We went to see Jaws the other day – it was showing near home on a big screen and with a cleaned up super saturated print. Goodness, what a treat!
Get out of the water!
If you like the movie and you get the chance, do go and see it on a big screen. It really stands the test of time (50 years? Eek, that’s properly scary…)
Super saturation
What a movie, and an excellent (if unnecessary) reminder that I prefer to be on and not in the water. As for needing a bigger boat, that’s fine when taking a ferry – we caught one just the other day – but I don’t mind those smaller craft if that’s all there is.
Any of the above works for me!
Yup, a small craft is great! With all this water, you never know what might be lurking in the deep… or in the shallows:
Hungry lurker
Hmm, I think I need to work more with the new camera, but at least the heron was so focused on lurking it didn’t realize I was lurking nearby and struggling with my own focus!
Focused – the heron, not the photographer!
Enough for now – I’m off to reflect on boats. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
It took a week or two, but I eventually remembered we meant to try a beer or two from Ol’ Beautiful Brewing, having seen their delivery van at a nearby beer store. As we were making our choices, we learned that the taproom at Ol’ Beautiful was closed after a fire, but they were still brewing. OK, we’d best do our bit to keep ‘em up and running…
Still brewing
The Japanese-style lager came highly recommended, at least by the enthusiastic vendor, who told us it was the brewery’s biggest seller – well, chalk up another sale! It was pretty good, smooth due to the rice added from left over sake production (it doesn’t taste like a Bud) and fine if you’re after a lightish taste on a sunny day. Decent, but I prefer a beer with a bit more edge – and this leads us to beer number two!
Yum? Yup!
The second beer we tried was their American Pale Ale, and, if you’re a fan of hop-forward flavour, then this beer is a winner. Perfect for a hot summer day, or a mild fall day, or a crisp winter day. Oh, I’d probably (definitely) drink it in the spring, too. Yes, I liked this one!
K-country summer
So, where did you sample these ol’ beautifuls, OldPlaidCamper? Glad you asked – we took them with us on our recent trip to Kananaskis, camping near the Sheep River. The beers were just the refreshing thing after lazy days of reading, short hikes along or above the river and deciding if we needed a campfire or not. (Not, too hot!)
Definitely no campfire needed today – too hot
As for Sheep River Provincial Park, a new to us spot in K-country, how could we describe it in a word or two? Oh, beautiful. Perhaps I’ll share more about it another time.
Oh, beautiful
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful (long) weekend!
PS As I finish up here, writing on an unseasonably warm late August Wednesday morning, a long V of honking geese has just flown over. It might feel like high summer, but those geese and the occasional rust tinged leaf suggest otherwise… Is this farewell pale linens and hello plaid flannels? Soon, OPC, soon!
I’m still not walking any great distances, and certainly nothing with significant elevation gain, but we did take a brief trip into nearby Kananaskis last week. Why? Mountains!
Reaching up
We parked up at what we still call the Delta Lodge (it’s had a makeover or two, a name change and has sometimes hosted the great and not so great and good since we last stayed there – looking at you, G7 1/2) and trotted off at a brisk pace – well, Scout and Mrs. PC managed a brisk pace – to take a turn around the hotel perimeter walk. Hmm, that last one was a messy sentence. Oh well. Let’s look at a photo.
Things are looking up…
If one has reduced or restricted mobility, then this is a place to come and see many mountains from an already elevated perspective. The pathway is paved and mostly flat. You’re above the river (the Evan Thomas Creek that flows through the golf course and beyond) and beneath the tallest peaks, and it is spectacular! We were quite dizzy…
Dizzy
We couldn’t believe how quiet it was, visitor-wise, and sat on a bench eating our lunch with no more than a few passersby. The sun was warm but not too warm just like our cheese sandwiches, and it felt like a very pleasant way to return to a favourite spot. We aim to be back in the not too distant future and venture down some of the very inviting trailheads we passed heading back to the truck!
“We were snowshoeing last time I was here! Can we do that again?!” Soon enough, Scout, soon enough! (Photo: Mrs. PC)
Let’s leave it here for this week – dizzily optimistic! Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Seems a good place to start – and finish (scroll down to the last photo for “…and beer!”) On second thoughts, perhaps beer isn’t the best place to start – it’s still early. How about a coffee instead?
Strong and dark, like my first g— oh never mind, let’s just enjoy the coffee
Since the advice has been to take things steady, that’s what we’ve been doing. Walks in the different local parks have been enjoyable, with mornings cooler, sunnier and drier than the more humid and sometimes stormy afternoons. The colours have been a welcome sight!
Centre Street bridge in the distance BrightSo brightReally bright – and thirsty, too… a drink would be welcome?…and beer!
I’ll be popping in later today, see what Ol’ Beautiful delivered yesterday. I’ll let you know what I find, but I’m thinking probably a bottle of wine? And beer?! I could get used to overdoing the not overdoing it.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Slow down, summer, you move too fast – but it’s been mostly colourful and groovy, at least when it hasn’t been raining!
July has been a relatively wet one for Calgary, one of the five wettest since counting the previous four wettest or something. Definitely damp, I’ll say that.
The rain has been good for this garden
We have enjoyed a couple of mighty thunderstorms in between the drier days, that’s for sure. Scout doesn’t much like the thunder, tough as she looks. On calmer days she’s been catching up on old p-mail haunts and meeting old friends.
Cat and dog days – two old friends meeting up (photo: Mrs. PC)“Yeah I’m tough, a top dog! And, erm, you won’t mention the thunder thing, will you?” No, Scout, not one word… (photo: Mrs. PC)
I’ve been slowly (oh so slowly) tottering about our immediate neighbourhood, getting reacquainted with familiar streets and some new scenes. Life is good in Calgary, and often colourful, but I did not know about the beach!
Just beachy! Vibrant sunny yellow! With bonus childhood summer holiday weather!
Here’s some bubbly colour I’ll be enjoying this evening – a first new-to-me Calgary beer since returning home, the beer style a predictably unsurprising choice, and the can design recalling those lovely ski jackets from the late ‘80s. If summer is racing by, it can only mean winter is fast approaching! I don’t need a new ski jacket, but if I did, these colours would look great on me. And grate on everyone else nearby. Sold!
Just my style! Oh, have I been looking forward to this!
I’ll zoom off now, to get ready for a top down long weekend – we’ve never spent August in Calgary before, so we’re excited about what it might bring.
Will it be a top down weekend? Go on, risk it! (It wouldn’t be my first choice colour, but if I had to have a vibrant sunny yellow car…)
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Yup, we’ve relocated, and you’ll never guess where!
Oh, ok, you did guess!
The call of the mountains and wide open spaces was impossible to resist, so we didn’t. Calgary will be our home for the foreseeable future.
You can see our new home from here (it’s near that tree – no no, the other tree)
Irritatingly, I’ve been somewhat unwell the past couple of weeks, so haven’t had much chance to explore and reconnect with favourite people and places. The upsides are we’ve much to look forward to, the healthcare was excellent, the prognosis is all positive (once I get my strength back – I’m as weak as a kitten, or, or, an off colour early middle aged OldPlaidCamper) and I’ve had more time than I would have wanted to go through old photos and (re)use them here!
Can you hear the call?
We’ll be properly out and about again by September. Meanwhile, I’m adding 5 minutes more each day to my walking time (I won’t even say how low the current total is, other than it would be a very short and flat trail), trying to keep up with Mrs. PC and Scout, and lining up a few new AB beers for when the time is right!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
New place needs a little work…No, OPC, not yet! Such an impatient patient…
Huh?! Where could this one possibly be going? No idea! By the time this is posted, we’ll have set off for somewhere and already be happily lost for the third or fourth time (or more!) out on the backroads of NW Quebec and beyond. We’re taking our time on this trip, aiming to travel no more than six hours in any day, and often no more than four. A morning in the car is quite enough as temperatures warm up and we work up a thirst. Perhaps there’ll be a series of microbreweries we simply have to visit along the way, where we purchase something good to try later at a campground? Yeah, perhaps…
Might have tried one or two
Before we left, my brother paid us a quick visit, keen to extend his knowledge of local ciders, leaving no apple unfermented. Or something. We spent a couple of (happy) hours in PubLeProjet, a wonderful old bar on Rue St. Jean that caters particularly well to cider and beer drinkers, and featuring a wide range of Quebec products. You won’t leave thirsty, but you might be a bit wobbly… taxi!
Or three or six – between the three of us, not each!
Brother OPC had stopped at a favourite cidrerie on the way up, and when he went home he forgot to take a couple of four packs he’d left in the fridge. So I tried one. I tried, I really did, but, nope, not for me. Mrs. PC didn’t mind his forgetfulness though!
I’m assured it is very good, but it’s not for me. The label is a winner for sure!
When we were out and about, instead of cider, I went absolutely nowhere outside of my comfort zone, predictably choosing and enjoying a couple of IPAs that were really, really good. Not too heavy, one hazy, one clear, and one happy OldPlaidCamper.
Happy
It wasn’t all beer and cider. We spent a couple of fun hours at the Plains of Abraham museum, and the exhibits and stories were very engaging. I wish I had photos I could share of my brother trying to shrug his way out of a rather snug replica military redcoat (younger?) visitors are encouraged to try. Chaps were smaller back then… There were lots of replica artefacts to handle, and plenty of interactive exhibits – if you’re ever looking for a rainy afternoon activity on the Plains, I’d recommend the museum.
Guilty! Was this before I tried the cider? Yup…
Models of cannons, replica muskets and swords, and a dressing up box? Goodness, each of our inner twelve year olds left the museum very happy. Let’s leave it here, with tastebuds and knowledge buds somewhat quenched after a busy weekend.
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
(Over the next few weeks I’m not too sure how regularly I’ll be posting – it’ll mostly be determined by the reliability of coffee shop wifi and whether or not I find myself back in the stocks again. They’ll never find me since even we don’t quite know where we’ll be, other than contentedly lost…)
…and we wouldn’t mind if we were still down by the river, but we came home after the third day of rain, and five nights out overall. It wasn’t the rain, it was the cold – it barely hit 10C for the afternoon high. Ok if you’re hiking, less so for sitting around enjoying the fire in between rain showers…
“Mountain” sector tent site – light that fire!
One afternoon we decided to revisit the microbrewery just outside the nearby village of Frampton. It wasn’t too busy, most likely due to the unseasonably chilly temperatures, but we received the usual warm and friendly welcome from the brewer on for the afternoon. We tasted a light lager, pretending it was late May, not mid-March, and it was pretty good, one for properly warm days ahead. For those, we stocked up on the raspberry sour we’d enjoyed so much last summer. It’s not a style I usually like, but this one is really good.
Last summer – raspberry sour on the left – yum!
I couldn’t resist a new NEIPA and bought a couple to savour later – slightly too strong but very tasty if you like a big hoppy beer. The last one we tried was only currently available on tap, so we’ll hope to return and buy a bottle/can or two – a new nut brown that was, for me, a perfect autumnal sipper. Goodness, I only had one sip but it was absolutely spot on!
Absolutely a good spot to be in
We weren’t only tasting beers or sitting by the fire or snoozing or in between snoozes – we also wandered up and down a couple of nearby trails. The vibrant fresh greens and bright new spruce tips were very welcome sights.
Happy trail
The rain and mist cleared from time to time so we were able to see longish views across the valley. The trail winds past a second section of the campground, a few walk in tent sites in the “mountain” sector. These are lovely secluded spots if you’re happy to hike up a steepish short way with all your gear.
Across the valley
One afternoon, mind and body suitably rested from the hiking, the scenery and the all round pleasantness of the Etchemin valley, I fell asleep and had the strangest dream. There was beer, spruce tipped and resinous, growing on trees. Oh, if only…
Can(ned) dreams come true?
Time to wake up! Well, this has been less sunny but not miserable, like a rested OldPlaidCamper during the second and rainier half of a camping trip. Apologies for the ridiculously long post heading this week, no idea how that happened. Sleepy brain?
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Thunder? Heavy rain showers? Heat? Humidity? One or two bugs? Check, check, check, check and check!
But… almost constant birdsong, a musical river, freshly unfurled spring greenery, a distant farm dog barking, spells of warm sunshine and a remote campsite in the trees above a river? Yup! On balance, let’s just say “when can we go again?”
Hanging out
We had a splendid few days down by (or just above) the Etchemin. Two decent sized bug bites on my ankle (how? I was wearing boots!) had me temporarily renaming it the Itchyman River, but I got over it, and barely mentioned it at all out loud. I didn’t provide any insects a free lunch once I’d applied the bug repellent. Use it, OPC. Happens every start of camping season – when will you ever learn…?
Itchyman – are those clouds bubbling up? Maybe…
The trailer and bug screen performed as hoped for, the wood-store was well stocked and dry – one match got our fire lit every time, maintaining a pretty good run (he says, modestly) – and is there a better outdoor aroma than woodsmoke and coffee? Perhaps my hiking boots left outside and under the trailer? With that aroma, why do the bugs even approach my ankles?
A splendid site
We saw and heard geese, and I startled a pair of ducks as I leant over to snap a shot upriver, at which point a kingfisher scolded me, Scout shook her head, and Mrs. PC seemed happy enough I didn’t fall in.
Several mornings a hummingbird buzzed me as I was making coffee, darting to the side I wasn’t looking as I tried to spot her. I caught a blur of small brown bird as she buzzed into the trees, perhaps disappointed we don’t take nectar with our coffee.
Set up
The Etchemin flows through a lovely little valley of low wooded hills and patches of cleared farmland. Not much more than an hour south of Quebec City, it is a delightful spot to find a change of pace. Breathe in, breathe out, stretch, relax, repeat, and it’ll soon be beer o’ clock.
It’s beer o’clock already? Well alrighty…
A very welcome break from the noise and nonsense that can be hard to avoid in the wider world. Spring this year hasn’t been all that it could have been, but a few more trips like this as we edge towards summer and maybe all will be well, with equilibrium maintained…
Fresh
More about this trip next week – the river, the rain (yup!), the microbrewery and hiking trails nearby.
New
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Aiming for glass half full in this brief post, but be warned, it might seem like I’m moaning about the weather. If so, it’s because I am.
Right, let’s give half full a go, with something to brighten up our slow start to the season. C’mon, spring, time to show yourself – it’ll soon be summer…
A host? Almost…
We wandered the Plains of Abraham last weekend, taking a picnic with us as we searched for some spring colour. We found one or two bright patches in the not quite planted Joan of Arc gardens, and it was pleasant to find a bench in a sunny spot and turn our happy little faces up to the sun, almost golden and contented. Yes, mother, with suitable hats and sunglasses. We’re hoping to head down there again this coming Sunday, see if any more has been planted.
Spring blues?! Not me…
Prompted by two sunny days in a row for the first time since, well, it’s hard to remember, we uncovered the camping trailer on Monday. Happily, all is well with it, so we’ll be up and out from midweek and through the Victoria Day weekend, camping whatever the (rainy) weather. Optimistic sunblock and bug repellent, as well as a tarp or two if needed. Surely not…
Grand unveiling
Let’s keep it short this week and end here with a spring in our step! Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Bright, cheery, and hoppy, like a springtime OldPlaidCamper – cheers!
OldPlaidCamper 