.	I took Emi to the St. Jerome Museum to see the collection for their annual Auction. The Bentleys invited us for dinner along with Jacques and we had a superb evening and dinner, starting with Sushi,  and Fresh Oysters, music and dance - mainly Reggae.  It was a grand evening but I have no photos of it since my camera malfunctioned.
Despite the foggy weather, I took Emi for a drive through St. Adlophe d'Howard, Ste. Agathe, Val David.  On the way, Emi ate Poutin at Chez Amelie in Morin Heights! In Val David we saw an art exhibit where Emi liked the work of the woman artist who goes by the name Gottof.	Bob took a photo of Emi in the Kitchen. Emi and I invited Olivier & Mathilde the Bentleys & Jacques with Ljubica, to a  Friday night meal (Nov.10th) of Japanese specialties Okono-mi-yaki, Gyoza and a potatos-carrots-onions-meat  with Mirin sauce - (correct name of dish to follow)  I was the sous-chef.   We started with Sushi, shrimps and smoked oysters.  Emi offered us all SAKE.  We had wine with dinner.	On Saturday, Nov. 11th, we drove to Montreal in the worst rainy conditions.  We visited my son Rami with his family and then toured Montreal and ate a Lebanese meal.  On Sunday, Nov 12th, Emi's last day, Bob & Georgette Bentley took Emi for a drive to Mont Tremblant with a picnic luncheon in the woods.  She leaves at 6 p.m. for a 14 hour drive to a Wwoof farm in St. Catherine, Ontario. We all enjoyed having Emi with us.  She is a great helper, always cheerful and willing to try new things.  Thanks for being so nice to all of us Emi!

Takako Horikita arrived October 5, 2006 and stayed until Oct. 18th.  She does not was her face to appear but this is the first picture of her taking a shot of the lunch plate. She took pictures of each meal we ate. It was important to Takako to see maple turning leaves.  We visited, St. Sauveur, where we had coffee at the Brulerie des Monts.  We also visited Ste. Adèle, for lunch at La Farandole.  Since my leg bothered me while driving or walking.  She walked around the lake with Jacques Parmentier;  went biking to Morin Heights (Olivier Marchand lent her the bike), biked the aerobic corridor with Olivier, and from St. Sauveur back home. We went to Lachute to have Poutin, which Takako really likes.  We even bought the ingredients to make some more at home.

We visited Alphonso's painting exhibit.  Went to Charles Lefebvre, who showed Takako how stained glass is made. After a drive to Domain de l'Étang and a luncheon at Mikes in Lachute, a visit to the waterfalls.  Had to block Takako's face.  She says "I am not sellable!" We were visited by  Pascale, who offered to host Takako in Montreal, upon her return from Nova Scotia.  (This photo of myself with Pascale, was sent to me by Takako). Takako was a great help in planting bulbs, cutting dead stems, removing vegetable plants, and raking autumn leaves.  THANK YOU TAKAKO!

On the last afternoon, my neighbours Bob & Georgette Bently came over.  Bob took Takako for a ride in the forest on his all-terrain vehicle, and invited her to join him and Georgette for tea. For the last dinner, I prepared a first dish of avocado stuffed with crab, cucumber and tomatoes.  Here is Takako with her little camera again. Bob Bentley offered to drive Takako to Montreal on Wednesday, October 18th, where she is meeting friends coming from Japan.  She will continue Wwoofing in Nova Scotia.  And might come back here to try snow-shoeing and cross country ski. Takako came back to Lake Dainava for dinner at the Bentleys with Yuka and me on December 12th. Note June 2007: Takako also came back for a week in January, after going to New York City to have a New Year's eve in Times Square.  She went on to the Maritimes, Manitoba and Saskatchewan too.  She is now back in Japan (Tokyo).

Jason Verslyp & Marie Ernould Aug. 28th to Sept. 10th 2006.  What a delightful couple.  They helped a lot and were liked by all my friends too. Un gros merci! Marie and Jason at the Lachute Market.	At Valerie Vezina studio.
At the waterfall		At Cultiv'Art Oka At Robert Turrene's apple grove.
Jason and Marie with Robert Turenne and his dog.	Marie with a Monarch Butterfly on her shoulder at Cammac.
At Mont Tremblant.	Lunch on my balcony with Lance Wood, Tecia and Michael.

Shoko Kojima visited for one week July 19th to 24th.  She came back for the weekend of August 26-27 to join us for a Corn Roast in Mille Isles.	The green/blue plant a gift that Shako brought me for my birthday saying that this is one plant that does not need watering.  It has been a conversation piece since it came on August 27th, 2006.	Shoko with Ethan and Tara at the Corn-Roast. Shoko, Ethan, Rami & Tara.
Here she is at a dinner with Tecia and Michael in their place.	Luncheon on my front porch with Michael, Tecia, Marguerite and Eva.  (This photo taken by Shoko).	Photo taken by Shoko.  Herb & Linda Hart came for supper.
Shoko painted two boxes and we hang them together.	Shoko helped dead-heading the flowers.	Here she is - the left-hand bottom box was painted by Shoko. With Ljubica and Jacques after a swim in Lake Dainava.
Shoko loved the Irish Eyes Rudbekia.	Photo taken by Shoko.	Shoko with Michael Werbowski.

Luca Petryshyn visited June 26th to July 2nd, 2006.  Luca is a great helper!  He did a lot, whenever the rain stopped, and even helped in meal preparation.  Ken and I took him to the Brulerie de Monts in St. Sauveur, for lunch, he met some of our friends who cane for dinner, and visited artists Charles Lefebvre and Jean-Jacques Pharand with me.  It was a short visit but we hope to see him again.  I drove him back to Point St. Charles with my son Rami.  Luca is a very intelligent young man, and will probably have a bright future.  He tried to educate me in current avant- garde music appreciation...however I am afraid he was not very successful on that subject.	Luca with Charles Charles explains cutting the design into numbered pieces.	Luca receives a brochure of Route des Arts with the map of the region.  Luca spent two month in our region, starting with Monique Laramée's farm, wehre he built a fence for the garden and an outhouse in the forest.  He likes to take a project and tackle it to its completion and surprised me with his resourcefulness.
Luca with JJ Pharand.	On his last day here, Luca painted a beautiful flower of hope on a clemantine box.  He also installed it along with others that were ready, to add to the recycled art intallation from last year, at the top of the garden.	Well done Luca!  Bravo!  You will have to come back to take a better shot of it,  I was not tall enough!

On June 11th, 2006 Pierre and Marie Madeleine Paillard, members of Servas from France, came to visit.  We had dinner together.  Ken and I were enchanted to have such interesting guests.  I received a dedicated copy of the book Pierre wrote about wine and a lovely gift from Marie-Madeleine.  The conversation around the dinner table was so interesting that I forgot to take out my camera.

The next day they went to a local organic winery NÉGONDOS in Mirabel to make a video. Two weeks later, I received a surprise visit from their friend Alain Paillassard, who works as a Sommelier at the St. Sauveur restaurant Vin-à-l'heure.  Alain brought a gift of 2 bottles of Négondos wine, a lovely Rosé and a good white wine, on behalf of Pierre Paillard.

Pierre Paillard wrote a book about ORGANIC methods of making wine.  The book is well written and contains scientific information. If you want to know more about it, please visit the website: Le site du Club du vin authentique

 

Colours and dimensions artwork may be slightly different from the original.

Copyright © 2008 Ilania Abileah. All rights reserved.

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