Silence!

Well, not before the noise levels had happily increased with the arrival from Vermont of Jeremy, Rachael, Becky and Lucas on Sunday late breakfast.  They had left home at 6.00 and made very good time, bringing huge amounts of croissant and pain chocolat from the village where - amazingly - the boulangerie had baked supplies!

  Chat, then bread and spreads lunch followed and then, fortified by such munificence, we set off on a walk....  But only after a bit of mountaineering!





Some of us made it to one lap of the "Back trail / lac des Mauves / 107" circuit, others made two, still others made it to the end of the road at ch. lac a la Truite, getting back just as darkness fell.

We ate a HUGE amount of veg casserole and completely demolished a black forest gateau buche noel!

I (Peter) was pretty weary and somewhat "right" (It's not that I'm old, its that I'm right, OK?) and went to lie down for an hour or so with the iPlayer and Desert Island Discs.  By the time I came back down, Ali and others had cleared the kitchen and were settling down for the night!

But it had been a lovely afternoon; Lila just took it all in her stride - brilliant.

All too soon it was Monday morning and time for Guy, Julie and Lila to head off for Toronto.  We have had a GREAT Christmas; thank you so much for coming up.  Lila has been delightful; we're only sorry you haven't been rewarded with quiet nights throughout.








She can be totally absorbed by things - here she is on Monday morning,playing a gentle game of "picking the grapes off the bunch and putting them in the bowl", and proudly showing us her own, Lila-hand made snake!

So - last photo, last walk for the Vermontians and Ali; a super Skype chat with my folks, facilitated by Pippa; the walkers return, we eat up the soup, and they leave.

The house falls silent, or should I say speechless?  Soon I headed down to the basement to strip more glass fibre off the canoe; Ali slipped into her book.  Night fell; we have the fire sorted - it needs a crack of window open, the house is so well sealed - so it clicks away brightly.



Messages of safe arrival come in from Burlington and Toronto.  What a wonderful Christmas this has been.  Thanks folks.

So fun!

Sorry - couldn't resist that!

26th - Boxing Day - Bubble and Squeak for breakfast.  Cold Ham and Turkey and Pork pie for lunch.  Some fetching of hay down from the Hay-loft for the deer; and then an easy, lazy evening with Peter falling asleep in a chair (again!).

27th - Saturday - A trip to Labelle to see the deer feeding at the Gare.  They weren't, mostly because the feeding station has been taken over by the quad bikes (there is no snow, so no snow-mobiles!). 

So we had lunch at the Restaurant there; Lila ate copious amounts of "Chicken" a.k.a. duck confit!  Then Lila and Guy got into a snow-ball fight :-)







Off to Riviere Rouge to IGA where Lila joined the "junior shopper in training" programme.

We stopped to see the horses at Sylvain's, then home to light the fire, settle a bill (we've finally picked up the post), make a pie or two and demolish the last of the brandy ice-cream...

27th - Sunday - And this morning, awakened by a truncated Skype from the parents - missed it and no reply when I returned the call.  But they're well my spies tell me!

Phew!

What a fabulous day!  But it so nearly wasn't....

We woke in the dark - we're still not really time acclimatised - to a house full of noises.  The wind roared outside in great gusts which you could hear coming all the way from the lower lake; the roof creaked with each onslaught; the fridge hummed..... 

Hang on, just a minute, the fridge didn't hum.  In fact, the fridge was suspiciously silent; the baseboard heaters had lost their occasional click as they switch in and out.   The house was super dark; the downstairs light was off.  We had a power-cut - what's known here as an "outage".  I crept downstairs, my way illuminated by the torch app on my Kindle (!) to collect - a candle lantern!  When it comes down to it, the old technologies are the best!  In case they needed it I left the lit lantern on the landing desk for the children, and tucked back in to bed to plan the day.


Well, fortunately, I'd cooked the ham yesterday:

and I knew where the camping stove would be;

and I could get the fire lit (the chimney has stopped smoking inside the house) so we would be warm;

and we had lots of bread;

and I had stocked up on water and candles;

But it would be the loos that would be an issue.....  No power, no water!

Hmmmm

So, we came downstairs at last, began to get the fire going; chatted over loo rules - too late, they'd both been flushed; faffed a bit generally - and then the microwave pinged, demanding the time to be re-set!  We had power!

More later - brunch now!

We had a leisurely session of present opening, then breakfast - or was it the other way 'round?  At any rate, by lunch-time, the drizzle - light at worst - and the raised temperature had seen off most of the snow!

It seems paradoxical, to come to Canada for a brown Christmas!







A really leisurely progress to Christmas lunch, which turned out all right. :-)








At some point we decided that the "youngsters" would benefit from a walk.  They didn't get very far!

And of course we had visitors for lunch :-)

By mid-evening, almost everybody felt a bit like this - apart from Ali who left us with a clean kitchen for the morning.

Thank you all, it has been a lovely day.  And perhaps the  spirit of the day, gentle, generous, happy and reconciled - if any was necessary - in some way makes up for the lack of formalised worship.

We are so blessed.

'Twas the night before Christmas...

and all through the house, not a creature was stirring....

But we seem to have spent much of the last two days clearing up the damage to food storage containers that the mice have caused over the autumn!

Huh!

Anyway; the car started - after Claude came to tighten the battery contacts - we did an enormous shop, and the house is warm although the fire is not really blazing, despite our chimney-cleaning activities in the summer.  Still, it doesn't go out and it gets through logs, so that's something.

We're heading for a brown Christmas I'm afraid!  Guy, Julie and Lila came up today from Toronto, despite a trip through the National Park (Google maps does that to you!) . 


We had pea and ham soup for lunch, (and tourtiere with feves au lard and the ubiquitous coleslaw for supper as a sort-of nod to Reveillon, the French / Canadian New Year's Eve celebration.  Followed by a buche noel - a Christmas log - from the Patiserie). 








In the light drizzle and warm temperatures we went to cut the Christmas tree






and Julie has now decorated it in a very restrained North American style.

And now we're cutting out nativity figures for the story-telling tomorrow.

Happy Christmas to all; may Jesus' coming this year change things in your life, too

All change!

A day of delays sees us home in 107.

The taxi was booked for 08.50; it is always prompt and usually early.  So, by 08.55 we decided to ring.  I had originally booked by email, giving both pick up and flight departure times.  They had my booking down for departure time!

Sill, we left at 8.20, made it through security and duty free, took our seats - and listened to the announcement that told us that high winds had caused Schipol to reduce its landing runway to just one and stack up flights in-coming from all over Europe

So we waited.  And we waited on the plane in Schipol to pick up stragglers and the flight time was extended anyway (we took a really southerly route) which made us only an hour late in Montreal.  The arrivals hall was really sparsely filled, our luggage was amongst the first to come through, customs waved us past without demur! And the smiling faces of Claude and Claire were there to greet us at the gate.

So, the battery for the car is on charge, the house is warm, bed time (at 02.00 UK time!).

All over bar the shouting!

I suppose I should be grateful to Google for such tight security.  It's not that we didn't love you, it's that Google felt that, having last posted from an air-port, a new post from British Columbia was probably not me.  And that it should contact my UK mobile phone for which I did not have a charger....

So there's been a big hiatus, with much of interest ( at least to us!) to report.  So I'll do that over the next few days but, for now, we're safely back in the UK and rapidly returning to our previous / other lives.

Ahhhhh.

So, gradually updating and minus the photos to begin with....

Thursday, 11^th September – What HAVE we done?

We’d heard there had been snow in Calgary, and we had a bit of a lumpy flight over – all 4 hours of it.  Canada is truly a BIG country.  But the snow was still lying as we arrived at the airport,   and it was still lying the following morning; lots of it!

The Westin in Calgary was OK; modern, posh, impersonal; but the bar-man for supper was a delight. 

Martin had sensibly upgraded the car for the trip – we had been offered a saloon – they hadn’t seen our luggage!

Anyway – off to the frozen North (It’ll be warmer in a day….)

We left Calgary and headed West.  After perhaps half an hour of fairly featureless, rolling countryside, with numerous trees ravaged by the heavy snow-fall, this appeared on the horizon…..

And they just kept growing!  Everyone says that the Rockies take a long time to reach – that’s because you can see them from a long way away; they’re BIG.

An hour in, we came to Canmore; once a coal mining town, now a very smart tourist town, sparkling in the sun.

Pottering around, we came upon an open-air market – Ali bought a dress watch!

This really was an extraordinary day.  Twelve hours earlier we had left sunshine and a soft, late summer with shorts and tee shirts.  Now we were in ski jackets – crazy.

Onward to Banff – to the extraordinary Banff Springs Hotel – an thriving remnant of Canadian Pacific’s efforts to make money out of their phenomenal railway by “selling” the Rockies as a holiday destination.  We were guided around by a gentleman in a kilt.  The whole place is Scottish Baronial in style – oppressive and dark really.

Then I decided that we should really take the Gondola up to the over-shadowing peak.  I know, I don’t know what got into me!  It was beautiful – SUCH a day to see the hills.

12^th September.  A separated day; 

Ann and Martin wanted to walk the long trail up the lake to the foot of the glacier; Ali and I wanted to drive to some of the local attractions

So we took the car and headed first to Moraine lake – in the same system as Louise.  It’s very different; secretive, guarded by ten peaks named originally in native language.  Swarms of Asian tourists thronged the edge; I fought for a long time to get this image – but  I think it was worth it……

We walked amongst trees and rocks and babbling hillsides where the water sprang from the ground itself to the wide, rocky stream at the head of the lake. 

It snowed.  It snowed more when we were in the cabin back at the start having a hot cuppa….

It had been a lovely walk; quiet, contemplative, gentle, connected to the place somehow.

We drove on down the hill to the village of Lake Louise where there is a shopping centre owned by the Blackfoot band (tribe).  As well as a Parks Canada information centre, with architecture reminding us of the raven – the trickster, the informer; very apposite! 

I met with a man whose tradition reaches back easily as far as mine, probably a great deal further.  We met in a place where his tradition is only now, after two centuries of oppression by well-meaning people of my tradition, beginning to be acceptable.  We met in a spirit of enquiry on my part and tolerance and gentle explanation on his.  I came away enriched by the meeting.

Adrian is an elder of the Blackfoot Band, what you and I would call a tribe; we met in a gallery of Canadian aboriginal art where he was curator for the day.  I had come, the day before, from an exhibition of similar art, and of much more modern, sometimes bitter pieces.  The history of European impact on the indigenous peoples of Canada is a mixed one, including a sorry episode of residential schools that divorced children from their communities and cultural roots and returned them as young-adult mis-fits, unable to relate to their families and fit only for a shadow life in the cities.

From my halting, hesitant, initial conversation Adrian’s gentle, open responses created at first some sort of meeting ground, an awareness of shared sadness and regret and then smiles and chuckles with a bright determination and fierce hope for a better future of understanding, acceptance and learning for our kids.  It was an honour to meet such a man.

We moved on up the highway 1 to Kicking Horse Pass.  The road surface was being replaced and there were huge traffic delays.  But we arrived at the level of the spiral tunnels, an engineering marvel to decrease the gradient of the railway by building upward sloping tunnels in opposite hillsides.  http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/bc/yoho/natcul/spirale-spiral.aspx

And then we queued for ages again to get to the turning for Yoho (honestly) National Park.

But it was worth it.  A winding, almost lacing road took us to Takakkaw falls.  Its highest point is 384 metres (1,260 ft) from its base, making it the second-highest officially measured waterfall in western Canada after Della Falls on Vancouver Island and third-highest in the entire country.^[1] However its true "free-fall" is only 254 metres (833 ft).
"Takakkaw", loosely translated from Cree, means something like "it is magnificent". The falls are fed by the Daly Glacier, which is part of the Waputik Icefield. The glacier keeps the volume of the falls up during the warm summer months, and they are a tourist attraction, particularly in late spring after the heavy snow melts, when the falls are at peak condition. (Wikipedia).
It was a lovely spot.


I couldn’t resist the “intrepid explorer” bit….

It was a longish drive back to the hotel – for another round of canapés and drinks – all part of the package!

So pampered that we didn’t need supper and went to bed, really pretty tired, quite early!

Saturday, 13^th September

Those lovely Fairmont Gold breakfasts keep you well fed all day!

We decided to travel together today because there are so many lovely places to stop on the road up to Jasper tomorrow that we won’t be able to cover them all. 

So firstly we went up to the Peyto Glacier and wandered a well constructed and well informing trail to the view-point.  As you can tell, the view was majestic and we spent quite a while, in places picking our way over ice on the trail….

Clark’s Nutcrackers ( a bird!) made for a fun car-park.

Then we began to retrace our steps to Lake Louise, stopping at Bow Lake, at the delightfully named Num-ti-Jah (Pine Marten) lodge for soup.

This was another lovely place, the reflections on the water explaining exactly why Tom Thomson painted water as he did!

Back to Lake Louise for a 20 minute rest and then a paddle on this iconic, milky green water.

Yaaaay!

Supper in the lounge – a table for four.  We shall miss this place.

Sunday, 14^th September.  Leaving Lake Loise.

We have been wonderfully looked after here.  In some strange way we have had the best of the best for service, attention and value.  Spoils you for other providers !

09.30 start; off to Jasper via a series of wonderful waterfalls. 

We stopped at the Icefield Parkway with the intention of doing the glacier drive in a very big and powerful ice-bus (the arrow marks the bus!).  But it was too commercialised; and too close to the main road, so we passed on that.  But we did have good bowls of soup (or hot Chocolate!).  A raven came and diverted us – as did a chipmunk-type animal.

Two beautiful waterfalls later we were in Jasper.

The Lodge came as something of a surprise; very reminiscent of a Butlin’s camp with its chalets.  We’ve been a bit spoiled by Lake Louise.  Small room; one very small wardrobe; no water in the room; no ice maker near; most devastatingly – no hot water.  We rang to ask the concierge for help, they offered to send someone but we were changed for bed.

Yes, the lake side site is lovely and there are the usual facilities.  But it’s very different and we reacted badly I’m afraid.  (Three days later, writing this, the water isn’t much better and at 15.25 our room hasn’t been cleaned). 

Drinks outside the restaurant on the terrace – the warmth has returned.  Summer’s back!

 

Saturday 20^th September.  Vancouver – and much more

The days in Jasper, the trip from there to Quesnel and on to Whistler al of them have been wonderful and full of such sights!  But it is amazingly tiring being pampered!

Jasper was fun; this was a micro-brewery we frequented ;-) 

The hotel had the most amazing views but never quite came up to scratch.  Ali and Ann rode a 3 hour trail ride; Martin and I had breakfast in the town.  A nice place with a real sense of identity.

Wednesday morning we were up at 05.00 to have our luggage collected and to catch the coach to the station at 06.10.  The luggage was the last to arrive – late – to the coach.  We were chilling off well by then and very fed up (and caffeine deprived!) and we had to make a real fuss to get it done.  Sorry Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge; nul points!

But the Train, oh the train!  Brilliant!  LOTS more in due course but you can have a look here.

Thursday night in Whistler - the Scottish referendum and a man carving Soapstone.

Now – safe and sound in a remarkable B&B in Vancouver – here are just a few pics to keep you up to date.

Tuesday 23^rd September. Old friends.

Met up with Jacob in Vancouver, Pippa in Nanaimo!  Jacob is a Pastor here and Pippa is an old friend of Ali’s whom she hasn’t seen since school. 

Saturday – round Vancouver; Park, Gas town, Hothouse, out for supper with Jacob.

Locked room.  Ann ill.

Sunday

Peter to church.  All drive to Horseshoe bay; first car not to get on.  Lunch overlooking the bay.  Ferry across.

Arrive apartment.

Monday – Lunch English pub.  Walk on beach. Supper at home.

Tuesday – Goats on roof shopping mall – lunch there.  Cathedral grove; Animal rescue centre.

Trivia quiz at golf course – we won L

 

Thursday 25^th September.

Went to the sea-side…

….not that we aren’t at the sea-side already, but this was the REAL sea-side; the last sea-side before China!  We went to the west coast of the island; a three hour, very winding journey high into the (very heavy) rain-forest.  The rain was heavy, not just the forest!

But the arrival – Oh!  The arrival was so worth it!

The West coast of the island has a long history of “difference”; probably the most noticeable feature remaining is the surfing tradition.  But it’s also smart and filled with good eating places (some of them rather pricey!). 

We have been blessed with the best weather for all sorts of things; it was good to drive across in such torrential rain; and when we arrived, the information centre told us that we had come on a good day because there had been storm, and high tide would be at 13.30.  Look at these!

And then we went on a guided walk with a smiley First Nations leader who told us so much about the interrelationship her people had had in the past with the natural world.  That’s for another day.

But she did begin to explain the significance of a totem pole, a family pole of Bear (embracing Salmon), Orca and Thunderbird. The Salmon – again, much more later – is the source of all health and richness; the bear stands for many, many things but particularly for respect.  Bears in the wild respect each other’s space; a young person growing up in the band (tribe) would be taught that respect for all life.

This is a wild coast where forest comes down to the sea.  This is the Visitor Centre.  These are full-sized tree-trunks. Not odd branches!

We drove on into Tofino for supper at a Bar/Bistro over-looking the inner sound.  Power-boats, obviously filling the role of trucks and taxis, beetled to and fro, breasting the heavy current.  The food was good, the view fascinating.

There were sea-lions in the current, and sea- planes at the jetty – a very different place.

 The long drive home was hard for Martin but we broke the journey in Port Alberni at an improbably Mexican take-away diner where the staff fled the kitchen as they prepared the red-chilli beef for tomorrow. 

I have never previously seen chefs wearing bandanas around their faces to cook!

And we’ve come to the Western end of the Trans-Canadian Highway!

So – all we have to do is get to the Eastern end sometime…….

Saturday, 27^th September.

Lounging about.

Not for the last three days, but now, sitting in the Air Canada lounge in Vancouver airport….

“Hat with passengers”.

 

It’s been a busy few days; yesterday we drove down to Duncan, city of the totem poles, then on to a winery with very stylish wines indeed and an equally pleasant restaurant.

You could eat and drink yourself into serious trouble in Vancouver Island – believe me!

But the best ferry for us this morning was 10.15 from Nanaimo, so we’ve been here a couple of hours, and have a couple more to go before we fly.

This has been a wonderful holiday indeed; a total, delightful contrast to the three trains it took to get to the three days in Norwich of our honeymoon, forty years ago, and every bit as happy.  It would not take much to get me to come back to BC, particularly to the Island.  Who knows – one day perhaps…

We have had great travelling companions in Martin and Ann, seen wonderful things, met fascinating people, missed the kids, caught our breath at the beauty of the created world and been introduced to a new / old way of  viewing it, kissed like newly-weds at airport check-in.

And, throughout, we have felt the gentle, family presence of God, Father Son and Spirit.

In all these things, we are deeply grateful.

 

Moving on....

Sitting in Montreal airport - full of Moe's finest smoke meat!

A busy two days with sun-bathing and swimming and kayaking for Ann and Alison and Martin - rather more mundane re-enforcing of the Solarium roof and wild-watching for me.

Photos to follow but here we are; off on a new adventure to the West.

See you!

Busy, busy, busy!

It's amazing what you can fit into a day!

Of course, with friends and visitors coming, you want the place to look at its best - so cleaning and tidying on Thursday morning, and then a whizz around stores  in St Jovite before meeting Ann and Martin at the Esso as agreed and lunch in Cage aux Sports with Karen and Denis.

On to the ski  resort, preparing itself for today's Ironman competition; busy with people and lots of Lycra in view.  Hot chocolate in the by-now-usual cafe and Tire sur Neige (Maple taffy on ice to make a lollipop) before a return home to supper in the Screen-room.



Friday and "no prisoners" in the introduction to life at 107.  Early breakfast and then two canoes down to des Mauves for a fairly tough pull against the wind to the first promontory for a pic-nic lunch and a rather zig-zag journey home.


We put the boats back in at Yves and Janine's house and paddled them up to the Dentists'.  Karen materialised - Denis had wanted to come to talk to the workmen underpinning their old houses' foundations (It's a long story) an so she had come for a paddle.  But she was happy to join us for a snack and a drink instead.  When Denis joined us - guessing where she would be -  hey readily accepted an invite to supper!  So, only a partly lazy afternoon; Martin and I went into the village to stock up and we ate a huge, happy meal of ribs, fries, Caesar salad, and a pre-made apple and maple butter pie - with not a lot of apple in evidence.





Saturday and the  pace continues relentlessly - well, not really.  An agreed "see you at 11.30" after breakfast gave me 45 minutes to begin to remove some of the fibre-glass from the cedar-canvas.  It's like a burlesque dance, gradually peeling off these streamers of green to reveal the body beneath.  Perhaps I should call the boat "Burlesque"- a revelation.

By 11.30 we were all ready for an expedition so down to Montebello to Parc Omega - a Canadian Longleat.  We last visited with Bryony and Mark in the week of Guy and Julie's wedding.  That was in snow; this was in beautiful sun.  Of course, the animals were as ready to take carrots as ever but there's something very lovely about that.  LOTS of pictures taken, they needed some editing before I could post them here.

To Chateau Montebello for a drink and nibbles and eventually home by bright moonlight and falling temperatures for soup and bread and a long evening of chat.

It's late (09.15) by our standards; we have all slept long.  Today is planned as a "please yourself" day - but the leaving approaches over the horizon and I must make some lists.....

Watershed....

... in more than one way.

Tomorrow, the third phase of our trip begins.  Martin and Ann will meet us for a week here, and then we shall head off West.  We are really looking forward to joining up with them, but this has been a great time together and so....  So today was a bit special. 

Domestics this morning; trying to get the webcam to work - it did and now it doesn't.  Cutting the lawn - it is a definite improvement cut.  Made a new cover for the downstairs loo cistern - why didn't I do that before?

Quick lunch and then paddling :-)

Earlier in the week we went to survey the stream between Lac des Mauves and Lac a la Truite.  Today we tried to paddle it. A strong breeze out of Baie Gregoire on des Mauves made water conditions a bit lumpy and unpleasant.  Through the cut and then into the eastern arm of des Mauves.  We found the stream OK but it's full of little, sharp-rocked rapids.  We got to the portage but it was long and we didn't fancy the return that way.

But we lined one rapid (sorry - snatched photo; concentrating a bit hard at this point) and ran another and got up enough steam for a dip in a very nice, surprisingly warm pool with cray-fish waving from beneath rocks.....  At least, one of us did!

Back home the way we came to welcome showers and a collapse on a warm deck in the last of the sun.

And then the wildlife put on a bit of a show.  Perhaps the attack on the bird feeder wasn't the deer after all.

It's still blue

P & N came to stay overnight on Sunday - we sat out in the screen-room until very late.  such a lovely evening; thanks for coming.

But their arrival meant that Ali just had to get the Blue Room finished.  Not that it wasn't before, of course; but now it really is.

Ali has done such a good job! 

But otherwise, "the rain it raineth everyday", only with enough breaks to let us get stuff done generally.  We've even swept the basement!

The chipmunks (there are two - we've seen them together) are getting tamer.  They'll come literally around your feet; but they are fairly dull in regard to anticipating food when we're there.  They just chance on it.  Mind you - although the bird-feeder hasn't been spilled again, it has been emptied, and I reckon I know who it is that's responsible ;-)

Deer 3 - 0 Bird feeder

Well, that didn't work!

Despite some spectacular successes - the American Goldfinch for one - all is not well in the match between deer and us!

What with putting up with th chipmunk - that shins up the pole as if it was a divided highway - the Bluejays that just bully everyone else out of the way and the black squirrel (honest) - we are not winning.

In fact, in the running battle between the deer and the bird-feeder, we are losing!

However!  Round four - copper wire!

He, he, he!


We went to a great supper at Marta and Norman's last evening.  Smoke meat - PLEASE can I have the recipe?!


And we have done quite a bit this year - here's the list so far!

No - we haven't even looked at the cabin - that's later this week - and the Barn door needs another coat of paint - that's now :-)  B-B-Q later.  Hooray!

Bits and Bats

No - we haven't seen the bats recently; funny, because there used to be a number around here...

Little stuff really.  We spent two days (dodging rain showers on Thursday, none to speak of yesterday) firstly "Log-washing" the outside of he cottage, and then adding a clear coat top layer.  Easy work really, but one that put us high up on ladders as before.  I seem to be better at ladders than I used to be; Ali is much better at them - better sense of balance and no fear of heights.

I went to M. Sauriol at the cedar deck makers.  I needed some beading to finish off the tunnel wall.  He has some of the most beautiful cedar logs and makes massive (3" thick) tables and benches from them.  He cheerfully cut me the bead to size and so that's one more job to tick off the list.

Supper in the Screen-room is just lovely.  The solar-powered chandelier is a bit dim, but at least you don't fall over by it.

Ali went riding Friday morning and hen stopped off to pay the council taxes. 

We have raised the bird-feeder to a height that should deter the biggest deer - but the chipmunk won't be happy.  (S)he's getting more confident, sitting at our feet on times, chewing peanuts.  (S)he seems to be storing them in the basement tunnel.






I've re-sealed the gap between the cottage outside wall and the basement tunnel roof.  Prior to that we had an inundation when we washed the wall!




Just opened the curtains - I spoke too soon about the bird-feeder!



Two men from Hydro-Quebec (the electricity company) came to test the integrity of our power-pole.  It's position is recorded by GPS and it is measure, tapped (Wheel-tappers and shunters!) to check its solidity before three holes are drilled down into the base and rot-stopper plugs are inserted.  They told me that it adds ten years to the life of the pole.  Elsewhere along the road they have been drastically cutting back trees from around the poles.  The resulting piles of logs are dwindling ;-)

Heard from P & N.  They're going to come up on Sunday for an overnight which should be fun.  Off to Norman and Marta's for Smoke meat supper this evening!

A mixed bag

Sunday - we went to a day at the riding school in Huberdeau.  It was really fun - and extremely hot (hooray, at last!).  People took things to barbecue and there was a huge boiler for sweet-corn.  We took the (soft) drinks.

Mark rode, as did Audrey.

There was a mix of Pony Club games and a cross-country.  Ali wished she could have ridden.










Monday we went to a charity supper for the local Hospital - held at the golf-club in Nominingue.  An almost endless raffle saw us - empty-handed.  Oh well - a good cause.

Here at home, we've been (as) busy (as ever!). 


Blue Room; new, Eastern Cedar tongue-and-groove for the basement tunnel; bolted down the screen-room; the flower-bed outside the down-stairs bathroom....


But sunshine (and showers) for a couple of days now.  Shirt-off weather ;-)

And so it goes!

Thursday, Friday - where did they go?

Oh!

Ali has been really busy continuing to paint the Blue room, the floor, herself.....  She has started a new fashion line in distressed Tee-shirts.  I painted the barn door "Fire red", and I peeled a bit of the fibre-glass off the Winter project canoe; looks as if it's going to be OK to do!

And we cleared and planted a patch with hydrangeas outside the downstairs bathroom window; and we had friends in for supper this evening - solar chandelier and all.


That's right; we saved up all our "spare" time to go to St Jovite yesterday evening; to shop at Rona, Canadian Tire and IGA for food for this evening, and to have  supper at Steak Frites - which we frankly enjoyed.

A busy morning today; to the village for a visit to the Municipal tip - getting rid of Claude's old stocks of paint - and for flowers and garden soil for the planting..

Supper; Lorne and Audrey, Karen ( a Cuenca / USA friend of theirs) Marta and Norman; nibbles, Moules marinieres (the French way!) with baguettes from the bakery; a course of yellow and green beans "du Jardin" with butter and parsely;  Chicken tarragon with a cream sauce, roast new potatoes, Swiss chard; Boodle, Apple crumble; cheeses.

Good chat, good company; what's not to like?

Back to 107

Well,

A lovely drive up from Ann's outside Kingston.  We came along the 401  and then up the 416 to Ottawa - to be lead by a most compliant Sat-Nav (Emily)  to the crossing at Mason.

This really is the most remarkable ferry.  It operates 24 hours a day and I think 365 days a year.  It's run by Traversiers Bourbonnais under the slogan "Five minutes of relaxation - to avoid the stress of the circulation (traffic)".

We were needing some lunch by now and Ali eschewed the offer of Chinese food for a "Casse croute" (literally "break crust").  A really nice but toothless gentleman who told us that he had recently bought the business ( a way-side shack) using a bequest his mother had left him.  He was proud of his own smoked-meat; his own sausages and his little business.  He waited gently whilst we said grace and wished us "God Bless" as we left.  We hope that he does well.  I'm sure that we shall find an opportunity to visit him again.

Home to wash the boat (the Station de lavage (essentially the local garage) declined the opportunity to wash if for us, saying that his jet-wash would undoubtedly blow a hole in the boat!)  But it's serious stuff.  There are zebra mussels and other invasive species in the Rideau - which former eat the beneficial plankton and let the mats of green stuff flourish.  We do not want those here, thank you!

We also cut the lawn - and continued that today.  A long time with our little mower :-(

We remedied the panel mounting on the Screen-room so that the eaves are now tightly protected.  And Ali painted some more of the Blue Room - readying for visitors.

A bit of a fractious day - delayed weariness I suspect........

Kingston to Upper Brewers'

Well - very tired now - 26 k today!




Couldn't have asked for better weather mind.  A light northerly to start with - on the nose - and then calmer and calmer through the day.  Sunshine and mild to warm; lovely countryside and a curry at the end.

More of of all that another time.

Right now - bed calls!

Sunday - yesterday in terms of the chronology of this account - we left Smiths Falls and the motel of Mr Patel and his lovely wife.

Last year  when we stayed there I asked him where I could get a good Indian meal in Smiths Falls - and he offered to dig a butter chicken out of the freezer for us!  I told him that he should start a restaurant instead!

We declined on that occasion but I reminded him of our chat when I rang to make the booking this time.  He said he still hadn't opened a restaurant, but would we like them to cook some Indian food for us when we came?

Well, the embarrassment  is that were out and about for most of the evening - but I asked him to make us a meal for four - to take on to Ann.  And he and his wife did just that! 

we wandered down via lunch at Newboro again and a bit of a trip down memory lane.  But the extraordinary part is that from the roads, you would never suspect the beauty and the scale of the lakes that are hidden "just over there"!

Monday morning early we went with Ann to be put in at Kingston, about 200 yards up from the bascule bridge which really marks the start of the Rideau.

Although we had a bit of a Northerly to start with, once through Kingston Mills locks (we arrived in perfect timing for this flight of three then one), the wind gradually eased and we had perfect paddling all the way up Colonel By lake and into the River Styx (originally Sticks because of all the flooded trees).  A long pull, and a little breather two thirds of the way up before meeting the famed apple trees growing wild beside the river and then Lower Brewers, Upper Brewers and the original put in.

 

Ann met us ten minutes after we arrived - and then home to that curry - with other friends of Ann from the USA and her original Newbury past, Walt and Patti.

 

Yum!

Absolutely shattered, we slept on our mats in the Sun-room (from choice; Ann offered other accommodation!)  We woke just once in the night, to be surrounded by stars shining through the windows.  Wonderful indeed,

This is the end of the Rideau for this year.  It would not have been possible in this way without Ann's help and Stevie's shared welcome.

Thank you both - and Rosie of course!  :-)

NOT what the forecast suggested!

Oh well; you don't want to know about more painting and decorating, do you?

Saturday we returned to Ontario, to Smiths Falls in fact, to watch some of the K2O - Kingston to Ottawa paddle race.

In the rain; torrential rain; and high wind.

Absolutely dreadful conditions for the first day; very strong winds and driving rain. By Narrows lock (4.00 pm from a staggered 06.00 to 10.00 start), about a third of the teams had dropped out - including two Stand-up paddles (think surfboards and long paddles....) (eh!?).

The two older guys at the bottom of the pictures were having a blast!  (And yes, that is an Osprey!)

By nightfall at Poonamalee lock, the lead team (relay) competitor coming off the water said the last lake (Lower Rideau) had been a white-out. There were some concerns about a 74 year old paddler - I spoke to him later, he had been blown off course and had to edge-hug.

Two seemingly very experienced guys in an open - no buoyancy bags, just the canoe - said that they had been surfing 1.5 foot waves (I think they actually said 1.5 metres - surely not?) and had at one point been slammed straight down after taking to the air.



I think that these were probably the open canoe leaders at the end of play.......

 So - the race was pulled at nightfall. Everyone accounted for. Lessons to be learned for sure but such fantastic spirit. All ages, both genders. Brilliant!

Rain, rain......

...go away!  The nursery rhyme says.

We woke in Aylmer on Tuesday - to rain!  And it came all the way here with us, right until the final turn north.  35 km later we arrived - and it caught us up.  Heavy rain.  Rain heavy enough to delay unloading the car until Wednesday, and recurrent enough to keep us inside until the end of today!

But Wednesday I  just had to go into the village for some decorating supplies and met a wonderful wood-worker who cut me timber to profile and length to replace the hinge-overlapping trim around the blue-room window, and promised me Cherry for the guwales on the Langford canoe - as we now believe it to be - in due course.

So now that's done.  And the QM work is done on the trip stores and kit - all stowed ready for Saturday when we intend to charge back to Smiths Falls to see the racers go through Narrows, Poonamalee and Smiths Falls.  After overnighting with Mr Patel again - he offered to make us Indian food when I rang to make the booking and reminded hi of our conversation last year - we shall return to Ann in Inverary to try to do Kingston to Upper Brewers - and there we shall leave it for this year I think.  Too long away from here and with this week's poor weather, no chance to catch up with friends or to do a few essential outside chores.

But it will be there next year!



Meanwhile- the guys are getting on with growing antlers for the rut!  These two were mutually grooming each other's neck and chasing off a third who obviously wanted to join in!

And then - amazement!  We looked up from our painting and window-framing to see this bird on the power line to the house!

One or twice it was "mobbed" by another hawk - I didn't manage to see just what; but definitely a hawk.

The bird stayed, looking at the ground as if searching for prey, for about 10 minutes and then, whilst I was busy setting my camera for repeat shots, it flew off - so I didn't get to see its wing shape or flight pattern.

But we've searched the book and the interweb and we think it's a Grey phase Gyrfalcon

Anyone any better ideas, please let us know.

It was certainly big enough for a Gyr!













We have noticed, since we got back, that there are far more birds of many varieties new to us around the house.  Or perhaps it's just the rain....

Still - ceiling and two walls of the "Bue Room" done today!  Looks nice :-)