As we crawled amidst the burdensome traffic into the city early afternoon today en route to a family foregathering at the home of my sister and her husband along the Rideau Canal nearby Dow’s Lake, memories bubbled to the surface. My first recollection arose after crossing Pretoria Bridge onto Hawthorne Avenue. It is a now abandoned roadside building which once housed a highly reputed antique sterling silver jewellery and accessories retailer. The owner was notoriously well-informed (to the point of didactic), thorough and reliable. For his part my partner recognized the grocery store where he formerly shopped when living on nearby Metcalfe Street in Centretown. The immediate object of our journey was the Green Door at 198 Main Street. It is a vegetarian restaurant and bakery. We had ordered a specialty cake as our contribution to today’s luncheon. Over thirty-five years ago I had been associated with the owner when the store first opened. Though we haven’t been able to return as often as we would have liked, each time we have done so has been an unqualified hit. Today’s dessert was no exception at table.
The Green Door vegetarian restaurant and bakery
I’ve ordered a GF Raspberry Lemon Vegan Cheesecake from the Green Door on Main Street. We will pick up will be at 1:30PM Sunday.
After collecting our trove, continuing past St Paul University, we turned onto Riverdale Avenue which I recalled was the venue of a real estate purchase transaction I had had the privilege to complete on behalf of K. Patricia Flesher and the late Moishe Smith, singular clients who strengthened my induction to the practice of law almost 50 years ago. Turning onto Sunnyside Avenue (before passing Bank Street) I was further reminded of a deal I had overseen on behalf of Dr. Graeme McKillop (my partner’s erstwhile physician) and his wife Dr. Jan McKillop (both of whom I understand have now retired and relocated to British Columbia where their son Hugh, whom I met immediately after his birth, is now training to be a physician). And nearby Aylmer Avenue at Bank Street we wistfully recollected the day we had chaperoned my late mother (who died October 28, 2018 when we were on Longboat Key) from the Colonel By retirement residence to a patio bar and grill (now gone) for a sandwich and Caesar drink.
Today’s familial convention at my sister’s home was in retrospect (and indeed unabashedly throughout the entirety of the event this afternoon) an unparalleled success. My niece Julia and her husband Matt (professional comedic entertainers) landed in Ottawa from Los Angeles, California (where they live) around 1:30 am this morning having lately returned from a magnificent journey to London and Paris (in each of which cities they performed), the French Riviera, Venice and Greece. Closer to home, from a farm where they reside in Maxville, Ontario came Anne-Charlotte and my niece Jennifer, replete with entertaining stories of sheep invading the household, an exotic photography commission and evident demands surrounding the pursuit of a Bachelor of Science and a nurse practitioner’s professional accreditation.
Complementing these youthful buoyancies and accomplishments was the celebration of my brother-in-law’s upcoming birthday. We were naturally wont to capitalize upon the fortuity of our familial assembly for this purpose. It is not often that a table of eight consisting of four partners all of whom constitute family has occasion to commingle. This afternoon we gleefully profited from this unusual moment in the history of our family. It was for me personally an exceedingly happy affair.
