In Memoriam

Vittorio Mattuli
31.08.1929 - 30.03.2005

Happy Easter Everyone!

Easter greetings from Bronisław Komorowski, Minister of Defence, 2001 

The Best Hiking Trip Ever

JW, me, Mary and Wincek with man in bearsuit on Gubałówka in Zakopane, May 1972.

A Child's Christmas in Edmonton

My childhood was full of uncles and aunts and cousins - my mother and her two sisters somehow stayed together from childhood through war, exile to Siberia, escape to Persia, school in Palestine, resettlement in England, and finally, immigration to Canada. We almost always spent Christmas together, as we were doing in this photo from 1963.

Canadian Graffiti

I went to St. Mark School, in Edmonton.

Here are some of my friends helping me celebrate my 12th birthday, back in 1963.

Chris and Louise in Guadeloupe, 2005

Each year around this time, a mysterious inner stirring causes Louise and me to temporarily abandon our duties, pack our bags, and head south to Guadeloupe.

This year, en route to Guadeloupe, we had to stop in Montreal to change planes. It was about -6 Celsius. We left our house about 10 a.m. and arrived in Pointe-à-Pitre around 6:30 in the evening, Feb. 19, 2005.

And here is our home away from home, early the next morning. In fact, our bungalow is just to the left, outside the frame of the picture. This is Marie-Louise's house, and Eric, Francine and Evan live in the building just to the right in back.

From the verandah there is a magnificent view of the Atlantic Ocean. The Caribbean Sea begins just a few miles to the west of here.

There is a fresh-water hanging pool, from which you can look straight out at the ocean. It's a delight to take a dip here and rinse the salt from your skin and hair after swimming in the ocean.

This is about as formal as it gets around the pool. Louise has donned evening dress for the coctail hour.

This is my favourite spot for an apperitif before dinner.

Eric ordered this lamp-post from the foundry in Alsace which has been making them since the 19th century. It is a cast-iron copy of an original design.

The view from our bungalow is also breathtaking. I have concluded that Christopher Columbus must have sailed right by here on his second voyage to the New World in 1493. Sometimes I imagine that I can see his ships on the horizon.

There are many coconut trees on the property, and one of Eric's men offered to pick and prepare some of the coconuts for us.

We very cleverly determined that the coconut juice could be used in mixing a variety of delicious and refreshing beverages.

The centre of the universe, Marie-Louise's kitchen. When she looks up from the sink, she can see a grove of palm, coconut and breadfruit trees, an orgy of bougainvillia, the islands of Marie-Galante, Dominica and Les Saintes, and both the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

Here we are marinating some the parrot fish we bought straight off the boat earlier that morning in Sainte-Anne.

Later, we grilled the parrot fish in the oven and enjoyed them with a selection of French wines.

Here are Marie-Louise and Louise sitting around after dinner, making plans for the next day.

One morning we headed for the north-east shore of Grande-Terre, passing these ruins of an old sugarcane windmill near Le Moule.

One of the first beaches we visited was at Anse Maurice, Grande-Terre, Feb. 22, 2005.

Who are you? Where are you from? Where are you going? We saw this little one at a beach restaurant.

A quiete afternoon at Anse Maurice, Grande-Terre

Electricity generating windmills, Pointe à Patate, Grande-Terre

Our favourite beach in all of Guadeloupe, Grandes Salines at Pointe des Châteaux, Feb. 26, 2005

Swimming at Grandes Salines, Pointe des Châteaux, La Désirade in the distance

Fort Fleur d'Épée, near Gosier, March 3, 2005.

Louise on the ramparts of Fort Fleur d'Épée, Les Saintes in the distance.

Here I am taking one of the pictures you will see below. The mountain with the cloud over it is the volcano La Soufrière which rises 1,467 metres above sea level. Photo by Louise.

Le Petit Cul de Sac Marin, with Les Saintes in the distance, seen from Fort Fleur d'Épée

View of the Massif de la Soufrière from Fort Fleur d'Épée

Countryside near Bois de Rose, Basse-Terre, with La Soufrière volcano in the distance, March 3, 2005

Countryside near Bois de Rose, Basse-Terre

Just off the Route de la Traversée, near the Maison de la Forêt, we stopped at the Corossol river picnic site for a cool freshwater dip, March 3, 2005

Louise's "swim" lasted about 2 minutes before she concluded that the water was a bit too cold.

I, on the other hand, didn't find it cold at all, and floated about like a contented mongoose.

Naturally, I sought out the strongest currents, to tempt fate and see how close I could get to being swept away.

Unlike my friend who seemed happy just to dip his toes in the water

I soon found the spot that came closest to what it must feel like to sit inside of a heavy-duty washing machine.

La Maison du Cacao

Later, we visited the Maison du Cacao, at Pointe-Noire, Basse-Terre. Did you know that there are three main varieties of cacao, and that real chocolate is a mixture of cacao and cane sugar?

The fruits of the cacao tree are oval-shaped pods, 8 to 14 inches long.

Caféière de Beauséjour

Next we visited the Caféière de Beauséjour near Pointe-Noire, a kind of museum located on a traditional coffee plantation from the XVIIIth century.

The plantation is situated at an altitude of 300 m on the Acomat heights. Le Piton (687 m) in the background.

Later that night, back home with Eric and Francine, March 3, 2005

Louise, Marie-Louise, Francine et Evan celebrate Eric's 42nd birthday with cake and champagne

Dominica, early morning

Early morning, Sainte-Anne harbour