Oliver was distressed this morning that almost all of the usual Canada Day routines had been erased from the schedule, either due Catherine’s death or COVID-19. So there was to be no music in Victoria Park, no Goat Parade in Rustico, no seafood at the Blue Mussel Café, no fireworks. While I might have preferred that his distress had been expressed with less ferocity, I had sympathy for its roots, and resolved that we should carve some new July 1 traditions out of the darkness.

So here’s what we did:

1. Drove to Souris. It was a beautiful day: sunny with a touch of mist, not too cold, not too hot.
2. Had lunch at The Poké Shack on the beach. Excellent.
3. Charged our Kia Soul EV at the new fast charger Irving on Main Street.
4. Takeout cold brew coffee and a smoothie at Evergreen Café. Excellent.
5. A walk on Sally’s Beach on Spry Point.
6. Hot fudge sundaes at Gillis’ Drive-in in Montague.
7. A visit with our old friends Wennie and Kenny in downtown Montague.
8. Takeout fish & chips from Water-Prince Corner Shop.

We will finish up in a few minutes with something called “virtual fireworks” on the CBC, the nature of which I have no idea.

We missed Catherine–we talked about her many times over the day–and Rustico and the goats and the rest. But we managed to enjoy the day as best we could, and, at the very least, ended on a higher note than we started.