Lunamoth

Yesterday was the first day that the H1N1 shots were available in our area (and only for particular people, including those with chronic illnesses and the people who love them, which is how I qualified).  The clinic opened at 2:30pm, so Frank, I, and Karen-who-has-no-blog (yet) figured that if we showed up a little while after that, the first rush would be over and we’d be in and out pretty quick.

You know how sometimes you can be so wrong about stuff?  We arrived at 3:20, somehow managed to find a parking spot, and headed for the end of the line, which was by that time a good long way out on the sidewalk of the rec centre where the clinic was being held.  About an hour later, we made it to the building’s door and took our numbers (mine is in the photo above, and I do believe that they really *did* start with 001).

Around 5:00 we decided to go to a nearby sushi place for supper and resume our lining-up after that (by this time the organizers were encouraging people to do that — well, not specifically to eat sushi, but to leave and return a few hours later).  As you can see from the sign above, the clinic was to run from 2:30 to 8:30.  The buzz in the line was that at around 3:30 they started turning people away because they realized they’d never get through them all in time.  We got our shots at around 8:45, and there were still plenty of people behind us. Clinics were set up in a few different places around the city, and the story was much the same at all of them.

I’m so glad that we now have our shots, and don’t have to worry about that as we travel around.  I’m so glad that we live in a place that has enough vaccine for anyone who wants the inoculation (so they say, at any rate), and gives it away for free.  I’m so glad that, in spite of the long waits, almost everyone in the line-up (including all the little kids, who certainly had reasons to get cranky) stayed in good spirits for the whole five or six hour wait.  I’m so glad that the people working the clinic were willing to stay several hours later than they’d planned so that everyone could get their shots.  All that *and* sushi.  Not the way I’d envisioned spending my Monday afternoon and evening, and I have to say that I was quite happy to finally get home at about 9:30, but, all in all, a much better experience than it might have been.

A view from the road

Last weekend my friend Elisabeth had to deliver two llamas to a farm in Quebec’s Eastern Townships (about a four and a half hour drive from her place), so, hoping to get some photos of spectacular fall colours, I went with her.  The colours weren’t at their peak yet, but the rolling hills and fields are scenic at any time of year.  It was a very windy day, so by the time the colour is at its finest, there may not be any leaves left on the trees, anyway!

This is Camilla, who didn't know yet that we were bringing her two new friends

I took quite a few photos and will put them into my “painting ideas” folder for future reference.  I knit an entire scarf on the drive.  Elisabeth bought me a yummy lunch at St. Hubert (a chicken restaurant chain) and fed me pastry and pumpkin pie back at her place.  We passed by “Le Ranch de Spaghetti” in Magog — haven’t you ever wondered where spaghetti is grown?  (And if they harvest it early, is it spaghettini?  If they leave it in the fields longer, does it grow into lasagna noodles?)  We marvelled at the price of gas in Quebec (about twenty cents a litre more than here in Ontario).

Tiffany and Hot Chocolate in their new home

I brought home some more of Elisabeth’s custom-spun yarn (can’t remember whether it’s llama or alpaca), and will be making another hat like Amelia’s.  I’ll write down what I do this time, so that I can share the pattern.

All in all, it was a lovely weekend away from it all.  Thank you, Elisabeth!