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.