Our plan....God's plan!

UPDATE:Hemlock Report 

Well….I’m back.   The little French Canadian Lady (formerly known as “the little spanish Lady’ and  “the little French  Lady”) is back too.

THE PLAN:

We had a wonderful idea for my wife’s retirement.  

We planned on moving to Ecuador in September 2013. We ordered books on Spanish culture, Spanish maps, custom and laws of Ecuador. We bought, and started to learn Spanish, using Pimsleur lessons.

We contacted several real estate agents.  We found some lovely places in Salinas, Ecuador, which is a seaside city, where many American Expats live.

Perfect…….We are going to Ecuador. It has sunny beaches,  Spanish senoritas,  Pina Coladas,  inexpensive food and rent.  Where do I sign up for this?

Yup……So on May 4th 2012  the plane took off from Myrtle Beach.  I looked back with moist eyes and said fondly to the beach, “Adios, Amigo”  

The little Spanish lady turned to me and said, “Adios, Amigo?”  Were going to Montreal, Bucko. We are going to be snow birds!”

Gosh, I must have missed that meeting. “Snow birds??? what do you mean”, and she says “Yeah! Snow birds! You know those? They spend summer in Montreal, then avoid winter by moving back to Myrtle Beach”

The overcrowded beaches of Salinas Ecuador in April.

but it was worth it!!!

Montreal traffic problems on the way to the beach in April.

What happened to THE PLAN??? I must have been eating something crunchy while she was informing me of the new plan. ^&%^$

GOD’S OTHER PLAN:

“Oh!!….Ummm…..Bonjour La plage, mon ami.”

I wondered if anyone will want to buy some Spanish language CD’s in Montreal?

Soooooo……Montreal is nice, but my Spanish isn’t helping me much and those French people have a different French word for everything.

After living in Montreal for awhile, we decided to build a preference spreadsheet.

Here we go….

The good news about Montreal:  the beaches are not that crowded in January. (if you can find one.) It is  a no brainer. 

Would you prefer the crowded beaches of Salinas, Ecuador or the not so crowded beaches of Montreal? Shall we put this in to the win column for Montreal? 

Cheese Whiz tastes better in Montreal.  Another win for Quebec.

Montreal beggars are bilingual.  Another plus for Montreal. (yeah, but we san no beggars in Myrtle Beach!)

If you are a pot head, Montreal is your paradise.  You don’t even have to buy the stuff.  Just take a deep breath. People seem to smoke it openly.

These are some of the benefits of living in Montreal.  

Having said that, I still love the place.  Our time there was not wasted.  We did many fun things. (watch your step….almost no one cleans up after their dog….Ummm….I am assuming that stuff was dog poop.)

After a long winter we decided to return to Myrtle Beach.

THE PLAN:

Since we will be needing a car in MB, we called a dealer and ordered a pink 2013 Chevy Spark.   We wanted a small car.  We don’t drive much but a car is necessary; check that off our to-do list.

we ordered this car.

This is the car we ended up getting.

Wilson, our beloved companion of sixteen years passed away while we were in Montreal.  We missed him very much.  We decided that we would get a kitten from the animal shelter when we returned to Myrtle Beach. The Little French Lady wanted a cute little orange tabby kitten …
Ummm...What happened there?

Wilson (Oct 1996-Oct. 9, 2012) Gone but not forgotten.

Madison (born when?) looks like Wilson, eh?

GOD’S OTHER PLAN:

We got a tiny 4 year old girl, who looks eerily like Wilson and does not have an off button. She may look like him, but is indeed very different.  She is very vocal.  She has chatted more in 2 weeks than Wilson did in 16 years.  She joyfully runs around the house, amazing us with her energy.
We were not looking for a cat that looks like Wilson.  It just worked out that way.
That is another story.
You don't always get what you want.  Sometimes you get what you need.

LIFE IS GOOD!!!!