It would be inconceivable to have predicted this ideal day, our return home to Canada from the United States of America after a two-month absence, to life in the rural town of Mississippi Mills along the river, on a cool but clear and spectacularly sunny day, on the 1st day of April, 2025. Overnight – recalling anxiously the consternation I had encountered last year when leaving Binghamton –  I had stewed beneath my duvet covers about exiting the roundabout.  Like all midnight dreams and recurring thoughts, it amounted to nothing specific other than worry and upset.  This morning at 5:40 am when I awoke from the ferment, the turbulence lingered. But when, after a restorative breakfast of hot porridge and a sliced firm banana, and when we finally approached the roundabout heading to Canada, I listened tentatively to the GPS instructions and, contrary to our objective, headed south on Interstate 81 as directed, only to be subsequently notified to take an entirely unexpected turn onto a seemingly unrelated route which in turn led promptly to Interstate 81 north.

The next  leg of the journey through Syracuse was of similar historical bother and concern. The route there was again undergoing tremendous reconstruction and related twists and indirect passages.  But we survived without obstruction.  Within what seemed little time we were out of the threat of complications; the road opened wide, relatively untraveled. leading directly northward. It was then too that the windy, foggy atmosphere of tiny ice particles began to clear. I muttered to myself as we drove that the little Cadillac was performing to scratch.  It bothers me to know I shall soon be abandoning this superlative machine for an all-electric model.  But hanging onto the past is never the best solution. It is frankly my experience that we are better to embrace change and advance as is normally the most advantageous.

But even before we arrived home and got a look at the new electrical installation to accommodate a 240v outlet for charging the EV, we proposed to stop in Bells Corners for Vietnamese soup from Mr. Pho. There was nobody else in the place when we arrived.  Mr. Pho happily recognized us and rightly enquired whether we had been away.  We told him we had just crossed the border an hour ago.  Upon asking about his nephew (who once worked in the restaurant as a server), Mr. Pho informed us the nephew has lately married a girl from Vietnam.  The nephew now works in the high tech arena in California. This animated discussion led to an historical account by Mr. Pho about Vietnam, formerly divided into three parts, North, South and Middle.  Mr. Pho, who is from the Middle zone, now aligns with the South because the communists have overtaken the North.  The reduced divisions are now only north and south; and, not unlike contrary political squabbles elsewhere, families are regularly divided between north and south alliances. The ambling conversation crystallized upon the arrival of further patrons.  When our aromatic tea, shrimp salad rolls and hot-and-sour soup arrived we were in heaven.

From there we drove next door to Petro-Canada, initiating our Canadian credit card once again and applying Petro-Points for the purchase of windshield wiper fluid. Then of course the statutory car wash.

Back in Almonte, we drove to the local postal outlet to collect mail which had been too large to insert into our mail box. Once back in the apartment we discovered a huge collection of weekly publications from Country Life in England. But before addressing the uncollected mail we sat at table, each with a fresh mug of coffee, and a box of donuts we had just collected from Tim Horton’s.

What followed was a strategic review of all outstanding tax documents from Canada Revenue Agency and our financial advisor. Once we downloaded these tax forms to our computers we then uploaded them to our accountant.

Throughout these important matters we connected with local friends, promising to contact them for coffee and a chat as soon as possible. We of course managed to unpack our suitcases, restore things to drawers, replug computing devices, set aside clothes for laundry and open the blinds throughout the apartment. Though we arrived home at a relatively early hour (2:00 pm), it is now approaching midnight. The weather tomorrow threatens to be cloudy and possibly snowing.  However the forecast is for springtime weather in the near future.  We’re tickled to be back home, organized in our digs, having nothing but the pleasing society of friends to contemplate.