bae baie

Lazy day in paradise.

After waking up in the Picasso room, I headed for Papeterie St. Gilles, the first ECONOMUSEUM.

Papeterie St Gilles is in nearby St Joseph de la Rive, in a school that was converted to a papermaking workshop in the 60s.

The first step is repulping the cotton paper by soaking it.

 Later you press it.

 You can see the logo here, for embossing and adding texture.

 Et voila!

Once pressed, the paper is ready for writing or painting. It's beautiful stuff. The workshop is filled with art.

The last step is to measure its thickness You didn't realize that 20-pound paper was actually weighed, did you? 

 

Afterward, I walked across the road to the Maritime Museum. St Joseph was not a major shipbuilding center, but because the St. Lawrence is fierce in the winter, ships are stored in dry dock. 

You can walk aboard a number of the ships and see how they were built.

Timber is one of Canada's biggest exports.

 Practice your knots.

It's a balancing act.

Stay afloat.

Propel yourself.

I headed back to town for a late lunch. This heritage building is for sale.

This is a superb food region. I tasted 12 local ciders and sampled rhubarb-apple butter. Hard to resist the pates.

My suitcase will be full of cheese by the time I go home.

Walking on the quai, I met Jeanette and Marcel. She asked about the red alpaca poncho I was wearing, which I got in Chile. She told me (in French, which I do not really speak) that she and her sister once had matching ponchos, and she'd donated hers years ago. She also suggested perhaps I'd come to Quebec to learn French.

At times, the sky was foreboding.

 The farm at least is painted a cheerful color, to get through dreary winters.

Salmon is fished from this baie. I'm looking forward to some tomorrow for breakfast.

 But now, sleep is calling me. Bon soir. Until tomorrow.

charlevoix

So I flew all night, ate Zingerman's pastrami for breakfast, got talked into a new mileage credit card, flew to another country in a microjet, and then drove 5 hours to Baie St. Paul, listening to Fellside, a gripping horror tale and stopping at Tim Horton's for coffee and fleur de printemps (spring flower) donut.

It's Canada's sesquicentennial. More on that to come July 1st, when I will return for Canada Day.

First, more important things. Like donuts shaped like flowers, with jam in the middle. Worth noting this wasn't even the coolest donut on display, Tim Horton's has nutella donuts, but they were completely sold out.

 Now if you haven't noticed, the villages in Quebec are absolutely gorgeous. Baie St. Paul dates to the 17th century. Canada may be 150, but Montreal celebrated its 375th birthday this week. (Take that!)

This charming house is being restored, like so many on our block.

 
A closer look at the painting on the porch. Most of these houses have wraparound porches, and interesting patterns of wood. Tomorrow I'll learn more about it.

 

You'll recognize this classic external spiral staircase from Montreal.

 In the mean time, pull up a chair, or a swing. Relax. Go taste some cheese at the Economusee. Take a walk through town to the mighty St Lawrence, and follow the winding river to America's only fjord, in search of migrating whales.

I'll see you on the water.

flamingo road

Back in December, I was so excited to see flamingoes in the wild in Torres del Paine. And the Europeans were very nonchalant: We have flamingoes in Spain. And then someone mentioned flamingoes in Florida, which led me to Flamingo Gardens. So let's get the flamingoes out of the way.

No one I know in Miami had heard of Flamingo Gardens, but it's just half an hour west of Hollywood, in Davie, a town known for cowboys. 90 years ago, the Wrays built a ranch in the middle of nowhere. Then they planted some trees.

The trees are incredible. Cacao and bananas and mangoes and Meyer lemons. And lots of really cool fig trees.

Orchids and air plants like Spanish moss were plentiful.

 

Flamingo Gardens is a non-profit sanctuary. There's an aviary, full of local birds, most of them injured. 

 Pelicans and ibises.

Oystercatchers and herons.

The owls were sleeping. Bald eagles strode around their enclosure.

 

 This pretty blue-eyed bird seemed to only have one leg.

 Roseate spoonbills are not flamingoes.

Even the ducks were adorable.

Moral of the story is maybe you don't have to leave the country to find exotic birds and plants. Sometimes they're hiding in plain sight. Just past the familiar boundary where you grew up.

All in all, a fine day. Then we headed to an early bird dinner for stone crabs and roast leg of lamb. A real Golden Girls adventure.

How about those Florida panthers?