Day 15: The Chouf and Al-Shouf Cedar Reserve

We went with Souad to Joumana's family's home in the Mountains of the Chouf. The view from Joumana's home is breath taking. Mountains and valleys. From there we drove to the Al-Shouf Cedar Reserve and with a guide, toured the part of the reserve that is accessible to tourists. I found the Cedars here to be somewhat different from the Cedars in Bcharre. The guide told me it was impossible because all Lebanese Cedars are the same. This might be an official line, but I know enough about gardening to know that while the Cedars from both locations are very similar, they have a distinct feel to them and difference.

The oldest Cedars here, can be also up to 3500 or even 4000 years old. Rumour has it that the roots of some of the biggest Cedars go from the mountains and reach the sea. It's probably what keeps Lebanon from falling into the sea.

The nice thing about the Cedars of the Al-Shouf reserve is you can see they are taking good care of them. The forest is not just Cedar but also contains old Oaks and other conifers and feels really vibrant. I didn't get the feel of trees screaming here, but of trees in peace.

After our visit in the forest we had a meal at a typical mountain restaurant I'm told. I believe we stopped at the Barouk Palace Hotel, and ate at their River Restaurant. The food was very good, and I loved the fact it was along side the Barouk river and just so neat.

We dropped Joumana back home, stopped in to say goodbye to her family, and meet one of her friends. Then drove back to Beirut, it was dark and with picked up Eliane and Alain. We spent evening at Sonia's sharing stories and laughing.

Day 14: Wadi Kadisha & Cedars of Bcharre

We set off for the mountains with Eliane, Alain, Tony & Nicole. We went with 2 cars. We went to the around the Kadisha valley, Historians believe that the Kadisha Valley has had monastic communities continuously since the earliest years of Christianity. First we drove   up a steep mountain gorge.  My original google search concluded it was  the Melchite Catholic the Monastery of St. John of Chouweir or Deir et-Tabcheh... But I was mistaken. It is instead the Monastery Saint Anthony of Qozhaya that we visited.  The Monastery has a museum which displays the first Arabic printing press, along with other interesting artifactsIt also shows caves where early Christians used to pray.

We had lunch in Edhen. This restaurant had poutine on the menu. Samer tried it out and the thing looked disgusting and nothing like a Quebecois poutine. The server was such a space cadet and they didn't have half of the items on their menu.

Finally around 2pm we were in Bcharre, and we went to one of Lebanon's two Cedar reserves, the Arz el Rab reserve. Some of the Cedars in this reservation are 3500 years old. It blows the mind. The sad part is that some of those trees have half been cut down recently for firewood, because people were so cold. In the reserve there is a small Maronite chapel who's name I cannot find, but it is quite pretty.

After exiting the Cedar reserve, we walked along the road where there are plenty of souvenir merchants. One of the souvenir shops, the guy talked to us, asking where we were from. Samer said he was Lebanese, and I said I was a Canadian. He thought it was cute and took a keychain made from cedar and burned our names into it with 2010 and Bcharre as a souvenir of our trip. We ended buying a wooden Cedar box for me from him as well.

We got back to Beirut it was dark.

Day 13: Visiting friends in Beirut

Early in the day we went to Eliane's place near the bank of Byblos. We spent a few hours grilling Alain since it was the first time we meet Eliane's husband :) Of course while we were visiting their place was grand central station, one person would leave, another would arrive :P

In the afternoon we wandered over to LAU to see Leila after doing some shopping. Samer went to help Leila backing up her computer onto a USB drive.

Later that evening we took a cab to Susu's place. I was very lucky I got a private exhibition of Susu's paintings. Unfortunately shortly after arriving there, my stomach got all bent out of shape and we went back to Sonia's.

Day 12: Baalbek

We spent the day going to Baalbeck with Susu to visit the archeological site. The temple of Bacchus here is impressive. I felt compelled to walk it's perimeter while touching the walls. The entire site is impressive. What I found funny was that there was graffiti etched in the stone of the walls of the temple of bacchus from the 1850s. And we think modern man has invented everything!

While we were there we ran into 2 doctors from New Zealand traveling the silk road.

I can't remember what town we stopped in on the way back from Baalback but we had dinner there at this nice restaurant. We got back to Beirut after dark.

Many nights during this trip Susu and I would end up in Sonia's room talking for hours. Especially me, I got to be very verbose. It was interesting, I got to know both Sonia and Souad so much better on this trip. It was an interesting form of bonding. All 3 of us suffer from some form of ADD/ADHD and in some ways are very similar. All of us have unique challenges because of our neurological disorder and we each deal with it in a different way.

Day 11: Jbeil & Byblos

While I'd been to Jbeil and Byblos in 2007 it was at night, and I thought it might be nice to see it again. Souad took us and we first visited the Crusader Castle, that I had only previously seen at a distance. We also went to the souk and to the Wax Museum. We had lunch at Pepe's. The fish was pretty good. We stopped at a Cafe where Susu and Samer had some desert and we saw cats begging. It was pretty entertaining.

We were hoping to see Eliane and Alain but family obligations kept them away.

Day 10: Three countries in 12 hours

We left Wadi Rum at 8am after running into husband & wife from the Canadian Praries, who currently live in a ex-pat 'English community' in Aqaba. Of all the places to meet, in a desert camp in Wadi Rum.

We got to Amman around noon time and had lunch at a small Falafel joint where our driver often takes his family for a meal. This was some of the best falafel I've tasted and it was dirt cheap. Not more then a couple of canadian dollars and we had 20 falafels and a huge plate of hummus of course with pita and drinks. Our Syrian driver picked us up here and we drove to Syrian border, then drove straight across Syria, to the Lebanese border. This time we were at the Masnaa border and it went better! We came through the mountains and through some stiff fog around Mount Lebanon, which Samer loved.

We were in Beirut by dark. What a trip! Was the first time I'd been in 3 different countries in 12 hours! It could have been different countries if we had been able to enter Israel! Oh well!

Day 9: Wadi Rum

We didn't have anything planned till noon and in retrospect I should have asked to go back to Petra for the morning... but it just occurred to me, months later when transcribing the travel notes!

I spent some of the time taking pictures of the view, and of the paintings by a local artist of Petra found on the various floors of the hotel. Samer actually spent some time sun tanning and swimming in their pool. I wasn't in the mood for swimming.

We left at noon and went back for the last time to the Sandstone restaurant. We drove to Wadi Rum and took a 4x4 ride in the desert. Our truck was a toyota with 2 rows of seats and a back wagon. Samer and our driver sat in back and I sat with the Bedouin up front so I wouldn't be sick! The Bedouin asked where we were from and I said Canada. He said he liked Canadian tourists. Apparently we're nice and friendly. He dislikes the French, Germans and Italians because they are disrespectful and not appreciative.

The desert in Wadi Rum is surprisingly beautiful. It's not endless rolling sand dunes like in Dubai. This was just the beginning of the rainy season so it was the end of the dry season and there were these long white flowers in bloom and all sorts of small brush in the desert. Other then all the rock structures of sandstone, that look like they were carved from the sea. This area of Jordan was part of the Silk road and apparently the movie Lawrence of Arabia was filmed there.

We stayed at Al Zawaideh Desert Camp. While the accommodations were not particularly traditional it was fun. We had a small tent to ourselves. The food was awesome, there was enough food I could eat as a veggie. I even got to sample the Bedouin tea without sugar and it was quite good. I have to google how to make some of it :)

It was interesting, the food [especially lamb and chicken] was cooked in pans that were buried under the sand, just by the heat of the sun. I thought it was a really neat idea.

In the Jordanian desert is where I first experienced smoking a Shisha. I have to admit it was fun. I'm not sure I'll ever do it again, but I definitely enjoyed it.

Day 8: Dead Sea & Petra or Camels, Horses and Donkey's Oh My!

We left Amman for the dead sea at 8am. We got there at 9am before the first tour bus. Heck I had to ask them to open the women's bathrooms, they were still locked!!! It was awesome floating in the dead sea. We stayed close to an hour, just floating and enjoying the feeling. I couldn't bring myself to put mud all over myself though.

After we drove till about 1pm and made it to Petra. On the way we stopped so we could buy some local apples and sample them. They were great. It seemed like a mix between a granny smith and a red delicious. I didnt find much difference in taste between their green and red apples. However much like any fresh fruit recently picked off a tree, as opposed to a fruit that is picked before it is ripe for travel, it was sweet and delicious tasting.

We had lunch at the Sandstone restaurant in Petra which caters to vegetarians - like myself and our driver as it turns out. Around 3pm we got to Petra, and then rushed to get to the top - the monastery. We didn't get there till around 5:30 pm. It's impressive. Once up there I sat on a bench while Samer went up some more to a look out from where you can see the valley and Petra and the whole site. I figured my knee needed resting. While I was there I heard a cat's meow, so I responded. This yellow tabby male came out of nowhere, and jumped on my lap. I petted him and talked to him some, and he promptly fell asleep on my lap. I had to pry him off when Samer came back and we decided to go back down and try to see as much as possible before the sun sets.

The road leading to the Monastery from the entrance is about 4-5 km and there is 800 steps to get to the top. We didn't stop to take too many photo's walking up, and walking down towards the end it was too dark. Spending 5 hours at Petra was not nearly enough. I want to go back. We just barely covered the beginning. I want to see it all. I didn't get to see enough of the Treasury. All of this of course many people have seen in the Indiana Jones movie.

We had dinner around 8pm at the Sandstone restaurant. Not a bad idea. Although the Panorama hotel in Petra had a spectacular view of the town in the valley and felt much more like a hotel in Jordan, I didn't want to risk that it didn't have the right type of food.

Day 7: Amman, Jebel Nebo & Madaba

We left Damascus around 8:30 AM and we were at the border of Jordan roughly around noon. I was so frazzled by the border crossing and changing cabs that somehow I left my passport in the Syrian cab. When we got to the travel agent's office with our Jordanian driver, I get asked if I left my passport on the bus. I think he is joking until I cannot find my passport. The Syrian driver, an honest man, called to tell our Jordanian driver that he found my passport and arranged to meet up with us on his way out of Amman to return my passport.

After which we drove to Mount Nebo. It was probably later then expected because we lost 2 hours dealing with my damn passport. Mount Nebo is about 50km away from the border of Israel. The view is stunning. Sadly we arrived at the beginning of the rainy season and it happened to be windy and stormy that day, so the visibility was poor. We could see from the top of Mount Nebo the Dead sea - to which I exclaimed "That's it? That's a SEA? It's the size of a small lake!!!". That Canadian bias after seeing some of the great lakes!

We saw some amazing Mosaics at Mt Nebo and then some more at St George's Greek Orthodox church in Madaba. We got back to Amman it was dark and stayed at the Ramada Inn. If you want to sample life in the place you are staying, don't stay at the Ramada Inn. Apples from the US, when Jordan produces amazing local apples. Just as an example. There is nothing typically Jordanian on their restaurant menu other then hummus.. which isn't a meal. I had a meltdown in Amman. Especially after seeing the menu.

Samer took a cab around Amman and brought back some Falafel, hummus, and other local food which helped a great deal.

Day 6: Old Damascus

We had breakfast in Abu Kamal restaurant looking over a roundabout bustling with activity. We walked towards the souk and shopped a bit in the Damascus souk. We found some interesting souvenirs in one store, but none of our cards would work. The shop keeper walked us to a local bank machine where after trying all cards, I managed to get a cash advance on my Mastercard. At one end of the souk is the entrance to the Umayed Mosque. We had to get an entrance ticket for me and rent a brown hooded abaya before we could enter.

Shafi took us around the Mosque and toured us around. What to say about this Mosque other then impressive and beautiful and awesome. I could have spent more time absorbing it all but when you travel with others you have to be mindful of others :) We did get to see Saladin's burial place.

After our visit of the Mosque, we found Sonia at a cafe in a small street of old Damascus. I had a cold beverage and did a bit more shopping. It was interesting walking through the narrow roads and we went to this restaurant housed in a beautiful old home. I originally wrote it was Beit Jabri but I was wrong. According to a photo I have it is the Al Shami House Restaurant. The food was good but the place was just incredible. After we continued walking around the old Damascus, stopping in a couple of hotels that Sonia wanted to scout for future trips.

By the time we took a cab back to the hotel it was dark. Sonia and Shafi left for Beirut, while we took a long walk around the area around our hotel. We ended up on a street filled with shops so we did some window shopping until Samer couldn't deal with all the people anymore, then went to get fries again at the falafel and fry shop.

Day 5: Damascus

We got to Damascus it was dark. We didn't have too much of a hard time finding our Hotel, but we were not housed in the main part of the hotel but in an adjacent building a few buildings down. This seemed more like long term apartment then short term hotel room. The first room we were shown apparently stank and looked disgusting.

They were deciding how they felt about the second room and really I found nothing wrong. It wasn't any worse then any cheap motel I've been at. The rooms were clean and bug free. There was bathroom with functional shower and functional AC. We weren't planning on doing much but sleep in the rooms, so why stress it? Originally the idea was that the two men would share a room and the two women would share a room, so it was a suite with 2 bedrooms with each a single bed.

However apparently things have relaxed in Syria and no one asked us if we were married when we were alone in the suite the 2nd night. It didn't matter. My paranoia meant that we had a Lebanese paper that shows family status and is an acceptable proof for such cases. However Samer realized later that in his passport, our marital status is shown but in in English. Either way we were covered and we were never asked.

We went for a walk and found a place that made great french fries with amazing seasoning a couple of streets over. It was right next to a men's coffee house. As best as I can call it. Large room which much have room to seat up to about 2000 people. Men play cards, play chess, or checkers, eat, drink non alcoholic drinks, smoke shisha, watch sports and socialize. This coffee house appeared to be near capacity.

Day 5: Homs

This morning we left really early by cab from Beirut with Sonia and Shafi and drove north towards Tripoli, and to the border of Syria. via the Arida crossing. What chaos! In the end Samer had to pay Syrian official [Or lebanese official?] $10 because he had a Canadian wife! Past the crossing the drive to Homs was uneventful.

I guess the thing that struck me once we got into Syria is that it's poorer then the poorest parts of Lebanon that I've seen. Either that or the Syrians aren't as industrious ? Not sure. When I was told my mom in law was from Homs and the jokes that abounded around it I had visualized a small village. But apparently the city of Homs is now a large urban center and is home to over 1 million people. It's the third most important city in Syria , and mostly inhabited by Sunni Muslims.

Along with Sonia's good friend Nabila, we visited Homs' traditional Souk, as well as the "The Church of the Lady of the Girdle" where Sonia's mom used to worship. The story goes that this church has a girdle worn by the Virgin Mary. Currently this church, built over two older churches, is an active Syrian Orthodox worship center.

Nabila, a childhood friend of Sonia's treated us to Syrian hospitality. We were served a large meal. When Nabila found out I was vegetarian, she had made a bean dish especially for me. Although the smell of the bean dish was foul, the dish itself was quite delicious. After the meal, her husband drove us to the bus station and insisted on getting us tickets for the luxury coach to Damascus and wouldn't hear about us paying anything.

Oh and before we went to the bus station, he took us to the childhood home where Sonia had lived as a child. I took several photo's of Sonia and Samer in front of the building which still stands and looks very much as Sonia remembered it.

One thing that struck me about Nabila is she reminded me of my friend Diane, not because they looked that much alike but because her skin, both on her hands and face and her facial features appear like those of someone with Scleroderma.

Day 4: Saida and Sour

Today we went into the South of Lebanon, first we drove out of Beirut in the direction of Saida [Sidon]. The town is along the Mediterranean and has an interesting crusader Castle which we stopped to visit. We also visited the souk which had no sellers because it was Saturday but had a stamp exposition in collaboration with the Turkish government that was open and free to visit.

After which we drove to Sour, to a nice villa owned by Souad's uncle where we spent the day's hottest hours. The house has a large outdoor living area near a pool on beautifully kept grounds. Other then a jack hammer who serenaded us for the first hour, there is such peace in the gardens, that you forget you're just 2 hours away [when there is traffic] from the chaos of Beirut.

This was my first experience main with Lebanese hospitality. [That is outside of Samer's family] We were treated to a feast, of which 6 of the 8 dishes I could actually eat. Several were fish dishes and I was made aware that the fish had been bought early the same morning from the fisherman, before it made it to the market. The food was just awesome.

We then went to visit the Al-bass archeological site in Sour [Tyr]. The site is impressive. I also saw probably the biggest aloe vera plant. Compared to my small plants at home!

We got back to Beirut it was dark.

Day 3: Beirut - Visiting Samer's Amto

Today, Saturday along with Sonia, Souad and Samer, we went to visit Samer's Amto. In arabic it means a paternal aunt. This is his dad's youngest sister, and also Samer's favorite aunt. I liked her because she is blunt and direct. I always like that in people. She has two teen age daughters, both pretty spunky.

The conversation took an interesting twist and we ended up discussing open relationships and the fact that 1 person can rarely be someone else everything. Not the conversation I would have expected but I can see his aunt and I see eye to eye :)

Day 2: Visit downtown Beirut

We took a walk from my mom in law's house in West Beirut to Martyrs Square and the big blue Mosque that is also the resting place of Hariri. The Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque, is modern, finished in 2007 and also the first Mosque I had the pleasure to visit.

We met Samer's friend Joumana in front of the Mosque, and continued visiting walking past the Roman ruins and going to Place de L'Etoile. After which we went back to West Beirut since Samer wanted to say Hi to Brenda, the Missionary from his childhood, who just happened to be in Beirut at the same time as us.

Day 1 : Arrival in Beirut

We landed in Beirut around 2pm local time and it was a change from both Montreal and Paris with 12C or less, whereas it was 32C in Beirut. Of course it goes without say that it was with 80% humidity. Sonia picked us up at the airport with Karim.

I was pretty jet lagged so my recollection of the day is fuzzy at best. I know we saw Samer's friend/teacher/ex-boss Leila. His uncle Gerard and wife Nouna also stopped by for a visit and I'm sure Souad came over to hang out as well.

Day 0 : We leave for Beirut, Lebanon

We left for the airport at 2pm. After waiting 30 minutes to be processed at the check out counter we found out 2 of our bags were too heavy for the current international standards for Air France. So we had to buy an extra carry-on and put all the heavier stuff in it. Despite this we were still too heavy but the 2nd person we got at the checkout counter was much nicer and she avoided us the surcharge for an extra heavier bag.

It was a big Boeing 777 from Air France reasonably new, so it had personal entertainment at each station. I ended up watching Sex & the City 2 and some new doors documentary [not as good as the movie based on book "No one gets out of here Alive" in my opinion]. Also got to watch an episode of NCIS and an episode of CSI. THat kept me from stressing too much over the turbulance. THe food was nothing special and their sauce was sugared. YUCK. Thankfully their fruit was fresh.

I hate Charles de Gaules airport. We arrive in this massive plane and had to walk down the stairs ourselves onto the tarmac and then onto a bus with our carry-on. Then we got to the terminal where the first thing that happens is a security check. Because in that space between being scanned in Canada and boarding the place SO MUCH CAN HAPPEN!!!

They were so disorganized. THe thing beeped for absolutely no reason. I mean I Had gone through the first time without it beeping but they forced me to go back to take my camera out. Because somehow being asked if I had a laptop should have made me realize that if I had a camera and anything else electronic I was supposed to take it out of my carry-on. Then I walked through again and this time it beeped and I was patted down. After all that once they asked for my boarding pass, they re-scanned my purse. The irony of it all is after all those security checks I had both a lighter and matches in my purse... which both made it back to Montreal on the way back too.

And with all the stresses I didn't manage to sleep a wink the whole way to Beirut from Montreal.

Great Chart

I think I saw this posted on Facebook by one of my friends. I thought it was great.

Craigleith and Wassaga Beach Provincial Parks.

I recently had opportunity to go camping in Ontario, on the shores of the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, at Craigleith Provincial Park. It was beautiful. Sadly spending 2 nights was not nearly enough, we will have to go back at some point.

What brought me there, was that I was going to see my eldest daughter graduate from her Navy boot camp on June 24th, at CFB Borden. It's far enough from Montreal, that we had to spend the night and I checked out the area and figured it might be nice to camp on the edge of Lake Huron. It was and we were about 1 hour away from Borden where we stayed. I was very pleased that I got to see my daughter march and graduate.

We also went to Wasaga Beach Provincial park to check out the beach since at the campground, the waterfront was all in shale, and not a place recommended for swimming. We were at Wasaga Beach when the tornado struck Midland, Ontario on June 23rd. We even saw some funnel looking clouds at the distance...

On a different topic when we arrived in Wasaga Beach provincial park we were given a variety pack of Larabars and they are great. Big thanks to Park Ontario for that! I can actually eat them and not get a spike in sugar. Many flavours very yummy. Well the only one I cannot eat is the one with cocoa in it and the boys tell me that the coconut gives it a weird taste but I digress... I was thrilled to find that the Loblaws in Kirkland carries Larabars. They also carry them at Health tree but in individual bars only.

Kalisse Mon Pied!!!

The first time my eldest daughter swore, she was between 12-18 months. It was several days after being exposed to someone who stubbed his toe at the pool and exclaimed "Kalisse, mon pied!" She waited judicially until she bumped her foot into something accidentally several days later to use the same phrase. It took me so off guard I exploded in laughter. Needless to say, she said it often in the following months I suppose in hopes of getting me to laugh.

I didn't say it this morning but I probably should have. I stormed out of my house and kicked my rubber tub, filled with weeds I plucked from my garden on Saturday. I was obviously wearing the wrong pair of shoes... [Though really nice shoes] as I sprained my foot.

Because I was angry.

Do women in Niqabs toss their shoes too?

While I grew up in the 60's and 70's in a liberal Quebec society, I fully respect that others do not want to dress as liberal as I do. I would never remove the right to anyone to dress the way they please, and this applies just as much to women who wear face veils.

However I strongly feel that in a secular society there is no place for allowing one segment of society the right that others do not have based on religion or cultural practices. I cannot enter a bank wearing a full-face reflective motorcycle helmet without making security guards nervous and without being asked to remove the helmet, so why should they be allowed that right?

I mean ultimately the only right women who choose to cover their faces lose with Bill 94, is to get served by public servants where a need for identification is required as well as being allowed to work with the public dressed as such.

We have a relaxed dress code at work, and I can pretty much wear what I want. If I showed up with my face completely covered I'm sure security would ask me to uncover my face to make sure I'm the person I claim to be.

I know for a fact if I went to Saudi Arabia and did not dress appropriately as a female I'd be tossed in jail without much thought by anyone. Why then do some people expect that they can come here and we will change our society just for them. There are very few countries in the world that are as accommodating as Canada, but there is a limit.

Also it makes me wonder. As it goes, I'm pretty happy to be a Canadian, and a Quebecois and so while I love to travel and hope to keep traveling during my yearly vacations, I would never dream of leaving my country for elsewhere forever. If others have left their country it had to be because things were bad. So then why go somewhere else and expect them to behave like they were home, which they left because it was bad??? I just don't get that.

Quebec seems to have learned it's lesson with the Catholic Church controlling the population well into the 1950's, and hopefully we will keep our society secular. This does not mean there is no room for religion. Just the rules of the state should be based on common sense and not outdated cultural practices. Women have been an integral part of Canadian society. We worked hard to be equal members and hope that newcomers will not erode the freedom we worked so hard to achieve.

Bell can throttle my rear end.

I'm about this close to telling bell where to take their lan line and shove it. I'm so sick of having my internet connection throttled. If they think because they throttle my line that I will cancel my contract with ACANAC and go back to them I've got news for them. I'll cancel my Bell phone line LONG BEFORE my ISP.

It just sucks that I don't have many if any options for lan line where I live other then Bell that can give me DSL. Voice over IP isn't an option. It's something else Bell throttles. I really hope that the CRTC eventually realizes that Bell's bad practices suck for everyone.

I mean Bell's throttling is so bad that sometimes when I change IP's I can't connect again. I'd get better internet surfing with DIAL-UP. It's stupid seriously. It's just making me more anti-Bell. The phone line is the last thing of Bell's I have and soon it will be gone. I know for sure when I move I'm never going to Bell EVER AGAIN. Canada's allowing Bell to be the only phone carrier for years has made them very cocky. Anyone who's a monopoly can be an ass and this is never good for the common man.

Catholic Church should clean house

I was born into a French Canadian Catholic family and by age 6 I'd chosen to not be a Catholic because I really didn't like how hypocritical Catholic adults could be. I mean the bible tells us to do onto others as we would like others to do onto us. However I saw more of a "Do as I say and not as I do". I also saw too much 'sinning' done on a regular basis, and it was all good so long as you confess to your sins and atone for them. Then start all over again the next week.

Obviously not everyone in the Catholic church is a serial sinning hypocrite, but there were enough who were to turn me off the Catholic religion by age 6. I'm just as turned off now by the statements made by the Vatican in regards to 'gossip' about sexual abuse by priests.

Just because everything was done hush hush and no one talked about it back then does not make it any less bad. Anyone who was sexual abused, raped or molested, whether as a child or an adult, knows that it leaves PERMANENT SCARS and some unfortunately identify with their abuser and perpetuate the circle by abusing others around them. Trying to tell someone who was abused or molested that it never happened keeps the deep seating guilt and shame alive and spoils their lives. Haven't they suffered enough? Can't those who abused at least take responsibility for their actions?

What the Vatican and Catholic church SHOULD be doing is cleaning house. ANY PRIEST who has been accused of molesting children should be retired from being a priest. If this had been done years ago as they were found AND NOT RELOCATED TO other places so they could continue to ruin lives, they wouldn't be trying so hard right now to pretend it never happened. Also trying to sweep what happened under the carpet is asinine. The people who were abused need an apology and not be told "This is vicious gossip". Usually when there is smoke there is fire. Denial isn't just a river in Egypt. Benedict should step down for his cover ups of abuse in the past

And what about the residential schools in Canada for Native Americans, who were taken as children from their family and beaten/molested/abused into becoming little white people clones. Beaten for talking their language or being native? The reason we have so many problems on our reservations have more to do with the CHRISTIAN priests abusing Native people then any other intervention the white men did.

Personally I think Jesus would be horrified with all that has transpired and wouldn't want to be associated at all with the Catholic church. How can a priest who has abused little boys think he can be a SPIRITUAL LEADERS for others? I would think one should show by example ....

As for my current beliefs, it's summed up in one phrase "And it harm none, do what thou wilt". Meaning that the first rule is to not HARM anyone or anything, including pets & other animals, the environment, mother earth and of course ourselves. Jesus would have no problem with my beliefs, even if I'm not a "Christian".

Cooking marathon.

Today was my monthly cook day or cook week-end. First I put in my presto pressure cooker a 'stewing hen' I bought a few weeks back and put in the freezer. I cooked it, tomorrow I will de-bone it. After which I will make soup with the bones and the remaining juices. With the meat I make Chicken a la King, and Rosemary Chicken with navy beans. And I will keep some for the soup as well. Not sure if I will make chicken soup or chicken/vegetable soup.

For myself I cooked a ratatouille, which I just finished sampling and is absolutely delicious. It's a dish I made just for myself which includes eggplant, zucchini, peppers and onions. Hubby won't touch anything with zucchini and eggplant, and Bill stays well away from the peppers and onions. I'm also making lentil and tomato soup. I used a mixture of split varied lentils instead of just red lentils.

It's nice right nowI have the house to myself. My friend and her kids went to visit her sister in Ottawa and her hubby is currently at work. Samer went with Bill to Bill's brother's to watch some sort of Martial Arts demonstration, and it might also be a poker night with the boys, not sure. So it's me and Jethro right now :) If I could only draw, it would be perfect.

Devastating Fire on St Patty's day

A close long time gf just lost almost all her worldly possessions in a devastating fire. Like many fires, it started in the kitchen with the making of French fries. Thankfully only her husband was home when the blaze started, and he suffered a couple of burns on one forearm and a bit of smoke inhalation. He was taken to Sacre Coeur Hospital as a precaution. While the townhouse will have to be completely rebuilt, thankfully everyone in the family is safe. Two of the pets survived, a cat aptly called "Lucky" and the hamster Fuzzball. Poor lucky ended up with burns on his paws, but is recovering nicely. The hamster, well we all thought he was dead. The firemen told us none of the animals upstairs had survived the fire, but admittedly he never claimed he found the hamster, just the bird and the other cat, Leroy [Jenkins named after the WOW Leroy Jenkins] unfortunately did not make it, smoke inhalation.

The firemen were afraid there would be deaths considering the speed at which the fire spread. My friend [also co-worker] had gone home at lunch time to pick up some Splenda for her tea 30 minutes before and the townhouse was standing. When she received the phone call maybe 20 minutes later, from her landlord about her townhouse having gone up in flames, and by the time she got there, it was all over. There was nothing left. Well almost nothing. We managed to salvage most of the clothes that were on the 2nd floor. We salvaged other items as well including a couple of dressers but it's entire possible it will all have to be thrown out because of smell. But it was important to salvage it because it's all that was left. We salvaged some photo's and the hard drives in her computer that had photos.

Currently she along with her husband, 3 children the cat and hamster are living with me since there was just hubby and I in my big house.

Here are the photos from a firemen' website. The fire made the front page of the west Island Chronicle and Cite Nouvelles. The scary part is the pictures in the newspaper were of the fire still Raging. Those news reporters must scan the 911 frequency because they have a picture of flames. By the time I got there, no more flames were coming out. Just a burnt smell and lots of firemen and first aid.

I've never had anyone close to me go through such an experience and I was impressed with our first response teams. I got there maybe 20-30 minutes after the fire started. There was police, firemen, and first response/ambulance techs there. Within another 20 minutes arrived the red cross team. They provided by friend with $65 voucher for the nearest IGA for food, a $1700 voucher at the nearest Zellers for clothes and footwear for the whole family. They also offered her 2 nights at a nearby hotel, but she felt more comfortable coming to my house, where it's familiar, especially since it was just for 2 nights and she would have to move again after then.

The neighboring townhouse whose wall touches my friends kitchen wall, had to be evacuated for a few days while they repaired their common wall. She was also put up in hotel for 2 days by the red cross.

They also gave her numbers of other aid organizations. I suppose those people who are left destitute and have no family can then also contact sun youth and a few other places for more help. I was still impressed at the speed of the response. It was also really cool that one of the guys in our team decided to take a collection and in a week collected $670. Our company also gave her 4 days paid at 75% [like sick days basically] for the four days she didn't work after the fire. So she's not losing the cumulated time she was cumulating for her trip around the US this summer with her children.

Still it's a traumatizing event. Many people after seeing the pictures cry out of gratefulness it wasn't them.

Avalanche snow removal

I guess I was lucky. I knew when I signed the contract for $60 less then the contractor I was using last year that I might be setting myself up for trouble. If it's too good to be true then there's probably a catch.

I was not particularly impressed with the fact that they came after I finished clearing driveway enough to get car in, the first snow storm of the season around 8:45 PM.

However oddly enough and it may just be sheer coincidence, both times I expected them to have come and they hadn't when I got home, I called, and of course got hung up on by their full mailbox but each time 15 minutes later, the truck would show up to clear my driveway.

I can't say they are as early to show up as Rick does in my neighborhood, but I watched this week-end as Avalanche came as many times to clear my driveway, as Rick's cleared my neighbors.

The main positive thing I can say about Avalanche is that the driver seems to grasp the fact that although I'm in a semi-circle and my single driveway is adjacent my neighbors double driveway, he seems to be able to clear it in a straight line and properly

The contractor I used the past 3 years Rick's, seemed to think because my neighbor and I have adjoining driveways at least on the first car length, that it was ok, just to clear the neighbors and curve at the end of my driveway, so that basically by the time February came along if I didn't clear the snow myself I couldn't get into my driveway unless I went through the neighbors. When I complained about it and I did so twice, I got told that the driver can't tell where the driveway is with all the snow.

Well
1) IT's up to THEM to put their pickets in a fashion as to where they can tell where the driveway is.
2) After being told he coulnd't tell where my driveway was, I put my own picket that is 2 M high and has a reflective top, so that there is no way it can be missed

Well the driver kept missing it What's the point of paying for snow removal if you have to end up shoveling it yourself?

So far I'm reasonably happy with Avalanche. I mean I remember the first year or 2nd year I was with Rick, his service that year was piss poor too Other then the curved driveway I remember getting stuck in my driveway twice because it hadn't been cleared and there was enough snow in it to accumulate under the car and make it so it can't move cause the wheels no longer touch the ground.

THe only thing I'm not too thrilled about, is that it seems Avalanche and SylJack are owned by the same people. Their offices are next door to one another, their trucks are same with same writing. And for the life of me I can never say Syl-Jack, I always say SlyJack. THe dyslexic in me just reads it like that.

The evils of Sugar and sugar substitutes.

I often get excited when I think I've found a new product in the food section that I can eat. I mean when it comes to pre-prepared foods there isn't much out there that I can eat, because it almost always either has white flour, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch... and the list goes on of bad refined flours/sugars.

I had found this new brand, that is sweetened by splenda. It seemed harmless enough. It was coleslaw dressing. I tried it out the same afternoon putting a decent amount on my large coleslaw. First off, I never could finish, the sweetness made me nauseous. Then there's the fact that like anything else that fucks with my sugars even a little, it made me moody... but that kind of moody that comes out of nowhere, that I'm not aware I'm moody until I blow up over not much.

So I had better learn to recognize splenda in the list of ingredients because apparently having food with SPlenda is a no no.

I found this article on Splenda a great read. It's long but it talks about sugar sensitivity. Which is my problem.

It sucks. I mean the list of things I use to love that I had to give up is endless. I was reminded today, how much I loved danish butter cookies something I haven't had in maybe 15 years or more. Cookies, chocolate cake, Manischewitz wine, especially the blackberry one, among other things.

Sleep patterns shot to hell

I wasn't already having enough of a hard time sleeping, with the changing back to no daylights saving, I'm sleeping even less.

I'm so fed up of waking up around 5am starving. Then I can't get back to sleep. I really don't need to get up before 6:30 or 7am. But I've been awake since 5 and starving. If I eat now, I still won't get back to sleep or if I do, I'll wake up groggy and pissy startled at 7:30.

My problem is that I fall asleep too early at night. Drives me NUTS. Lately between 10 and 11 I go out like a light. But the side effect is waking up between 4-5 am.. which as I stated earlier does nothing for me.

My car is considerate

My car broke down on Sunday night coming back from Kahnawake. It broke down about 5 minutes away from home. It was weird too, we were driving along sources and the car just stalled while we were driving. No amount of cajoling, or coaxing got it going. I had to call for the CAA and get it towed to my favorite garage, the Midas on St Charles near the 40.

In all fairness, I drove 5 hours on Sunday. I drove 2 hours to Ottawa, then another 2 hours back but didn't drive straight home, I drove to Kahnawake to pick up Bill. The boys had a boys night out planned, which included seeing the movie "Capitalism" and going to a strip club. One cannot live in Montreal and never have been to a strip club. It is just unheard of.

We stopped about 1 hour in Kahnwake and then were driving me home when the car stalled. To the car's credit, it did not stall in Ottawa or on the road to Ottawa. It did not stall in our 2 week trip through the maritimes. Heck it could have stalled on the Mercier bridge going into Kahnawake. But it chose to stall just a few minutes from home.

Midas figured it was the timing belt that was finished, and damaged. A coworker explained that when a timing belt breaks it could destroy your motor. I lucked out mine got damaged before it broke. While it cost me over $1000 to fix, at least it was for a good cause.

My little Mazda Protege 1999 rocks! [But I still hate Mazda the company for their horrible treatement of those who buy their cars]

Why is there SUGAR in EVERYTHING?

I'm having a bad day. A bad Tuesday. Because this week Monday was Canadian ThanksGiving.

So this morning I wake up to 17C in my house. It's been hovering between 18-20 since Friday, but now it's 17C. So I broke down at 6am to call for repairs. I'm still waiting 8 hours later. Very much like last time, where though they were supposed to be here between 7am and 1pm, they called at 1pm to say it woulnd't be that day. Well now furnace isn't working, so today it's going to be TODAY. At least I hope so.

Anyways, so I'm getting hungry and figured I should get myself lunch. I checked in the freezer and realized we have smoked Salmon. I love smoked Salmon. Was reading packaging to figure out how to thaw it out and serve it, and low and behold the ingredients:

Salmon, salt, SUGAR, smoke flavour.

SUGAR? WHO the FUCK puts SUGAR in FISH.

I'm so SICK OF SUGAR. It's like the worst poison on the planet for some people, people like me who are hypoglycemic, and it keeps creeping into EVERYTHING.

I can't have coleslaw or most salads in restaurants because the vinaigrette has sugar in it. I have to read carefully the ingredients of everything I want to put into my mouth because 90% of it comes with added SUGAR.

I mean the government bitches, whines and complains about the obesity epidemic and the diabetes epidemic. Does it not occur to anyone that it has to do with the VOLUMES of sugar put in most foods? Of course not. Lets' add MORE SUGAR in MORE THINGS and kill each other off more quickly.

Like we need sugar in SALT [yes.. they add sugar in Salt too!], or FISH, or tomato sauce, or salad dressing..... I mean it's enough it's added to nearly everything, but FISH????

Who puts SUGAR IN FISH????

Anyways this did nothing to put me in a good mood. I just wanted to toss the Salmon into the garbage. Again who the fuck puts SUGAR in FISH??????

Google Maps

I tried mapping the trip with Google maps but it went crazy on me. I'm going to have to try again. We travelled somewhere between 4200-4500km. Crazy eh?

Also another thing I want to research is how cold it was each night at the location we stayed at.

We're going back home today. Our trip is over.

It started to rain about 4 am. It did not let up till the car was completely packed. It was fun taking down the camp it heavy rain. Despite that I managed to take a walk to the beach, wanted to see if it was worth making a stop before heading back towards Quebec. It was pretty scenic. Took a few photo’s of the vegetation, especially the lichen hanging from some evergreens. Was just amazing.

Once we packed up, we went to pay for the night. They had said it was fine if we paid on our way out. We made a short pit stop at the beach, so Samer could take a few photo’s of the coast/beach. Then we got on the road towards Fredericton and then towards Grand Falls. We took exit 18 in Edmonston and stopped to gas up and to eat. We stopped again at a subways and this one had whole wheat bread, so we had lunch there before continuing to drive.

We stopped at a road side stop past St Jean Port Joli and then we switched drivers. It was mid afternoon. I predicted we’d be around Quebec City for rush hour and I was right. We were there around 5ish and ended up in a lot of congestion for about 30 minutes and continued on the 20 until we met up with the 30, and we took that to avoid coming in by the Champlain bridge downtown. The 30 becomes the 132, and you can get the Mercier bridge that way, which is easier living on the West Island of Montreal. You avoid all the downtown traffic.

We got home around 8:30 and found Bill hanging out with the cats. He’d been house sitting for us. Was just weird that there was no car in the driveway. He had Earl, his mom’s bf, drop him off on the way to work Monday the week before.

We head towards Digby, to take the Ferry to St John's

Surprisingly I managed to be awake at 6am Montreal time and since it was raining we managed to get packed and leave the campground before 9am. We made it to Digby by noon local time.

We bought our tickets for the Ferry from Digby to St John’s and then went to eat in Digby, at Shore line restaurant and gift shop. I had the greek salad and fries, he had an ‘Acadian poutine’ and shrimp fussily alfredo. Was pretty good. We had originally stopped in the Subways but they had no whole wheat bread which is a deal breaker for me.

Then we spent the time we had left in Digby shopping for souvenirs. I even picked up 2 M of Nova Scotia plaid fabric! We got on the Ferry around 4pm and I’m typing as we are about to leave Digby from the ferry. This particular ferry takes 3 hours to cross the bay of Fundy. Unfortunately I was a touch seasick and ended spending par t of the time at the laptop station recharging Samer’s laptop and surfing a little.

We could might have seen whales but didn’t. We got to St John’s just around dark. We took the road to New River Beach, probably 20 km away. It’s a provincial park on the shore of the bay of Fundy. It was pretty scenic, except we arrived in the dark.

We spend the day in Halifax near Pier 21

Today we drove from Porters Lake to Halifax. The original plan was to go to Peggy’s cove first and then visit some of Halifax, but apparently having an inaccurate map sent us in another direction. Halifax seems to be just as disorienting for me as Sydney was. Some places, it seems I just get lost in, or drive in circles. So we first got lost in Darmouth because I pointed Samer who was driving in the wrong direction, then we got lost in Halifax.

Ironically if we’d followed our gut, we would have landed in Peggy’s cove. In the end lacking a good map, we followed the tourist info sign, which took us to Halifax Harbour. The downtown part, near pier 21, were the Maritime Museum, the SSC Arcadia and the HMSC Sackville are located. We toured the museum where we could have spent 4 more hours. But I knew the ships’s tour ended at 5pm, so we hurried up. We also ate at Murrays [murpheys? ] restaurant a 1 lb lobster and some sweet potato fries. We bought souvenirs there as well.

After the visit of teh ships, we walked around a couple of blocks to take pictures of |St Mary’s cathedral and 2 other churches that were within eyesight of each other. We had parked the car and did all this tour walking. We arrived in Halifax by one bridge and left by the other. We got lost kinda a 2nd time going to Porters Lake park & campground, but at least we knew what road the park was on and found it more easily.

We leave Cape Breton and head towards Halifax

Today we drove from Whycocomagh National Park in Cape Breton to Porters Lake National park, in the outskirts of Halifax. Instead of taking the main highway, we decided to follow the eastern coast, going through every little port and inlet. The only time we diverted from the road was to avoid a ferry, since we didn’t know the schedule and figured t might delay us.

We stopped in Sherbrooke at the Sherbrooke Inn for lunch. I had the haddock and fries, Samer had the fettucine, and some fries. We got lost on the way into porters Lake and ended up circling around it well spiralling around it before we actually found our way. We made it around 8pm. Nice spot, we thought it would rain, because it was cloudy originally but then Samer ended up watching the stars.

We stopped in Membertou, Visited Louisbourg and camped in Whycocomah

Day’s inn was ok, we stopped in Merbertou to get stuff at the gift shop for my friend in Ottawa. Then we took the road to Louisbourg. We spent the afternoon walking around Louisbourg. We had lunch there in the "middle class" place, I had the mussels, and he had the pea soup, and the haddock with carrots and turnips. Traditional fare from back then.

We walked around, and just before leaving ran into the Mi’kmaq exhibit and got into a convo with the Mi’qmaq lady who gives info about the booth. She was a delightful lady. Funny first she thought Samer was my son, then she thought he might be native. But when I told her he was 15 years my junior and that he was more mature then my ex... she gave me a you go girl.

After leaving Louisbourg, we drove back towards Lake bras d’or to Whycocomagh provincial park. It wasn’t my idea to go back that away... however it was the only provincial park in cape Breton that still was open for camping. It was a great choice. We were camping up in the hills and had a view from our campsite on Lake Bras d’or. Also with the breeze, most of the time, the smell of sweetgrass was distinctly floating through. The sky was also good for stargazing and we enjoyed a nice fire. It didn't rain, and it wasn't particularly cold.

We drive around the Acadian side of the Cabot trail and head for Sydney

We left our campground with barely ¼ tank of gas. Samer suggested to go back to Ingonish to fuel up, I figured we were going to much out of our way, I wanted to keep going on the Cabot trail towards the Acadian side. I figured we would gas up in Neil’s Harbour. I had noticed a small gas station there.

Well I hadn’t realized it was Sunday and in some communities it means everything is asleep till 10 or even noon. Well that gas station was opening at noon. Not to worry, there was also Cape North which should have gas station. Well they were closed too. We eventually got to Pleasant Bay and found no gas station. We even stopped at a motel to ask where the nearest gas station was and it was Cheticamp.

By then the out of gas light was actually on. This means that part of the top of the highlands we didn’t stop much at the lookouts to take pictures because we didn’t know how much fuel we had left and we weren’t going to take a chance. We also drove on momentum in down hills to help conserve fuel. Thankfully we made it to Cheticamp and fuelled up along with 3000 bikers that were doing the Cabot trail for breast cancer. We finally understood at Cheticamp why we had run into so many bikers that day already and most with pink ribbons. There was some sort of drive your bike for breast cancer thingie.


We had lunch at the restaurant of the Parkview Motel. I had the Acadian fish soup, and he had the fish and chips. We stopped at the local dollar store there picked up souvenirs, and also a pink scarf to put on the car, driving for Gloria... After we kept driving, we were hoping to find where the hell Membertou was. And we had decided to go to Louisbourg after picking up brochures at some tourist shop or another. We stopped at a gas station in a Mi’kmaq reserve to ask where it was. We were sold a map of Nova Scotia and sent to the suburb of North SYDNEY. Right after that, a Hawk crossed my path like we were in teh right direction.

We drove towards Sydney and that was fine. But as soon as we entered Sydney we started getting lost and arguing about it too! We eventually found Membertou reserve and the gift shop. Of course it was closed. But we found in the same building Kiju’s restaurant. We had dinner there. I had the Atlantic salmon. He had the chicken and shrimp curry. We started dinner with hummus and pita as a appetizer.

We then decided to settle in at the Day’s Inn on King street and of course got lost 3 times trying to get to it :P We chose it because it had smoking rooms. Incidentally, it also had a pool and hot tub. We used the hot tub for about 30 minutes. It was nice and warm. This cost $128 with taxes. The most expensive night of our trip. We also had wifi internet access free, so I chatted with my girlfriend and my eldest daughter a bit.

We drive around the Scottish side of the Cape Breton Highlands

We woke up and went to the beach before buying our park permit and renewing our campsite. The view was stunning. The shores of cape Breton are just breath taking. Sharp or soft cliffs, rolling hills, sandy or rocky beaches, it’s just breath taking. The waves we heard crashing the night before had to be pretty big. So we went back to park entrance, payed for 2 nights camping and a park permit that covered us that day and the next day till 4pm.

We went back to our campsite, got tea and first went looking for the beach at wreck cove that a friend suggested. We stop at what I think is it, and Samer thinks it can’t be it, so we go on down the road, not much further and a road repair worker has us stop to wait. We ask here where wreck cove is and she says .. you’re in it. We ask about the beach, she says we just passed it. Of course if I’d been smart I would have just u-turned then and there, but didn’t.

Instead we stopped at the Wreck cove general store, then we went back up the road. Went to the beach to take photos and enjoy the moment. It was cool, I ate wild raspberries growing there. Found myself familiar with the vegetation. The asters, the raspberry bushes... the golden rod... and even fireweed. Heck we stopped on the road at a large fireweed patch because I wanted to cut some out to bring back home. When we got there a large blue-green dragon fly was waiting for us. It just stayed there, posing for us.

From Wreck cove we drove past our campground to Neil’s harbour and drove around the little trails. We stopped at all the different gift shops, including one Scottish one where they carry all tartans for all clans. We stopped at all the lookouts and places from Ingonish to Bay St Lawrence and then back in the dark of course, in the sinuous mountain roads I love driving so much :P

Much like at Fundy, we had rain and sun and took pictures of a rainbow going up the Cabot trail earlier in the afternoon.

We take the ferry to Nova Scotia and head straight for Cape Breton Highlands.....

We had breakfast in Murray Harbour at the Brehaut restaurant. I had scrambled eggs and their breakfast potatoes, he had a full breakfast. On his way out they asked him how he found the breakfast. He told them it was the best he’d had in days and they ran into the kitchen to tell the chef. It was cute. We then went to the gift shop/flea market next door, and I picked up a pinkish stone ashtray, and some different candlesticks.

We drove around the eastern side of PEI before taking the Woods Island Ferry to Pictou in Nova Scotia. From there we took the road that took us to cape Breton. We drove until we found the Cabot trail and followed it. By then it was getting dark. Of course as we went up Smokey mountain, I had a truck up my ass with his bloody lights blinding me the whole fucking way. It was irritating. At some point I managed to find a place to pull into and let all the 20 cars that had accumulated behind me pass.

I’m still driving at like 60 or less when road is more curvy, when I get someone up my ass again. When he passed me we realized it was an RCMP SUV. Of course the guy had to know we didn’t know the road well, what with a Quebec licence plate?!? We did make it to the highlands and campground and the guy was super nice, told us to pay in the morning and get our park permits then too.

We of course set up camp in the dark. I had crashed by then and was very pissy. All the stress of driving up and down mountain roads with on and off rain, and people tailgating had seriously done a number on my mood. But all was good after I ate. We realized we could hear the waves from our campsite at Broadcove. It rained off and on all night. It was warm though in comparison to the nights in Fundy and in PEI.

We have dinner in Charlottetown....

After doing some laundry, we went to the West point Lighthouse’s craft and souvenir shop. We also took pictures from that spot in daylight. Beautiful view of sea. Then we drove to North Cape. There is wind mill electricity making farm there, and a research facility in wind powered electricity. There is also the North Cape lighthouse, and one of the longest rock reefs in the world.

We took pictures, checked out the gift shop and then drove back on the TransCanada to stop in South Granville on route 231 at a wind chime making place and picked up 2 amazing sounding wind chimes. Really nice guy with a black & white cat that’s ubber friendly. Then we kept going to Charlottetown, were we stopped at the Canadian tire there. Our propane stove died, and we were also out of propane. Then we headed towards the wharf for a seafood dinner.

The place on the wharf looked more like a noisy pub and I really wasn’t in the mood so we walked a bit around the area, and stumbled into a small place called Fishbone, which is also a jazz club providing live entertainment on the terrace. We ate inside, good thing too; the trumpet player couldn’t keep a note! The food was amazing. We started with PEI blue mussels as an appetizer. Then he had a salmon curry with Naan bread and I had haddock fillet with fries. Also really good and I had no problems digesting.

It was at that point that we realized that we were not an hour later in the Maritimes but an hour ahead. And it was already 8pm and we still had a drive to Woods Island. We were going to stay at the Northumberland Provincial Park and camp, but by the time we good to Woods Island it was 10pm and usually it’s too late to check in to a park. So we found the Meadow lodge motel.

We head towards PEI and cross the Confederation Bridge.

We left Fundy National park and headed to Moncton, wanting Canadian Tire and a grocery store. Right into Moncton we found Sobeys so bought mostly non-perishable foods. Then we drove into Moncton some more until we found a Canadian tire. Unfortunately it was under renovation and they had little in terms of camping equipment. We did pick up a T-shirt as souvenir though.

Then we ate at Wendy’s, and headed towards the Confederation Bridge. It took roughly 12 minutes to cross. It’s just 2 lanes, one each way, with an 80 limit. I had some Islander tailgate me most of the bridge! Once off the bridge, we headed towards West point. Where the West point lighthouse is, there is also the Cedar Dunes Provincial Park. Small campsite on the same ground as the West Point lighthouse, right on the south west point of PEI. The sunset on the gulf of the St Lawrence was stunning. We walked on the beach at 1am taking wacky pictures. He also had fun with his telescope as the sky was absolutely clear. The wind was magical, but also a little cold. Was a different kind of cold then Fundy, not as damp, but far more windy.

Exploring Fundy National Park

We bought a park permit and decided to spend a 2nd night camping there. We wandered into Alma for high tide. Of course we were an hour or two after high tide, but still, you can see the boats in Alma harbour still in water at that point. Then we drove back into Fundy Park to two other lookout points, including wolf’s point to see the bay and its level. Then we went back to our campsite for lunch and went back to Alma and Wolf’s point for low tide. It was spectacular we also stopped at their gift shop to pick up a few gifts. After which, we went back to campsite and enjoyed the mostly mosquito free park. We did get a touch of rain but nothing major. Just enough to wet stuff, not enough to leave us too damp. We took pictures of rainbow overlooking the bay of Fundy.

We make a run for Fundy National Park

The room at Motel sur Mer was fine, and had a view on the river. From the left side we could see towards l’Ile d’Orleans, on the other side you could see across the river Mont St Anne. We had breakfast at Lisa’s diner on route 132 in St-Valliers. Samer had the lumberjack breakfast, and I just had some eggs. We started at St Valliers, drove to Riviere du Loup, and made our way into New Brunswick

We stopped at Timmy’s in Grand falls though we wanted to see the fall and go to the Grand Falls Park but going around in circles around Grand falls made us decide to keep going. We drove from there to Frederericton, where we stopped to stretch our legs, before heading towards Bay of Fundy. We took the TransCanada until we got to the 114, which took us around the Fundy area. We arrived after dark so we didn’t have to purchase a park permit, just a camp site.

Chignecto Bay camp site, the only one still opened at this time of the year. This campground is one that is fairly close to Fundy bay. The view from various roads was scenic. Of course it was fun setting up tent in pitch darkness. More fun trying to start a fire, with somewhat wet wood!

We leave going towards Riviere du Loup....

First day of trip and we left Montreal around 2:30pm. First we gassed up the car and then we took the Mercier Bridge. I took the 132 until it became the 30, then back to 132. Somewhere between Yamaska and Nicolet on the 132, there was a 4 way intersection. I had yellow light, proceed with caution, so I slowed down from 90 to about 75, especially since the intersection was partially blind to me because there was a large pick-up truck or SUV in the right late waiting to merge onto route 255, going to the 20.

Well just as I got to the intersection I see a silver 2007/2008 Sebring pop in front of me. I pressed on the brakes like I’ve never done before. I thought I’d avoided the car but unfortunately I hit the bumper. Great way to start a vacation. I pulled over and got out of the car. Turned out to be grandma & grandpa coming back from spending the day in Quebec City and deciding they had enough of the 20, and wanting to take the Ferry at Sorel. Grandma shouldn’t have tried to cross the intersection. She had a red flashing light and a stop sign. If I didn’t see her because of the large vehicle she didn’t see me for the same reason and she went ahead anyways. Grandma was 80 and apparently has been driving since she’s 25 and never had an accident. Well this time she caused one. Some good Samaritan couple in a large pickup truck called the police, and they hung out until police showed up.

No one was hurt, but a few seconds difference and we might all be dead. I didn’t stop enough to miss the other car, but enough so that everyone survives. The old lady had the nerve to say I was coming pretty darn fast to the police. The office told her nicely that it was a 90km/hr road and that’s pretty fast. Then later after doing the report he told her she was lucky he was feeling generous because he could give her a citation for not stopping at a stop. She started to argue the point with him. He said she had a stop and she should not have proceeded until she had a clear view of intersection and no one was coming. Obviously she had stopped and went without checking for traffic.

When we first started to cross the street, someone said to us “yeah this car sped past us, we’re not surprised something happened to them”. The good Samaritans also said it was the old lady’s fault, and so did the people whose house we were in front.

I realized afterwards that the good Samaritans, probably stopped, because they lost good friends just a year ago at that intersection. More so they called the cops because they want a light at this intersection. Every complaint of accident adds fuel to that fire.

We had dinner in Levis at Normandin, and stopped at Motel bord de la mer in St-Valiers. Waterfront motel and we have a room with a view on the St-Lawrence. It will be breathtaking in the morning.

We finally go on our Maritime Vacation....

After talking about wanting to go to Halifax now for several years, and even attempting to do it fall 2008 and failing, what between bursitis on my knee and hubby not being able to pass his driving test. But finally we went this year, driving across the Canadian Maritimes. Hubby will get a more diverse Canadian experience. Canada isn't just Montreal, as fond as I might be of the city I was born.

So I am posting the log I kept of each day, as they happened mostly, while I could still remember.

Eco-Museum

This morning, we left the house around 9am and went to the EcoMuseum off chemin Ste-Marie in Ste-Anne de Bellevue. It's near McGills MacDonald college experimental farming/agriculture facility and the Morgan Arboretum, a place to visit another time.

You can take a virtual tour of the Ecomuseum here. Most of the animals at the ecomuseum are animals that for whatever reason cannot be returned to the wild. So this is a sanctuary for them. The only thing we didn't end up seeing, were butterflies in the butterfly garden. Perhaps because it was a grey day, and we didn't see any turtles at the turtle pond.

The picture is a Lynx at the Ecomuseum. He looked so bored, and blaze and fed up with life. Poor thing. Perhaps hadn't had his breakfast yet. We got to most of the exibits just before the personal feeding them. So we got to see them in food anticipation mode.

Around town

This week, despite feeling in the dumps because of my knee, I decided that since it was my last week vacation I ought to do something.

Thursday I decided we were going to go to Old Montreal. I hadn't brought Samer there yet, and no visit of Montreal is complete without a tour in Old Montreal. The oldest buildings date back from first colonization in the 1600's. Montreal's oldest building, the Sulpician Seminary build in 1684. It has a clock that was added in 1701, that is the oldest functioning such clock in all of North America. We took the commuter train from our suburb to downtown Montreal with my eldest at 2ish, she was heading for class. For $4.50 it takes 20-30 minutes from my house to get downtown. Handy if you work downtown, and you can get a monthly pass.

We got off at Central Station at Place Bonaventure. From there, we walked along St Antoine to McGill and starting going lower towards old Montreal. We went through Square Victoria. We turned on Notre Dame going east, so he could see the Notre Dame Basilica, next to the old Semenary, as well as Place d'Armes. We continued on Notre Dame for a while and then took St Paul - Montreal's oldest street, and covered in cobblestones like in the past, and went to Place Jacques Cartier, so he could see Montreal's City Hall. I forgot to take him behind the city hall, where you can see remains of the fortifications that were build around old Montreal in ancient days.

We had lunch at a place called 'Le Fripon" in Place Jacques Cartier. I had amazing mussels with fries, and Samer had sausages with fries. This restaurant had a mix of French, Italian, German and English cuisine, and a terasse directly on Place Jacques Cartier. The food was excellent as well as the service. It's a little more expensive then I normally like.. but decent for Old Montreal in a tourist area :)

After lunch we headed towards Marche Bonsecours, built around the 1850's and originally served as Montreal's city hall. Next to the market is the Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Secours, the oldest standing church in Montreal, built in 1655, now housing the Margerite Bourgeoys museum. Also aroudn the corner is a quaint hotel/restaurant housed in a 17th century building.

At this point we went on de la Commune, to the waterfront, and walked around the old port. First from the distance we could see Pont Jacques-Cartier, behind it La Ronde, and the remains of the Expo '67 of Man and it's world. You can see the clock tower on the waterfront, built to commemorate those who fought in WWI. We walked along the clock tower pier and then just along the waterfront. The other 2 piers were closed off to pedestrians. It's offseason. During the peak summer months the piers are all open. It's one of my favorite places to go in-line skating.

We walked along de la commune till we got back to McGill street and walked back to Square Victoria, where we sat for a while, watching people rushing home from work and a bunch of skateboarding kids. I figured we didn't want to take the commuter train before 7pm because I didn't want to stand on the train with my bitchy knee.

Cooking up a storm

The past 2 days I've done nothing but cook. Though I hate cooking I get the urge to cook every once in a while.

Yesterday I started off by making some vegetable stock, to use as a soup base for the soups I wanted to make. Then I made some fruit & nut taboule and Arabian spinach with cheese. We had that for dinner last night. For the carnivores in my house I also made some chuck roast cooked with potatoes, carrots and parsnips. Apparently that turned out great, according to the same above mentioned carnivores. I always find it difficult to cook something and not taste it. I hadn't made chuck roast probably in close to 20 years.

Today, I made yellow split pea soup with zucchini, and tomato, onion & lentil soup, both which used the vegetable stock from yesterday. I also made ratatouille. Mostly a medley of eggplant, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes. Everything turned out really good. I'm starting to think though, that I need to get a freezer, because there's just not enough room.

Paranoid Parents

It amazes me. Parents realizing their precious little snowflakes suffer from obesity now signing them up at Kiddie Gyms. I used to get comments when my daughters were younger for letting them play outside. Something much healthier then having them cooped in the house with a game playstation or computer all day.

The first house we bought had a nice fenced in yard with a 5ft gate on one side and 6 ft gate on the other side. I naively thought that it would keep my daughters, then aged 21 months and close to 3, in the yard. The first day I let them go in the back yard, I found them both on the front lawn not much later. So I watched. The baby managed to climb the 5ft gate to end up in the front yard, and the 3 year old, climbed the 6ft gate. I realized that the gate climbing in itself was dangerous. Their clothes could get stuck on the gate. I sat down my 2 toddlers and had a talk with them. I told them that I would leave the gates opened, but if I so much as caught any part of them off our property, in particular in the street they would never play outside again.

I didn't think it would work, but it worked well. They stayed off the street, and the area where they could play got to include the next door neighbor's property. They had 3 children around the same age as my 2 daughters and all 5 children could play in both yards. I'd watch them in my yard, the neighbor when they were in their yard.

I put them both in preschool starting at age 3. Basically it was 2 hours a day 4 days a week. The preschool was about a 15 minute walk away, and I'd walk them to the preschool regardless of the weather. My daughters got so used to walking even in the -20 weather, that we'd get home from the pre-school and they would want to stay outside and play, regardless how cold it got. I'd have to tell them no, when it was less then -15, because little ones don't move enough and don't realize when their hands/feet start to freeze, even if they were well dressed for the temperature.

Sadly we didn't stay in that house for more then 2-3 years, their dad and I split up, and I moved to a low-rent housing complex. I was warned by everyone I knew that it was the WORST place in all of our area of Montreal. That it had a high rate of crime. I was thinking, well duh, you put 3,000 people in a tiny area, and you will get more problems then if you spread them out.

I got an appartment in a building that was on the edge of the Bois de Liesse. I figured at least my kids would be able to play on the edge of the forest, and in the few park areas designed for the multitude of children living in the area. One of those parks had monkey bars that were 2 meters high. I remember driving home from work on day and seeing a very small child sitting on top of the monkey bars. My first reaction was "What kind of parent leaves a child that small climb up that high". Then it hit me. It was my baby, Isabelle, the one who is always climbing, that was sitting on top of the monkey bars. I decided NOT to stop the car. Because I thought if I yelled out her name, it might startle her and she might fall off. I reminded myself that I taught her how to climb, because she was a climber before she started to walk before age 1, and that despite her clumbsiness, she was also good at climbing.

As for the forest, I told the girls, they could play in the forest so long as they can still see the buildings of our complex. I figured it was healthier and safer to play in the woods, then in the street. The most dangerous animals in that stretch of woods in Montreal are red foxes and owls. And generally children make too much noise, tend to scare the away. My daughters actually have wonderful memories of living in the low-rent housing complex. In their words "There was parks, the woods and tons of children, always someone to play with".

Of course they weren't allowed outside after dark, and alternatively in the winter, not after 6pm [since it's dark at 4:30] and if it was dark they had to stay within earshot. I'm sure it was great for Izzy living there, as between the ages of 5-10 if I was looking for her, the most likely place to find her was up a tree. Izzy was a lot like having a son. She was fearless and it still amazes her dad and I to this day that she made it to 16 without breaking anything. Of course we're not sure she did break something at 16, but she had a cast on her thumb and wrist for 6 weeks, doctors never were able to say if it was a cracked bone, a broken bone, or just ligaments & muscles so strained and swelled that they couldn't tell if something was broken.

I mean sure I put Sam in little league baseball at 8 and Izzy in little league soccer [football for people outside north america] at 7, and they both took swimming lessons from the time they were babies. I figured most kids like playing in water, the earlier they learn how to swim and pool safety, the safer it is for them. Izzy also played basketball at school and in a league for a year. Both also played for their school volleyball team. And of course both got into Rugby at the end of high school and played in college as well as in a league. I've taught them to to ice skate as toddlers, and how to ride a bicycle. They also know how to in-line skate since it was something we could do together, as mom is less athletic then both daughters. I'm happy that they are athletic enough to handle team sports, unlike me who did best at individual sports.

But they got to play outside, get familiar with their environment use their creativity, and stay in shape. It drove me nuts that others labeled me as a bad parent, because I didn't control what they did 24/7 Kids need time to be just kids. To not have anyone telling them what to do, and to be able to just lie in the grass and watch the clouds in the sky.

Bursitis

I have developed bursitis in my right knee. A side-effect of gardening. Thankfully the people I've told haven't made stupid jokes about "ah spent a lot of time on your knees? " [with the implication of doing so to service a male]. Of course other professions include washing floors and being a nun.

I've seen 2 doctors so far and been put on Naproxen [similar to Aleve sold in the US], and I've had it aspirated and been given a cortisone shot. My knee is still swelled up like a golf ball. It's still painful when I move, and anytime I lift anything remotely heavy [meaning more then 5 lbs or 2 kilos] it swells up more.

It's ruined my vacation. I was planning on taking Samer around the maritimes. We'd drive up the North shore of the St Lawrence, via Trois Riviere, up to Quebec City and continue up to Riviere-du-loup before heading towards New Brunswick and the bay of Fundy, home of the world's highest tides. Then from there, taking hte confederation bridge, canada's longest bridge, to PEI, spending a day or 2 around PEI, since it's very scenic with it's red earth. Next we were going to take the Cariboo-Woods Island ferry from PEI to Pictou Nova Scotia.

Once in Nova Scotia I hadn't decided if I we were going to sight see along Cape Breton Island before going to Halifax, or after. It made sense if we were in Pictou to go around Cape Breton first and then go to Halifax. But I hadn't decided. I mean I just want to see the coastal area's which are generally scenic. Cape Breton is supposed to be mountanous and I know Samer likes the mountains.

But my knee cannot handle a minimum of 20 hours driving each way... and due to the incredible slowness of the SAAQ, Samer still doesn't have a Quebec drivers license, and he can no longer use his Dubai one. So he can't legally drive, and it's really not worth the risk of getting stopped. The penalty for driving without a license is I believe 2 years where you are prohibited from having a drivers license plus a $500 fine. Of course if you are prohibited from having a license, it makes it more expensive to insure you when you do get it back and get a car.

It upsets me. This is the third year I want to go to Halifax and it doesn't happen. I will look at several day trips assuming my knee does get better then it is now. I'm sitting icing the damn knee. It's like all those falls I took on this knee throughout my youth has finally come back and bitten me in the ass...

Oh well.. time to check out what alternatives there is for at least some visiting during vacation.

Love at first fight

Here is Celes, my daughters 6 month old female kitten and Jethro, my not quite 3 month old Maine Coon kitten.

They are having a friendly wrestling match on top of the new cat condo/tree that I got to keep them entertained.

Just one more little fellow joins our brood

Today we drove to Newbliss, Ontario. It's about 3 hours drive from Montreal taking Highway 401 up to Brockville, then road 29. It wasn't raining, but it was 'spitting' part of hte way, and very gray most of the day. We drove up there to pick up a polydactil Maine Coon kitten.

Yeah I said there was too many cats in the house, but I've wanted a Maine Coon for so long. We decided to call him Jethro. A name that suits him well. He's so incredibly adorable, and apparently his dad was a 20lb cat. So he's going to be a big cat :) That's him sitting on the dashboard of my car while we were parked in Brockville on the picture.

I realized since we had to get out at the Brockville exit that we couldn't be far from the St Lawrence, so after picking up the kitten, we stopped at the Harvey's in Brockville for a bite to eat, then I kept driving towards the St Lawrence. We went to the waterfront and then I decided to drive back on the road that followed the waterfront, from Brockville up till past Cornwall before we got back on the 401. I figured Samer would enjoy the scenic ride.