Pumpkin Spice and Family Ties

I am really looking forward to the fall season, to wearing comfy hoodies, drinking lots of tea while curling up in bed and to watching the trees turn red and yellow.

I already noticed that the Canadians seem to have a thing for pumpkins. The shops on campus sell pumpkin cookies, pumpkin scented candles, pumpkin spiced hot chocolate or pumpkin spiced lattés (to be honest, I did try the pumpkin spiced hot chocolate and it was awfully sweet and tasted artificial). And with Thanksgiving coming up, I was getting really excited. Part of my excitement might have been based on the fact that I was invited to spend Thanksgiving with my family in Ottawa. I had never met that part of the family before, so me coming to Canada was the perfect opportunity to meet them.

With the long weekend ahead, I skipped classes on Friday and boarded the ViaRail heading East towards the capital of Canada. The train was beautiful: plush carpets, leather seats and a lot of leg room (not that I necessarily need it)! The train ride was really comfortable, the service was great and there was a nice variety of affordable food. It took me about four hours to get to Ottawa. When I arrived, I was warmly greeted by my Oma´s sister Lily and her daughter Julie who came to pick me up.

They took me to their lovely home and we got to know each other over cookies and tea. Although I thought that my visit could turn out to be really awkward because I never met Lily and Julie before, it did not take long for us to end up giggling and laughing about all sorts of things. Julie took me for a walk with their dog Rosie (with whom I instantly fell in love with). Lily and Julie live in a nice neighbourhood where people have neat houses, pumpkin decorations on their porches, and there was a nature reserve literally right on the doorstep, perfect for birdwatching.

On the next day Lily and Julie took me to a Thrift Store not far from where they lived. I was amazed about the sheer size of this warehouse-type shop filled to the brim with secondhand stuff. It was crazy. I had a good sort out and ended up buying loads of books and wooly jumpers. The treasure of the day was a pullover I found that was incredibly soft and fluffy. It says on the label that it is a blend of Merino, Angora and Possum wool. Can you believe it? Possum wool!!! If you google it you will find that Possums were unintentionally introduced to New Zealand but unfortunately they kill the local kiwis. That is why the possum populations in New Zealand need to be minimized and the fur is used for jumpers. People who know me already know that I love anything that is super soft or fluffy. Naturally, this pullover is my new favourite!

In the afternoon we went for a drive. First, we stopped off at a place called Carp to go and see an art show hosted by the Agricultural Society. Local artists of all kinds displayed their work. It was really nice to see all different kinds of art, techniques and styles and to talk to the artists. After that, we went to a place called Almonte. Almonte is an old mill town and a lot of historical buildings including the old mill are still intact. Almonte it is famous for a guy called James Naismith who invented basketball. We went for a nice walk around the town center and had a cup of tea in one of the many cafés before heading back home.

Fletcher, Julie´s son and therefore my cousin, arrived on Sunday. He recently moved to London (Ontario) to study at Western University but he visited home for Thanksgiving. It was really nice meeting him, since he is about my age and just started university in Canada, too. Most of the morning was spent on thorough preparations of the food because we were having a Thanksgiving dinner that day. This included a turkey and stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce and homemade lemon meringue pie. Since the weather was much brighter today than in the last few days we went for a long walk around the nature reserve while the turkey was in the oven. The reserve was very peaceful, we only came across a few dog walkers. A lot of shrubs bordered a little river streaming through. I was told that earlier in the year people would come here to do some bird watching since some rare species could be found in this area. Unfortunately, we did not spot many birds. When we got home, Julie´s father came for dinner which was really nice. Obviously, he knows my Oma and he knew my grandfather, so it was very pleasant talking to him and getting to know him, too. It goes without saying that dinner was delicious! After 6 weeks of take-aways it was lovely to have a roast dinner, healthy vegetables, and delicious wine. It was my first Thanksgiving dinner and I loved it! The cranberry sauce was perfect, the stuffing on point and I really liked the pumpkin pie. Of course, I had to try the lemon meringue pie, too since I am an absolute lemon junkie (no matter whether it´s lemon curd, lemon cake or lemon pie – I love it!). It´s a shame really, that we don´t have a Thanksgiving dinner in Europe as such. I think it is so nice to sit down with the whole family and enjoy a meal together and people should do that more often!

Lily and Julie had planned a surprise for Monday. We wanted to go to a skiing resort in Quebec (the French speaking part of Canada). Obviously, there is no snow yet but you can still take the lift up to the top of the hills, enjoy the view and have lunch in the restaurant there. It took us about two hours in the car to get to Mont-Tremblant. The landscape we passed on the drive was really pretty. The leaves around Quebec were much more vibrant in colour than in Ontario. Although it was rather misty it just added to the autumn mood and the reds and yellows popped out even more. Mont-Tremblant has a little French-styled village with lots of shops, restaurants and hotels. We were getting really hungry so we decided to get lunch first and explore the village after. The lift took us right up to the peak of the mountain and it was an incredible view! The little village of Mont-Tremblant with the most colourful roofs grew smaller and smaller while we went further up. From up high it looked as though the leaves in the treetops were covering the scenery like a blanket of vibrant autumn colours of red, orange and yellow. It did not take long for the mist to take over and we were surrounded by hazy wet fog. When we arrived at the top of the mountain it was much colder than it was in the village. We went straight into the cabin where it was warm and dry and had a nice meal.

Due to the weather we did not walk around much since you could barely see anything. Instead, we went back down to the village. Obviously, this was a very touristy place and designed for moneyspending-holiday-makers. Still, it was very pleasant to look around the shops and there was even a lift taking people up and across the village. Despite the weather we had a lot of fun!

It was sad saying goodbye when I had to go back home to Toronto on Tuesday morning because although I just met this bunch of people it felt as though we knew each other for years. It was a brilliant weekend and I am so thankful for everything Lily and Julie did for me! Hopefully, I will see you again soon xxx