Woody - winter 2020

Asleep in car on drive north from Asheville to Le Bic

Running on Vieux Chemin. Woody is on CBD, turmeric, and an anti-inflammatory and it's helping -
he's way more active, including running on snow covered road.

Woody does not seem to be bothered by the low temperatures and snow

Stretching 

Rolling around in the snow

Woody curled up up tight

Waiting for his morning spoonful of yogurt

Woody looking younger than his 11 years

Woody on his bed

Looking blissful

Le Bic's local hangout: Le Vieux Bicois

This rather unassuming place consists of an auberge with a bar/restaurant. The bar is a popular local  hangout in the village of Le Bic, our home town for half the year. In summer, tourists are also part of the mix, but in the middle of winter, not so much. So, when Lisa and I dropped in at Le Vieux Bicois (means old Bic) on a Friday evening in late January, we were a bit of a curiosity. The bartender, who speaks much better English than we speak French, was quite chatty. She even let on that she recognized us from summer - as she put it, we're the ones with the big dog. Yes, Woody, our golden retriever, at 80 pounds, is pretty big!
In the photos below, note how big the bottles of beer are.... and that the price in the evening/night (soir) is a bit higher than in the day (jour). This struck me as odd, but maybe it's more common than I'm aware of??? They also sell wine, but nearly everyone was drinking beer. It's a fun place to have a drink and hang out with the locals.

The entrance

The locals having a good time

Beer and wine prices by day (jour)  and night (soir)

Skiing in sub-zero temperatures - 17 January 2020 in Parc National du Bic, Quebec Province

Winters are cold here in Quebec! But if you're wearing the right clothes and have the right mindset it  can be exhilarating to be outside, even when the temperatures are sub-zero. On this day, we were out X country-skiing at -3 F on a trail sheltered from the wind. It was a short ski, about 30 minutes, and included a stopover at a warming hut along the Le Portage trail in Parc National du Bic. 

Local temperature as indicated on my Apple Watch

Cross-country skiing on the Le Portage trail in Parc National du Bic

Winter warming hut along the trail - note smoke billowing from stove pipe.

Large wooden bin with firewood, smaller white bin had birch bark kindling

The wood stove was burning wood and the hut was comfortably warm when we arrived

View out window of warming hut showing one of the many groomed trails
in Parc National du Bic

Our classic cross-country skis - great for skiing in groomed tracks in the Parc

Summer picnic area with out-house in background is adjacent to the  warming hut.

Home Landscape - Winter '20

Landscape east of house

Outbuildings in mid-January

Old antique shed with snow drift

Outbuildings in mid-January

View of outbuildings and Woody from driveway

Antiquite sign with multi--trunked white birch

Antique wagon wheel

Spruce trees with heavy snowpack

Animal pens and chicken coop

Animal pens in foreground with chicken coop in background

Fire pit with antique benches

Cut wood from fallen quacking aspen tree

View of "Arboretum" in Far East end of our landscape

Winter 2020 in Quebec: 1st Weekend Highlights

We left Asheville by car on Tuesday 7 January and arrived at our cottage in Le Bic, Quebec Province, two days later. The total driving time was about 25 hours through the mostly snow-covered landscapes of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Quebec Province. 

Our friendly neighbors made our arrival easy - Gaston cleared the driveway of snow and Denys turned up the convection heaters in the house prior to our arrival.

Our first day in Le Bic was sunny and clear but chilly, with a high of about 12 F. But then, a heat-wave of sorts appeared, warming to 35 F on Saturday. Sunday was back to more normal temperatures, reaching a high of 12 F and a low of 5 F.

Below are photos from our first couple of days in Quebec.

Woody likes to sleep when traveling by car

Arriving at our house in Le Bic

A nearly full moon greeted us our first evening

Cross-country skiing down our road

Our cozy living room

A wood stove is our best source of heat

Stacked wood in the 'solarium'

Cross-country skiing in Parc National du Bic 

One of the first trees to leaf out in spring

This buckeye (Aesculus hippocastanum), commonly known as horse chestnut, is native to a small region of southeast Europe but is widely planted in Europe and North America. Like other buckeyes, it's one of the first trees to leaf out in late winter/early spring.  In our yard in Quebec Province, I first noticed the leaf buds expanding and leaves emerging in mid-late May this year.

Expanding leaf bud on May 19

Newly emerged leaves on May 27

More newly emerged leaves

Dandelions!

From mid-May through early June we again had a bumper crop of dandelions in the meadowy areas in the far western end of our garden. Dandelions are one of the most ubiquitous plants on the planet. It's very common in our landscape as you can see in the following photos. It's a plant that I have a love-hate relationship with --- I like it's showy flower heads but hate having to pull up the too numerous vegetative rosettes that seem to pop up everywhere in our garden.

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Notice the mix of yellow flower heads and fruiting heads. The seeds are dispersed by wind; as the seeds mature, the subtending inflorescence stalk elongates increasing the likelihood that the seeds will be carried away by the wind.