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Photo courtesy of waferboard's Flickr page - Canadian flag: https://www.flickr.com/photos/waferboard/5653240459
Photo courtesy of Kyle MacDonald - Quebec_flag: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kylemacdonald/66650789/in/photolist-6TAXx-6PByUt-o8KnGq-4qPhBC-5ayiie-dCfaHU-4YWgTR-6PBuWD-6PBv3k-8874k4-36C9nK-4Z1xFE-7VsSSh-5CVqmf-qnS9jk-3nYz4N-5uNoVP-8bGnfH-cqskgq-5pjedd-dfMmsL-4UK1Et-9t8Dvq-6ZxwKV-brZuEu-6zaCBc-5iPhim-9Qpwe1-4q3mX4-5Crg5U-3Da8ic-4sAr6C-8f6xSg-5hF28N-6BXydy-5huVVF-wwDQK-fwsa8H-5H9Tr5-5aCvVE-5ayg9T-5aCvBs-6Qskwq-cGmdvJ-4zYTWw-bDn7n-4qLneS-3bx179-ajGUD1-8acMDC
Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
2014
Yesterday, I posted some mostly previously unpublished pictures of my son. There were some that really took me back a few years.
Today, I am following that with some pictures of a very memorable campfire that we had during a trip that we took over seven years ago. The trip was through New England and eastern Canada, particularly the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, as well as eastern Québec province, particularly around the Gaspé peninsula. My brother, my son and I all went on this trip, which lasted 10 days, and perhaps foolishly came on the heels of another trip down south that my girlfriend and my son and I had taken in early June.
Now, there were plenty of posts that I published about those two particular trips. Yet, I do not believe that I ever posted these particular pics, which are of my son enjoying a campfire that has kind of become the stuff of legend. He was almost moved to tears by how perfect the night was, as I remember. The campfire was perfect in his eyes, the night was beautiful, and we sat in the woods underneath a canopy of stars on a clear night in the countryside, which meant that there were more stars than you could count. He really enjoyed it, as did my brother and I. In fact, it has become one of my personal favorite memories, and when I want to know that he recalls this particular trip, I know simply mentioning this night will pretty much do it. There are things that he does not remember about the trip, but the perfect campfire night and all of those stars are things that he still very much remembers, even after all of those years. Think about it: that was almost half of the amount of years that he has been around for, but he does remember that particular night, and does so fondly.
Looking back, so do I.
Anyway, here is what I wrote about it (it is quite brief, and simply documents where we were), as well as the pictures taken on that particular night.
Enjoy!
Like with Rimouski, Métis-sur-Mer is a small town that nevertheless punches harder than it's weight, since it is in a small country.
Or, perhaps, it is because it has been graced with tremendous natural beauty. It is tucked in between the St. Laurent seaway and the mountains of the interior.
What surprised me was how English seemed to dominate this little enclave that, otherwise, is completely surrounded by French speaking communities. And the homes here betray just how well-to-do the locals are.
Frankly, it just was not what I was expecting, because there are points once you leave the big cities in Québec province where it becomes basically just about exclusively French speaking, and so to run into a small community where this was not the case - and a wealthy community at that - just somehow was not what I expected to see.
There are famous gardens in Métis, although we were not able to visit them, due in large part to time constraints.
Yes, that was one of the highlights of that trip for me as well. Sitting around a fire is one of life's simple pleasures. I think part of the reason that he reacted so strongly to it, and that he vividly remembers it all these years later, is that due to a series of late arrivals and less than optimal weather conditions it kept getting postponed, which at the time probably led him to doubt that we would ever finally get around to it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's strange that this particular town seemed to be primarily English-speaking. But as you know there are such communities scattered throughout much of Québec, particularly in and around Montréal and the "Estrie" (Eastern Townships). Even an area as remote as the Îles-de-la-Madeleine is home to an English-speaking community – 6% of the population there, according to Wikipedia. As far as I know, it's mostly the corridor from Québec to Saguenay – perhaps from Trois-Rivières to Saguenay – where it would be exceedingly difficult for anyone who only knows English to get by. (In terms of living there – obviously I'm not talking about passing through as a tourist.)
According to Google, Métis-sur-Mer has a population of 607, while Rimouski has a population of 48,664. The latter is definitely a city, even if it's obviously far smaller than Montréal, or even Québec. It's part of the Université du Québec network, actually, and as such one of the places I considered back when I thought I might attend school somewhere in Québec. But even if I only vaguely remember passing through there back in the nineties, I'm sure you're right about it punching above its weight. I'm confident we'll feel the same way about tiny Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, assuming we get there one day.
I barely remember the rainy weather being a factor. I did know about the pockets of English-speaking communities scattered throughout Quebec. That said, I did not expect almost an entire town so far away from Montreal or even Quebec City, that far into what otherwise seems to be almost as French as the Saguenay region, suddenly, inexplicably, being predominately, perhaps even exclusively, English.
DeleteI suspect that socioeconomic status has something to do with it. Historically – and I'm sure you know more about this than I do – I think the most affluent and enviable areas in Québec were predominantly anglophone, while the poorer areas were francophone. I'm guessing that's less applicable today than it was decades ago, but there are probably still remnants of that divide.
ReplyDeleteOnly vaguely related: comedian Norm Macdonald apparently only knows a tiny bit of French despite being born and raised in Québec City. His father was in the Canadian military, and apparently didn't want him learning French or associating with Québécois. The sheer idiocy of that is simply staggering.