Birds | A Dalectable Life

I’ve decided on a walk towards a favourite park, La Freyère, it is called. I know I’ve shared it before. It always offers something more. To give myself more distance to walk and take in the beautifully crisp day, I park about one kilometre away. This gives me my first glimpse of the St. Lawrence and the huge ~~houses~~ mansions (some owned by celebrities) along the way on the river side and large fields across from them.

I decide to enter through the parking lot of the now torn-down La Saulaie restaurant. It was THE place to dine, dressed in one’s finery, to nosh on the fanciest of meals with the best of wines. It is now part of the park annexed to La Freyère.

I cross the double bridge (sorry, I cannot help but photograph it from all angles!), cut through the park and cross the boulevard, towards the Stephen-Langevin Arboretum. Maybe I will be lucky and capture some birds. However, not thirty feet in, I am surprised by the presence of a few deer. I know many cross the river from the islands right across from the park, but I had never been so lucky before.

I’m no bird. but I’m cute, no?

Mister

Missus

Content with what I have seen, I decide to walk along, where there are less people and I can feel one with my surroundings.

It is officially spring, according to the calendar, but here in the woods, you would not know it. Snow covers the paths, a (mostly) firm walkway created by the regular visitors of this park, but if you step off said path, can easily sink past your ankles. It’s deeper in the non-trampled parts.

The sun, like fool’s gold, shines brightly and blinds me, but offers no substance. Not much, anyway. Standing perfectly still, protected by the woods, face upturned, there is a soupçon of heat. I am amazed how powerful that limited heat is and how much snow it can melt despite the freezing temperatures.

I walk on, enjoying the silence that is broken by the honking of returning geese. They pass overhead in twos or larger groups, raising a ruckus, announcing their presence. “We’re back! We’re back!” So many people hate them because of the mess they leave on lawns, in parks, etc. but I just cannot. They are beautiful, albeit often nasty, creatures. I look forward to seeing them with their babies, all fuzzy and adorable. But that is not yet.

For now, I am in the moment, eyes looking up, in hopes of finding an owl or falcon, though it seems not my destiny to find them without someone else pointing them out! So matter. I trudge on, admiring the play of light on the maple seeds and the criss-crossing of branches of trees I cannot name, notice the colours of the various grasses, mixed in with the red dogwood (I think?).

Past an open field, I approach more woods and what looks like a secret passage. It’s magical – to be perceived as your imagination sees fit, of course. Depending on the light, it could appear more sinister…

Not too scary

A little spooky

Looking back. Was that it?

Exiting my hidden path, I walk along the sparkly creek, that brings me to the edge of the woods.

And this beautiful view

I chose to return along the outside path which winds its way through the trees, so that will have looped the whole arboretum. And let me tell you, it is a chilly one. The field is to my right and I can feel the wind stinging my face as I walk back. I try to pick up the pace but as you can see, the path is rather narrow. Must be careful!

I crossed back over the boulevard and into the La Freyère park so I can take a short walk to the St. Lawrence. It is beautiful in every season and with some snow and sun? I’m sure to get a few more pics. (Hopefully you’re not bored yet!)

: Rivière aux Pins, where it joins the St. Lawrence

: Geese are back

: The most photographed trees in Boucherville

: Pilons for Crispina

One last one of the bridges, but from the other side…

I’ve now kept you long enough and thank you for sticking till the end. Hopefully, the next time I share this park, there will be no snow and things will be a-blooming!

This past weekend was brutally cold and I remained cocooned in my house. No way in hell was I going out to run in -30ºC (with the wind chill) no way, no how. For the first time this year, I decided to make a fire in slow burning wood stove. Man, the wood I have is fairly useless. Burns just like that (snaps fingers). My cubby holds three large loads of this wood carrier doohickey.

I burned the whole lot Saturday. Sunday was supposed to be warmer and I thought I’d go for a run and then fill up the cubby for the next cold snap. ‘Parently the cold snap wasn’t done. Whilst the kids were still snoring, I lugged in the three loads, snow-covered, and got that fire going again. Thankfully snow doesn’t make it that wet. It was a few degrees warmer than Saturday…

I decided to make a leek and potato soup, which got me to ruminating as I chopped. I remembered how I followed Pol Martin’s recipe for Crème de poireaux (cream of leek), having graduated from the Sel et Poivre magazines to real cookbooks. Sel & Poivre was fine and dandy but often included ingredients such as custard powder rather than include how to make the custard. Funny thing is, in another recipe from a later issue, there was a recipe for crème pâtissière (pastry cream/custard)! I used to take out both copies so I could combine them. Especially after having searched high and low for the prepackaged powder crap (and finding it lacking).

Anyway, back to my soup. I remembered cutting the veg rather small, and never puréeing it in the end. It never mentioned to purée it and so I didn’t. I no longer have the book – frankly, because this was the only recipe I ever tried in the otherwise dull and lacklustre book and I now know it off by heart and have probably modified it since, anyway – so I cannot confirm that that part of the recipe was omitted. Not so much a crème then, was it? However, I remember really liking it and receiving no complaints. Funny then, that was the only time I didn’t whizz it up into a smooth and creamy texture, adding a swirl of cream and a sprinkling of freshly chopped parsley. (I have also since figured out that the veg didn’t have to be cut so finely, especially since it was going under the immersion blender, or blender, that I no longer have.) And then Sunday’s soup. On a whim, I chopped everything fine and left it as is. No cream necessary. I loved it. And guess what? Different audience, still no complaints!

As much as I could have remained in my cocoon for yet another day, I instead checked my fire and decided that it was warm enough(ish) to go out there, well-bundled up. By 2:30 pm, I grabbed my camera, hopped into my car and determined where I would walk. On a whim, I parked near the “country road” and started walking. Realising I’d have to go a good ways before seeing anything, I trudged back to my car. Off to the bird sanctuary, instead. Note to self, these boots, while warm, are so heavy. Time to go shopping.

I parked on the street behind another car, having noticed the parking lot was pretty full. Ugh. I long for the days when I worked shifts and could come here on a weekday. It’s way too people-y on the weekends.

I took a good many photos, some of which ended up on the Facebooks and the Instagrams and I shall share them here, saving more for another post… 😉