When I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, I thought a light been left on because the hallway was illuminated. Turns out it was an almost full moon shining brightly through the bathroom window. Later, when I looked out my bedroom window which faces a different direction, all I could see were tons of stars. Because there were no lights on anywhere nearby so many stars were visible. I need to have my warm clothes ready to put on so I can go outside next time.
I’m getting faster and more efficient in my milking, now after milking one goat completely by hand I usually have time to also finish off a few of the goats who have been milked on the machine. In addition to the morning chores and milking, today I worked in the milking room scraping the food troughs and the basin underneath them and cleaning the windows, door and lights. It was dirty, wet work but satisfying because I could see the efforts of my labor. No idea how long it will last, it may get just as dirty by tomorrow, next week or next month. At least it looks good now. Afterwards I sat out in the sunshine soaking up the warmth. What a treat, something I took for granted (and sometimes hated) when I lived in the East Bay and it was hot all summer long.
Jean Francois had to go into Sherbrooke today(the closest city, home to two large universities) so he took me along so I could check it out. He dropped me off at a beautiful lake near the middle of town and I walked around it, stopping to eat my lunch in a shady spot. Later, I used the restroom and when I came out, a gentlemen called out ‘Madame!’ and asked me something in French that I didn’t understand. When I told him ‘I didn’t understand’ he asked me in English if I would watch his bike while he used the bathroom! I must’ve looked trustworthy. Later, as I was walking around the lake, three guys on bikes went past, one wearing a crossing guard vest, and he yelled at two women who were walking on the wrong side of the path. They indignantly moved over after yelling something back at him. 😝
I had a really enjoyable stroll around the Lake Des Nations. There were three different photography exhibits, several sculptures, including one of three korus (uncoiled fern fronds), even though that’s not what the artist called them, they look almost exactly like the ones that I have on my tattoo! Another New Zealand coincidence was when I was in the visitor center being helped by a very friendly woman, the song How Bizarre by OMC, a New Zealand band, came on.
There are also adorable topiary sculptures in the surrounding area, one of a rubber ducky, and another of a gnome. It got pretty warm, so I got a strawberry-basil gelato, which is quickly becoming my new favorite flavor. I picked up some postcards while I was at the visitor center and after my gelato sat down by the lake to write to the kids and Mom. I had postcard stamps with me and found a post box not far away, so they are in the mail! It always feels good to at least get a few postcards sent at the beginning of a trip. I may wait until I get to Montreal to send more to the rest of the family.
It was so funny, at one point when I was walking I could hear a woman behind me talking on her cell phone and suddenly I just felt like I was at home, even though she wasn’t speaking English. It wasn’t until I listened more closely that I realized she was speaking Spanish, and that still feels more familiar to my ears than all of the French I’m hearing around me. Sherbrooke is quite diverse, I’ve seen people of all ethnicities, heard several different languages, noticed lots of young people in all kinds of dress.
At all of the intersections that I came to the crossing lights went on for all ways to cross so you can could walk diagonally across the middle of the street, but you only had 30 seconds and these were streets that were two to three lanes each way, so you really had to book it if you were going to get across in time! I’ve seen this in other places, but it’s usually much smaller intersections.
I also noticed there were a lot of people smoking cigarettes (I didn’t smell any pot, unlike in the Bay Area where I almost never smell cigarette smoke but smell pot or vape flavors a lot). Almost every time I sat down, I smelled cigarette smoke and it was from people of all ages, young and old. Yuck!
There were lots of people on seated motorized scooters. At first it seemed to only be older people or those who look like they couldn’t get around so easily, but then I saw a number of people in their 30s or 40s driving them very quickly, almost like motorcycles! I don’t know if this is just for this particular area in Sherbrooke because there’s a nice long walking path around the lake or maybe this is typical in cities in Canada. I guess I will find out in time.
When I bought a few items from a pharmacy I noticed there were two taxes, one from Canada (TPS, 5%) and one from Quebec province (TVQ, 9.975%). Saffron and I both agreed we liked the way it was done in New Zealand better, where GST is included in the price so you know exactly how much something costs. I with the U.S. could do it that way too!
It was a beautiful drive to and from Sherbrooke, lots of farmland and trees, rivers and lakes. As I was writing this blog post, from the kitchen I could hear instrumental music with a French flavor playing. I started humming along to it, then paused and thought ‘I know that song’ – it was Stairway to Heaven!