View to the east from the cabin, March 5, 2010
(click on photo to get a great view of snowy mountain tops)
Greetings all! It is now less than a week before Marie and I get onto Highway 417 for the last time and drive east to the big city! The movers come in Thursday to pack, Friday to load, and the cleaners come in Saturday morning. Then it's arrivedeci, sayanara, adios and hasta la vista baby! Bienvenue a Montreal! I spent this past week packing the pickup truck with boxes that we don't want to put into storage, including all our plants, summer tires, corrosive and flammables and hauling it all off to our duplex. It will stay there until next week when I drag it all over to our temporary accomodations in Villeray, north of downtown Montreal. I left Muffy for the day with Christina, who was there helping Fer - Phil was working so never got a chance to see him - and dropped off a large painting I had done for them. As I had to pick up my new Quebec driver's license that had been mailed to our address on the mountain, I used that excuse to drive out to the cabin and check things out. Was I in for a surprise! Having left Ottawa with absolutely no snow anywhere, driven through Montreal with even less and out into the Townships where even the fields were showing green in ever increasing patches, I had visions of being able to get up my driveway. Ha! By the time I got to La Patrie, about 20 kms from the property there was about 2 feet still on the ground. As I began climbing into Notre Dame des Bois, 5 kms away, it was up to 3 feet. And by the time I hit the Domaine and climbed up our hill another 1000 feet I knew I had made a wise decision to bring along my snowshoes! As you can see by the photos taken Friday it was still a winter wonderland! It was warm though and, unless we get an extended cold spell it won't be long before the mountain will be bare.
Arriving at the bottom of my driveway, Friday 5th March 2010
Phil's 4-Runner, parked by the cabin, March 5, 2010
View looking down from the top of the driveway, March 5, 2010
The cabin, March 5, 2010
Melting snow from cabin roof, March 5, 2010
Inside snow "fall" from cabin roof, March 5, 2010
My snowshoe tracks up to the cabin, March 5, 2010
It was uncannily quiet as I stood and admired the view, tramping around the property, realizing I couldn't get into the shed for the snow against the door. I was able to get into the cabin though and noticed all was normal. There were a few deer, rabbit and fox tracks about, as well as other snowshoe tracks from someone passing through earlier in the week. I said my hellos to Benoit, the King of the Domaine, and headed back to Montreal before it got dark, picked up Muffy, and was in Ottawa by 10pm. A long day! Knowing I would only have to do it once more next week made it bearable, plus I had my Sirius XM radio blasting so the miles slipped by in no time!
And now we finish up here and begin another chapter in our life. We anxiously await news of our grandson-to-be within the next week or so and meeting Fernanda's parents! Stay tuned to this spot for continuous updates! Till then, peace, love and happiness! gws
