Prairie roads

Sign along Hwy 132 to Gaspe

What does a prairie girl know about driving along the coast? While recently planning a weekend trip to the Gaspe Peninsula, QC, I looked at the distance to get there, just over 1000 kms. If you are used to driving 100 kms in 1 hour, don't give the prairie girl the map. When a Quebec tourism website suggests 5-7 days for the road trip, don't think, "I have driven to Vancouver from Saskatoon and back in a weekend, no problem."

I have heard my sister in laws parents say that the journey begins when you lock the door to your house. Mind you, they have taken a half day of travelling to get to Eastend from Frontier, which is about 50 kms away. Anyway, I have been trying to embrace this philosophy since I heard that. I grew up in a family where you got in the car and drove, which is great for covering a vast amount of kilometers and growing up in Frontier, to get anywhere, you had to drive and drive and drive to get anywhere.

Here I am, planning a 2200 km trip straddling these two philosophies of a road trip, the one compelling me to drive and the other one drawing me in to stop at another lighthouse.

Prairie driving and coastal driving are very different. When driving through a Saskatchewan town, you need to slow down to 50 km/h for approximately 2 blocks. On the coast of Gaspe Peninsula each town stretches for 5 km because everybody wants a view and there is a town every 5 kms which means lots of hours in the car and not many kilometers covered. In between slowing down for towns, you are slowing down for sharp curves ahead and steep hills. I was shocked to see signs indicating 11%, 13%, and 17% grades on the upcoming hills. These grades might be seen somewhere in B.C., but not in Saskatchewan.

We started off the trip with a 680 km day. Thinking that we had lots of time, we made frequent stops for coffee, croissants, sight seeing and bathroom breaks. We decided to stop for supper in St Anne des Monts after being on the road for 9 hrs, approximately 200 kms from our destination. After supper, Daryl thinks it would be wise to phone the hostel and let them know we will be getting in late. We were told that the doors of the hostel are locked at 10 pm. Panic is starting to set in. Will we be able to get there on time? In SK, no problem, here...We tried to enjoy the seaside drive to our destination, but the tension in the car was palpable. What was our plan B? Daryl and I slept in the car the night before, but 4 people sleeping in the car was not too desirable. I did not have one sip of water the last leg of the trip for fear that we would have to stop for me to go pee, which might mean us missing our check in time. As we drove it was hard not to stare at the clock and the speedometer. Even if Daryl wanted to speed, he couldn't because of the winding highway, the numerous towns, and the 11% grades. FYI a Prius is great in the city, but gutless going up hills. We drove along mostly in silence. A quip would be made every now and again about the ridiculously long towns that slowed us down to 50 km/h. Once we reached our turn off we were moderately confident that we would make the deadline, which we did with 4 minutes to spare.

We thought we were giving ourselves plenty of time for the return trip. Up at 6 am and in the car by 7 am. The car needed to be returned by 1130 pm. Once again, we thought 16.5 hrs would be ample time to drive 1100 kms. We did enjoy a few excursions and rest stops, but the majority of the time was spent in the car...driving. As we drove past the red sand beaches, the quaint towns, and lighthouses, I would exclaim, "Beautiful, wish you were here."

Despite the outrageous number of kilometers that we covered in such a short amount of time, we enjoyed the adventure of discovering a beautiful part of Canada. I guess you could say that we left wanting more.

Beaver tails and beaver blades

beaver blades...bad

Beaver tails...good

Once again, I have had an unexpected change in health status. At work 2 weeks ago while I was changing a scalpel blade, I cut 2 fingers on my left hand. Almost immediately I felt a numb sensation in one of my fingers...not good. I had surgery June 26 to fix a tendon and a nerve that were 70% severed. First a cast, then a splint, both of which have limited what I can do. Unfortunately for Daryl, the burden of housework, dishes, & cooking have fallen on him. However if you know me, I have a fairly stubborn streak, so I have attempted to do all these tasks with limited success.

For some reason, my cast hand has drawn comparison in Daryl's mind to the comic book character, Hellboy. Is there a subtle message here for me? And yes, we watched both movies to cheer me up.

Off on workers comp for July. How am I filling my days? Studying French, finger exercises 3 times a day, exploring the city, and taking it easy.

Sans regret

Sometimes life throws you a curve ball. An unexpected event that will have a huge impact on daily living. I have recently been presented with a challenge that is causing me a certain amount of anxiety, bewilderment, confusion, and denial. In my mind, one of my favorite quotes from Arrested Development keeps rolling around, "I have made a huge mistake!" How am I going to deal with this? I am in the process of coming to terms with this recent change in our life.

No regrets. What does it mean to live a life with no regrets? Does it mean that we should never question the things that we say and do? Or rather, do we accept the choices we have made and take responsibility for them regardless of the outcome? I not sure, but this scripture came to mind as I was thinking about it. It is from Ephesians,

“I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called."
I think living a life with no regrets involves us caring for and loving each other, first in our homes, then in our communities, and throughout the world.

 Daryl has written a song “Sans Regret" in response to our unexpected change in life. Have a listen and let me know your thoughts.

Trigonometry

Do remember taking Alg. & Trig. in high school? Do you remember thinking how will this be remotely applicable to my life? Do you know how measure the height of a tall building if you know the distance and angle at which your are looking? SOH, CAH, TOA. Who remembers these acronyms?

I actually did enjoy these subjects in school. I may not have the most logical mind, but they somehow made sense to me. I designed this quilt with the help of sine, cosine, and tangent. I dusted off my high school calculator and plugged in the numbers and angles to figure out how big I needed to cut my triangle inserts. Now, I am certain that there is probably a more efficient quilting way to figure it out, but I enjoy the challenge of  designing and creating without a pre-packaged pattern.

Singing in the rain

Establishing shot:
The sky is overcast and grey in Montreal. There have been some scattered showers, but not enough to dampen our spirits. My parents are here for a visit. We are wandering  through Vieux Port seeing the sights and soaking in the beauty and history of the area.

Currently the rain has stopped, but the air is thick with humidity.

Scene:
After some time, we decide to find a cafe and sip our drinks out on the terrace. We notice that the clouds are getting darker.

Meanwhile, Daryl is leaving his conference and decides to buy me a lemon tart for my birthday. In true Montreal fashion, he straps the cake into the front basket of the Bixi and rides to meet up with us.

Dad sees a flash of lightning, then we hear a loud clap of thunder, and suddenly a deluge of rain floods the area. We grabbed our drinks and bags and dashed for cover in the cafe, wet, but not drenched.

Daryl does not have the luxury to get out of the rain so quickly. He gets off the Bixi and ducks for cover in a stairwell. He waits out the deluge until it turns to a soft steady rain and continues on his ride towards us. By the time Daryl gets to the cafe, he is sopping wet. There is not a dry spot on him. He plunks a petite soaked cardboard box with a black ribbon on the table, unsure of the condition of the pastry. We are all laughing. I open the box to find a lemon tart with meringue, however the meringue has not weathered the storm well. The rain has disintegrated it.

Despite the rain, the tart tasted delicious. The rain eventually stopped and Daryl dried out in the sun. A memorable birthday indeed.

Egg in a hole

Did you ever have an egg in a hole for breakfast when you were young? My dad used to make them and I remember being delighted and fascinated by the process by which they were made. The best part though was the hole of bread that we got to sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

In a way, this quilt reminds me of an egg in a hole. The design of the quilt was actually inspired by a picture of a room I saw recently. The room was painted grey with 3 pictures framed in white hung on the wall. That was it. It was quite striking. I decided that I would try and create a similar look. I am pleased with how it turned out.

This may be my last complete project in Montreal. My machine is not top notch and I do not have my free motion quilting foot with me. I want to sew up the rest of the fabric that I have here, but I think that is as far as I will get. Besides, the weather is getting nicer and I always seem to slow down production in the summer. There is too much to enjoy outside.

Cabane a sucre

Last weekend we went out to St-Eustache, QC with friends to a Cabane a Sucre. Before going, I pictured us driving into the hills and through a forest of maple trees arriving at a little cabin in the woods. Unfortunately, this was not the scene that we drove up to. Despite being slightly disappointed, I was excited to experience a true Quebecois tradition. To my surprise there were maple trees on the property and we saw how they are tapped today with a network of tubes connecting the trees to a reservoir down hill. 

The menu: part one of the meal included pea soup, cabbage salad, bread, and cretons (some sort of pate).

The main course included an omelette, ham, sausage, potatoes, brown beans, and oreilles de crisse (fried pork rinds). This is all smothered in maple syrup. Dessert was a choice of pancakes with ice cream, pudding chomeur (like bread pudding), tarte au sucre (maple sugar pie), or eggs cooked in maple syrup. The last choice defines you as a true Quebecer. I had one nibble. It was ok, but more than one bite might have been upsetting to my stomach. I had the tarte au sucre with ice cream and it was delicious. To round off the whole experience, we ate maple taffy cooled on snow. Sweet, but satisfying!

Overall, I enjoyed the experience, all the same I am not sure that it is a tradition that I would embrace. C'est la vie. We'll see how I feel about it this time next year.