Winter to Spring

Guess what? Spring arrived! 

But before spring arrived I got to spend a week backcountry skiing in the Parc de la Gaspésie. The "Parc" is part of the Gaspé peninsula in Québec, north of New Brunswick and south of the St. Lawrence. The peninsula is home to the Chic Choc mountain range and it juts out into the water where the St. Lawrence is way more like the ocean than a river. 

It's no exaggeration to say the trip was amazing. Here I am with Kate, soaking up the beautiful mountain sunshine. The weather was spectacular, allowing us to take in both snow-covered mountains and the sparkling blue waters of the St. Lawrence Seaway all in one view. 

I got to play around with a new backcountry ski set-up. There was a lot of trying to make tele turns and some actual tele turns. Here I am excited about some powdery snow amidst the wind-carved stuff. 

Hard to tell who it is, but that's Sarah G. and I on top of Mt. Logan. Summit Day was clear and sunny, but a little windy. We hung out at the top for a minute after having lunch. I know it doesn't look like there was much snow there, and that's because there wasn't. The last few hundred meters to the top was the only place we had to ditch the skis and walk. 

 

The crew (minus cameraman Mike) on a snowy bridge. Thanks to all for such a memorable week! I can't wait to head north to the Gaspé again. And for anyone who questions whether the East has backcountry goodness, no comments until you see the Chic Chocs for yourself. 

So, the trip was amazing. But then we came home and it was back to spring. (We skipped mud season this year what with the almost complete lack of rain.) There are two big projects going-on in my springtime world right now. 

The first (though not the most important) is getting the gardens ready. The garlic I planted last fall is coming up beautifully, and we now have four new beds in addition to the garlic plot. Over one of the new beds sits a cold frame - one of my Christmas presents from this year. (Many thanks to Daniel and Jim.) I've already seeded spinach and chard. Can't wait for those fresh greens to come up!

The second big project for this spring is more exciting and definitely more cute than my gardens.

I got a dog! Her name is Sadie and she is 3 years old. We adopted her from the Houlton Humane Society, and so aren't entirely sure what kind of dog she is or what her past life was like. She can get scared easily and definitely needs of lots of love, so I'm heaping that on as much as possible. We are also working on some obedience. She is great with sit-down-stay and even sits patiently while we get her dinner. Recall and loose-leash walking are going to take some more time.

We're so happy together! Right now she's conked out on her doggie bed after a long run this afternoon in the Sunkhaze Meadows NWR. I'm sure we'll go on lots more adventures together that will provide for some good stories.