 The Eastern Townships in June. On Sunday, we hopped in the car and went to explore the countryside, south of here near the border. It only takes half an hour on the big road to get to Stanstead, but we enjoyed the back roads. Morgane spotted a lot of “gangs of cows.”
 I think it's Spring Hill Cemetery. We stopped at a very old cemetery and imagined the lives of the folks who died in the 1850′s.
 Morgane and Ghis on the bridge between the two customs stations. In Stanstead, or actually in Rock Island, we walked onto the bridge in between the American and Canadian border crossings and had a great view over the Tomifobia River. The Canadian guard wanted to talk to us before letting us back into Canada, but it wasn’t much hassle.
 Looking over the bridge. Amazingly, the border cuts right through the town and sometimes people get in trouble for crossing the border and it’s only because they didn’t even notice it. We found a spot like this where detour signs blocked cars from passing. But we could have easily walked across to where we saw American flags hanging off the fronts of houses.
 These little blockades mark the border.  This building is along the border. I think it might even be in both countries at the same time.  A peek at a pretty church. After that, we took more backroads, heading northeast, to Coaticook. All the farms in the region seem to be relatively small, which is what makes it all so attractive. That and the rolling hills.
 Can any southerners guess what this is? In Coaticook, we paid to walk across the gorge on the suspension bridge and after that, we walked the trails for an hour or so until we were hot and sweaty. We got to go inside a cool, drippy cave and climb up to get a view from a tower with 120 steps according to Morgane.
 Looking up at the bridge over the gorge.  Exiting the cave.  The tower.  The view of the bridge from the tower. On the way out of town, we saw a big crowd in front of the ice cream factory, so we stopped to get some, too.
 Morgane loved the merry-go-round in Stanstead. It's hard to find them anymore.
 Flowers on the tree. Our garden is growing tall and green. Morgane and I enjoying puttering in it: I weed and she waters. Soon we’ll have lettuce to pick and later on, strawberries.
 Bleeding hearts look like little chickens.  Swiss Chard - anybody got a recipe? 
 She just finished making her crown. Morgane and I attended the May Day celebrations at the Waldorf School, Les Enfants de la Terre. It was great fun. The kids could buy tickets and take part in different activities like fishing for shells and digging for special stones in the sandbox. They also had a May pole, but we missed the dancing.
 The girls wanted to dig for treasures forever! Our new friends, Marie-Josée and her daughter Jasmine, brought us there. Jasmine is bilingual, like Morgane, and has travelled a lot. The girls get along really well.
The first thing the girls wanted to do was make flower crowns. The first thing I wanted to do was buy all the wooden toys and crafts for sale. The Waldorf philosophy has one thing absolutely right – it’s fun to make stuff! It turns out that lots of people in the area make Waldorf-type toys: silks and dolls and little felted vegetables.
 The Waldorf-y girls. Organic lunches were for sale as well as fresh homemade ice cream and baked goods. Various groups of adults and children performed on the violin and other stringed instruments. By the time we left, we were tired from all the fun, but Morgane made sure to ask if we could come again next year. I said yes.
 Someone turned my girl into a cat!
 Watering the garden Morgane and I went to the nursery and gathered some seeds and plants for the garden. We planted tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce and strawberries. She also planted her very own flower garden.
I bought some white pajamas and Morgane did an amazing job of decorating mine with the special pastels I bought. I ironed it and the picture is supposed to stay for good.
 My beautiful pjs. Sunday my good friend, Guylaine, came to visit. We took out the kayaks and she and Ghis and Morgane went for a paddle. I drove and met them at the beach where Morgane and I then enjoyed wading in the cool water.
Guylaine and I went to Lennoxville for English-style tea including scones with jam and cream. Then we walked around the campus of Bishop’s University where she did her degree.
 Guylaine in the quad at Bishop's. 
 The old mill, 'moulin' in French. We had a busy weekend. On Saturday, Morgane and I went to a Fete de la Famille. All the activities were free and we got to visit animals (touch an iguana and hold a pet rat), eat a hot dog lunch, and wear harnesses so we could jump high on the euro-bungy trampolines. Morgane got her face painted and played on inflatable slides and obstacle courses, and she got the pieces of wood she needs to make a little birdhouse. There was even free cotton candy! I was impressed with all the great activities, the nice people, and even the minimal garbage that all this fun created. Bravo, Sherbrooke!
 The covered bridge in Ulverton. Saturday night we drove Morgane to Drummondville so she could sleep over at Mami Celine’s house (her grandmother). We went to see a folk music concert in Melbourne, in between Sherbrooke and Drummondville. There we met some English folks including a writer for the local English paper. He’d like to interview us about our trip. We got to see him the next day since Ghis forgot his hat and Nick picked it up for him.
 Louise says that every year they have a festival in Ulverton where they build things out of sticks.  Sunlit ferns. The next morning, we drove to pick up Morgane and have breakfast with Michelle (Ghis’s sister) who was visiting from Ottawa.
After that, we discovered it was Ghis’s grandfather’s birthday and his dad invited us to visit the cemetery with him. Morgane made a crayon rubbing of the tombstone. She was impressed to hear about some of her ancestors.
 Ghis makes a crayon rubbing of his grandfather's tombstone.  Morgane picks flowers at the cemetery. The big one is plastic and must have gotten blown away.  Three generations of Demers' After that, we went for a great walk in Ulverton at the old Wool Mill. It was beautiful and on top of that, we saw a snake and two frogs!
 The mill, powered by the falling water.  A snake on the path.  He's hard to see off the path.  We surprised a couple of frogs and they hopped into the water. We had lunch in Richmond, then drove home. But we passed a place that had a bunch of bikes for sale and found a bike for Morgane for $30, so we are pleased and now it’s time to teach her to ride without training wheels. Any tips?
 Ghis has to take the adventurous road. He says, "What are those twinkling lights over my head?" 
 Trees in bloom. Last weekend, we explored the biggest forest in town: Bois Beckett (bois = woods). It’s part of our plan to enjoy the outdoors – and make sure Morgane learns to enjoy it, too.
 Somebody built a few inukshuks here.  Uprooted tree. The flowers on some of the trees were blooming and the ferns were almost all unfurled. We can let Carmanah off the leash to explore. Since Morgane is faster than she is, she can no longer run away!
 Little pink riding hood and the white wolf. This week we had some more cold weather and now I have a cold, but it’s warming up. Soon I’ll be better and we’ll get out some more.
And I have my first job interview booked…
 Snow! I can’t believe that earlier this week, it was snowing. Today it got up to 28 Celsuis, 32 with the humidity.That’s 82 Fahrenheit and 90 with humidity.
 Crossing King St. Ghis bought some wheels for his kayak and then walked from the house down to the lake. Morgane was really excited to go, too. The two of them kayaked around the lake together. Morgane is really good at paddling.
 Getting ready to paddle  Off they go!  Paddling in sync.  Looking at the new hotel being constructed. I waited with Carmanah for them to kayak around the lake. Ghis’s goal is to be able to get in and out of the water without help.
 Here they come.  All tired out.
 This morning I went for a walk around the lake and I was sorry I didn't have my REAL camera with me. But this is pretty nice. It was our first weekend where we didn’t have anything we HAD to do.
 So many great parks! We went to the park and played frisbee and soccer and met our new friends who were celebrating a birthday. They have a brand-new two-week old baby. Their friends are all very nice and Ghis had fun playing volleyball with the gang.
 Volleyball  This is their dog getting a spa treatment! She's a MIRA dog and her babies are going to be seeing-eye dogs, so doesn't she deserve it?  Morgane tries juggling.
 The peek-a-boo fishies kayak. Ghis got to try out a new kayak today – a see-through one! It’s made locally and the skin is made of vinyl. I think it’s a great way to see the fishes, but it’s definitely not as hard as most kayaks. The guy who built it says the vinyl will stretch, not break, and it only costs about ten bucks to buy replacement vinyl.
Ghis retrieved his kayaks and they are now parked on our sun deck. He also has a fold-able kayak that needs a new skin and he has found someone to do the work. Did I say, he is VERY excited?
 Waiting for M to get out of school. Morgane had her second day of school and came home happy. She even had English class today. It wasn’t too boring because they watched Planet 51.
 Morgane drew this at school today! Now that she’s in school, I’m working hard on finishing my current writing class. I’m working on four different chapters about our travels this past year. I’m finding it hard to remember a lot of the details. Luckily I have the blog and some journal entries to help me.
 Ghis took Carmanah for a walk in the woods and met this cute husky puppy.  Signs of Spring photographed by Ghis
 Being zen in Sherbrooke. Here are some pictures from the Zone Zen, the walk that goes around the lake, past the market and through a grassy park.
 Walking in the zone around Lac des Nations.  Parc Jacques-Cartier Morgane starts school tomorrow. It may be late to start Grade 2, but she’s way ahead in so many other ways. She has an amazing conceptual knowledge of so many things.
 Walking back from the park. We stopped by her school and checked out the park. School was finished for the day, but we got to walk the hallways. It’s in a nice area and is in a park surrounded by trees. Everyone seemed nice. It will be the smallest school she’s ever been to. Her first school had two classes for each grade. In Montreal, they had four grade one classes. Here, they have just the one!
My only complaint is that school starts at 8am! Starting next Thursday, she’ll be taking the school bus and I’ll be the mom out there half asleep, ready to run back into bed. We’ve gotten a bad habit of staying up late, but I bet this will cure us before long.
 Our gigantic house.
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