A year ago we congregated for lunch at Heirloom Café on the other end of Mississippi River in the Town of Almonte.  This year – closer to the Town of Carleton Place – we sat on the patio overlooking the first tee at the Mississippi Golf Club in the Village of Appleton adjacent Glen Isle. Fortuitously the only robbers among us were brazen sea gulls who occasionally approached the bread on the festive table. The mosquitoes and horseflies did however do us the favour of avoiding the clubhouse atmosphere.

Out of the gate of our table conversation was a critical analysis of country living. My guess is that the rural attraction is more compelling for those of us on the defining end of our career. Nonetheless there was among this familial clan of three generations an evident euphoria which surrounded our late morning congregation on this balmy summer day. Afterwards we gathered in the shade near the waterfalls of the former Collie Woollen Mill and succumbed to the seductive churn of the River.

Pointedly we all agreed that the story of life and the singular nature of each of our existences is but an ephemeral account. How rapidly things transpire! How incomprehensible are the fleeting episodes! How blessed we are to share these moments together!