Burlington Ontario, May 2025

A week or so after getting back from the Holland, SE Asia & England trip, I flew up to Toronto and drove out to Burlington Ontario to spend some time visiting my Auntie Ann in hospital. Ann is the matriarch of my side of the family - 90 years old, with a wit she could cut herself on, and until recently still living independently. Ann had a fall back in March and broke her upper right arm and has been in hospital since - first to heal and then to do physical therapy to recover her strength after being immobile for so long.

I love my Auntie Ann and thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to spend some extended time with her. Also it gave a bit of a break to my cousins, Julie, Susan and David, who have made sure between them that Ann has had at least one visitor for several hours every day. Ann and I had a great time talking, going for walks around the hospital (me pushing the wheelchair) and playing Quiddler. This was precious time indeed.

Burlington is a beautiful city on the shore of Lake Ontario about an hour's drive from Toronto, so when I wasn't at the hospital I could enjoy long walks along the shoreline and sampling the city's many good restaurants. Towards the end of the trip I got to visit Julie and her husband Randy, and then the day before I flew home I had dinner at Susan's. David was out of town, but we made up for that with video calls.

And did I mention that the food was good?!