Oh how I love surprises!!!! Imagine the thrill this morning when I went to the mailbox and discovered this lovely box addressed to me. When Ann Douglas finished her latest book, she put out a call to the first five people to name her lastest creation. Those five people would get a prize. Having been a previous recipiant of a prize (Hotel Horror Stories) I know that Ann puts a lot of thought and care into these care packages. And I was thrilled to be a winner again!

Before I even had the box fully open I was making plans for the use of this gorgeous pink bag! I love handbags, and do not have a pink one to match my pink coat or pink poncho. I love it!!!!

Thinking the pink bag was more than enough for naming on of Ann’s fabulous books, I took it out of the box and found more fun and funky things.

The bag, a pink notebook, a tangerine candle and a few books. First, “The Best American Short Stories” by Sue Miller (books on tape, how divine for the bath). Then “The Hypochondriac’s Handbook” by Wendy Marston and “Normal is just a Setting on the Dryer” by Adair Lara . And a “Grinch” notecard. Then….at the very bottom of the box… La piece de resistance….

“The New Complete Coffee Book” a gourmet guide to buying, brewing, and cooking. By Sara Perry. Oh my goodness!! The recipes and my love of coffee alone are yelling at me to bake, bake, bake! I will wait, I want to enjoy the first creation that comes from this book. In the meantime I will read up on my bean purchases and try an new coffee called “thai kah-fe” sounds scrumptiously delicious.

A big Thank You to Ann for such a treat. My day was made so bright by the simple trip to the mailbox. It was a trip worth making. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!

Today “A” will come and join us for some March Break fun. He called on Monday, bored on his first day of Spring Break, and asked if he could come over for a couple of days. “Of course, anytime!”, was my reply.

When I look back to March Break when I was a little girl, I remember fondly almost all of them. In the early years, my Mom would take us to Grandma’s in Montréal. We would hang out with Grandma, feed the birds off her balcony, take trips on the Metro uptown for lunch at 7th floor Eaton’s. And always, always we would get our spring wardrobe.

As my sister and I got older we started to take the Voyageur bus all by ourselves. We would have a packed lunch and sit in the front seat. We would get off the bus downtown at “Guy and Dorchester”, which is now “Guy and René Levesque”, where our Grandparents would meet us and we would head straight for the shops. We did other fun things, like watch the St.Patty’s day Parade, go swimming at the Olympic pool, visit relatives that weren’t really relatives (we didn’t find out until many years later that they weren’t really relatives) and to the occaisional musical or play. It was great. We looked forward to our trips to Montréal each and every year.

Then, we got older. It was no longer cool to go for the whole week, but we would get in our car and go for a weekend, sometimes bringing a girlfriend along, sneak into bars, shop for the cool, trendy clothes. Those are days I will never forget.

My Grandparents are gone now (my Step-Grandfather passed quite a few years before my Grandma), and had not lived in Montréal for quite a few years before that. I miss my excuses to get in the car and visit Grandma. I miss having a place to stay that was close to downtown, but filled with all things Grandma. I miss taking her out in the car and going to fun cafés for lunch, or a drive along the river. Those March Breaks were great, today I am missing March Break but, most of all I am missing Grandma.