200909 Lac Memphremagog Quebec

The lake, a flower, and our little gravel beach.

sept 9

Arrived safely at our rented chalet on Chemin du Lac, Potton, Quebec, yesterday at 3 pm. Traffic was light: we left at 6:45 and were out of Toronto via 401 in 25 minutes. A road trip with K is one of my favorite things. I started the drive but K took the rest of the trip from about 9 am. We don't hurry when we travel. We like the same things: trees, vultures, hawks, swamps, truck-watching, roadsigns, the miles of road. We stop whenever there is something to see, or a little adventure. Although yesterday we both seemed eager to get here, stopping only for gas and refreshing, on our journeys we have gone off the main highways to see caves and waterfalls, explored borrow pits, (in Alberta, where they "borrowed" surface gravel to build the roads) and washed-out bridges. We have taken roads less travelled to see lesser-known sights.

Chemin du Lac itself is such a road. Estrie, the Eastern Townships, although it is mainly a tourist spot now, is nonetheless a paradise. The mountains, really a different species from the Rockies, date back 350 million years, once rivaling the Himalayas in height, now worn down and largely clad in forest. The Rockies, by contrast, are 200 million years old, still sharp and bare and high. But both were formed by the collision of continents and are made of oceanic crust. Sediments carrying fossils of ancient sealife buckled and were pushed almost perpendicular, miles into the sky.

Our chalet is almost a kilometre from the lake. I thought we'd be closer, but I'm not at all unhappy. We can be there in minutes, and sit on a small, quite private dock and stare across the water to the far shore. We only saw one or two boats in the distance. A little marina beside us was full of boats whose owners have gone back to work, at least until Friday. K sat at the end of the dock while Fig and I explored the little stony beach to one side. He splashed about while my eyes searched the gravel under our feet. We had no nowhere to be. We had forever.

For lunch I made up a soup of broth, canned mixed beans (yeah!), chopped up veggie burger, carrots and kale, delicious. Kale is easy to add to anything, takes only 2 minutes to cook into any soup or stew. Washed the dishes and then I needed a lie-down. Now the deck is in shade and with four weeks stretching ahead of us I am content to sit and do some more nothing.

Our cottage has everything! even a cuisinart! and an office where K can work, with a printer even. There is wi-fi and cable, every need from salt and pepper to hand-soap, every comfort and yet as "home-spun" as gramma's house. Feels like a home.

The cottage next door has a little orchard in the yard. Apples and pears, but the trees are old. The pears taste nice, but crunchy on the branch and the apples are intense and sharp, like wild roses.

Keep safe. Thanks for visiting.

If you are interested: https://opentextbc.ca/geology/chapter/21-1-geological-history-of-canada/

This is our garden in the morning. And our chalet.