L'Arche

I joined several of the Maritime L'Arche Communities yesterday afternoon to have a service of celebration for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The first L'Arche Community, which I encountered was a number of years ago when some folks from the Homefires Home in Wolfville used to come to the Nova Nada Monastery on the monks' open Sunday. But now the monastery has left us, and I have moved on. It was good to join the the L'Arche folks once again, and they were all so appreciative and welcoming.
L'Arche is an international network of group homes founded by Jean Vanier, probably a saint, but still living, so I suppose that is technically impossible as I believe the criteria is to be dead and preform miracles.

Timmy's

On Wednesday evenings the folks gather at the local Tim Horton’s. It is the only coffee shop out here that is open. It is the local meeting place. I think it is really the local living room. I suppose that there is another crowd at the tavern, but it isn’t nearly as popular as “Timmy’s”. There is a new coffee shop downtown that serves the lattes and the cheesecakes. It is very nice and, although it has only been open for a couple of months, it is wildly popular. But out here we have the ubiquitous Timmy’s. There are Tim Horton’s right across the country. People drive across the nation from one to another, using the washrooms and getting a coffee so they will have to use the washrooms at another stop down the road. It guarantees a clean washroom, but as the establishments are all identical. There is never any local colour. There are at least seven Timmy’s in this town. They are very bland but dependable. I have to admit that when I drive to the Maritimes, I do much the same thing. Here as a community place it serves to allow us to tell our stories and hear each other’s griefs. And that is how I spent my evening.