Today I went to St-Augustin for work. I left on the extra early flight (7h, means getting up at 5h25) and came back on the afternoon flight (13h45, but was the plane late). To cross the river this morning the guy brought me on his skidoo. And this afternoon I got to ride in the airboat! It was my first time in it. It was neat, especially in the watery parts of the thawing river!
The other day there were hundreds of little black dots on the ice pieces, each black dot being a seal! From the shore I couldn’t really distinguish them, but with my camera, I was able to snap a pic with the zoom… Not totally sharp, but we see a seal resting on a piece of ice. Also, the iceberg lost another piece, it’s now much smaller.
Happy likes to run free. But she can’t do it around the village, there are too many distractions (dogs) and she just goes wild.
This Winter I brought Happy at the airport to run. There’s a small road that leads to a couple of lakes. In the Winter that road isn’t plowed, so it’s nice to walk in the ski-doo tracks all the way to the lakes. But now the snow is gone, and cars are back, it’s not as safe. Happy’s not good with cars when she’s free! She doesn’t seem to know they are dangerous…
So we are now going to the spot near my house. Happy’s own personal dog park, free of distractions, is about 5 minutes away from my house. We first walk on the street parallel to the water until the end where there aren’t anymore houses. From there a small bumpy dirt road continues for a while… I follow that, and sometimes head down near the water. This morning we went for a quick walk. But Happy’s water hole from yesterday was frozen! It was now her own skating rink! No way of retreiving these “floating” ice pieces now!
Today at work I found out I made a mistake. I really felt bad all morning. Then I told my supervisor about it. After I felt even worse. Not because she was mad, but because I worked so hard all year on this, everything going so well, and now this mistake is the focus. And it makes me sad. Because the mistake is partially due to things out of my control, like not really knowing one of the tools I work with (no formal training on it)… But on the other hand I could have balanced the lack of training by asking more help from the person who knew (I did ask some questions but apparently not enough). I hope these responsabilities aren’t taken away from me now, because I have learned from this… And I know I’m really good at it!
Now I have to try and go sleep.
Blanc-Sablon faces the island of Newfoundland. On some days, we can clearly see the other side. It usually means bad weather is coming. But the theory might not always be right… Today we could see Newfoundland very well… But the forecast calls for sun tomorrow! Hmmmm…
It’s been a while since I took pics of Happy! So today my camera’s focus was my cute doggy!
The photo shoot started at home…
And then later in the day on a walk. Happy found a nice big puddle of melted snow water to play in. There were pieces of ice still floating and she was a bit fearful of them at first…
Then she tried to take them out of the water…
It wasn’t a game, this was serious business!
And of course she enjoyed rubbing her back on the snow. She’s been doing this all Winter, her fave thing outside! Soon there won’t be anymore snow left though… Poor Happy!
13 dodos before I’m in Montreal! Less than 2 weeks!
I’m listening to a bunch of new music… I didn’t have any new stuff to listen to for a while, so this feels good! New music helps me feel closer to the city somehow!
-Vlad the Impaler by Kasabian, a preview song of their new CD coming out soon.
-Riceboy Sleeps, also a 2 song preview of this side project of Sigur Ros singer and his boyfriend.
-Franz Ferdinand’s new CD.
-Death Cab for Cutie’s new EP.
-Doves’ new CD, hadn’t heard new material from this band in ages it seems!
And now bed time, with 12 dodos left.
I noticed I have a lot of striped navy/white clothing… I love the sailor stripe! Top: Blouse, hoodie; middle: t-shirt, sweater, bottom: dress.
This weekend went by quickly… I was thinking I didn’t do much, why’d it go by so fast? And then I realized I did do quite a bit:
-Slept in until 8h35 this morning! Happy let me sleep!! Woohoo!
-Watched 4 movies: The Architect, Stop-Loss, Doubt and The Reader (loved that one).
-Made an afternoon chat visit.
-Got two morning visits.
-Cleaned and vacuumed the inside of the car.
-Cooked.
-Prepared a part of the Spain presentation of our trip we’re doing at the school library in two weeks.
-Went out to take pics a few times.
The only thing I really wanted to do but didn’t is:
-Sew velcro at the bottom of my rain pants so that I can tighten them and they don’t drag on the ground (they are a bit long).
We’ve been having pretty bad weather… It’s Spring, but surely not here… Right now it’s -8°C, snowy, 75km/h+ winds, -22°C with windchill… All that to say: I am pretty sure there will still be snow when Summer comes along..!
Tomorrow morning I’m supposed to drive to Old Fort (village at the West end of the 138 road section we have here, about 1 hour away), but the road is officially closed. So if the wind continues blowing, and the snow continues falling, I don’t think I’ll be going very far!
I made a banana cake and caramel sauce to bring tomorrow morning. In our meeting, it’s someone’s birthday tomorrow. So I said I’d bring something so we can celebrate her 1 day early… I’ll have to find other people to share it with if we can’t make it tomorrow!
I’m so looking forward to my Iceland trip. Already right now it’s warmer there than it is here (11°C tomorrow, whoa!)!
It had to happen… Tonight we’re having a Spring-time storm… Winds are strong (enough to shake my desk as I am sitting at the computer), snow is falling (it’s white again outside, Happy loved it) and it’s cold (if we count in the windchill it’s -13). Good thing I didn’t plant my flowers yet! Hahhhhha! They won’t go in until June I guess…!
For my Iceland trip I’ve booked a lot of stuff… Of course, the plane ticket there, the hostels and one day trip. Today I realized I forgot to book the most essential part of the trip… The way out of Blanc-Sablon!!! So I booked my ticket with Air Lab to Quebec City (because Happy will go to a doggy-boarding-place in that area while I’m away). And also bought the bus tickets Quebec City-Montreal. Now it’s true! I’m really going to Iceland in June! YAY! Only thing missing to buy is travel insurance and a few things, for example: sleeping bag (I have one but it’s big/old/bulky), gaiters (I have my mom’s old cotton ones but not good for Summer hiking), a new rain jacket (I’ve had mine for years and it’s pale blue and totally dirty, the kind that doesn’t come out even if I’d wash it 20 times)…
I am glad tomorrow’s another day off. I’ve already had 3 days off in a row and it’s fab. Tomorrow’s holiday is “la cerise su’l’ sundae”! I’ll do stuff at home… And maybe do a visit or two… And most likely cook a nice dessert… Which I don’t know yet.
To make the most of my time in Iceland, I’ve been really almost studying my guidebooks to plan my trip around the country! It’s mostly natural sights, don’t require any booking, so plans are flexible. Only thing is I have to be in each daily final destination where I booked hostels. Didn’t want to take a chance with that because apparently it gets quite busy with tourists so… Wouldn’t want to have to sleep in the car!
Day 1:
Bogarnes
Eirikstadir
Sleep: Stykkisholmur
Day 2:
Breidavik
Latrabjarg
Dynjandi
Sleep: Isafjordur
Day 3:
Somewhere around Ísafjarðardjúp.
Sleep: Isafjordur again
Day 4:
Road, sleep: Reykir
Day 5:
Varmahlid
Vidimyri
Glaumbaer
Sleep: Akureyri
Day 6:
Godafoss
Myvatn
Sleep: Akureyri again
Day 7:
Krafla
Dettifoss
Sleep: Husey
Day 8:
Seydisfjordur
Kayak
Sleep: Stodvarfjordur
Day 9:
Lonsoraefi
Sleep: Hofn
Day 10:
Ascent of Hvannadalshnúkur
Sleep: Hofn again
Day 11:
Jökulsárlón
Svartifoss
Sleep: Hvoll
Day 13:
Skoga
Sleep: Skogar again
Day 14:
Seljalandsfoss
Gullfoss
Geysir
Sleep: Back in Reykjavik!
I hope I’ll get nice weather and be able to take such amazing pics too!
Really, it’s a bit older… But it got it’s actual format on April 9th 2005, 4 years ago!
I’ve published 2206 posts, some periods posts were very frequent, others a bit less.
The post with the most comments is this one…
I’d say my blog is kind of famous, it was after all published in a newspaper article! Hihi…
My blog (and website in general) has allowed me to meet tons of neat people and make friends, get new experiences and build an amazing travel-back-in-time-machine. I’d say it’s been a pretty positive experience until now!
This morning it’s the first real rainy day of Spring. I felt like staying home in my pjs all day! But there’s work. And we already are getting Friday/Monday off for Easter. So I kind of had to come in! I dressed nicely (skirt) to try to motivate myself to be at work, but it’s not really working. I am yawning in my office, doing things yes, but…
Spring is here! In Blanc-Sablon, Spring doesn’t mean no more snow, nice drinks on a terrace or the end of scarfs/mits… Spring comes when seal hunt begins and the ferry boat starts crossing to Newfoundland again!
A few days ago 2 Coast Guard helicopters arrived to the village. They come to monitor the seal hunt. Sealers used to get up to 100$ for each skin, last year it was a bit under 50$ and this year they’ll get about 15$. So I don’t think they will hunt much for the skins… Maybe just a bit for a few meals!
The ferry will start crossing to Newfoundland on April 13th… That’s only if the ice clears out a bit more… Because now it’s really still packed all along the shoreline. I planned to go to Corner Brook, NL, the weekend of May 1st for Happy’s vet visit, but I decided to report that trip later in May. That way I’ll be sure all the ice is gone and we won’t have any trouble crossing!
Spring also means tax returns! Yay! I got both mine (Qc and Canada) and now I’m ready for Iceland!