To The Birds

Yesterday my dad, my mom, my aunt, my cousin and I went for a trip. We drove up in my dad's "new" car (old car was left leaking half a tank of gas onto the street) to Park Mont-Tremblant where we spent the afternoon having a bbq picnic in a quiet nook on Lac au Sables. We tanned, napped, and rented a canoe. Thank you, Martha, canoe instructor at Camp Oureau in the 80s, for at least showing me how to direct a canoe! The lake was windy and I'm glad there was a sheltered bay to one side or I would never have been able to steer in the open water. My younger cousin is 22 and had never canoed, but he did a great job.

We saw a loon on the lake. Un huard. Later I saw a big red fox. Un gros renard rouge. And when we were driving out, we saw a deer. Un chevreuil! We visited a beaver dam but didn't see any beavers (castors). We did see mushrooms and caterpillar nests (or whatever they're called. They look like spider webs). I also pulled some dry birch bark to show my aunt and cousin how paperlike it is.

Before leaving the huge park, we stopped by La Chute Du Diable, a staggered waterfall facing a wall of rock and vegetation. My mother pointed out some strange waxy white flowers, about 10 cms tall including the stem -also white and waxy. Very weird. We decided they must be a fungus, anyone know?

All in all it was 12 hours of family fun, and no one poked anyone's eyes out with a blazing iron.

A little epilogue for the pleasure of those in the know: the leaky car? got towed. I went to check if it was parked properly (I couldn't remember the parking restrictions on that corner) and, well, it was gone. I called the borough, then I called the city, then I called the police and then I called the towing company that has it. They say a tow truck has to pick it up and take it to a garage because it's unsafe to drive. No news there. My father says it's fine as long as it only has half a tank of gas. See what we're working with here? Half a tank of gas only! Haha. I hope I get wheels for tomorrow's trip to Potsdam. It's Sarita's birthday and since my present was this entire vacation, I'm taking the liberty of dropping her off in the US of A for a week, heh heh.