Here on the Atlantic coast, it’s still possible to cross the border spontaneously

Story and photography by Katharine Mott

BONDING TIME with the special people in life is vital. Sometimes, because of distance, years go by without being together physically, but strong connections remain. The only female kidlette in the first six years of my life was Irene—and the connection made then has remained as strong as ever throughout the years.

Irene now lives about as far away from me as she can get—the West Coast—but whenever we get together, be it in a couple of years or dozens, we tend to resume the conversation where we left off. You can’t get much more special than that. Each time we part, I feel the same wrench that I felt back in Grade 2 when she moved with her family to Ontario. E-mail now allows us to keep the conversations alive, but we both know that even without it, we would remain tied together in some way.

Another of the people special to me is my cousin Penny. She recently moved to Sackville, NB—an hour further away, but, strangely, it seems that she is closer. Maybe it’s Sackville that knits us closer and makes sure that we spend more time together! Just recently I had a delightful young dog sitter come in for four days so I could spend that time with Penny—doing just anything we wanted to do! No agenda or itinerary. A true holiday!

I arrived in time for dinner and a visit with our mutual friend, Mary Kate. The next day we spent hanging out in Sackville—brunch at the Bridge Street Café, the purchase of more socks at Wanderlust (the great outdoor shop), a walk around the town and the waterfowl park, and dinner at Joey’s, one of my all-time favourite Italian restaurants.

We agreed that our next three days would be on the road, but without a definite plan. Since we both wanted to visit friends in Saint John, NB, the car headed in that direction—but a hankering for Ganong’s almontinos saw us scream past the Saint John exit. (The visits would have to wait ’til the return trip.) Almontinos are one of my many sweet-tooth weaknesses. I loaded up with enough to last a few months.