July 8, 1946 - September 16, 2017
I love this photo of Elaine. It says just about everything about her....her kind, gentle, loving face and her adoration of cats. This is the famous Oscar, who spent more time at our place than his real home. Elaine loved him and he has an unusual expression on his face. It's like he is saying, "I know what I have here and don't you or anyone else interfere with my time with this beautiful person."
Thursday evening, we got a message from Elaine's youngest niece, Tracey, that Elaine was gravely ill in Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria. I immediately made hotel and ferry reservations for Friday and Jim and I had a lovely visit with Elaine that afternoon. We returned Saturday around noon to learn that Elaine had passed away that morning while talking to her good friend, Susan, and hospital staff. Susan and Elaine had been on a couple of cruises together, the most recent all over Europe.
We were able to say goodbye and give her one last kiss. We feel very blessed to have been able to see her. When we arrived, Elaine's three nieces were all there and had all been in town the last couple of days. We had heard a lot about Elaine's nieces. They were all very special to her and Elaine was so happy to see them all happily married and with their own families. Lisa, Tracey, and Lindsay, it was so comforting for us to see you there with an aunt I know meant a lot to you and that you loved very much.
I met Elaine when I began to teach at Cedar Hill in the early 80's. I didn't meet her for a while because she taught Math and I taught French so we weren't in the same department and she tended to spend lunch hours and breaks marking, preparing, and seeing students. She didn't seem to need a break! I also learned she stayed up until all hours of the night marking tests because she wanted to get the tests back the day after students wrote them. Lots of students had "math anxiety" so she felt that was one way she could help. She was a wonderful teacher!
We began to know each other when our teaching rooms were across from each other a month or so after I began at Cedar Hill. My first assigned room was on the ground floor near an area where students congregated after school and there was quite a bit of noise. I always had students after school who needed help understanding the intricacies of French and the noise was a problem. Elaine also had lots of students who needed help with Math so it was perfect for us to be away from the fray up on the third floor.
We learned that we liked to ski so our first trip together was a three day ski holiday at Whistler just before Christmas where I had booked a two bedroom suite at Tantalus Lodge. Jim and I had been there recently in the summer to play golf. That year we went up separately and at that point we hadn't even met Don. That was quite an experience! We took them to our favourite restaurant where in the summer they had been serving these lovely fresh "fritures du lac"...well, they may have called them something else but they were exactly like what we'd had when we were in Annecy dining at a restaurant on Lac d'Annecy. They are tiny little fish deep fried. Well, they weren't serving them anymore and since Elaine and I loved calamari we had that instead. It was tough and awful. When it came time to pay, Jim realized he had left his wallet at home and I hadn't taken my purse. Don never let us live this down and it was the beginning of a friendship of many laughs, teasing, good food (well, usually) and travel.
We did a couple more trips to Whistler and our son, Richard, came along as well. They all had an immediate affection for each other. We did weekends on all the Gulf Islands, New Year's in New York, a week in San Diego listening to waves crashing in our beachfront condo, a couple of trips to San Francisco staying at the Hilton where we drank the price of the Sunday brunch in the endless Champagne included and toured the wine country. We went all round Ireland when they came to visit us when we were doing a house and car exchange in Donegal.
And the highlight for everyone was their visit when we had a villa in our lovely little village of Carqueiranne while Jim was teaching at the University of the South in Toulon. We went all over the south of France, to Paris, and to Brussels. They enjoyed it all but questioned, "Why are we going anywhere else but Carqueiranne....it's the best of all!"
Elaine and I had birthdays a day apart, me on July 7 and Elaine on July 8. When we were in Victoria we always took our convertible and went out for a gourmet lunch. After we both retired, we swam once a week at the Hotel Grand Pacific and had lunch afterwards. Those were very special times and a highlight of the year was when the Grand Pacific had their Christmas Teddy Bears.
Elaine always sent us wonderful packages of all sorts of goodies for our birthdays, Christmas, and anniversary. My blog readers have seen the contents of these and I know they've been impressed with the thoughtfulness of these gifts. Elaine always thought I was very naughty in ripping these open the moment they arrived rather than waiting until the actual day arrived. She got quite tricky in having them arrive at the last possible moment but of course they did arrive just a little early. This year I promised her I wouldn't open my birthday package early. Sorry, dear friend, I did! I know you would understand.
When we arrived home yesterday after a very emotional time, we came home to seeing the contents of those packages everywhere. Cushions in the living room, one with a Paris motif and one that says "My other house is in France". I open a kitchen cupboard to see the special wine salts she bought in France this year. I make tea in a teapot with a sunflower design. I go to wash a dish in the sink and there is the tile that has boats like "les pointus" from Carqueiranne. I go into the bathroom and there are soaps and a lavender soap dish. In the hall there is the swimming bag with the flirty looking cat design that I look at all the time I'm swimming.
So, dear friend, you will always live in our hearts and in all the lovely memories of the wonderful times we had together.
A few photos of some of our time together.
In Carqueiranne.
In La Lavandou...a little village close to Carqueiranne.
In Marseilles.
Our favourite roast chicken guy in Carqueiranne market. Don and Elaine loved this market. Don bought a roasted rabbit from him and ate every last part including the brain. It was delicious! In subsequent visits to the market, Don (through our translation) teased him mercilessly about how "that cat was really good that you sold us." I guess the nieces had heard this story because as we were showing them some photos of this trip, Lindsay asked, "Was it really a cat?" I kept chuckling about this yesterday and it helped me get through the day.
A great meal our last day in Paris.
In their new condo.
For our birthdays one year (Jim''s is July 13), Elaine got this idea of getting a scarecrow for our garden....priceless!
We had many Robbie Burns evenings together at the Union Club. Jim is wearing his kilt.
In their new condo with the three Dali prints they bought when we were in San Francisco one year.
Elaine pouring wine....a familiar scene.
We even made some trips into Vancouver before we moved there. This is on Granville Island. We stayed at the Granville Island hotel with lovely views over False Creek.
Elaine made two trips to visit us in Palm Springs. Don wasn't well enough to travel the first time and had passed away when she came down to visit us in the condo we had bought.
We had a fabulous dinner in Rossnowlagh in County Donegal...the best raw oysters ever and lobster to die for.
Taking the TGV to Paris from Marseilles.
A few videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hl8bE-kPl0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe2J5IelrIc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKXnXYsfItw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRnIM25cb0s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh6BsGhb18U
