This weekend I’m going inside at the cabin with my new ski-doo. Of course, the cabin doesn’t have running water or electricity. So at night it gets a bit chilly.
I have 2 sleeping bags… A smaller/compact one that’s good to -7°C according to the manufacturer or a giant/super warm one that goes to -40°C!
I was thinking about bringing the small one… But as someone told me… “It’s more fun being warm than being cold at night!” True! So big one it is! I tested it and it does fit on the rack of my ski-doo at the back.
Today the news spread like a wildfire in the village… Seals were near the beach! A mom and her white-fur pup were stranded on the sand. People flocked to the area to see them up close. Unfortunately maybe a bit too close… I even saw a person come with his dog. Poor seals! That’s a lot of stress!! The mom can’t go feed because she wants to stay and protect her pup. She’s not feeding it either because of everyone around. That pup is most likely not going to make it I think. There were more at sea too… Those were on tiny pieces of ice. Thankfully it’s not windy, but if it was they wouldn’t stay on there too long… The pups could fall off way easily!
I went to see these people to tell them to back away a little… But the next ones that came stood just as close…
Standing far away with my zoom I took a pic of the mom…
And the mom and her pup…
Another mom and baby trying to stay afloat on precarious ice pieces…
So… Stay away from the seals, no dogs and most important of all, do not touch the baby pup!!! Someone told me the local radio station was giving out these recommendations, I hope people listen.
At the end of the day the Coast Guard’s helicopter was around. I’m guessing it was to check out the situation…
Edit: Or maybe not.. Apparently the Coast Guard have started the Spring icebreaking… What ice?!
Usually during the week I don’t cook much… Working all day to come home to have to work more in the kitchen isn’t so fun. I enjoy cooking on the weekends usually. But this week I set a goal… I planned out my menu on Sunday:
-Monday shake and bake chicken
-Tuesday cod in batter with rice
-Wednesday oven sweet sauce pork with mashed potatoes
-Thursday moose brochettes/kebabs
But now on Thursday I’m too tired to cook, so the moose brochettes aren’t happening. Did all the rest though! Here’s the proof of Tuesday’s fish, a really messy kitchen!
About 20 years ago a lady who came from the city to work in my village started a dance school. And to this day it’s still going strong. To celebrate their 20 years they’ve asked me to help put together a video montage…
I used to be a student for a while, from when I was about 9 years old (when it started) to 14-15 years old. I still have some of the costumes they gave us for our dances… A meringue flowery skirt, a black/yellow big wide leg suit for MC Hammer, etc. Quite funny. They always film the concerts that the students do each year. I’ve been having fun watching them over! I forgot I danced in a country square dance! I guess I blocked it out mentally! I can always spot myself in the dancers too. I wasn’t the most coordinated one… But I enjoyed it!
It should be a neat montage when I’m done… Will be a bit time consuming though! They want 4-5 clips, about 30 seconds each, from each year!!
I decided to go for it. I am going for a mini-one-week-holiday in April. I’ll leave here on the Sunday probably and hopefully get to Montreal as planned, weather and plane condition permitting of course (these days the plane has been having lots of “mechanical” problems). Monday I’ll go from Montreal to Vancouver. I’ll be there on Tuesday and Wednesday for two of Jónsi’s North American tour dates. Then on the Thursday I’ll fly back to Montreal and stay until Sunday when I’ll leave again to go home…
It’ll be a pretty quick trip but I need it. Blanc-Sablon sure is pretty but I miss the city and its culture/events…
Yay!
Because it’s Friday and I’m glad to have a little break from work for 2 days, here’s a pic of my office! It’s one side of it actually… On the other side you’d see the little meeting table I have and bookshelves. I don’t really like my office per say… It gets quite noisy with the others around and these walls that don’t stop sound at all. Plus my corner of this big space doesn’t have a window. It drives me a bit crazy actually.
This morning when I woke up the sky was quite covered… I waited a bit watching some tele… Then at around 10h or so the sun started peeking through the clouds… Eventually we had a beautiful blue-sky-sunny day with barely any wind. I took advantage of it and went for two walks with Happy.
The first I went to Brador, before the river/behind the hill… When I was younger we used to go camping there. It’s close to the villages, so easy to come back if needed. And it’s a good trout fishing spot.
This is the only tiny bit of snow that remained in the area…
The bay was still a bit frozen up…
The only way to get Happy to stay still a moment with me was to put her leash on… We did enjoy a little break to take in the beautiful landscape…
She enjoyed rolling around on the frozen bay…
Such a photogenic dog!
The second walk I went with E. on the old road in Brador. We walked quite far… Passed the old road onto the sand beach. There Happy met a new friend, Romeo, who was there with his owner. Everything went well until Happy got over-protective of a huge piece of ice on the beach, growling at Romeo so he wouldn’t come near.
The good day outside was only made better by Canada winning that gold medal at hockey! What a game! I watched the 3rd and overtime.
On Friday evening after work I went to J.&M.’s for a visit. They were heading inside at their cabin for the weekend and I wanted to say hello… I hadn’t seen them in a while.
As I arrived M. was coming back with his friend M. They were carrying two buckets filled with freshly picked mussels! They had gone to sea and went to Brador to get the delicious shellfish. They invited me along for supper! Mmmmmmmmmmm! We feasted on mussels, homemade fries (which I helped to cut) and salad.
It is highly unusual to be able to eat fresh mussels at this time of the year. Usually the sea is pretty much frozen up. People can’t go boating for sure! But this year there’s no snow and no ice to be seen.
Yesterday I came back home from La Tabatière on the Twin Otter. I like that plane! It’s really like an adventure.
I was traveling this time not with a coffin, but with cargo.
In St-Augustine they offloaded it. There were lots of crates of fresh products such as milk, yogurt, creme, eggs, etc. There are a few stores in town. They all ordered some. But it seems one store was missing their order! That’s how it is on the Coast during Winter… You’re at the mercy of the planes for food, mail, medications, anything really. If they don’t bring it, you don’t have it. For your milk, next plane I guess, eh buddy!
I love spotting the villages along the way up to mine! Here’s the village of Old Fort viewed from the sky…
I enjoyed my little walk this morning from the transit where I was lodging to my animator’s work room. La Tabatière is a cute village, with all kinds of roads leading different places and no distinct downtown area. Fires were keeping houses warm…
One store didn’t change its sign since Christmas. And there’s grass in February.
The old Realm store is well-decorated for Christmas.
Yesterday I flew to La Tabatiere on the Twin Otter… I like that plane! Except for the fact that it stinks of gas all the time inside the cabin… We really feel close to the pilots…
Most lakes still frozen, but no snow anywhere.
Some ice pans packed in the sea…
For the past few days I have been on a trip for work on the Coast, visiting the villages of St-Augustine and La Tabatière. I enjoy coming on the Coast once in a while. But like on any trip, I do miss Happy. Mom’s taking care of her right now. Today she sent me some pics of the dog… Happy seemed to be enjoying herself! There’s surely a lot of action at mom’s: mom herself, visiting kids, cats…
For the past couple of days I’ve been in St-Augustine. It’s a village about 20 minutes way from mine by plane. On one side of the village it’s the whites and on the other side a Montagnais reserve. I like wandering villages taking pics of little unusual/quirky things.
Two girls were enjoying time outside on their bike… In February.
Someone put a scary looking giant rat on top of their shed’s chimney and a waving man cut out behind it…
A nice shed, painted with bright yellow with the typical antlers.
The airboat arriving… The river isn’t officially safe to cross anymore by snowmobile but there’s no water yet for a normal boat. It’s quite a loud ride too, you’ve got to wear ear protective thingies.
This is my favourite house in St-Augustin. I have a thing for abandoned houses, imagining what I could do to bring it back to their formal glory. I love the shape and the different colours of the roof shingles.
A goose on the roof!!! Yay! Good supper! Except it’s fake…
Years ago someone created this neat basketball court with a wooden base. Sadly it seems it’s not been up kept.
It’s Happy’s birthday today, she’s 3 years old. For the afternoon I brought her over at mom’s so she wouldn’t be the whole day home alone. Seems she had a good time at moms, and maybe drank a bit?!
Just kidding! She did get a nice birthday decoration around her neck from mom…
Today I went to deliver some homemade cookies and banana bread to a few people I enjoy, wishing them a Happy Valentine’s Day. They were all very happy!
J.&M. invited me to join them to go to Trout Pond for some ice fishing. I hadn’t gone outside much all weekend because of the gloomy yucky wet weather, but decided this would do me some good! So we all headed out, accompanied by Happy.
We fished at a few different spots on the lake, including one where others had fished before… They’d cut a few trees and put them in the ice to shelter some wind. No one caught anything… The trouts weren’t hungry for worms I guess!
We did come back with some partridge berries, a little red fruit which grows on the tundra’s moss… Since there’s no snow they are still accessible. They were still plenty good to eat although they froze/unfroze a few times… Happy also enjoyed the snack!
