A Trip to Niagara for my True Love

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She wore a white t-shirt on which the words, “Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” were emblazoned in red letters. The words belong to George Bernard Shaw, but they were brought to life by her, on that white cotton shirt, and she was living them.

Today that girl is a powerful, successful, sophisticated woman. She is entirely the product of her own creation. She is wise beyond her years and it’s hard to surprise her, and even harder to impress her, with anything. As her loving husband its my job to ignite her, delight her, and put her in that magical place where a smile comes more easily than a frown.

A Romantic Vacation

I’ve taken her away to remote tropical resorts in Hawaii and Cuba, and last summer we tried Venice Italy - the farther we go, the worse it becomes! The best trips are those spontaneous adventures shopping in Kensington Market in Toronto, or dining out on the Danforth Ave. But my next assignment was going to be the most difficult of our entire relationship; the second weekend in May is our five year wedding anniversary!

Five years is a long time, and the anniversary is considered a big occasion. I was going to need every romantic tool available to man, including fresh cut flowers, beeswax candles, and two bars of honey chamomile bath soap. Very optimistically, I also included a small vial of massage oil, a silk scarf, and two ostrich feathers… But how would I tickle her brain?

The Lost Sowerby Play at the The Stepmother by Githa Sowerby (1876-1970) is a newly minted classic that doesn’t yet have the patina of widespread critical acclaim. The play was written and performed only once before, in New York City I believe, in the year 1924.

In 2004, the Shaw Festival produced another Sowerby play Rutherford and Son written in 1912. Inspired by that success, Jackie Maxwell herself tracked down this later work from the original publishers in London England where the gem had been molding in desk for almost eighty years. The Stepmother hasn’t been performed live since 1924, and that’s just the type of ‘we’re-making-history-here’ activity my wife enjoys most.

Jackie Maxwell, the creative director of the Shaw Festival, directs The Stepmother, which runs from April 29 to October 4 in the Court House Theatre. In her words ‘Githa Sowerby's The Stepmother turns the popular notion of an evil stepmother on its head as we watch two daughters and their loving stepmother discover the treachery of their father and husband.' At once it came to me, the Shaw Festival doesn’t merely perform the plays of George Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries; the company innovates world class theatre by finding and adding forgotten works to the history of the era. This play is no doubt another important piece in the chronology of the entire woman’s movement, and the rise of the liberal feminism in the 1920’s - oh this would be just perfect for my wife!

Niagara's Bed and Breakfast Options Seem Infinite

Two phone calls later I booked the Periwinkle Room' of the WeatherPine Inn at 493 Regent St, Niagara-on-the-Lake from Doug Johnson who seemed very nice - too nice. I had to give him some idea of what I was planning in the Periwinkle Room.

After all the transactions had been successfully completed, and after Johnson’s charm had peaked, I put in a request for additional candles, and a large bowl of warm chocolate sauce to be delivered at exactly midnight on Sat night.

The perfect romantic vacation will feature two Shaw Festival plays, one round of golf, five hours of antiquing, and a wine tasting in a blue ribbon vineyard. I also hope to get two hikes along the Niagara shoreline - one in the morning and one at night. There would be a total of six meals in the town of Niagara on the Lake, two breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners (breakfasts are included in WeatherPine’s package*). All of these other details can be easily managed using Poynt on Microsoft Windows Live Messenger; a local search centered on the WeatherPine Inn at 493 Regent St. ranks the options according to proximity. My wife will insist on having some input, and so I thought it best to catalog the variables, but leave the specifics open for selection on the day.

My Perfect Romantic Weekend in Niagara is designed to accommodate the most important person in my life. Everything considered, this trip will probably cost me about twelve hundred dollars, and that’s not including the antiques she’s going to buy. But if I catch a glimpse of that free spirited teenager that created her life with me five years ago, I will feel totally rewarded - paid in full.

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