When our previous CNS midsummer party hosts in Cantley moved out of the area, we thought it was very unlikely we would be able to find such a perfect spot to celebrate. We couldn’t have been more wrong! Just across the Gatineau River in Chelsea live D’Arcy and Nancy Thorpe. While chatting with Nancy at one of our lunches, I mentioned that we had lost our midsummer party spot and she immediately offered to host it at their place.
Costa Kapsalis and Tim Mark volunteered to organize the event and the Canadian Friends of Finland were invited to join us. By the time June 24 rolled around, everything was in place for a wonderful evening.
Everyone brought food, including a variety of Nordic delicacies. The Finnish singers, accompanied by the accomplished Anna Dalvi on accordion (see photo above), performed some lovely traditional pieces in Finnish and Swedish. Then the inimitable Trygve Ringereide led our sing-a-long in Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Finnish and, of course, English and French!
Our sing-a-long in all five of the Nordic languages, plus French and English, inspired some lively dancing by Nancy Thorpe and Costa Kapsalis
A wonderful time really was had by all and I received several appreciative emails that mentioned the warm and friendly atmosphere provided by our hosts, Nancy and D’Arcy Thorpe. Nancy and D’Arcy were presented with a gift certificate to their favourite place for smoked fish and seafood, the Chelsea Smokehouse, which is just down the road from their cottage.
Here is what D’Arcy had to say in reply to me:
The CNS certainly knows how to throw a picnic. It was so much fun. Mother Nature watched over us with only a few showers. The food and music were great, the tent worked, the Gatineau River and sauna were enjoyed, and neighbours joined in. And the place was clean as a whistle before the new moon peaked in. But most of all it was a lot of fun!!!
Many thanks to you, Costa, Tim, Trygve, the Ottawa singers and others who led the way. Also thanks for contributing to our efforts to keep the Chelsea smokehouse thriving. We’ll be making use of our gift certificate from there today.
Thank you to Marian McLennan for taking the wonderful photos above. The photo below was taken by D’Arcy Thorpe. Just to the right in the foreground, but outside of the photo, there was a large pile of kindling and firewood, all ready for our midsummer bonfire. Alas that was not to be this year… maybe next year!
