unexpected canada

A Bad Catholic’s Silent Retreat

When I joined three Augustinian sisters for mass last November, I did not take communion because I am no longer Catholic. Not anymore. But this mass wasn’t really about my own complicated feelings about religion. I had come here to learn something from these sisters – something I would have to learn from their silence. […]

Unexpected Canada

Tiny Cabins, Big Dreams

You can now immerse yourself in Ontario’s wilderness without having to pack in a tent, or rent an overpriced cottage, thanks to Cabinscape’s off-grid retreats. The Canadian-owned company has over thirty micro-cabins that overlook lakes and rivers or are nestled deep in the woods in locations across the province. Despite their remote, far-away-from-it all feel, […]

Canada

On the Right Track: A Train Journey for the Ages

Milestone birthdays deserve a matchless experience. This is a personal tenet I take pretty seriously, especially when the recipient is someone I speak to at least a half-dozen times a day and devotes her all to her family. So, when I was offered the opportunity to take my mother, turning 70, on a voyage that […]

Canada

Hidden Quebec: A Seemingly Genteel English Library Holds Dark Secrets From Canada’s Past

You know you’ve made it when Louise Penny buries a body in your basement. The author of the Inspector Gamache mysteries chose her would-be boneyard well. A slate-gray, four-storey neoclassical edifice hidden in the heart of Quebec’s Old City, the Morrin Centre is the perfect place to stash a corpse. It may be home to […]