2003-05-15 - 2:43 p.m.

Well I'm here at my grandparent's and let me tell you, it's unbelievably beautiful. It's a quiet little neck of the northern Quebec woods, and their house is only 20 feet from a lake. The first thing I saw when I looked out the back windows on arriving were a couple of ducks placidly swimming along the shore. There is a little brook near the house that compliments the birdsong to make it so relaxing I can imagine living here myself. If only there was some sort of high-tech industry nearby, I would definitely try to find a house along this lake, but it's just not quite that kind of location. Which makes it all the more desirable in some ways :o/

It was a fine trip up, too. Surprisingly fast and easy, considering there is a divided highway from Windsor to North Bay, which is only 3 hours from here. The rest was such a scenic drive that I didn't notice the time go by at all, even thought it was at the end of a long day. I already picked out a few places that I just have to stop to take pictures on the way back.

I can just imagine the time is going to fly by since yesterday was my first full day here and it never occurred to me to write an entry. It did occur to me that if I was to ever try to make music seriously, this would be the perfect kind of place to come for solitude and inspiration.

There's more than just the natural beauty to the place, though. There's something about the people and the society here that are just so familiar and welcoming. I wish I lived here, honestly. I hope I feel this comfortable in Ottawa. We'll see when I go visit Dennis for Canada day. If it's anything like this then I'll know where I belong finally :o)

It's strange because my French isn't really all that fluent any more, but I still feel so comfortably here that it doesn't seem to matter. Even if I stumble and sometimes have to resort to English, I still feel more like I belong than I do in Southern Ontario. Once I got out of North Bay and into the mountains and streams with little lakes everywhere and beautiful forests stretching as far as I could see, I felt like I was coming home. It was the exact opposite feeling I got driving out of Sudbury on the way down from Northern Ontario last December, when I moved to Amherstburg. I think it's nice to visit my parent's area but I just don't want to spend the rest of my life there. All it takes is one breath of the air, one drink of their water, one walk down a sidewalk to tell me that I just don't belong in that kind of polluted, over-populated, facetious place.

I have so much more to say, but I want to get out and help my grandparents with the yard work. Time for me to go, but I will be back.

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