you can't build fences around life

it has been too long! so much has happened. i will try to recap efficiently...

montreal is my newest love. i am completely smitten. i would have stayed but i do still really want to see halifax. but if i don't love halifax i will go back. it was too wonderful to stay away. i don't even know if i can explain why i love it so. it's beautiful and interesting and exciting. you can bring your own wine to restaurants, buy fresh cheese at an open air market after sampling the local beers, listen to a U2 cover band at an irish pub... i can't even remember everything we did. but i think of the city and i glow with happiness.

a big part of that would be thanks to gerald and heidi, our wonderful hosts and tour guides. i can't thank them enough. we would have been completely lost without them.

trois rivieres was a unique experience. we visited mike kiloso and met the family he lives with. they are all from the congo, so they spoke swahili with each other, french with monica, and little bits of english with me. then they fed us traditional african food. that was an experience all its own. i'm glad to have done it, but i don't know that i would do it again.

quebec city was beautiful. we spent the day wandering in old quebec and enjoying every view. ooo and i bought some amazing boots that i am in love with. they were regular $210... i got them for $40! a woo hoo. they don't have a name yet, but they may soon. they're that cute.

now we are on the east coast. in gaspe, specifically. the gaspe peninsula is the most breathtakingly beautiful place i have seen since bc. the weather has been miserable again but it's probably for the best since ava would overheat on the hills if it was the least bit warm.

that will have to do for now since my computer is going to die on me at any moment. pictures to come... eventually!

this is the sound of the days burning the light of our nights

today we made it to ottawa. strangely enough, monica thoroughly enjoyed it and i was not overly impressed. that's not completely true. i enjoyed it, but i wouldn't want to live here, while monica would. we felt the same but opposite about winnipeg and ottawa.

did that make any sense?

yesterday we would have made it to ottawa but i put ava in the ditch. i was backing up and took the corner too wide. i'm not even entirely sure how it happened, i just know how ill i felt when i realized it had. we walked to the gas station down the street and, thankfully, the caa tow truck was right there. there was no damage to the van and we only lost about an hour. and i think monica has forgiven me.

i hope.

sat and stared at the parliament buildings today. they're big and old. we didn't go in. i figured inside would be about as interesting as outside. but we did go to the national art gallery and that was nice. saw some van gogh's, monet's, degas', and such. one mondrian i was pretty thrilled with and the greiner pictured here. it was the one painting that made me stop and smile.

we also went to the museum of civilization. i think i'm a little museum'ed out. i'm excited to wander the streets of old montreal and eat fattening food... world famous poutine and smoked meat here i come.