Alice testée pour l'aviron

Suite à sa participation aux tests de sélection du RBC Training Ground le 23 avril dernier, Alice a été invitée par Aviron Canada à passer des tests plus poussés pour évaluer sa capacité à pratiquer l'aviron.

Ce matin, je l'ai donc accompagnée au Centre National de Développement et de la performance (CNDP), à Waterloo (Cantons de l'Est), où elle fut accueillie par l'entraîneur-chef Akram qui lui a fait passer une batterie de tests pour mesurer la force des jambes et des bras ainsi que son endurance générale.

Pour terminer, le plaisir d'apprendre à ramer:

Rachel's birthday

Rachel had a wish to share this Sunday September 8th with her family and she got her wish :)

First, Alice, Lily, Rachel and I went running on a new trail she had just discovered from Parc Outremont to one of the three lookouts on Mount Royal.  This is where I learned that my days of keeping up with Alice were definitely over !

Then, we went to the Centre Phi in Old Montreal to experiment with several virtual reality exhibits and we had a fair bit of fun interacting with the various apparatuses invested with so-called AI.  I personally find VR and AI still very rudimentary compared to, say, four people running on a trail in the woods, but it's interesting to keep abreast of these developments... if you're prepared to put up with a bit of nausea wearing those VR goggles.
(In the picture, Lily sits on the right-hand side with a red sweater).

Last but not least, we (finally) went out for a sophisticated supper at Montreal Plaza, the restaurant where Gabriela has been working for the past two years (and where Simon had been a chef many years before that).  Gabi had recommended the fish and seafood menu and it was positively delicious:

• entrée: mousse de maïs
• tartare de thon et de truite + couteaux de mer
• bourgots de mer + moëlle de boeuf et homard sur l'os + fleurs de courgettes farcies et frites
• desserts: gâteau en fine tranche congelée + morceaux de gâteau au chocolat avec crème glacée à la sauge

Gabriela wasn't working that evening, but she had arranged for us to have one of the best-placed tables, right in view of the kitchen, and she had also secretly arranged for the staff to bring a blasting birthday bomb to Rachel at desert time :)

Alice and Lily's first track meet

Thanks to the New Denver Sufferfest, our two girls started to enjoy running a few summers ago, but up until last week they had only run "long" distances of 5K, 10K or cross-country.

Three weeks ago, they decided to register for the Montreal regional athletics competition of May 23-24 at Centre Claude-Robillard and proceeded to join their school's track team for 3-4 training sessions under coaches Ibrahim and Jonathan to prepare for it.  They were total rookies at shorter distances but ended up doing quite well, earning six medals between the two of them: Alice 1st at 800m, 2nd at 1200m and Lily 3rd at 800m, 2nd at 400m and both members of the gold-winning 4x400m relay team !  Harris blood strikes again, I guess ;)

For detailed results, click here:
http://www.rseqmontreal.com/fichiersUpload/fichiers/20190529084830-athleoetisme-exteoerieur-championnat-reoegional-reoesultats-par-eoepreuves.pdf

Lily getting ready for her 800 meter race (15-16-17 year-olds)

Alice sprinting to the finish of her 800 meter race (13-14 year-olds)
with coach Ibrahim cheering her on (in red shorts)

With teammate Aglaé after the 800m races

In this video of the 4x400m relay, we see Lily (1st runner) hand the baton to her teammate for the 2nd lap.  The Mont-St-Louis team was in good standing at this point, ahead of the other teams.

But here we see Alice (3rd runner) take the baton with her team trailing behind the Regina Assunta runner, and then catching up with her in time for the final lap — with MSL winning by a slim margin.

Red

A first week has already passed since I set my plan to make one blog post a week. This is the news from this week... our boudoir upstairs which has been a yucky hospital green since it was created, is now a yummy redish/orange. The room has yet to find it’s true vocation but we think thatthe red may help!

Spring!

The other event of the week was Spring!! It arrived. As usual in one fell swoop, the snow is gone and there are  apple buds and dogtooth violets :). Yay!!!

Lily's Piano Recital

So... This is a first (I hope) of many... I promised mum that I would post something every week of the Taillefer/Harris rue Fabre family life with the idea of sharing the every day occurrences of life rather than the special events. So, if I manage to keep it going, there should be a post every week of the goings on in and around rue Fabre!

The event of note this week was Lily's piano recital. She played the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, which, I would say, is the first time that she has really loved one of the pieces that she is playing. I think that her love for this piece is audible. It was especially poignant as this was the piece that Andrée had asked her to learn some years ago when Lily started playing. It was too bad that Andrée was not here to hear it though Laurent was there with Éric and myself and who knows, perhaps Andrée was listening too.

The final part of the concert was an hommage to the famous animation film director -  Hayao Miyazaki. All the pieces were played with four or six hands. Here is the first piece of Lily's from Howl's Moving Castle played with Béatrice Ippersiel and Nagomi Iida.

The same trio also played this from Castle in the Sky...

Two short presentations

On this the last day of the Winter session at Alice's skating club, she and her teammates created these two short group shows in the morning and presented them to the audience in the afternoon.

Today's simple celebration was meant to replace, in a much reduced form, the usual three-day elaborate show that couldn't happen this year because of renovations happening at their official arena.

Here we see Alice with Clémentine and Marianne who all took part in the Provincial Star Championships in Lévis last weekend.

Trip to New York City

Our 4-day trip to the Big Apple was instigated by Lily, who felt intrigued by the tempting tales of her sister Flor about NYC's famous sights and foods.  And I must confess we got a good dose of both !

Despite the cold weather, we spent a lot of our time walking outside, along numerous streets and diverse neighbourhoods, drinking in the amazing architecture and stopping for food at the hip cafés and restaurants that Flor recommended or that Alice and Lily spotted and fancied.

Alice takes a pose in Central Park for the photographic eye of Lily, painting goat-like shadows on the rocks. "So many crazy-high skyscrapers and so many being added still !" seem to be musing the stunned couple in the background...

Two museum gems in the same day: the Frick Collection recommended by Louis (top) and the Morgan Library recommended by Flor. The girls pretend to be nonchalant in the top picture, but they were actually enthralled by both visits :)

All the meals we had in New York were absolutely delicious, and fairly affordable.  Breakfast at Ceci-Cela Croissanterie, Russ & Daughters, Baz Bagel; lunch at Jack's wife Freda and Le Pain Quotidien; and especially our memorable suppers at Ben's Pizza, Panna II Garden and Raku.

Panna II Garden, in particular, was pretty outlandish.  Firstly, Flor forgot to warn us that this famous tiny Indian restaurant is flanked by two larger but otherwise identical Indian restaurants competing for its clientele while sharing the same front stairs !  So sure enough we walked headlong into the wrong one, completely empty, where we eventually realized that the name on the menu wasn't "Panna II Garden" but "Royal Bengladesh" and had to excuse ourselves, pay for our two mango lassis, and climb upstairs to a soon-to-be very crowded Panna II Garden.  This restaurant is smaller than most cafés I've ever seen; it's about the size of a subway wagon, with a kitchen hidden somewhere in the back, tables lined on both sides and a central aisle that can't have measured more that two feet wide between them.  Lily and Alice sat along the mirrored wall (see picture) and Rachel and I sat in the aisle where we had to squeeze our chairs and bellies in order to allow waiters to march up and down the aisle behind us.  With three million chilli-shaped lights dangling from the ceiling at about five feet above the ground, it was a challenge just to stand straight enough to remove our winter coats and hats, let alone move aside when another group of customers wanted to pass by or a waiter came by loaded with hot plates and full glasses.  Great fun, though, once you're finally settled in -- and gorgeous food, by Krishna !  Thank you, Flor ;)




It's hard to imagine visiting the fashion capital of America with three gals without entering at least one fancy shop of some sort.  Here I'm sitting on a long and comfortable sofa while Alice and Lily (and Rachel, off picture) sample the various creams and make-up cosmetics on elegant display at Glossier.

Compétition de patinage d'Alice

Voici la 1ère compétition d'Alice en catégorie Star 5, où chaque participante doit présenter au moins 1 saut double (ex: double Salchow dans son cas). Elle a terminé 6e sur 11 dans son groupe 13 ans et plus.

LILY AND ALICE'S ACTIVITIES

Amongst all of Lily and Alice's activities, the single one that involves the most time and energy and resources (financial and otherwise), is of course SCHOOL.  And Rachel and I are very happy to report that this central endeavour is going very well, with both our daughters averaging above 90% in their results.  They never miss a day of school or a class and they do their homework diligently on their own, without much parental supervision at all !  (yeah)

They were both nominated for best achievements in various categories at the Collège Mont-St-Louis' annual "Gala Nelligan" -- Alice for volleyball and Lily for school results and for theatre -- with Lily winning the trophy in the Theatre (RNTP) category.

Lily's favourite extra-curricular activity continues to be ballet.  Here are the official pictures of the two pieces she danced in at the year-end show of the Outremont Dance Academy:

Lily also continues to practice her piano on a daily basis.  Here she is at her group's last recital in the chapel of St-Jean-Baptiste church last March:

Yesterday, Rachel and I went running at the MEC event in Ste-Adèle where Lily's running club were all participating.  Lily ran a mountainous 10K in 1h16 and Rachel and I ran half of that (5K) in about 36 and 35 minutes.  The morning was just beautiful !

Alice's passion is skating, which she practices 2-3 times a week, depending on the season.  Here we see her on her last podium and goofing around before her last show with her best skating buddies, Paloma, Diana and Andrea:

Alice has rekindled her interest in soccer after recently viewing two soccer-related movies -- Pelé and She's the Man -- so her dad waisted no time and registered her in the U13F-AA team of the Rosemont Soccer Association, who very conveniently hold all their practices and half of their matches at the nearby Marquette pitch, a mere 5 minutes away from home on a bicycle !  (yeah)

She also had a lot of fun with her school's volleyball team last fall and winter... so next year we'll have to see if we can fit indoor soccer in addition to volleyball AND skating... hum, that might be a little too much if we want to keep homework and study a priority ;)

​The captain on her bum during the warm-up period before a volleyball game at Mont-St-Louis's brand new sports facility.

Lastly, let's not forget the lovely guitar classes led by Maxime every other weekend, for the delight and elevation of both Alice's and her mom's musical inclinations:

​

Such are the inspiring endeavours that become possible when children's talents are combined with the generosity of grandparents... and a modicum of parental organization 

The end of the tour

During the end of the tour I had a series of cell phone and connection problems that prevented me from posting on the blog. Now home and with a computer at my disposal I am posting now, all at once a smattering of pictures from my last week in the UK.

Cardiff Cathedral

The very Victorian interior

The Nordic Cash in the heart of Cardiff cathedral

 Bute park. The park was designed by Capability Brown. Were these trees planted by him too?

"Home" in Cardiff

 

Wells Cathedral with Walford and Sue Gillison 

The Cheddar gorge with Nicola

Nicola and Angus

Angus and Baritone

Fiona and Mathieu and Nicola's new creation... a chess board and set for the terrace!

Nicola and Toni's