…easy hikes, good company, and cabin time in a WV state park!
Healthy road trip fare…(it’s ok, we walked it off later, and anyway isn’t maple almost a vegetable?)
Heading north to south we found ourselves leaving mid/late fall behind, and by the time we crossed into MD/WV, found ourselves shedding jackets and digging out T shirts for daytime adventures that were happening like it was late summer or very early fall.
October trails – easy does it!
Gentle hikes on clear trails under blue skies in mid October? Yes please! A few bugs (fooled into appearing due to the temps) aside, these were pleasant days to wander in the woods. Gaps in the trees along a high ridge provided long views across the valley to the mountains opposite. If only I’d taken a decent photograph… next time…
There is some view across here – but I didn’t photograph it!
Staying in a cabin with a sturdy fireplace, it was no bad thing when the sun dropped below the mountain ridge behind us – the swift temperature decline justified a fire, reminding us it wasn’t actually summer. And if we had a beer or two to toast the (relatively) active days, well, that’s a pleasant way to spend cool cabin nights…
Justified
By the time this is posted, we’ll be home and looking back fondly on a trip where we caught up with friends and family, discovered some new to us beers, and reacquainted ourselves with a favourite mountain town. More on the last next week.
Almost! A new friend…
Warm days, cool nights and happy trails – this particular fall has been a most welcome and very kind season!
A very kind season
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
There are strange creatures out there…(photo credit CG, thanks, you stealth photographer you)
By happy coincidence, thanksgiving more or less marks our anniversary for when we moved to Canada, a decision we’ve never once regretted. With each passing year, we love the place we call home more and more – we’ve so much to be thankful for here in Canada!
Live here? Sounds good!
Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate this holiday!
Home
Keeping it short – we’re heading out to visit friends and family the next little while, with off grid and in the woods cabin time involved, so not too sure if there’ll be anything posted for a week or two or three.
Cabin time? Sounds good!
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great (long) weekend!
That’s not a word, but it is an attempt to convey how much we’ve been enjoying the season. Being up with or even ahead of the latest thing is so very much us, haha. Identifying fall is beautiful? Couldn’t be more on trend… Moron, you say? No, but I’ve been called worse, by worse…
Trail starts here
Where was I? Clearly, you’re not going to get high quality season-centric (huh?) writing here (see “fall-tastic” above) but we really have enjoyed our eastern woodland leafy fall into autumn.
What a mood enhancer! We’re pretty chipper anyway most of the time, (don’t judge a book by it’s cover; it’s a smiling – on the inside – visage I present to the world) but being out in the woods the past few weeks has further boosted our generally sunny outlook. Each recent morning we’ll approach the local trail and murmur “that’s beautiful”, then a few yards on and a few turns into the trail, say again “that’s beautiful” and on and on we go.
On and on, into the woods!
The crisp air, the bright blue sky, the green through yellow through orange and into red leafy splendour, plus Scout’s bouncing gait, the wet-dry smell of leaf decay, and the satisfying crunch and scrunch underfoot? We add it up and our answer is “that’s beautiful!”
“Bouncing? Me? I’m far too dignified for that. But if you wanted to say beautiful…”
Yup, here we are this week struggling to find words and phrases to describe our autumnal adventures. Fall-tastic? Fallsome praise? Autumnulent? Why I autumn do better… Hmm. Should I stop, leaf it for now?
Just leaf it
If you’re looking to read about fall – about any season – with thoughts on the joy found in the natural world, then head over to Walt at Rivertop Rambles. He posted this week, and, like always, it’s a great read. I’m not blowing smoke from a leafy bonfire up his a- … read him, and you’ll see.
Joy
Anyway, it’s far too nice outside to be in here writing. I can see the trees from my office window, glowing in sunny autumnal glory, and let me tell you, it’s beautiful!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great weekend!
“His vocabulary really is limited, isn’t it? I mean, bouncing?! What’s wrong with regal, majestic, purposeful…”
Oh this past week or two! I mostly (mostly!) avoid the political sphere in this blog, but recent political news locally and globally has been something else, hasn’t it? Goodness, the whining and bleating of many of those on the right, the far right and alt-right! Avoid and avoid! What a void… What is it with the never taking responsibility, it’s always somebody else’s fault, and othering whoever doesn’t share their groupthink? Alternative facts, gaslighting, lying, doubling down on a lie and then blaming their supposed victims and targets if they answer back, so terrified of any comeback in case it turns out they have underachieved and are at fault? Don’t they ever stop to look at themselves and listen to what they are saying? Climate change deniers, election deniers, post truth – huh? – fact deniers, “we’ve had enough of experts”, lies on the side of a bus, promising sunlit uplands knowing the impossibility of such promises, putting immigrants on unsafe barges, denying basic human rights, and encouraging a hostile environment if you look or sound different. Painting over cartoon murals for children in immigration centres because that is too welcoming?! Who can support that?! Lies, lies, denials, and more lies! What is wrong with these people? It’s inhumane to behave in such a way. What do they hope to gain or achieve by being thoroughly unpleasant? It is so tiresome…
How to explain it? Perhaps they are weak and very likely personally ineffective, utterly and drearily so… Yikes, try to imagine living such a scared and self loathing life, appeased by fearful cronies and projecting their shortcomings onto others, completely unable to take any responsibility for messes of their own making. Sad little conservative nobodies clutching their pearls if there’s a different opinion expressed… Only feeling like they’ve achieved something if they’ve belittled or lied about someone else. Pathetic. Thank goodness we don’t have, in our very immediate circle, to put up with anyone like that. I feel rather sorry for anyone who does, particularly if they are afraid, and find themselves appeasing these awful people. Being so scared that they might turn on you, being so scared that you condone them, even enable them. Yes, how sad, although, scared or not, I suppose they choose to do so. If you lie down with…
Enough of these dreary people and the bad news they create! No more politics today! On to more interesting items!
Ever since we moved here, one of our favourite activities has been to wander through the Old Town streets. A friend (thanks, JH) recently mentioned how pretty parts of this city are, and she’s right, so I thought I’d share a few more sights and stops we’ve enjoyed the past few weeks. You don’t need a destination; it’s enough just to let your feet point in a direction anywhere in or near the Old Town, and it’ll be interesting. (Most of this past week has been spent in and out of various government offices completing and filing applications for health cards, driver licences, and car number plates – we didn’t take photos of the government office edifices as they weren’t so attractive!)
Stock up on essentials hereAnd here!Found at the end of a cobbled street – worth the potential turned ankle!So colourful!People watching spot near the parliament buildingVery happy to be here!Cheers!
Yes, very happy to be here, particularly as the paperwork and other dreary stuff this week is firmly in the rear view. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
…and thank goodness, particularly after the recent mini heatwave! So, how have we spent these cooler days? (Be warned: bouncing around like a box kicked rugby ball, this post will chop and change more times than a fly half trying to fool the opposition, showing no coherence, like a game spoiled by a fussy rugby referee with a whistle breaking up the flow of a game, or, or, like a…) Yeah, if you don’t like rugby, maybe stop reading?
Let’s try the non-rugby stuff. Falling temperatures and falling leaves helped make the week a pleasant one. Scout has been very happy to get back to the woods, and we’ve enjoyed the almost bug free wandering through the trees. Yesterday morning was cool, close to the point of chilly, but it isn’t light jacket or rugby jersey weather quite yet.
Fog?! Cooling…
Gentle breezes prompted some light leaf fall, and the photo below is colourful evidence autumn is more or less upon us.
Red
Red leaves seems a reasonable reminder to look out for red ales (it does? On what planet, OPC?), and hats off to Brasseur de Montréal for their splendid red. Autumn in a glass with the cardboard and toffee caramel flavours I like in a red. It tasted far better than I’ve described it…
Red
We spent a couple of mornings mooching about the Old Town, enjoying the slightly slower fall pace compared to the more full on summer visitor business. Shall we stop for a coffee and pastry? Oh, ok!
Mooching timeCoffee time? Oh, ok!
Almost forgot – rugby stuff! The rugby World Cup is in full swing, but at seven weeks long, I’ll pay more attention after some of the opening phases are finished. My hopes are very high indeed for Ireland, unrealistically high for England, somewhat high for France, but let’s be real – most likely New Zealand or South Africa will win the whole thing.
I recently read a great piece about remarkable rugby grounds in attractive locations, and for me, this place was the winner: (we’ve agreed with friends to watch a game there sometime and go for a pint or two of Guinness after!)
Donegal Town Rugby Club’s pitch, the Holmes, next to Donegal Bay in the Republic of Ireland. Photograph: Connor Doherty/Harper Collins
Must leave it here as there’s a rumour our backyard lawn (that’s too grand – let’s say patch of grass) is being laid today, needing my expertise (huh?) and fast developing skill with a garden hose. Nope, I’ve no idea where or why Scout is hiding…
Might need some grass here?
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Backyard and him with the hose? You haven’t seen me…Followed by a Guinness? Oh, ok… (Photograph: Connor Doherty/Harper Collins)
We’re enjoying (I think I mean that) a brief heatwave this week, one that is threatening thunder this afternoon (Thursday) and all through tomorrow. It’s been too hot – hot, like a furnace – to charge about doing anything interesting aside from walking with Scout and retreating from the woods due to the resurgent mosquitoes. I got multiple bites on my right shoulder after something got in under my long sleeved shirt. It chewed away for quite some time until I noticed. Itchy…
Bugs! You can’t see them, but they’re there…
The furnace outside has meant mostly staying inside, time well spent with reading, writing and watching a few movies. The best of the movie bunch for me was The Furnace, (yup, you’ve seen what I’ve done here) an Australian outback western set in the late 1800s.
Heat induced stupor
Spectacular locations, more bugs than even in our local woods, and a ripping yarn full of interesting characters doing bad and not so bad things due to greed over gold. An exciting and thought provoking piece, with lots to chew over regarding race, avarice, indigenous rights, immigrant experiences and camels. Yup, camels. If you don’t like camels, don’t watch the movie, you’ll only get the hump. (It’s warm, I’m tired, this is the best I’ve got…) If you’re interested, here’s a better review: The Furnace Guardian review – I think this review acknowledges the Treasure of the Sierra Madre vibe, and I’d agree. If it’s not up to that level, it’s still decent enough.
Gold? Sort of…
The book I enjoyed most this week was Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks. If you liked Human Traces (I did, even if it was long winded at times) or Birdsong or A Fool’s Alphabet then you’ll likely enjoy this one. What’s it about? Love, death, grief, recovery, political tension between the wars, identity and belonging, small kindnesses in the midst of tragedy, and, as I’ve found with most of his novels, it stays with you. Also, let’s be honest, snowy Austrian mountain scenes were just the thing to read in a heatwave and after watching the outback movie!
With the heat allegedly diminishing after the weekend, we’ll be back outside a bit more and looking to explore Quebec in early fall. It’s starting to get colourful out there.
Fall colours emerging
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
It’s been an odd summer, not at all bad, but certainly mixed. We’re thoroughly enjoying exploring our new home, and enjoying securing contractors to complete various landscaping projects a bit less thoroughly. To be clear, the contractors are great – they’ve all been, quite rightly, “en vacances” – but they’re back now and trying to catch up on backlogs due to the rainy weather. Finding contractors? An invisible modern day problem to be sure, and actually the delays have been helpful – we’ve agreed not to go with the Poseidon statue. I was so hoping…
Almost there… perhaps a Poseidon statue?
It hasn’t been all rain and meetings with builders. In between showers we’ve enjoyed picnics in the park. One picnic spot looked like a set from the Teletubbies show. (If you don’t know the Teletubbies, keep it that way. Our daughter loved them when she was a toddler. She probably still does, but don’t tell her I said that…)
Teletubbies live here
Scout has become more used to the heat and humidity, and with all the recent rain has even wondered if we left the rainforests behind? She might have a point:
“Walk through there? Yeah, sure- no!”
Agreeable weather permitting, Mrs. PC has absolutely insisted we go along to the Festibiere this coming weekend. It took a bit of arm twisting. I mean, over 100 local beers? OK, yeah, maybe we’d enjoy that… We’ve put in some training:
Training
Thank you if you took a look at the pig photo last week – I was going to write a not so controversial caption connecting pigs to Tories, but decided against it. All those greedy snouts in the trough, who wants to think about that? Instead, and far better, how about this joke from ACI?
A pig walks into a bar and orders 10 drinks. After he drinks them all, the bartender says “Don’t you need to know where the bathroom is?” The pig says “No, I go wee wee wee all the way home.”
Wee, wee, wee
That’s still funny after the umpteenth time!
There’s no way it’s going to get any better here this week, so let’s leave it for now. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
It’s been a full on time recently, so this week the post will be a brief one. I was going to share a few beer photos, and do a little write up celebrating our new discoveries, but that can wait because I remembered this photo:
This image needs a caption
If you’ve the time and inclination, I’d love it if you would like to suggest a caption. No prizes, but I’ll share anything suggested. Yup, you’re writing my blog – man, I’m lazy!
August already? Where did July go? Mostly in a blur for us, but it was a colourful one…
Bright green!
Colourful and damp! I read a report on The Weather Network noting that July in Quebec had been one of the wettest in recent times, with Montreal and Quebec City receiving more than 200% rainfall compared to the average. Sherbrooke, a small city to the southeast of Montreal, received over 301mm, the wettest month on record. Keep heading east, and the Maritimes was even wetter than QC, suffering floods and record breaking rainfall. Luckily, locally, we have an umbrella or two. Colourful ones at that.
What an ongoing worrying time, climate-wise, that this summer is proving to be. The floods mentioned above, the extreme heat in southern Europe, the wildfires in the north and west. Yikes!
Colour
There’ll still be plenty of desperate-for-power politicians pretending there’s nothing to see here, being bankrolled by insatiable-for-more-wealth billionaires, and often voted for by (gullible – maybe?) folks wishing it all away, but c’mon! What more do you need to see before accepting we’re in trouble?
Bright
Anyway, with July done, here’s hoping August isn’t too extreme (either way) for rain or heat. Selfishly, I’d settle for the low 20s, and lengthy periods of sunshine and blue skies after frequent (but not too frequent) rain showers. The days where a shaded pint seems like a good idea…
A good idea? Hmm…
Keeping it brief. Youngest brother unexpectedly required and survived a lifesaving operation earlier this week. Mightily relieved is an understatement. Our plans to share a pint or two have been put on (temporary) hold. I’ve always told him no good ever comes of cider. Now beer, however…
Thanks for reading, and here’s wishing you comfortable conditions for a wonderful weekend ahead!
Cheers!Leaves on the ground – the merest hint of fall ahead?! No…
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