There is a quietness in this place where we are staying in Wakefield even as it is filled with the life of those inhabit it.  It operates on a time of its own making – a time that has priorities but is not controlled by the urgency of them.  I like it here.   I find it to be refreshing…peaceful. I surmise part of that peacefulness is the fact that I am essentially offline.  Phone service is on roaming and the internet has been on and off the past two days – hence, the world I live in does not really exist here.  Oddly, as frustrated as I may be with my inability to conform to deadlines I have to meet, I still find the whole notion that I am unplugged to be a reminder of what the world is supposed to be about in its best form.

Noah (presently known as Oprah) and I are staying at the Alpengruss. I chose this place primarily based on its location, but I could tell from the information and my initial conversation with Ruth that it would suit me.  Last night I had dinner in the Alpengruss Restaurant for the first time. One side of the Alpengruss menu is in French and the other is in English. I keep telling Noah that I would like to learn French while I am here. I responded at the border to the agent’s bonjour with my best French impression (speaking French is more than learning the language; it requires learning the presentation and the body language). My spirited bonjour must have been convincing as she began speaking to me in French. I have since been reiterating at every possible opportunity that I think I could pull of being French. So last night at the Alpengruss when presented with the menu in the two languages I fancied studying it to see if I could absorb it in a savant kind of way (given my already evident leanings toward being French), but quickly became distracted by the content. It was clear immediately that we weren’t in Kansas anymore.  Whenever I travel out of country I am reminded of how Americanized I am.  I ordered the goulash, more as a process of elimination than anything else.  I wasn’t too hungry and I wasn’t looking to try anything all that new and exciting (like snails or frog legs) so I settled on the comfort food option.  The restaurant is the embodiment of the owners Ruth and Wolfgang – cultured, yet personable.

During the week there are mostly locals here.  Weekends are busy with visitors who visit the quaint community that sits on the picturesque Gatineau River (and when I say picturesque I must emphasize that I indeed mean the full import of the word – it is the kind of place that you breathe in like air itself to appreciate that you are alive).  In the absence of being connected to my world via technology, I have been visiting with the whatever locals I can engage in conversation (Oprah has been sitting in the car an awful lot reading).  In my travels today I met Jeannette, a transplant to the area (from England), who runs a lovely bookstore/cafe named Solstice.  I so enjoyed getting an opportunity to chat with her.  She didn’t have the book I was seeking – anything on learning French – but I learned so much more that I was not at all disappointed that I left without the originally sought after book.  I suspect I will be visiting Jeannette again while I am here.

Noah says if stop being annoying about learning French he will teach me a phrase a day. Today he taught me merci beaucoup – which means thank you very much.  So to my new friends in Quebec I say, merci beaucoup – I am loving my adventure here. 😉

Day seven hundred and fifteen of the new forty – obla di obla da

Ms. C