Scott's Adir...I mean Frontenac hike

Plan for November 29th : Adirondack hike with Scott. We are ready for a fun scenic day. Scott is in Ottawa for work and has planned to join us on our Saturday outing to the mountains.

Email1, November 28 th:
Scott wrote:

I am an idiot- I forgot my passport at home! Can I still cross the border?

Sorry!

Scott

Reply:
Murielle wrote:

Turkey! (Mark asked me to call you like that)

You wouldn't happen to have your birth certificate or certificate of
indian status with you?
If not, you'll at least come down for diner. I have a roasted chicken on
the menu...a big boy  :) 

See you later
Murielle

Reply:
Scott wrote:

I don't have my birth certificate or certificate of indian status with me. I think I could provide a certificate of 'idiot status' thought.

Could we go for a hike in Ontario? Perhaps Frontenac? I could head home after the hike on Saturday. I think it would be a great day and, better yet, a slightly later start.

I hope you guys are still up for a walk.

Scott

And this is how our Adirondack hike was traded in for a gorgeous day in Frontenac Park.

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Pretty Brittany - La belle Bretagne

Pictures say it all. I could try to praise some more Brittanies beauties but that would be endless. Plus, I already do it enough, I am probably getting annoying to those who know me.
Can I show you though? Enjoy the pictures...



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And the fun Brittany

We certainly didn't have time to get bored. Meals only would of been enough to keep us entertained. We spent most of our spare time (read: not eating) walking along the sea, foot fishing clams, shrimps, oysters...collecting blackberries (and eating them too). We did enjoy some motionless moments laying in the sunshine on the beach, on the rocks, along coastal trails.
Two weeks is not long but we did get to see a few friends and family, if only we had had just a bit more time.



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De retour de Bretagne - Back from Brittanny

Marley is now a well traveled dog with her second trip to France in less than two years. My mother, Mark, Marley and I, just spent a much to short 16 days in Concarneau. Such short vacation doesn't leave time for much, it is barely a tease. A tasty tease as our main occupation has clearly been eating and this from the minute we arrived. Indeed, when we stepped in the house, in Concarneau, the traditional langoustine platter was served. There is no way around it, my grand mother can not help starting to feed us the minute we walk in her home. Also, with the sea food, cold meats, melon, fruits, cheese, bread.....she had, on our request, not prepared too much ... or it would of been a week worth of food served in the first hour following our arrival.

Avec son deuxieme voyage en moins de deux ans, Marley est maintenant une grande voyageuse. Maman, Mark, Marley et moi venons de passer seize jours de vacances beaucoup trop courtes a Concarneau. Un sejour aussi limite laisse a peine le temps de voir les jours passer. Mais on en a profite... surtout a table, ou on s'y est donne a coeur joie. En effet, a peine a-t-on mis le pied a dans la maison que le traditionnel plateau de langoustines etait servi. Il n'y a pas moyen d'y echapper, ma grand-mere ne peut pas ne pas nous nourrir a la minute qu'on se presente chez elle. Je vous met a l'epreuve de trouver un temoignage contraire. Aussi, viandes froides, melon, fromage, pain, fruits....elle n'avait, a notre demande, pas prepare trop de bouffe...ou il aurait fallu s'attendre a une semaine de bonne chere servie dans l'heure suivant notre arrivee.

From Breizh2008

Put weight on? Wrong! It's the French paradox....you eat good, fat and tasty but throw the pounds away. If anybody finds Marleys 10 lost pounds she would need them back, as for my small kilo, feel free to keep it. Other than at the table, we did keep quite busy walking around, enjoying scenery and fresh air. Of course I will post back to show some good times and beauties in my prettiest country.
Leaving the Brittany I love feels tougher each time I go. As I will have either gone to visit again or knowingly to settle, I know one day I will stay. Roots are made of very strong rubber that may stretch very far but will not let go.

Prendre du poids? Non! C'est le paradoxe francais...on mange bien, gras et bon mais on rejete les kilos. Si quelqu'un trouve les 10 livres perdues de Marley, elle aurrait bien besoin de les recuperer; pour ce qu'y en ai de mon petit kilo, sentez-vous libre de le garder. Autrement qu'a la table,nous nous sommes tenus occupe a marcher, explorer les paysages et profiter du grand air. Bien sur je vais rajouter des photos de nos bons moments et des beautees de mon plus beau pays.
Quitter la Bretagne que j'aime est de plus en plus difficile a chaque fois que j'y vais. Que j'y retourne en visite ou en sachant que c'est pour m'y installer, je sais qu'il y aura un jour ou j'y resterais. Mes racines sont faites d'un caoutchouc suffisement elastique pour partir loin mais toujours revenir.

Little note on the weather. It was fantastic, all sunshine and it seems to be holding after our depart. After a very wet summer we have been called lucky and I will concur as it has become clear over the years that I attract good weather in Brittany. Therefore, if you are planning a vacation or simply want to enjoy some good weather in Finistere, feel free to fly me over and I will make sure to pack up my sunshine charm.
Petite note sur la meteo. Le temps a ete fantastique, que du soleil et ca semble tenir apres mon depart. Suite a un ete miserablement mouille on nous dis que l'on a etait bien chanceux et je confirme, car c'est devenu tres clair au court mes visites des dernieres annees que j'attire le beau temps en Bretagne. Ainsi, si vous plannifiez des vacance ou pour simplement profiter du soleil dans le finistere n'hesitez pas a me mettre sur un avions pour la france et je m'assurerais d'emmener mon grigri beau temps.

From Breizh2008

The strongest link one can have with a country is people

To fall in love with a country you have to fall in love with its people, to keep loving your origins you have to keep loving people from where you came. It is painful to feel so torn, home has become here but home has remained over there. The blessing must be that , here and there, I always feel as welcome as if I was home.

I am antsy to taste the salt of the sea, to smell the iodine in the air and to here the accent of Brittany in Concarneau's gossips.

La visite de Martine et Caesar

Un apres midi chaud mais une brise rafraichissante. On a bien mange a l'ombre de l'arbre et bien jouer autour de la piscine. Mais au fait...c'etait quoi le jeu? Faire plonger les chiens? Prendre des photos des chiens qui plonge? Ou faire plonger les chiens pour eclabousser Caesar qui prend des photos?

Il faut savourer les bons moments quand ils passent...n'empeche j'aurais bien aime une journee de plus a ne rien faire d'autre que d'apprecier un jour d'ete en bonne compagnie.

Avis aux interresses: Les phares ont trouve leur place sur le mur.

Visit from England

Good weather and good company made it for a good weekend. Marianne and Colins two day visit to South Mountain has for sure been a highlight of our summer. I'm still amazed how an English man made my Canadian home feel so much like a little bit of France for a couple days. Wine, petancle and expressive story telling, he does it perfectly. Now just look at pictures of this man, I am certain he spends hours on front of a mirror practicing every single movement and expressions enriching his daily activities.

Horsy day

So...who's the best cowboy? Mark, gone to Texas to find a cowboy hat? Or Murielle riding a horse in Quebec with no cowboy hat?

The plan was to go skiing with the dogs in Wakefield but it snowed more than planned and it would of made it a slow ski. We opted to go out for a ride with Nelligan and Chaman instead. Tommorow will be Marley's day. Back to skijoring, but with my new skis....fast, fast, fast....

Two days of racing in Kemptville

I am feeling pretty soar this morning. Marley and I worked hard at going fast.
The Eastern Ontario dog sledding championship is held in Kemptville, 20 km away from home, so there was no way I wasn't going to enter. The race was two sprints of 4 miles run Saturday and Sunday with cumulated times. The 4 miles, were brought down to 3.8 mile and I'm not even sure it was that long. What ever, we run for fun and the trail is the same for all.
For a Bouvier, the shorter is better. Marley is very fast and powerful at the start but slows down (from very fast to fast) after about 12 minutes.
I slow down after 5 minutes, drag myself after 10 and dream of collapsing before 15. I really do this for the thrill and the intensity of that short time working hard with my dog and my dog working with me.

Marley seems to become more intense as we do more races. She now anticipates, her level of excitement increases throughout the steps leading to the race. As I get changed, suit her with her harness, clip in my skis... by the time we line up she's ready to go.
Both Saturday and Sunday she started like a bomb. I'm going to have to find a good starting position for myself as each start feels like my hips are ripping apart from the rest of my body. Seventy pounds lounging forward at full speed gives a good choc.

These first pictures are form the Sunday race. As we were waiting for the two minutes lapse between teams, people are asking me questions about Marley, someone asked what was her name. I answered that in these circumstances she likes to be referred at as the " Fluff Bullet".

The fluff bullet literally flies through the first stretch. The start goes so fast, it's pure fun.

Typhaine was at this event too. She came ahead of everybody on Saturday with a good advance that maintained her in first place for the overall results. Sam ran amazingly on the first race.

The tough thing about the end of the race is that you know everybody is looking at you, and they are all taking pictures. It's the last sprint and even though all you want is to double pole, let the dog do the work there is the ego pushing to concentrate on a nice skiing so you do your best.

It seems like most dogs do this, they're either scared of the flag, the line, the crowed...they all slow down or even stop before the line. A poor girl with a dog sledding team had all the dogs stop just at the line, it took her 45 seconds (over an 11 minute race) to get the dogs to cross. With the skijoring the nose of the dog has to cross before the tip of the skis to not be disqualified, so you can not pull the dog threw.

First move after the finish line, drop in the snow and cool off. We take a few minutes to get our legs back, reward our racing partners, comment on the trail, compare how many times we fell and head over for a coffee while we wait for results.

Typhaine arrived first at on Saturday and third on Sunday. I arrived fourth on Saturday and second on Sunday. For the overall, final results Typhaine came in first and I came in third. We have great dogs.

More pics slideshow

Marley, the fluff bullet

Great is the best word to describe it. The weather was great, the trails were great, the race organization was great, I felt great, but above all Marley was the greatest.
I entered this race with a bit ambivalence, I was afraid I was going to have to do all the work, or even worst, have to drag the dog along.
Marley has been a little picky lately about what she will pull or not. She will put all her heart and soul into keeping the bike going fast but my stubborn puppy (I have called her that a few times now) rather trot along when it's time to pull me on skis or on a sled, sometimes she won't even budge at all.
All my hopes were on Marley's competitiveness and, once more, my black fluffy devil demonstrated that dogs can get in the racing spirit. It didn't matter anymore what I asked her to pull, she was there to go at it hard and fast.

Superbe est le mot qui convient pour decrire ce dimanche. La temperature etait super, le sentier etait super, l'organisation de la course etait super, je me sentais super mais surtout et par dessus tout Marley a ete super.
Je me suis presentee a la course avec une certaine d'ambivalence, je craignais d'avoir a forcer plus que ma part, ou au pire, je craignais d'avoir a trainer le chien pour les 5km de la course.
Marley a ete quelque peu difficile c'est dernier temps quand il s'agit de tirer les skis ou le traineau. Il est prete a mettre corps et ame pour faire avancer le velo a des vitesses affolantes mais mon chien tetu (je pense l'avoir qualifiee ainsi plusieurs fois maintenant) prefere trotter nonchallement quand je l'accroche au traineau ou suit en ski. Parfois, il lui prend l'idee de ne pas bouger du tout.
Mes espoirs misaient sur son instinct de competition, et une fois de plus mon demon poilu m'a prouve que les chien on tout un esprit de course. Ca n'avait plus d'importance ce que je lui demandait de tirer, elle etait la pour aller vite et fort.

The Ottawa fun race is, like the name says it, a race for fun. It was a good one to start. All three, Typhaine, Mark and I, entered. Typhaine and I both went in for the 5km skijor with each our own dog, Sam and Marley. Mark entered the 2 dog sledding race with them.

La "Ottawa fun race" est , comme le nom l'indique, pour le plaisir. C'etait une bonne course pour commencer. Tout les trois, Typhaine,Mark et moi y avons participe. Typhaine et moi avons courru le 5km de skijoring avec nos chien respectifs, Sam et Marley. Mark c'est inscrit a la course en traineau a deux chiens de 2 km.

First race, the 5 km skijor.

La premiere course, le 5km de skijoring.

Step 1: prep my horse. I didn't want any booties on Marley but with the warm temperature an sticky snow I was almost guarantied snowball problems, so after I waxed my skies I greased my dog. The usual vaseline between the toes and baby oil on the rest of her feet hair (as a bonus it makes her smell pretty).

Premiere etape: preparer mon cheval. Je ne voulais pas mettre de bottines a Marley mais avec la temperature chaude et la neige collante j'etais certaine qu'elle aurait des problemes de boules de neige dans le pattes. Apres avoir farte mes skis je me suis donc affaire a graisser mon chien. Comme d'habitude de la vaseline entre les orteils et de l'huile pour bebe sur le reste du poil de ces pieds (en prime ca la fait sentir bon).

Once more I was allocated a lucky number, 56. I won't elaborate on the reasons that make it lucky, I'm certain it is.
The races start in waves with a minute between each competitor, dogs don't always run in good sports and it's wise to avoid contact during a run. With about twenty competitors it makes a fair lineup at the starting gate. We started 4th, I think, Typhaine and Sam ran just after us.

Encore une fois je course avec un numero chanceux, le 56. Je n'elaborerais pas sur les raison qui en font un numero chanceux, mais je suis cerine que 56 l'est.
Les departs sont donnes par vagues separant de une minute chaque equipe, les chiens ne cours pas toujours avec un bon esprit sportif et il est sage d'eviter le contacts durant la course. Avec une vingtaine de competiteurs, ca faisait une longue ligne d'attente au depart. Nous sommes partis 4eme, je crois, Typhaine et Sam sont partis juste apres.

Maybe I should explain the shorts I'm wearing, it's not about style. I've had issues about skijoring harnesses. They tend to slide too high over my hips and I find it affects my balance to much. I tried the climbing harness but it's tight and obstructive. What I really wanted was a harness that would wrap around my butt, just below the iliac bones and pull from there. Unfortunately a harness won't hold there on its own or without any annoying strapping....the ideal would be if the harness just floated on it's own....what if I sewed it into shorts!!! This worked really well for me, the dogs pulling force doesn't affect my balance anymore. For whoever is interested into the harness heres a non sexy butt pic that shows it well. Harness

Peut-etre que je devrais expliquer les shorts que je porte, ce n'est pas pour le style. J'ai des problemes avec les harnais de skijoring. Ils ont tendances a monter trop haut au dessus de mes hanches et je trouve que ca affect trop mon equilibre. J'ai essayeun harnais d'escalade mais c'est trop serre et derangeant. Ce que je voulais vraiment c'estait un harnais qui m'enroberais au niveau des fesse, juste dessous les iliac et me tirereais de la. Malheureusement un harnais ne tiendrai pas bien la sans des sangles au-dessus des hanches...l'ideal serait si le harnais flottait la...et si je le cousait dans un short!!! Ca a tres bien marche, la force du chien n'a plus affecte mon equilibre. Pour ceux qui sont interresse par le harnais voila une photo pas tres exy de mon posterieur. Harnais

Back to the racing. Marley started getting very exited in the line up. Now, that's all relative, Marley doesn't get exited like true sledding dogs, her excitement would be considered really calm beside a husky. Never less, I nice gentleman helped holding her back because when she saw the starting stretch, Marley was ready to go. No need to say my apprehensions all went away, I knew she was going to do her half of the job.
When our turn came, she did a perfect Marley start. She sat at the starting line, with subtle tremors and great expectation to go. Actually, when the timing lady gave me the twenty seconds heads up Marley's bottom came up and she almost went ahead. She gave me a mad look when I told her to hold.
And finally...3..2..1.. Run Marley....Gallop...I just can't ski at the start. The acceleration is just too much and I would trip over my skis, the best I can do is to double poll until Marley reaches her pace. Then we're on for a really nice ride. It's really neat how motivating it is seeing the dog working hard ahead, it pushes me to ski harder. I don't think there any other activity that makes me feel that team bond with Marley better than racing. All along I talk to her, instruct her were to go, ask her to slow down or pull harder and she responds as if her life depended on my commands. On her behalf Marley does take some initiatives, which are usually good. I tripped over some branches on a slightly narrower part of the trail, Marley slowed down right away (without stopping) avoiding me to fall, gave me the "everything ok back there?" look and as soon as I was balanced again she went back to her gallop rhythm. She also seems to know before they are in sight when we are catching up on some other concurrent because she would considerably speed up just before someone would appear ahead. I think Marley is a little competitive.

De retour a la course. Marley commencait a etre exitee en dans la ligne. En fait c'est plutot relatif, Marley ne s'exite pas comme les chien de traineaux, sont etat enerve serait considere calm a cote d'un husky. Neanmoins, un gentil monsieur m'a aide a tenir Marley parce quand elle a vu le droit de depart elle etait prete a partir. Inutile de dire que mes apprehensions sont vite disparues, il etait clair que mon chien allait faire sa pert du travail. Quand notre tour est arrive Marley nous a fait un depart, a sa maniere, parfait. Elle s'est assise a la ligne de depart, avec de legers tremblant et la hate de partir. Quand la dame du chrono m'a donner le "20 secondes avant le depart", le derriere de Marley s'est leve du sol et elle est presque partie. Elle m'a envoyer un regard mauvais quand je lui ai demander d'attendre.
Finalement, 3..2..1..Cours Marley...gallop...Il m'est impossible de skier au depart, Marley va trop vite. L'acceleration est trop vite pour moi et je trebuche dans mes skis, le mieux c'est de garder mes pieds parralleles et de pousser avec mes batons jusqu'a ce qu'elle atteigne sa vitesse de croisiere. Puis on est partis pour une bonne ballade.

Behind us the great Typhaine and Sam team was following, probably at a consistent 1 minute behind considering our arrival times.

This 5 km turned out to not be as painful as I was afraid it could of been considering I haven't skied any more than a grand total of about 4 km this winter. What could of made it a little....slightly (said with irony)....easier is if I hadn't lost half my pole at the first km. What a pain to skate with a single pole. I was going along very well, when just after I give a good push, I bring my hand back up and there's only a handle in left, the pole stayed behind. Quick debate on what to do and I decided to not stop, keep going and rely on my legs. Now, skiing with one pole is just too easy for me (again said with irony), so a little before the last kilometer my right boot came undone. I like to make those precisions as on the pictures of my arrival I look like I may be a little tipsy. I challenge anybody to try skating with one pole, one boot undone and tied up to a dog that's starting to back off as she see's the crowed. Marley still has that issue about running towards an unknown crowed. I can't really blame her, she ran amazingly the whole way, I won't hold against my pup her weariness of groups of noisy cheering people. We ran for fun and had lots of it.

Typhaine arrived a minute and 13 seconds after me. So our times were 13 seconds apart, I was really hopping we would do similar times and we did over a 20 minutes race. We arrived forth (20:06) and fifth (20:19) over 23 runners, I'm really satisfied considering my goal was to do under 25 minutes.

The sister debriefing, talking of our adventures and starting to think of the next race.

Marks race came after lunch. The plan was for Mark to run the 2km 2 dog sled race with two dogs working on different commands (German for one, French for the other) with a newly built and barely tried out sled... An other little detail, and my sister did warn us of it, Sams loyalty is above his love of running and pulling. It wasn't a given that he was going to work well, but Typhaine was curious to see how it was going to work out and Mark was keen to try the two pups.

The start looked awesome, until my sister was out of sight of Sam. Then, he decided to turn around and got tangled with Marley which wasn't about to slow down. Mark didn't give up he got them untangled and kept going. Apparently Sam never really pulled but eventually went with the flow. They had a few other scrambles and Mark had to run in snow for most of the race as Marley alone was working to hard to pull the load.

The last stretch, on the packed snow was the best as Sam started pulling when the arrival and Typhaine came in sight. Mark had to work really hard but he did his loop, we got great picture of his funny team and he got the third place ribbon.

Just I final picture of the site. Not many bouviers running, actually, only one. The Super Nobleair Calypso Marley, the no 1, best of all racing bouviers des flandres.

More photos

I have a new camera.....and happy new year...hollydays are over

We went down to Scott and Karen's home in Whitby on Friday to spend a couple days with them. On the drive down Mark mentioned I should go with Scott to Henry's (camera store) over the weekend and take a look. I confess...I a have been looking at reviews and specifications, comparing the best of compact digital cameras for the past few weeks...couldn't help it. Mark didn't really mean only looking he must of meant that by the end of Saturday I would have a new toy. I'm so exited, I just love it....I mean him. Anyway, I love both, the camera and Mark.

Oh seems Like I started playing with pictures...

Ok the rest of the weekend with Scott and Karen was just as great, we had a good time. Fun drinks, fun food and fun fun.

Few more photos with S&K here

After Christmas comes new year. Emily came to our house for new years eve and we had some more fun with the camera...well, I did. So... photos, food, drinks, it was a quiet evening. We went to bed as soon it can be decent for a December 31 with guests, quickly after midnight.
January first turned out to be a nice day, Emily stuck around for the day, actually she didn't leave before the afternoon of Wednesday. We woke up to snowy weather, one of those days that screams "Winter". It was perfect for a snow shoe threw Terry Spratts woods, down the road. The rest of the day we hung around, had hot chocolate, soup, chatted and took more fancy pictures with the new camera.

Few more photos here