Images from La Belle Province Pt. 2

Thank you for all of your sweet comments on my last post. Your visits and your encouraging words mean so much to me.

Let use continue on our journey through Quebec. My last post and images on this trip can be found here.

It is only our first day in Quebec and we are very tired. But our first item of business is to visit with and pick up my elderly cousin, seen in the first photo.

 Then we travelled to Lanoraie and picked up her younger (80 year old)  sister. Seen in the next photo.

Then we travelled to a small town called Louisville.  It is a small town located near the mouth of the Wolf River (Rivière du Loup) on the north shore of Lac St. Pierre (Lake Saint Pierre).  The population of this town is just over 7000 with a predominantly French speaking population.

 Here were are driving on the main street of the town.

You will find this informational map on the main street of the town and near the Catholic Church.

This area was originally part of the Rivière-du-Loup Seignory. This seignory was formed in 1665 by Intendant Jean Talon and granted in 1672 to Charles Dugey Rozoy de Mannereuil, officer in the Carignan Regiment. The seignory was thereafter also known as Rivière-Mannereuil for some time.

This statue is a monument to Charles du Jay, founder of Louiseville & Lord of Manereuil

You might wonder why we bothered to go to this town. It is the place where our first ancestors to Canada settled centuries ago. At that time the place was called Rivière-du-Loup, but changed it's name in 1879 to Louisville to avoid confusion with another Rivière-du-Loup in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region.  The new name was a tribute to the daughter of Queen Victoria, Princess Caroline Alberta, who was expected to visit the area in the same year.

The next few photos are of the countryside near Louiseville and of the Town of Lavaltrie where we were treated to a lovely dinner before retiring for the evening to the Town of Lanoraie.

After a short time looking around the town center we took a drive in the local area and came to the river.  As you can see it was very high due to heavy amount of rains over the Spring of 2013.

We also came across these colourful fishing huts nearby.

Since I published my last blog post and photos I managed to finish reading 4 more books (A Week in Winter, Committed, Tapestry of Fortune and Don't Break Your Heart Cookbook) toward my reading goals and am working on the 5th one (Half Blood Blues). The books were not so difficult to read so I didn't spend all my time reading this week.  However the books put me past my modest reading goal for the year (24 books) so I've increased my goal to 28 books. If I pick up another book or two  before year's end, that will be a bonus.

The drive back to Lavaltrie for dinner.

On Friday I was invited to lunch to the home of some friends from Tanzania. I spent all afternoon at their home while the lunch was being prepared.  Afterwards I had lots of time to visit with the couple and their two children. They have an exceptionally large home so it was nice having all that space to enjoy. The husband is here completing his Ph.D. in Linguistics and his wife hopes to get into a Master's program soon.  One thing that touched me is that before lunch, the father asked his son to pray. His son is going into Grade 1 next month. His son asked for a blessing on the food and also asked our heavenly Father to help him as he wanted to be a good boy. I thought that was so special.

There was beautiful colour in the sky over Lavaltrie.

I didn't want to be rude and take photos of the food but it was an interesting and very large lunch.  She made some fried salmon fillets, brown rice, kale with avocado, some kind of soup with green beans and tomatoes and whole wheat chapati (bread).  For dessert she made a spelt and whole wheat banana bread and some fresh fruit (watermelon, apples, blueberries).  It was so kind of her to go to all that preparation. Her father is a diabetic and so she is extra sensitive to preparing appropriate foods.

I didn't get a photo of the Asian restaurant where we dined but I did snap a few shots of the area.

More restaurants with a European flair and another church in the background.

I love the blue coloured building and the pink sky above.

Local signage.

This week I will be joining in with a few memes

Blue Monday

Our World Tuesday

A Lovely Day

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

 

 Joshua 1:9

I had a lovely day yesterday.  I haven't had a truly lovely day in a very long time. It isn't as if I haven't tried.   And it isn't as if things are terribly wrong in my life but I have had a tremendous amount of stress throughout the last many years. I deal with it rather well for the most part but from time to time, it does get to me.

Some of you know that I've been trying to look after myself better.  My efforts are showing small but positive improvements so I will keep doing what I'm doing.  I am also reading the Word more and making sure I spend time in prayer and praise; giving thanks for all that God does for me. In this regard , I really haven't changed my routine.  I've always done this but I have tried to slow down more and cut out some of the distractions. 

I know we aren't to dwell on our feelings and circumstances when things are not going our way.  That's where that saying comes from "Fake it, til you make it!".  But there are some times when we cannot even fake it and we give in to feeling our feelings.  While there are many who are afraid of doing this, some experts would argue that it is good for you to feel your feelings.  Even the Bible recognizes that people would do that  because in the seasons of life it isn't always rosy and sparkling.  That is what makes us human.

The writer of the Book of  Ecclesiastes in the Bible has this wisdom:

  When life is good, enjoy it.
    But when life is hard, remember:
God gives good times and hard times,
    and no one knows what tomorrow will bring.

 (Ecclesiastes 7:14)

It is through those times that those of us who are believers must continue to believe that better times are ahead and that God will look after us. That is different from believing that every day we will feel we have complete confidence because some days we absolutely do not feel that way at all.

We know we can have complete confidence when we fear the Lord and put our trust in Him. He gives us a place of refuge to which we can run in times of trouble. (Proverbs 14:26; Proverbs 18:10; 1 Peter 5:7).

Boat on the open waters of the north Atlantic Ocean

Cast your bread on the waters: for you shall find it after many days.

Ecclesiastes 11:1

I started off by saying that today was a lovely summer day and one I truly enjoyed.  I am grateful for such days. Today was  very warm but did not have the oppressive heat we've had for much of the summer.  We face the waning days of summer on this side of the world and it won't be long before the cool Fall season arrives.  Fall is one of my favourite seasons and I look forward to brisk walks in the crisp air.

Today though I enjoyed getting out in the warmth of the sun and enjoyed some of life's simple pleasures:  a chat with a neighbour, letters posted to my Zambian children, fresh flowers in vibrant colours, good books from the library, good coffee, and last, but not least, very good news that mom's (trial) wheelchair has arrived. It should be delivered to her in a day or two and she can't wait.  After they assess what might be needed to customize the wheelchair, the "real" one will be ordered. I hope both the trial model and the real one, help to alleviate her present discomfort. (For those who like to read my travel posts, I will resume posting images from La Belle Province and other places soon). 

My submission to Skywatch Friday.