Tuesday, June 28, 2016

another one bites the dust


Our yard has been teeming with wildlife this spring and summer. There's a family of foxes - including two baby foxes, who we often see romping and rolling in our yard on weekend mornings. I haven't been able to get a picture of them, but fox kits are just about the cutest things I've ever seen. Gravy and Banjo disagree. I'm surprised they haven't broken a window in their rage that these critters are playing in their yard! I've seen the vixen almost every day over the pasts few weeks, too. And the bunnies! SO MANY BUNNIES. Bunnies, bunnies, everywhere.

I've watched three bunnies zip around our yard chasing each other, and then witnessed two of them doing unspeakable things in the bushes. (Making more bunnies!) I've watched tiny baby bunnies - some the size of hamsters, some the size of guinea pigs, hopping across our patio on a daily basis. They are fearless and clueless and sometimes get within two feet of me. I've tried to scare them off to prevent bloodshed. With a greyhound and a coonhound constantly patrolling our backyard, I suppose it was only a matter of time before the inevitable occurred. I only wish it hadn't happened right in front of me!

Unfortunately, it's time for more haikus.

Dear Rabbits, I tried
to warn you about the beasts.
Our yard is not safe.

Why do you come here?
Two eighty pound dogs wait to
kill you with their mouths. 

Hippity hopping
Baby bunnies everywhere
No sense of danger.

From flat dog to fast 
dog. Gravy is built for speed.
Zero to fifty.

Greyhound on the loose.
Run bunny, run for your life! 
Oh no, you're too slow!

Lounging on my chair,
drinking a beer. Gravy runs.
Baby bunny dies.

A flash of red fur,
Gnashing teeth in the flowers.
RIP bunny.

In a split second
Gravy runs, grabs, and kills it.
Apex predator.

A murderous scene
Happens in my own backyard
Cold-blooded killer.

There's fur in his teeth
Now he has a taste for blood
Let's catch another!

Scream bloody murder.
That was me yelling at dogs.
Please don't call the cops.

Yard full of babies.
So tiny and sweet. Gravy
chews on bunny meat.

A summer's evening.
Peaceful, calm. Interrupted
by canine killers.

Mother Nature, so
cruel. I did not need a
front row seat for that.

Woke up the next day.
More baby bunnies in the
yard. They never learn.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

canada | île d'orléans

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After spending the morning at Montmorency Falls, Larry, Bryan, and I drove across the bridge to spend the afternoon on Île d'Orléans. Once again, we knew nothing about where we were going. When we asked the woman at the front desk of our hotel in Québec City about the best way to get to the Falls, she suggested we go to Île d'Orléans afterwards. (This lady was an incredible resource and everything she suggested, including the restaurant we ate at in Lower Town later that night, was excellent. We should have asked her for recommendations earlier in our stay, before we trudged through the touristy neighborhoods with mediocre restaurants full of Americans.) Anyway, she said Île d'Orléans was a good place to spend the afternoon and get something to eat. In my mind, I was picturing a small natural island with a park and picnic tables where we could eat a sandwich while looking out at the river.

What we found was SO much better!
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As instructed by the woman at the hotel, we stopped at the visitor center as soon as we crossed the bridge onto the island. Larry stayed in the car to take a conference call for work, while Bryan and I went in. The visitor center lady gave us a map, and then explained everywhere to visit on the island, circling all the places that were currently open for the season. We went back to the car, and I said to Larry, "This place is awesome! Basically it's an island full of vineyards, cideries, breweries, orchards, ice cream and chocolate shops, farms, and bakeries. There's a loop road, and you eat your way around the island!"

Everything I love all in one place! Seriously, was this heaven???
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For our first course we started with ice cream, because we're adults and we can eat dessert first if we want to! We stopped at Chocolaterie de Île d'Orléans and ordered dark chocolate dipped ice cream cones (enrobées de chocolat crème glacée). We took our treats outside to eat, and all three of us were moaning in ecstasy. "This is the best ice cream we've ever had! This chocolate is SO good! Oh myyyy goddddd!" Because it was a chocolate shop, the chocolate coating was incredible (made from imported Belgian ingredients), and about 1/4" thick - it formed a sort of chocolate cup around the ice cream, which was also really good. We talked about these ice cream cones for the rest of the day and the next day, too. "I wish we could go back to Île d'Orléans and get a chocolate dipped cone for breakfast!", we said as we were driving back to the U.S. the next day. I also tried to figure out how I could transport a cone back to my ice cream-loving mother. Sorry, Mom, we'll have to take you to Québec instead! Anyway, our first stop was a winner!
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We drove onwards, through a series of quaint little towns and farming communities flanked by the Saint Lawrence River. Île d'Orléans was one of the first parts of the province of Québec to be colonized by the French, so it has a rich French-Canadian history. It has been described as "the microcosm of traditional Québec and the birthplace of Francophones in North America."

Our next stop was at a bakery called La Boulange. We took our paper bags full of pastries and sat on a low wall next to a church overlooking the river to enjoy them. I never turn down the opportunity to eat pain au chocolat, which are called chocolatines in Québec. Isn't that the best word?

Yum.
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Our third stop was climbing the tour d'observation at the northeast end of the island, for a view of the farmland and river from above.
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Then it was time for the happy hour part of the tour as we drove around the west side of the island which was dotted with wineries, breweries, and cideries. We tasted wines and ice wines at Vignoble du Mitan, local brews at Microbrasserie de L'Île d'Orléans, and ice ciders at Cidrerie Verger Joe Giguère. I had tasted ice wine before (a special treat, and not that easy to get in Virginia), but I didn't even know there was such a thing as ice cider. (Which is made from frozen apples and is delicious!) Everyone we spoke to was so friendly and enthusiastic about the products that they made and the history of the island. Plus, is there anything more romantic than tasting wines poured by a native French speaker?
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I wish we could've stopped at every local business on the island - there were many more wineries and restaurants that we didn't get to try, along with art galleries, fromageries, and in the summer - strawberry farms! The main crops on the island are strawberries, potatoes, and leeks, but since we were there so early in the season, many of these places were not open yet. But we did come back with a few souvenirs...
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How lovely would it be to spend an entire weekend on Île d'Orléans, staying in a bed and breakfast, biking around the island, and indulging in French-Canadian delights along the way? Like I said, this place is heaven.

(P.S. After writing six posts about Canada, I finally figured out how to type accents on my MacBook! I suppose I could've googled this, but it was much more fun to find out by accident! Just hold down the key for the letter you want accented and a pop-up will appear with all the accent options.)

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

canada | montmorency falls

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When our friend Bryan decided to join us last minute in Quebec, he told us "One thing I want to see while we're there is Montmorency Falls." Since we had done pretty much no research ahead of time, neither Larry nor I had even heard of Montmorency Falls! We googled it on our phones and were immediately game to check it out. Point for Bryan!

Montmorency Falls is a 276-foot tall waterfall (98 feet higher than Niagara) reached via aerial tram. We set off to check it out the morning after the Pearl Jam concert. We considered renting bikes and riding from Quebec City to the falls, but ultimately decided to drive. (This was a good decision - the ride was not picturesque, plus having a car allowed us to explore Ile d'Orleans afterwards.)

We took the tram from the visitors center to the top of the falls, checked out the museum, walked across the suspension bridge over the falls, and then down 487 stairs. There's also a zipline, if you're adventurous/insane. There was lots of mist coming off the falls, which provided lots of rainbows. The geographic feature across from the base of the falls is called the Sugar Loaf (pain de sucre). The Sugar Loaf becomes a gigantic cone during the winter when the mist from the waterfall freezes, and people go there to go ice climbing and tobogganing. (!!!)

We also took about a million photos. Here are a few pictures of the waterfall (and by a few, I mean 30):
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If that doesn't earn me a merit badge in waterfall photography, I don't know what does! (Actually, I should've brought a tripod and attempted some longer exposures, but I'm a lazy photographer.)

There are no pictures of me on the bridge or smiling while looking out at the waterfall - this is because my photographer needed to get across the bridge as quickly as possible without looking down, sideways, or stopping for photo opps! ;)