back from the eastern part of La Belle Provence

Hey hey blogsters! I just got back from a week away. Unfortunately I left by eco-fu*king airplane on Earth Day, of all days! Magnolia and I are trying to grrlcott excessive carbon emissions, but it's tough.


When we landed in Quebec City, the sun was shining bright but there were still snow banks! See the snow on the side? But still mild enough to skateboard in short sleeves.


Marvelous weather for being around Vieux Quebec, and the hotel was just 2 blocks from a Le Commensal. Learned lots at the conference I was there for, as did Nancy.

After the conference ended on Wednesday we went to Gaspe to visit my cutie grandparents. We took a very long bus ride, which was less eco-oppressive than flying, plus Magnolia loved to look out the window:


I just finished reading Lullabies for Little Criminals while I was away. What a sweet, sad story. It won Canada Reads this year and was defended by John K. Sampson (who is vegan and a brilliant songwriter, and has the magic touch for picking books). It's subtle, but it'll knock your socks off.


Here's my Grampa, he just turned 102 years old!! He didn't call me la bella Carla even once, which made me sad because he couldn't remember me. But we did have some grand chats and played cards.


There was lots of snow in Gaspe, but the weather was mild:

But there wasn't any snow or ice left at the beach:


A dude I met out there told me that the seal hunt would be different if seals would become vegetarians! He said there's less sympathy for the seals because they eat so much fish, and people want to make money from fishing. Hmmm. (Either way, the fish get eaten by predators, and some would still want seal pelts.)

Home today, and that's nice after a week of eating in restaurants and other people's houses. I was aching for some asparagus risotto, so that's what I had tonight, with lots of lemon, peas and pine nuts: