From a Memorable Weekend

Rainbow banners in a cathedral. As Pride Week begins in Montreal, this is the scene in our cathedral. Once upon a time, rainbow banners and an open, inclusive LGBTQ+ community would have been unthinkable in most churches. I’m so proud of ours, and was proud to attend yesterday’s annual pride service, presided over by our bishop, where moving and beautiful music was provided by my friends, Mouse and Lukas, who I worked with on the recent Taizé service, our assistant organist Collin, and by two Montreal gay men’s choirs. My friend Vivian made the banners quite a long time ago. Our first pride service happened nearly 20 years ago, and it took many years before our rainbow flag, at the back, stayed up, intact, but now it is a fixture, proclaiming our values to everyone who enters.

Ripening tomatoes from the rooting top of my tomato plant that snapped in two on the balcony during a high wind. I guess we’ll be eating them this week, while other bunches ripen on the thriving remains of the original plant. Nature is more resiliant sometimes than we expect.

A day with dear friends at the cottage they’re renting in the Laurentians. It included a long walk in the forest (complete with mosquito nets for our heads), this lovely garden, a lunch of delicious homemade stuffed peppers while we watched hummingbirds and songbirds at the feeders, and not one but two swims in the pristine lake you can see at the end of the path, followed by coffee and blueberry lemon cake. Pretty much a perfect summer day in an area that’s dear to the Québécois, but not all that familiar to those who don’t grow up here. I’m grateful to these and other friends who’ve invited us over the years into their out-of-city worlds.

Iga Świątek’s serve. We were given tickets to two quarterfinal matches last night at the Canadian Open tennis tournament. Each year the women’s and men’s matches alternate between Montreal and Toronto venues, so this year the women were in our city. These were great seats, near the service line at center court, so we could both see and hear the players and really have a sense of just how physical their effort is, and how strong they are. Swiatek, ranked 3rd in the world, is the 2025 Wimbledon champion, but she lost in an upset to Clara Tauson, who played incredibly well.

It was hazy even on the court — our air quality, from the prairie wildfires, has been abysmal this weekend and we probably shouldn’t have spent as much time outside as we did. I wonder if it was particularly hard on the players.

Elina Svitolina, from Ukraine (above) defeated America’s Amanda Anisimova in another upset. Anisimova, who came second to Świątek at Wimbledon, is another extremely powerful player who was expected to win, but couldn’t prevail last night against Svitolina’s mental determination and attacks. I’ve always liked tennis but can’t claim to follow it closely anymore; it was a privilege to see all of these young women play.

Manon at 18. Who would have thought that we’d still have this dear companion with us at such an advanced age? And yet, here she is, still pretty energetic and even more affectionate than ever, gracing each day with her presence and giving us a special being in our lives to love.

And, last Friday, August 1, celebrating 44 years of marriage to the most wonderful man in the world.
In spite of all that’s distressing and wrong these days, there’s still a great deal to be grateful for, so let’s never forget to find those things, name them, and cherish them.