Aahhh.

I am now in my last round of billeting... On Friday afternoon, straight from work, I came to live with Lise, who is my billet 'mom' in Québec. She works in the same building as me, but for the Municipality of Duhamel-Ouest - the municipality that owns the Marais. She lives (we live, for now) in a cute little basement suite right on Lac Laperrière. She's a great lady and our conversation is always interesting, especially considering we are constantly flipping back and forth between French and English. She has a small dog, Charlie, slightly spoiled but well-trained, and a bird, Broccoli. And a dinosaur, in the form of a computer. (Dial-up internet?! Seems like forever ago!!) Anyway, so far it's been going really well and the last few days have been in huge contrast to living in the Katimavik house, since here it is so much quieter and I always have time to relax and finally get a good chunk of reading in. Also, living on the lake is fabulous. Yesterday and the days before, the weather wasn't great- it was cold and rainy. It finally cleared up last night in time for the Canada Day fireworks in Ville-Marie. I was really glad to get to go, and even happier to see a lot of people there, because one thing that really frustrates me sometimes here is the separatism issue. We're always hearing about how St. Jean Baptiste Day is considered such a big deal, but Canada Day is less celebrated in Québec. My reaction - What?! How can they just do that? I wouldn't have thought before now that that attitude really bothered me, but hearing it now has surprisingly gotten my feathers ruffled more than I expected. (And yes, I just used the term 'gotten my feathers ruffled'.)
So anyway, the fireworks were beautiful and I was happy to be celebrating Canada Day and all, but then I didn't know that today would be my real celebration. We had beeeeautiful weather today, and the lake was full of sailboats, ski-doos, swimmers, etc. I was able to borrow Lise's sister's canoe and head out on the lake. No one else wanted to go, so I went out on my own and it was so calming, so beautiful, so relaxing I can't even really describe it. I brought my music for paddling, and my book for sitting still and floating. It. Was. Fabulous. Bright and sunny, with just enough of a slight cool breeze. Then I got back and found out the canoe will be lent to me for the entire next two weeks, and we sat on the dock and had bruschetta, beer and hamburgers, and watched the waves splash on the shore. Wow. It was an amazing day. I know, it could happen to anyone.. but it really is the little things that count.
I hope everyone had a great Canada Day!