Over the Border to Montreal

Left to right: My friend Anne and her son R., a McGill sophomore, and daughter E., a McGill freshman, with their friend from Montclair, a freshman at nearby Concordia.

Anne and E. on E's 18th birthday.

I'd love to buy a twilly.

The surprise was that my friend Anne was sneaking up to Montreal to visit her daughter on her 18th birthday. Anne can and will drive long distances at the drop of a hat--or should I say French beret.

She invited me to join her, and we left Montclair before 6 a.m., blue passports in our purses. We arrived at our hotel by 12:30ish. Anne had hatched a plan with her good son to take E. out for lunch--and we were waiting at the cafe. It was fun!

I met Anne and her husband, Michael, on the Decamp #66 bus over 19 years ago, when we were commuting to work in NYC. She was expecting her son and I was expecting Figgy. Then E. came along. Our two families have been very close ever since. Our younger girls, Nikki and Punchy, are buddies, too.

I'd like to write more--and hope to in the morning, but I only slept 5 hours last night and am exhausted. Face greasy; dying to pull hair back and wash cheeks and chin. We're staying over tonight, heading back to New Jersey tomorrow afternoon.

Good night from the land of Hermès* and almond croissants, moules et frites and menus in French.

TCOY

1. Anne and I have 13 hours round trip talk time--so good to catch up. Life gets busy, and Anne does important work back home.
2. We walked around a fair amount.
3. Nap from 6:15 p.m. to 8 p.m. to refresh before dinner.

*I very much liked the narrow, colorful silk "twillys" to tie around neck, ponytail, wrist or handbag strap, but $170 each. Didn't know until today that they were called twillys. Here's the LINK.