Saint George de Beauce

I visited my uncle and aunt and cousin this past weekend in the true countryside of Québec. Really. Out in the middle of nowhere.

My favorite part of the weekend... okay, one of two. My first favorite part was the way everything smells out there. Summer camp... If I closed my eyes, I would have confused all my other senses because that's exactly what it smelled like and sounded like and felt like. It's the smell of pine and wild grasses... and something very distinct to the vast nature of central Maine and southern Québec. I don't know what it is. It's a combination of wonderfulness.

The other favorite part is what we like to call Bouille. You take carrots, potatoes, onion, summer cabbage, navet (don't know what this is in english), beef and lard salé (fatty pork), boil it together in a huge pot outside and eat with macaroni pasta in a very large bowl. Oh man did I eat way too much. I don't usually eat like that, but I did... You should have seen my uncle's bowl! Huge!! My mouth is drooling at the thought of Bouille tastiness.

Other than eating all the time and enjoying the smell and beautiful sunshine, I helped a little with the yard (which should be called farm) work and rode around on the quad and read and did math homework.

Very nice weekend although I admit to wishing I had been a part of the celebrations of La Fête de la Saint Jean Batiste, the Québec National Holiday. I learned that Saint Jean is the patron saint of French Canadians, which is why Québec celebrates in his name. Although none of the French Canadians that I spoke to knew exactly why they celebrate on June 24th... Maybe I'll look into this.