PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic Thank God for Canadians, Truckers, and 3 Chord Songs !

Anything under 70F is too cold for man or beast

We're having a cold snap down here, we get a severe one every 10 years or so, usually when the Northeast gets a super-storm. It got down to the low 40s this morning, and will only get to the low 60s today. They predict 69 tomorrow, the 70s won't be back until Tuesday, and a delightful 80 returns by Thursday.

I live between a 2-mile wide lagoon and a protected wetland, so the temperature is typically a couple of degrees warmer.

I've visited Canada dozens of times, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador, Quebec, Ontario and Yukon. There is some beautiful country and there are some wonderful, polite, helpful people there.

One year in Newfoundland, we were having breakfast in a local diner/cafe. Mrs. Notes and I like to visit the tourist spots, and then get out to the real country.

We got to talking to some locals, and mentioned that the last time we were in Canada, we wanted to go whale watching, but a tropical storm came through, and we were holed up in a motel in Digby Neck.

A woman got on the phone, and when she hung up she said, "Do you know how to get to ____ Beach? (I forgot the name). We said, "No."

She paid her tab, packed her two kids in her car and said "Follow me."

We twisted and turned and got to a beach, nothing was happening. She got on the phone and told us to follow her again.

We got to another beach where the whales were happening, and she drew a map to get us to the main highway, said Bye and left.

The Capelin (small fish) were running. Millions of them, so many that even the seagulls were so stuffed they were just sitting on the rocks saying something like, "No more for me, Ethel, I can't eat another bite."

Locals were scooping the fish out with dip nets and filling up garbage pails to use for bait all year long.

The drop off must have been steep, because the humpback whales were coming out of the water, perhaps 15 feet from shore. Opening their huge mouths to gorge on the Capelins and then splashing back in the water.

They were so close we were getting splashed as well, and so close we could smell their breath. It lasted a couple of hours, and then we found the highway and continued our meandering.

What a nice thing for that woman to do for us.

The last time we went to Canada was early September to Montreal. Freezing cold for us, but extremely charming people, and we heard some great music; A symphony by the McGill university orchestra and a mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral with pipe organ and chorus. Outstanding.

If Canada wasn't so cold, I'd move there.

Notes ♫