Family Gathering

Before the pandemic, Lee-Anne was doing her rounds, meeting different members of my family. We'd gotten pretty far with it. She'd met my mother, brother, a cousin, and two aunts. Then COVID hit and this project got shut down. Things briefly opened in the summer of 2020 and she got to meet a set of grandparents in Toronto. This past weekend, she finally got to meet my grandparents from Northern Ontario.

The convening point was my mother and brother's place in Guelph. Since one of my aunts would be staying overnight there, me and Lee-Anne rented a hotel room. The place we chose was recommended by my brother, who'd stayed there despite living just up the hill from it (long story). It was a hotel/restaurant, and to get in, you had to ask the bartender for a fob and passcode.

Oddly, the restaurant didn't serve breakfast. You'd think that a restaurant attached to a hotel would serve breakfast food, since that's the meal you're most likely to eat after staying overnight, but it was more of a steak place. It seemed like both places were marketed for completely different purposes, despite being connected.

We were lucky to get the place we did though. We booked our room a week in advance, but my grandparents, who have never had difficulty finding a room in Guelph, found that both their usual spots were fully occupied. They wound up finding a smaller place. Weird they had to do that, though, since I would have assumed that the pandemic had cut down on travel requirements. Plus, why are people crowding a place like Guelph?

Turns out, this past weekend was homecoming for the University of Guelph's team, the Gryphons (yes, they have the same name as me). The University had officially canceled it, but it was still carried on informally. This is why everywhere in Guelph was booked.

Here's a little metal plane I found under the VCR box or whatever it's called nowadays.

It's propeller and wheels moved if you spun them. I wondered if each room had this feature. I wondered if it wasn't on the inventory, if I would be actually charged for damages if it went missing.

This was a painting in the room. I thought it was just an abstract piece at first, but on closer look it's an airplane. So I asked me brother if when he stayed, it was airplane-themed. He said no, and I figured I must be in the airplane room, and I dare not remove a piece of symbolism.

We didn't get a couch, unlike my brother, and we didn't get a phone. Both me and Lee-Anne have cell phones, but I still usually assume that hotel rooms will have landlines. Slightly weird not to have it.

We took advantage of being downtown when we woke up, and we made time to visit the Guelph farmer's market. We got zucchinis, ham, turkey, pears, and sausage rolls.

My grandmother gave me a paint kit that belonged to her grandmother. So my great, great, great grandmother.