My kids are finally of the age where they don’t have to be in bed at a certain hour or else it’s just a huge meltdown, and I’ve been taking advantage of both this newfound flexibility, the nicer weather and the light (LIGHT!) in the evening to get out of the house after dinner.
Readers will know that I don’t believe you have to go far to find adventure. You can look around your own backyard. On this evening I just had to get out of the house and I said to my husband ‘just drive’. We ended up at the top of Westmount and found ourselves behind St. Joseph’s Oratory. It’s kind of amazing. 
I’m so used to driving past it, at a distance, on Queen Mary that the sheer size of the oratory close up is a bit of a shock. Plus just stumbling upon it on an empty quiet street is just a little bit thrilling.
We just simply parked the car and walked on a path (under construction which may or may not have been open to the public) in the direction of the oratory.
The whole thing fascinated me, even though we didn’t even go inside.
OK, so my one son was really into his shadow (which is pretty cool granted) and the other one was into the rocks on the path but we still got outside and explored something new that was literally on our doorstep.
I still need to actually go in the oratory, but I’ll save that for another day.
If you are wondering, the street is Surrey Gardens (how British sounding is that!?)
Michelle Little
Writer & Photographer
