At Montebello City Park

On our way home from a few days in the Mt. Tremblant area, we stopped for lunch in the town of Montebello (known primarily for Chateau Montebello, its large, luxurious hotel).

We headed over to the city park to enjoy the view...

The Ottawa River was calm...The park was almost empty.

Boating season was apparently over - the wharves  had been moved away from the shore.

There was an end-of-summer silence in the air...

Then...

Is that a drone? Terry suddenly asked, pointing to a large spider-like object in the air.

It was!

Old Tremblant Village

Talking to a waiter at the Mt. Tremblant village resort, we discovered that there is a second Tremblant village - now referred to as the "old" village, as it predates the Mt. Tremblant village resort.

Many resort workers live there.

As it was only a 5-minute drive (or a 45-minute walk) away, we decided to drive over and check it out.

The new resort village - where we were staying at the edge of the ski hill - is a pedestrian only space. "Old" Tremblant village, situated on Lake Mercer, is a pleasant country town...

A bike path that doubles in winter as a cross-country ski trail runs along the lake and up to the ski resort.



 

We wandered over to an old church, which is now a theater...

"Old" Tremblant... also a lovely place to explore! I wish we'd had more time - enough to try the bike trail along the lake!

Encountering Deer

Terry's favorite experience at Mt. Tremblant was meeting up with a family of deer...

We had gone over to an old church at the edge of the resort, when Terry spotted them...

... eating grass in the church yard.

He leaned over the fence for a closer look - and one even approached and touched his outstretched hand.

But before long, they crossed the road and disappeared into the trees.

Fortunately no car was speeding by at the time.

Visiting Mt. Tremblant

Terry and I recently headed north-east to Mt. Tremblant, a popular Quebec ski resort.

(Was its name, "trembling" mountain, based on earthquake activity? we wondered with some apprehension...)

But there was no trembling when we were there!

There was no snow on the ski hill yet either!

For us, it would be a walking trip.

We drove there, but once at Tremblant, our aim was to walk for several hours a day...

(We can walk when we're at home, too - but there are a lot of distractions, so many things to do.)

The resort town of Mt. Tremblant reminded me of a Swiss village.

The terrain was perfect - lots of up and down walking.

Built on a ski hill, the town has several lifts running overhead through it! One went right over our hotel! They weren't working when we were there at low season.

We did climb about a third of the way up the ski hill, pausing at a waterfall.

If we could stay longer, I told Terry, I would try to walk higher up the mountain every day!

Crochet... on Hold(?)

I love to crochet. It's the simplest of creative endeavors. All that is needed is a crochet hook and yarn.Stored in a bag - it's the most portable of pastimes! Over the years, I've crocheted clothing and shawls - taking them with me when I travel. But these days I tend to focus on afghans...

I usually have at least one crochet project on the go - though currently I have three! A few years ago, I started this long afghan in Amish colors, I put it aside when I began knitting mitered afghans a year or so ago, and I haven't worked on it much lately.

I started to crochet again after learning a new crochet stitch this summer - basket weave. I've been doing a lot of that.

I finished this winter neck warmer... which needs to be sewn into a circle... (And have enough wool for another...)

I've also been using up scraps of yarn making this basket-weave afghan. I'd like to enlarge it to twice this size...

But now my wrist has (again) begun to hurt when I crochet, caused by the repetitive wrist motion. I've decided to take a break until it heals to avoid injuring it permanently.

Once I've started working on something, I find it hard to put aside!

Reference Photographs

I usually take my camera with me when I go for a walk. I never know what I'll see!

Nowadays, I'm not only looking for interesting neighborhood "news"... I'm also looking for photo reference material for my painting.

Never know when I might need to be reminded what an old tractor looks like...

...or how to shade a pile of rocks...

What colorful branch looks like in fall...

The shading of a wooden fence...or a leaf-strewn field...

Photographs always come in handy when painting!

Art... in Nature

Doing art has made me more aware of beautiful "art" around me...

... like this lovely shadow picture on our back fence!