Rodents - and other things!

Friday, 28th August.  Cooler, about 14 degrees first thing.  A late breakfast in the closed up screen-room; the small chipmunk was waiting for me as I went out of the kitchen door, seemingly expecting food - which, of course, it got!

Food was followed by bits and bobs, most notably making a "footprint" (groundsheet) for the new tent that Bryony brilliantly brought across with her, getting ourselves organised for the trip next week. 

We Skype'd with Mother and Da which was fun!  They seem in good form.

At lunch time, not one but two Chipmunks appeared.  The French Canadians call them Suisse, after the striped uniforms of the Pope's Swiss guard.

They would appear to be related; one is definitely bigger than the other!












In to the village for various supplies and to the  Post, and then I went to collect the canoe, MarRon, from the water, ready for the trip.




So far, so good, but when I came to check the mattresses which had been stored in the basement, THIS!

 
Some little rodent has chewed into the mattress - that's the down showing - and so far we've been unable to repair it.

Toe-rag!

Saturday, 29th August.  The instructions with the repair kit kindly provided by Exped - the mattress maker - are different from those on-line.  Following the latter it seems that it's the glue, not the patch - that provides the air-retention.  So I've re-done the repair and, so far, the inflated mattress is still standing purposefully against the wall!







Packing progresses - sort of.  We'll get there I know.







I popped down to Claude's to leave a message about estimating for some work in the basement when we get back from the trip, to be presented with "Alison's jam-jars", refilled with Claire's preserves.  Thank you Claire.  I didn't say anything else.








The car has a new hat.....

 and there's no need to water the plants before we go!


Potentially out of touch for a week.  Contacts via the friends in Ottawa please...

The man in Black.

Wednesday, 26th of August.  We awoke with the firm determination to DO something today!  So out with the trusty chain-saw, on with the steel-capped boots, hooray for the Quad and little trailer and away we go; tree-clearing.

A trunk of birch had fallen beside the little hen-house across the meadow, we logged that and stored some of the logs in the hen-house, and others with the main store at the foot of the trail.

It's undoubtedly early Fall, all this rain has given us a crop of fungi.  In my other life I was kindly given a guide to the fungi of Quebec by a colleague; I must try to identify some of them.


And then I shipped some of last-season's splittings in to the tunnel wood-store; and Ali cleaned the inside of the car.

I went to have a chat with Yves; he's awaiting an operation in the fall.  I was concerned that he had enough wood for the winter.  Of course, he's all organised, his store full, his kindling overflowing.

Some years ago, the father of a friend of mine, a man who had spent a lot of time in Algonquin, summer and winter, asked me whether I could survive a Canadian winter, left to my own devices.  I fortunately answered correctly along the lines of,  "if you drop me off in April, perhaps.  Otherwise, no".

Yves and I chatted about this.  He told me of his parents and grandparents who had spent all of the summer just preparing for the winter; about how the extended families would slaughter animals late in the year and share them out to be canned, smoked, dried and frozen; about how his father would dig a deep hole for the meat carcasses at the end of Fall, and allow them to stay frozen all winter; about how his female relatives would make conserves, and incidentally earn more money from that than their men-folk did working in construction.  Hard times, but happy memories.

Lunch-time and off to St Jovite to arrange for the car to be looked at in two week's time and then down to Karen and Denis to stay overnight, firstly to join up with others for supper at a St Hubert in St Adele, and then to go on to a tribute concert (would you believe?!).  The Man in Black is a tribute to Johnny Cash. It was a really enjoyable evening.  We were late back to K & D where we stayed the night.  Brunch in the Canadian style and then a straggle of shopping back up the 117 to Tremblant.

Lorne and Audrey came for supper.  They're off to Cuenca for the winter in ten day's time; we shan't see them again before they go.

And so it's time to start the pack for the trip to the Rideau.

Coming up for air!

A lovely half day yesterday, Monday, 25th August - hot, sunny, sunbathing on the deck in the morning; but heavy rain again from about 3.00 pm.
Eventually went to the basement and began the feathering of the stem tapes on the Bull boats....  Lots to do here.

Today,  Tuesday the 26th; this little guy turned up again, still seemingly alone.  Cute, but oh so vulnerable.









The best re-cycling is re-use.  We took a wheelbarrow full of re-cycling down to other people's green bins - ours is full - ready for the Council men to collect. 

But I began to un-pick the heavy duty waste-bag from the sand-blasting (remember the sand-blasting?)  which I have had stored in the basement ever since.  I need some strops to make a cradle to get my workshop back - it's too full of boats, and not Burlesque!



Not that I mind really.....

Silence - well, almost!

Saturday, 22nd August.  A lovely, chatty email from a friend; here is some of my reply to him.

I wish I could capture sound-scapes; I surfaced from the basement at about 4 pm and sat for a glorious hour, sipping a local beer (or two - it'd been a long day, working still on the boats....), making acquaintance with a chipmunk.
 

(It's very one-sided, I am fully aware that I am only appreciated for my peanuts!), listening to a near-wood full of blue jays, a further wood with a woodpecker and a furtive sap-sucker, a quad bike somewhere behind the hill and a loon on the lake.

In the morning, we had transported the boats out into the sun-shine (honest!) to sand them down.  They once again returned to their dungeon for cloaking and epoxy application!

Later, after a leisurely supper, I sat in the screen room, sipping Vermont 'Tomcat'; a gifted gin, seemingly richly flavoured with resin and aromatics, listening to cicadas in the trees around and Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 forming an improbable accompaniment to my typing!  And then I was again called to the basement to help out - NOT the best recipe for success, but success we had!

The Vermonters left today, Sunday the 23rd.  It's been a great week.  We had hoped to steam gunwales this morning, but we won't finish.  In fact, the second and third, filling coats of epoxy went on today.  Pity, but pretty impressive progress nonetheless.  Emotional involvement (and my own chores and pass-times) will mean that I won't go ahead finish the job in their absence, although I shall have to fillet and epoxy the insides.  Fixing gunwales and seats will have to wait.

Ali cooked us a great lunch - cheese, onion and potato pie with filo pastry; a favourite as we have said before!

But then it was packing time, the NorWest boat heading south to be stripped internally and perhaps returned for some work over the winter.

Traditional parting photo.....

 

 
... and then silence.  Ali fell asleep on the settee;  I began the calculations for the Rideau trip.

And then Karen and Denis turned up; they'd dropped in at lunch-time but then gone for a pontoon ride with Sylvain and Sylvie from down the road.  They suggested that we all go to Labelle for supper - so, why not!

 


But not before this little character turned up.

Weather's settled a little.  Murphy's law.

What day is it?

We seem to have been buried in the basement for two whole days now - in fact, apart from meals and trips to the village for more supplies (food and canoe-building) we have been!

Thursday, 20th August, a long morning levelling and tightening the ligatures on boat one, followed by resin.  Boat two begins!

Friday, 21st August, filleting the outside of boat one, and levelling, tightening, inner filleting, flipping, outer filleting boat two.

I went fishing at dusk.  We have an evening off!  Nobody seems to know what to do with it.

A Wagnerian boat-builder...

More years ago than I am prepared to remember my Mother said of me that I should be a WB-B.  Well, it's Bach or Rachmaninoff from choice but the Boat-building bit came true!

Tuesday, 17th August, Bryony and Mark were delayed from leaving Montreal and missed their connection to Bristol.  We heard from them later.  The boys managed to stay up until 6.30 and 7.30 respectively once they got home.  Remarkable!  The house is noisy now with a different, no less demanding noise; but the goal posts go unused........

There is still heavy rain about. 

The Vermontians are quick learners, first job on their new canoes is joining the planks together lengthwise.  These were ready by late afternoon and, by bed time, a new hull was at "first fix".  I managed time to steam the replacement rib for Burlesque - I have given up after three attempts to splice a new foot to it - and to fix it later.

Today, Wednesday the 19th of August, inserting the temporary bulkheads, cutting and fastening the permanent bulkheads and now, at 6.47, Rachael is priming the resin joints in the hull and Beckie has begun the next build.

Phew!

But I haven't been disturbed once in the last hour,



although I hear that the heat of the resin has just melted the pot. 


Never mind; it's out of the basement ........

How to make a parting better...

... Get Karen and Denis to arrange it!

The little ones had such an exciting day to look forward to - lunch at Karen and Denis' (are we really going to their house?!) and then the airport, "we're going on a plane"!

And the day did not disappoint.  Breaking the day at Prevost, a scrumptious barbecue with corn at its absolute peak.  Vegetables demonstrably fresh out of Karen's garden.  I nipped out to Nor-west boats to buy the white oak for the gunwales on the Bull's boats and left it in Denis' garage before we took the troops down to the airport.



















Hot - over 35 degrees.  Check-in took a while but then the boys had a great time riding their (designed for it) trunkie luggage.  Irrepressible. 


And then we brought it all to a head and said our goodbyes before they all joined the queue for the security check-in,  Last thing I saw was two tousled heads excitedly bubbling along with Mummy and Daddy on their way to the line-up.  We wept; I can't deny it.





This has been a great holiday.  Thanks so much for coming.

Back up to Prevost to collect the wood; home in the gloaming to ratatouille and rice kindly cooked by Rachael

Fitting it all in..

... How do you catch up all the strands of a holiday in the last couple of days?  It dawns on us that it isn't fair to criticise ourselves for what we haven't done, because Ali and I have been coming here so long now that it would take a stay of many months for anyone else to share all our experiences.

But Saturday, 15th August, we made a brave start with a trip across Baie Godfrey on lac des Mauves for second breakfast - croissant and hot chocolate - on a squidgy beach.



Gilles on his pontoon boat passed us late in the morning, proudly displaying a stringer full of large trout!

A rest was called for, but the boys took to the paddling pool and then had showers, in fact we all did, although Ali went to clean the cabin a bit more before coming up for hers.










Then off to Lorne and Audrey's where we met up with Martha and Norman Wales for a wonderful straggling afternoon of fishing, pedalo, barbecue and S'mores.

Very late home, the boys in pyjamas and straight to bed.













Today, Sunday the 16th of August.....

 Packing day, or at least the beginning of it!

And then, such a kindness, Mark and Janis made time - with visitors in the house - to let Noah and Abel and Bryony ride!  The boys seem pretty chuffed; Noah sat very well, tall and with lovely long legs.  Bryony was captivated by the responsiveness of the horses.

To the municipal spring for water, then to lunch at Giselle's before back for some more packing and the arrival of Jeremy, Rachael, Beckie and Lucas for a week's holiday and canoe building.  I feel so unready for this but Rachael says "what we get done, we get done..."

Ribs, salads, humid heat and some fractiousness (on my part!) before S'mores and frantic twilight soccer.

Hugs from the boys at bed-time nearly brought me to tears.  Tomorrow is going to be tough!

Dodging the showers

A chance to catch up - some reflections added and some images inserted on Sunday!

All day on the dock yesterday, Thursday, the 13th of August, we spent the day paddling, canoeing and fishing.  The weather was still dull, overcast and cool, but it did improve during the day and ended up really quite pleasant!

The boys have become quite proficient at casting; here's three generations sharing a passion!



I (Peter) caught a fish (HUGE celebration).  That's the first fish - as opposed to tiddler - that I've caught here.  it was very good to break my duck.

As we cleared away, Yves and his son turned up on his pontoon (boat) offering to take me fishing.  How could I refuse?  Of course, without an audience or a camera, no-one will believe my much more substantial, first-cast Achigan (small-mouthed Bass), will they?


Thursday was also Bryony and Mark's 10th wedding anniversary - they went out to La Gare in Labelle for supper.  Handsome couple - watch out Beckhams!



Friday, 14th August, the weather was slightly better!

Mark, needing a work-out, and the boys, went to the play-ground in the village.  Peter went shopping for more cedar (I have decided to give up trying to splice the foot of a cant-rib on Burlesque and to replace it instead) and (yet) more food. 











Back home, the quad came out and we had excited trips around the plot, holding very tightly.

After lunch, Ali and Peter took the boys to the mini-golf for a fun round.  It became a bit competitive between Peter and Ali but the winner was the day, time spent in good company.
















When we returned, the Davis' took off for the dock - where the Dentists and their guests were in residence for the weekend and an argumentative dog took all of Mark's skills to calm it.  But the triumph was not this, the triumph was that Mark caught a Bass!


Yaaaay!

Making the best of it!

Rain!  These last two days have been rainy - and how!

Tuesday the 11th of August dawned wet and remained that way most of the day, so the boys took to the screen room and built recycling rockets out of water bottles, loo rolls and miles of masking tape.  brilliant!
The rain did eventually ease and gave way to a delightfully welcome sunny spell  in the later afternoon.  Which let the boys in to the paddling pool again (it's warmed up a bit since Monday)  and Lorne and Audrey join us for chats on the deck before supper.  The boys were very good; the service was a bit frazzled (I had too much "last minute" stuff going on :-( ) but the fish was fine and the company excellent.

Cedar plank salmon with ginger, spring onion, Teriyaki sauce and maple syrup marinade; needed a pinch of salt and a peck of pepper!


But bed-time was a little sad; we've moved back up from the cabin, I had forgotten various bits and pieces and had to go down in the dark and rain to get them, and Lila's little room has not been taken down yet.



Sad.










 Today, Wednesday the 12th of August threatened just as rainy; Yves was not available for fishing so we headed off to Tremblant for the high life!

High it was - we went up the mountain in the cable car:


And then we huddled together under fortunate ponchos in steady drizzle to watch the hawk show.  Others were not so well prepared; we became cold enough as it was; at least one British family had no protection at all and sat in summer tee shirts throughout.

Stoic or what!

Stoopid!

But the birds were as captivating as ever.

Barn Owl, Long-eared owl, Bald Headed eagle.











Tremblant is en fete for the Ironman competition on Sunday.

It seems that we have our own Iron men!

A magical window!

It has to be said, this is not the best summer in terms of weather.  In fact, we are forecast 30mm plus of rain over the next 24 hours.

But this weekend we have been truly blessed with fine, warm, sunny days for our 2/3 family gathering.

Yesterday, Sunday the 9th of August, Bryony and I headed in to the village fairly promptly in order to speed up the Parc(k) permit process.  I wanted to add Mark to the fishing generally and I wanted to try to get us permission to fish in Lac Marie LeFranc.

All of which looked set to take so long that Bryony headed back to collect the troops (just as well as it turned out!) and I was eventually left to contemplate the village as it bustled through a sunny Sunday morning.

But look; Lila heading out for deeper water on her own - and the irrepressible boys  playing frisbee with their Uncle Guy. 

The fishing didn't happen in the end - story of my life, really ;-)

A lovely, long day; ribs and fries again for supper. A fun Skype with Ginny and Iain brought the whole family together again.  Thanks for calling, chaps.

The hydrangeas outside the bathroom window are a delight, humming steadily with bees all day.

Ali and I have been camping out in the cabin whilst Julie and Guy have used our room with Lila.  Last night we were met by this chap on the door-step!

A little fire has dried out the space well; the mosquito net has made us feel secure......







Monday, 10th August.  The youngsters headed in to the village for the park this morning;



Guy had work to do (including a conference distantly from the cottage!), I got the order off for the Bull-boats and cooked a ham;  and then it was time for the statutory group photo and that "sweet sorrow" that Shakespeare wrote of.

The Toronto flight left and arrived early it seems.  Lila was very excited about the "airplane".

See you in September, guys!  Wonderful weekend.

We are truly blessed.

Whaaaaa?

This is a sound, often used around here, to express everything from bemusement to stunned disbelief!  It gets used a lot at the moment.

For example; Friday, 7th of August; Bryony, Ali and the boys went up to the airport to meet Guy, Julie and Lila.  The flight was due in at 14.10; it arrived at 14.28; they all arrived home at about 16.30, having detoured via Rona -as you do - for a new loo seat for the Cabin!

Whilst they were out, Mark and I diverted ourselves finalising the preparations for the house, making the lasagagne meat sauce for supper, and frankly beginning to fret a bit as their return stretched out.


But supper was lovely; a sprawling, happy meal with the happy addition of Karen and Denis - and Britney, newly engaged and over from Alberta for her annual canoe to the island with her aunt, Karen.

The boys were great; gentle, courteous, considerate and including of Lila - well done lads.

And the evening rolled gently on, after the visitors had left and the children were abed, in a happy,  joshing, sharing time until Ali and I headed off for the cabin for the night.

We slept fairly well, at least fairly long, and came up for breakfast this morning, Saturday the 8th of August, after a minor coffee accident with the coverlet and the mosquito net in the cabin, at about 9.00.  And then we headed for the beach on lac Marie le Franc - some of us on foot! 

 Bryony and Mark ran to the village, and we ran a shuttle from there to the lake.

But the big story of the day has been the seamless, growing but  increasingly easy integration of the kids.

And, more,  Lila's gradual progression from the beach, to the water's edge, to the lake itself.  Lila is not confident about water - at least, she wasn't.  But today she joined in really well.  Bravo!

We decided to squeeze everyone in to the van on the way back - just possible!

And then Mark lit a fire for us,


and we cooked Paella as it should be, en plein air,





the intrepid explorers headed back for the house,

 and then, after supper, back for S'mores, scorched in the Canadian fashion, before a riotous shower, stories and bed.

The adults weren't long after, either!

Apres moi....

.... well; it was a lot to expect that two young people could come off the back of a day like that and be angels.  And at least one of them wasn't!  Poor chap, he was "hyper" all day; hyper-active, hyper-stroppy, hyper-sensitive.  You get the idea!

Wednesday, 5th August.  So his Mum and Dad took him off for a long morning, thinking to give the "old folks" a rest.  Little did they know!  We have guests (more of them) coming on Friday and so it's in to Groundsman and Housekeeper mode!

The "soccer" field needed attention, so out came the scythe. 

The fire-pit needed finishing , so out came the shovels. 

You can see neither the soccer field, nor the fire pit properly here; I hoped that you'd be able to see the flowers in the Outfield - but not really.

But you can see the bird-feeder - and, remember that charming black squirrel?




Here's what it's done to the mouth of the feeder - I've previously had to block a number of the portals off with aluminium!

The wanderers returned, with no great change in demeanour on behalf of our hyper-tired chappy, so we just toughed it out to supper when some of us consumed a jolly tasty tourtiere of Cerf, Sanglier and Bison - others found their memories of feeding relatives of the aforementioned deceased too fresh and ate a chicken breast instead!

Bed came soon enough for most.  Rachmaninov vespers at nightfall soothed MY savage breast - and apparently others, too!

Thursday, 6th August.  Day dawned later for some (me) than for others, but in another world behaviourally. 

Whilst the weather did not promise kind, it's not that kind of summer, so we headed off to the lake after breakfast and took two canoes out to the bay across from the turn of the road and then down to the island towards the barage.

Ali and Mark both did well steering; I had a different view of the world from the bow seat for once.

It firstly drizzled, then it actually rained - but only just as we got home!

The boys were a bit cold, several rounds of sandwiches sorted that out!












And then we fought a 6" x 6" construction up the stairs - finally having to demolish it in part - to re-assemble it in our bedroom.

I wonder what kind of person lives in a house like this?

A roast chicken for supper - all 6.5 lbs of it - seems mostly to have disappeared.  The boys made room for frozen yoghurt and berries.....

Tape-worms?

White Rabbit!

I’m late, I'm late (cried the white rabbit in Alice) – by my own, self-imposed deadline of writing every two days – it’s Wednesday and it’s 10.00 am and I’ve only been up for about half an hour!  So I’m late in more than one sense of the word….

Monday, 3^rd of August, the forecast was poor, so we decided to stay around the house.  All was not well!  Ali took the lads off for a walk in to the “Wild-wood”, which went fine, until the return when she left Noah at the back door whilst she followed Abel round to the front, only to find that Noah had taken off for the woodland, and kept going, despite increasingly insistent calls by us.

Ali followed him (I was looking after Abel at this stage) but Noah just kept on going – and wouldn’t stand still and so found himself lost, at which point there was no denying where he was – you could have heard him in the village – but STILL he kept rushing on!

Ali returned him, much chastened, to the fold – where he was left to a severe conversation with Grandad (why me?) and “penned” for ten minutes on a chair (no physical restraint was involved, but the power of severity reigned and he was just where he had been left when I returned).

And so began a lesson on woodland route-finding, with Dad and Grandad and way-marks and so on.  Above all, the main lesson, “If you’re lost, STOP!”

And the bizarre thing was, on the way back, I led us to where we started – which was not the idea!  I still cannot work out how that happened, so I’ll need to go back up on my own and try to work out where I went wrong.

However, stress over, we came back down to the fire-pit where Mark lit a fire for us with the steel.  Obviously, such a good fire and lunch-time means only one thing when the boys are around; food.  Crispy bacon and bread and salady stuff came down from the house and silly camp-fire songs including such masterpieces as “Oh, be kind to your web-footed friends….” Combined to end the morning on a cheerful note.

I don’t remember where the afternoon went, but by supper time the weather had done as predicted and poured solidly and so we ate supper in the main house for the first time this trip.

The forecast was almost as grim (70% chance of thunderstorms) for Tuesday the 4^th of August but we decided to bite the bullet and agreed that, if the boys had woken naturally by 7.00 am we would head down to Montebello and Parc Omega.  And, of course, they did. 

So coffee consumed we drove via the side of Lac Labelle to the Chateau Montebello for a three-course breakfast waited upon by a most charming attendant.  The boys ate and ate and ate.  Where do they put it?

The answer is – into energy!

On up to the Park / Parc and we began with the Animal show where we were introduced to various charming and interesting creatures, and latterly to a young Bald Eagle, flown on a trace.  

Unfortunately, the trace wasn’t enough to stop it heading for the crowd and landing on the head of a girl, sitting just next to the boys, where it began to attack her hair band!

I don’t think she was hurt, but mostly because she had a big plait which gave the eagle a decent foot-hold for those wicked claws.

But it was an alarming incident all round!

On then to the wolves and bears – we’ve seen these before of course but the boys, all three of them, and Bryony were enchanted by the experience!

And so in to the main park with opportunities – and insistence by the animals – for feeding at every few metres.




New to us this time were the play grounds, the aerial walk-way ....

and the charabanc ride to the farmyard with its opportunities for ice-cream (!), stroking animals, being butted by a goat (Abel) and pony-rides.  And still the sun shone and defied the forecasters.

At last, very late (it was getting close to closing time) last pictures at the gateway and on – to the Sports bar in Tremblant / St Jovite for supper.  Where DO they put it?

Bryony drove us home in the dark, the boys fell asleep in the car as we stopped for an age to shop at the IGA in St Jovite and then none of us were long before bed.

LOTS of pictures to follow as you can imagine but I’ll post this now.  And then off to estate work whilst the youngsters head off for a day on their own.  They think we need a rest !