Good Sunday morning,

Alan and I were chatting last night – with a nice glass of wine in front of our fireplace – and I said to him that last winter when we were in the middle of the most hectic winter of our recent lives, I had not really been able to picture what this year in the middle of the winter in the freezing cold would look like.

Now that we are here and settling into a routine of sorts, is this really what I expected? I am not sure. We both agreed that living here has exceeded our expectations on every level. I know that people wonder if we feel isolated – we don’t. It is so blessedly peaceful here in our woods.  We are busy in the house with a hundred projects that we have been waiting so many years to get to, and now have time. I have joined a couple of groups – a women’s knitting group, I am going to a yoga class once or twice a week and I have become a member of a very interesting committee looking at ways to improve food stability here in Tadoussac. (more about that another time)

People are incredibly friendly, and now that we have gotten to know people, and they know we have sold our house so that we are really planning to stay, the community is making every effort to include us and help us to integrate.

What we have also seen is how very hard it is for many to continue to live here year round. We are the privileged ones without a doubt. We are retired and will be able to live the rest of our lives comfortably. At a meeting the other night with about 20 people a straw poll was taken. I take myself out as I am retired and out of the 19 remaining only 2 were working part time. All the others were not working this winter and these are young, intelligent, socially conscious people who are trying to find a multitudes of ways to continue to live here in a committed with their families in Tadoussac. Extraordinary work is being done to find any monies for projects and to develop long term strategies. The commitment and the good humour in the face of lots of obstacles is inspiring. People work hard, live hard and play hard and we are glad to be part of it.

And it is bloody cold. Many parts of the country have been struggling with the winter blast this year and our friends here have told us that we picked the best three weeks to be away. The average temperature since our return has been about -23 but with the windchill it drops another 8-10 degrees. What makes the difference, of course, is the relentless wind and we are very grateful that our passion for trees and desire to live in the woods made us keep our house surrounded.

I took some pics along the beach and the marina the other day and have posted them below. We do  not yet have the depth of snow that there has been in the last couple of years. At some point while we were away there was quite an ice storm. The school grounds and the front lawn of the hotel Tadoussac keep getting windswept and are literally like a skating rink.

 

We took a trip up to Chicoutimi this week to do a Costco run. What a spectacular trip. The snow covered cliffs are just as magnificent as when green in the summer. We stopped in at St Rose du Nord and Alan took a few pictures from the wharf at the base of the bay. It is at this point in the river that there is ice all the way across. If you can imagine there were snowmobile tracks on the river. I find it so hard to imagine having the guts to go on that river in a snowmobile knowing what we know of the river. There were a couple of fish huts in the actual bay. Higher up the river at  Chicoutimi , the river is completely frozen with the exception of two spots – right at the rapids and under the bridges – but even these two spaces are very small. To look across these expanses of snow and ice it looks like a moonscape. The pics below are from St Rose du Nord.

When we have visited in the winters over the last several years we have been able to walk on the beach sand and marvel at the ice floes and the hunks of ice. This year because of the big ice storm while we were away there is very little beach at all. It is solid ice which simply covers with the high tide and re-emerges again with low tide. Alan decided he needed to explore it more closely so this morning early he went down Turcot’s path – a true masochist at this time of year even if it is the best path in the summer. The dogs were so disappointed as when they got to the bottom they could not run at all as it was only ice and ice as far as you can see all the way to Pointe Rouge.

Friends are coming to visit over the next couple of weeks and we are excited to show them our new guest digs! Keep that in mind – a room is waiting. I have not posted pics yet as we just picked up the last of the doors yesterday and they are not hung yet. Soon…

Our love to all and have a great day where ever you are. Jane and Alan