Day 2 - We drive to Fundy National Park

We left Kingsbury at  10AM and headed down the 20. We stopped to eat at St Louis du Ha! Ha! at La Cantine. The fries were really good but sadly I was still not feeling very well so I didn't eat much.

Truck we saw on the road, had vintage paint job.

We made it to Edmunston by 2pm, Oromocto around 8PM and it was 9:30 by the time we arrived at the entrance of the campground. Despite not feeling very well it wasn't so bad. It's amazing what good company can do to make you feel better.

We stopped at the "Blue Canoe" to gas up and pose with the blue canoe in the Fredericton area

Day 1 of trip starts slow

Was feeling so miserable this morning that we did not pack the truck and leave. I rested till about 1pm

I would have slept if I could. At least my throat is better today.

We finally left montreal at 7pm and drove to Kingsbury  so we can leave from there tomorrow.  Then straight to fundy national park

Another giant douchebag

So the guy I sent an email to tell him I wasn't going to see him again, replied the next day with a long rant disputing my reasons.Really? I tell you why I'm not going to be seeing you anymore and you tell me this is not really how I feel?

I didn't bother responding I figured it was a ginormous waste of time.  So eight days later he messages me again affirming how really the more he thinks about it, the more what I'm telling him is not right and he knows how I'm thinking and feeling.

For some reason he's got it in this head that I prefer women and he's not liking the fact that essentially I broke up with him because he drinks.

Well tough SHIT. I didn't tell you not to drink. I told you I would never have sex with a man who has drank while he is under the influence. The smell of alcohol on a man is a HUGE turnoff.  And no matter what anyone says, smells are triggers and what I lived at the hands of drunks before I was 18 has profoundly traumatized me.

If he wants to be told "Its not me, she was just a lesbian" then he can go right ahead. He can think whatever he wants to get himself through the night.

I'm not even going to bother responding to his email. This rant itself is even more attention then this guy deserves.

Moose Sheppards Pie

So last night I made sheppards pie using some of the ground moose I have. 

New dress from today.

$5 Coupon bought at Value Village.

Love the way the dress turned out and the hibiscus print.

New dresses

Pattern picked up at Value Village for $1

Crinkled stretched knit dress

Green cotton fabric

Dress with green cotton fabric.

Shiny new lens

For the past year and a half I've been trolling kijiji for lenses for my Sony dSLR's. It had been a week since I'd last looked when I loaded up Kijiji and found this lens.  Looks in mint condition. Owner sold it because he hardly ever used it.  I doubt it would be a lens I would lug on a 3 hour walk. However with tripod outside my window this lens sounds like a winner.

Tamron SP AF70-200mm f-2.8 Di LD IF Macro

Report: Puberty Class

So the 11 year old who had puberty class yesterday told his mother that the class was disturbing.  When asked why it was disturbing, because he was told that his privates might grow.

I laughed. This is a good thing, but I laughed, I laughed so hard...

Birds from Reserve faunique Portneuf

Puberty Class

Or how to traumatize an 11 year old boy in grade 5.  My friends son has been talking about it since he got home yesterday. That today is puberty class.

For some reason he's more traumatized of going to puberty class then he is of hitting puberty.  We can't help but wonder if this has anything to do with "Anger management girl", who seems to like him.   And although he doth protest too much, we think he likes her too.   When asked if he'd throw something at her, he agreed. Seems legit!

Can't wait to hear all about puberty class when he comes home from school tonight!!!

Camping trip cut short

I was expecting to come home on the Monday. Instead I came back home on the Sunday. My daughter  was feeling home sick and didn't have enough of her stuff with her to be comfortable so after spending all of Saturday being rained on she decided it wasn't working for her and she wanted to go home. I only drove her back to Quebec City, where she's having a course, which so far is boring her stiff because she knows all the material. She would have benefited from this course more last year. But it's the army and she will be on this course know the material or not.  She would have preferred going back home to Halifax, but at least in Quebec City she can talk to her bf.

Sometimes the people you meet.

On Saturday night a couple arrived and settled across the way from us. They seemed friendly but also fairly noisy. They kept turning on the car over and over late into the evening. And they were up at 6am, and not caring if they woke up anyone else.  I managed to go back to sleep and doze in and out until 10am and then to leave my daughter sleep I took camera and wandered off to catch birds. I did a wide detour around the couple currently inflating a inflatable raft type of flotation device.

However the husband saw me and says "So going to take pictures of the fishies".  I'm standing there half awake in my PJs, no breakfast, very braindead so I didn't even understand him at first. I said "What" ?  he repeated his question.  I looked at him with what my daughter would call an "Are you stupid" look and said "no" and wandered off to take photos, I had heard the loon and was hoping it would be close enough from that waterfront spot to get a good photo.

I over heard his wife say "Wow, she didn't stick around long enough for you to ask her anymore questions. She must have been menstruating".!!

Really?

I don't go to wildlife reserves to meet people. I go there to be one with nature. I really have no interest in starting a conservation with my neighbours. I don't mind if they ask me where the bathrooms are or what have you. But just socializing. No. I'm awkward. I'm in the woods, I want to just be with nature.

Trip to Reserve Faunique PortNeuf

I left Montreal at noon, gassed up and made my way to Quebec city in heavy rain. Because of the weather I didn't get to Repentigny before 1pm. The rain finally slowed down by the time I got to Trois-Rivieres.

By the time I got to the dockyards in Quebec City it was muggy and quite hot. A bit unexpected after driving in the pissing rain for several hours.  We stopped at a Canadian Tire so she could pick up a pair of rainboots and I picked up campsoap and propane. No clue what happened to my campsoap

We got to the entrance of the reserve faunique Portneuf by around 6:30:M to check in. We got a camping site in the canoe camping spots at the top of Lac Lapeyrere.

It rained on and off while we were setting up the campsite. We tarped over the picnic table and then put the moose stew I'd made Monday night. While that was cooking we put up the tent then tarped over it.

It rained on and off most of the night and until about 11AM Saturday. Then there was less rain. We drove around and stopped at various lakes just to look at them. We had decided if we were going to canoe it was not going to be on Lac Lapeyrere because it's huge and with the wind, the waves were epic.  We wanted to find a smaller calmer lake to canoe on.

Some idiot across the lake from us kept blowing up fireworks between 10-11pm both nights we were there.

Despite the fact it was cloudy the entire day I still ended up with a sunburn on my face.

As for animals, I saw a deer on the side of the road driving up to the campsite. We saw several hares, a wild chicken, some red squirrel, turkey vultures, and several types of waterfowl including loons.

Friends with benefits, harder to find then hoped

I had met a guy on POF sometime in mid April, he was older then I usually go for and not exactly my type but he had a lot going for him that I thought might make it fun as a FWB. However it turned out he was far more looking for a committed relationship then advertised.

I can be socially inept and have a hard time reading between the lines, but sometimes I can read the clues. Like he was more interested in cuddling then sex.   I can get cuddling from any of my friends. Most would probably enjoy if I was more cuddly from time to time.  It's the sex I want dammit!

I tended to find him very critical. Usually when you meet someone knew you should be all looking at the new shiny instead of criticizing. First it was my sleeping habits, he had the nerve to say that perhaps I hadn't looked at all options to manage to sleep longer every night.  Then there was the rant about how my strange dietary habits didn't make it easy to socialize with others as meals are a social thing.

But his bringing up certain things as deal breakers for a long term relationship last Sunday night, got my shackles up. What long term relationship? I don't want to be his girlfriend.  Especially not of a guy who drinks and gambles. I've had my share of people who drink and frankly I don't want you near me if you smell of alcohol. He was never near me without having 5-6 glasses of wine.  Shudder.

So writing an email to say I won't see him again.    Been on several dating sites since last August and well... it's been mostly catch and release.  Most of the guys I write to, never write back and so few of the ones who write to me have anything remotely exciting to say. 

But honestly I don't want a long term relationship. I just want to have someone I can go camping with or canoeing with from time to time and talk to sometimes and also as a sex partner.  I have enough good friends in my life I don't need more.

Mother's day Week-end

So Saturday of mother's day week-end I spent most of the day shopping on St Hubert street going to the various fabric and notions stores. Then headed back home at dinner time where my eldest daughter was waiting for me. We caught a quick bite at an Amir's and took the metro to Cafe L'Artere to see Tranna Wintour The show was awesome.  Here's a few photos I captured myself.

I was very touched that my daughter in England messaged me to wish me a happy mothers' day. The daughter who was with me took me to an awesome show and gave me a very touching card. I cry each time I read it.  I was also very touched by the bouquet of flower I was given by my friend younger then my daughters. She wanted to thank me for being supportive of her in the two years she's known me. I was just so stunned, and I always react strangely when I'm stunned.

Finally finished the dress

This dress took me forever to finish because the neckline was bunching up    The over-stitching I had used to tryto resolve the issue made it worse. So I removed it and in the end decided to use fabric glue to resolve the issue.

If I re-use this pattern I'll make it 2 sizes smaller. With the stretch in the knit it would have fit much better.

I do love the "Morticia" sleeves on this dress

Strawberry extract

Until the mid to late 1990's I could count on Dr Fowlers Wild Strawberry Extract to take care of my tummy aches as well as random bouts of diarrhea.

Sadly in the mid to late 1990's Dr Fowlers stopped making their wild strawberry extract, and I remember asking my Pharmacy to look into it. They now make this pink chemical product that I would not touch with a 10 foot pole.

Meanwhile Jean Coutu and Pharmaprix had either a generic Strawberry Extract or a home brand. Recently I found that neither store is carrying it anymore. I know I'm not the only one looking for it as when I asked the Pharmacist at Jean-Coutu, she told me she had 4 other people looking for some as well. It appears Jean-Coutu discontinued the product. I dunno about Pharmaprix.

Doing some Googling apparently I'm not hte only one who is devastated by the fact it's become increasingly hard to find Strawberry extract. Some of the threads in various forums that I found about it, are all about how sad people are to see this product go. For some people with IBS it was a god send. I know that it tends to resolve 90% of my tummy issues, and has zero side effects with me.

Through more Googling, I found recently that Rougier has a strawberry extract that is available for sale on Well.ca   I will be ordered numerous bottles to cover my trips this summer.

I went to both Healthtree and Tau health food stores and neither carry Strawberry extract despite having lots of herbal medicinal products. The woman at Healthtree asked me if I had heard about it on dr Oz.because I was the 5th person to ask for it in so many days. 

It's HOT in Cleveland.

So two days ago at work I happened to glance at the TV that's on one of the shelves around my desk area, and noticed Betty white  and Jane Leeves on a TV show. I googled to see what was playing at that time of the day on CTV and realized it was a show called "HOt in Cleveland".

It also starts Valerie Bertinelli, and Wendie Malick.  I ended up watching all of Season 1 and it's delightful.  It reminds a bit of the show "Golden girls", except this time Betty White isn't playing the stupid/dense one. In fact the character BEtty White has as well as Janes Leeves floor me.

Currently this show is on it's 5th season, so I have plenty of comedy to watch for the next couple of days. The show is sure to have a 6th season as well, so this is a good thing.

Sadly still not the chick show I was looking for, but I can always use a good comedy to watch. 

It's been strange.

I'm realizing that despite spending some time chilling in front of my laptop, I also seem to have a reasonably active life.

Two weeks ago I was in Ottawa, Ontario on the Monday and in Fredericton, New Brunswick on the Friday [Well early Saturday morning].  With side trip in the townships before the trip to Fred to get a trailer.

I think the funniest part of the trip was the car we first spotted when you get off the 20 at Riviere du Loup and end up on the 185 I think?   He was parked on the side of the road with his 4 way flashers, and we noticed the car was so full of stuff, and the most noticeable was the large bin on the hood, that was duck taped to the hood.   That send us in a long series of bin jokes. "Bin there done that, got the tshirt"... I don't need to expand.  The funny part is that we must have passed the car 4 times and they passed us easily 3 times. They had an Alberta plate. We were willing to bet we'd run into them the next day someone around Gagetown and we would have gone up to them and said "Bin here before?

When my eldest realized I was in Fred, and it's not that far from Halifax, she and her bf decided that a road trip was warranted.  Also I've realized this young man is defacto my son in law.  I know my daughter and I can tell her mind is made up. Comments like would I be able to make her a medieval wedding dress, or she'll be having babies within the next couple of years lead you to that conclusion. It was nice I got to spend 5 hours with them.   I was beaming the rest of the day.

This past week-end I returned the trailer to it's owners in the townships. And though it was just a short stay I enjoyed spending time with my friends.  I'm happy and in a good space after leaving them.

It's made me realize that I'm in a good place in my life.  I spend most of my time seeing the negatives, but the positives are there too. I have really awesome friends.