"Come and pick my roses"

Ahh, what a nice weekend! I know I said that I was going to the Laurentians, but it seems that I was misinformed. We actually went to the Eastern Townships, to a place called Lac Magentic.

On Friday afternoon, Mike's best buddy Joe picked us up in the 'kewlest' ride ever, a Cadillac Escalade. I'm not one to promote SUV's, but this was just the sweetest vehicle I had ever encountered! I could go on about it's features but I fear my audience is not partial to reading about cars. But it had bum heaters. And that's what counts. Anyhow, we then went and picked up Joe's cousins Laura and Mary. Then we were off to the Townships, blaring Aqua from the CD player. It's unbelievable how much fun that dumb album is! It kept everyone happy and awake while we sang along to "Barbie Girl" and "Dr. Jones" as we drove by the Cascade paper mill that everyone agrees smelled like broccoli.

We arrived at the cottage at about 10:30 pm, where we were greeted by Joe's aunt and uncle and the eerie scarecrow that lives on the edge of the woods. Upon settling in, we had a really nice pasta dinner. Eating would be the theme of the weekend. I highly recommend hanging out with an Italian family for a weekend. They take very good care of you and feed you lots of food! I found the family very hospitable and generous and they were a lot of fun. This family was much different from my own in the way that they will talk about anything and everything: nothing is taboo! The highlight of Friday evening was when Joe's uncle tied one end of a rope to Joe's belt loop and the other end to his chair... when he tried to get up, the chair came with him, causing him to fall over! The whole family goofed around a lot, which was fun!

Anyway, we all went to bed around 2:00 am. After much horsing around among the cousins, we finally went to sleep, only to be awakened at around 8:30! That morning, Mike and Joe set off a small rocket before we took a walk through the woods (the cottage is on a 54 acre plot of land, so we never left the property!). After lunch we went to the town of Marston where we shopped around and went for coffee and cake. That evening after dinner, the guys made a big bonfire that we all stood around, passing around a bottle of port. The spooky scarecrow looked on, glowing intermittently in the firelight, making him look like he was moving. When we went back inside, we had a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit, in which the girls beat the guys hands down!

Sunday morning was devoted mostly to cleaning up the cottage in preparation of leaving (aww!), but not before Aunt Paula found a mouse in the cottage and had a bit of a freakout! By 1:30, we were back in the Escalade, bum heaters on and headed back to Montreal.