Kome-Pond 2018 Family Newsletter

2018 Compound family Greetings!

The Kome-Pond family has big news this year! Our younger son, Graham, married lovely Megan O’Connor on June 12,. The couple met in London, UK, more than four years ago, when they were both working as chefs for 5 Michelin star restauranteur Gary Rhodes. Now they’re in Ottawa.

Graham is Head Chef for Thyme and Again Catering Company, where Megan’s title is Pastry Chef. Their company handles a lot of corporate and government events.  After one formal dinner they catered, Graham sent a text saying he had just served the Governor General, Julie Payette.

We (Bob and Penney) went to Ottawa in June for their wedding and rented a large Air BnB near their home, big enough for us and our Cape Breton family, Kimmy, Colin, and their daughter Carolyn Mcpherson. Senator Marilou Mcphedran kindly invited Penney and some Ottawa women friends for lunch in the Parliamentary dining room.

 Kimmy continues to work long hours at the Glace Bay Food Bank, especially in the summer. She oversees the community garden, goes out into the community to support school gardens, and brings students to the Food Bank for cooking lessons. She puts up cases and cases of pickles and preserves there. She also continues creating practical and sculptural ceramics for local art shows and sales.

Colin has won a coveted job with the city of Glace Bay, with job security, benefits, and opportunities for advancement.

Our granddaughter Carolyn just turned 13. She’s artistic and creative, like her mother. After the wedding, Colin had to go home but Kimmy and Carolyn came on to Calgary with us. They stayed another two weeks. Kimmy’s friend Sandy arrived at the same time and stayed with us too.

We’re relieved that Kimmy and Carolyn came through a car crash in mid-December with only scrapes and bruises and apparently no serious injuries. The car's air bags deployed, and it "looked like an accordian" Kim said, so they have to replace it.  

Although they weren’t able to attend Graham and Megan’s wedding,  Sanford and Alex met us for coffee in Edmonton recently. They both look well. Sanford looks healthy and apparently he’s doing well in his new job for the federal government. Alex kindly came along as driver and concerned  partner. We think of him as a son-in-law. In this 2014 photo, they were helping Carolyn with a school project that tested how far "Flat Carolyn" could go.

San Miguel de Allende

In the fall, Bob and I (Penney) celebrated our 70th birthdays by going to San Miguel de Allende (SMA), a “magical” cultural centre in the mountains two hours north of Mexico City, to celebrate Dia des Muertes, Day of the Dead.  Ever since I learned that my birthday is a national holiday in Mexico, I have wanted to be there for November 2. Although Bob’s 70th birthday was actually September 16, he decided the trip was his birthday present too.

Artists, musicians, and many Canadian writers flock to San Miguel to pursue their work and to discuss it with one another, among its pink granite 16th century cobblestone streets and narrow flagstone sidewalks. Toller Cranston lived and painted there for years after he retired from figure skating.

Each block has one long adobe wall, Moorish style, dotted with narrow doors that could open into shops or Mexican fast food or homes.  Leading up to Dia des Muertes, giant puppets appear on the street, to thrill tourists by pretending to topple over on them.

Our BnB’s tiny arched door, with a small oval ceramic tile that says, “Casa de Suenos,”  led to a short hallway and then opened up into a courtyard with flowers and hummingbirds. We liked the spacious and well equipped rooms and all-tile bathrooms. Each room had its own outdoor patio and since we were the only guests  for a while, we used all three of them. We also had the run of downstairs, with a huge kitchen and sheltered outdoor sitting room in the courtyard.

Our host Chipper Roth arranged our face painter for Day of the Dead – science fiction writer Elizabeth Eve King.  The streets, windows, porches, and stores of SMA are full of big tall French marigolds during the last week in October. So are the altars in homes, shops, galleries, and graveyards. Each altar holds photos of all the multigenerational family’s departed, along with symbols of their favorite nourishment and pastimes, usually candy sheep, chickens, llamas, and pigs as well as painted sugar skulls, all churned out by home industries.  Children make sugar skulls as school crafts. 

Marigold petals are the paving stones in the path between this world and the afterlife. The whole city of 130,000 celebrates this pre-Columbian ritual. Skulls and skeletons are everywhere, on walls, on

teeshirts, on banners and especially on people’s clothes. Women wear garlands, either flower circlets or headbands with tall rainbow loops of ribbon.                          


Since we were painted, and in costume, we joined the street parade up Ancha San Antonio to the 16th century Parroquia beside Benito Juarez Square, where people milled around to mariachi music, admiring and photographing the best costumes. A woman dressed as a bride grabbed Bob in his tux-like black suit and posed beside him, saying, "Take our picture!"  The crowd headed out early though, to light 12-hour candles on their graveyard altars, to guide their loved ones home.

At home in Calgary, we're slowly downsizing our big house in University Heights, between Foothills Hospital and the University of Calgary, and now surrounded by construction. Our usual days at home are filled with bridge and darts, and volunteer work for Bob.  Penney has professional work as well  -- an almost weekly blog in rabble.ca -- and three exercise classes a week.

Our darling doxie, Nibs, is going on 10, with help from our wonderful chiropractor. Nibs is very smart for a small dog, and has a huge vocabulary. I said, "I heard a noise in the garage," when we were outside, and he went over and looked in the garage. He loves food, cuddling, travel, stuffies, puzzle toys, and treats. Oh, and dressing up.

We wish you a wonderful 2019! We'd love to hear your news! Happy New Year!