Painting Trip to Kamouraska 2017 - Part 1

Blog 39

It has been almost a week since I returned from the painting trip with my friends Janis, Hélène, Sharon and Bill to Kamouraska. We had a great time, and the weather was the best we ever had. Except for one morning, we did not have any rain and mild temperatures.

The following is part 1 of my travelogue:

Sunday, September 10, 2017

On the sunny morning of September 9, it was time again for our yearly trip to Kamouraska. Janis and I left in the morning after getting lunch at the bakery and buying some last minute necessities for our week at Kamouraska.

Unfortunately, we had to go in two cars again as Janis has to leave a day early. However, on my way back Hélène will come with me. That will be a lot for fun. It is a long drive when you drive by yourself. I switched between rock music, Spanish and French language learning tapes. When I arrived my voice was a little hoarse but at least I made it through without falling asleep.

It was a nice reunion when we arrived. Even the house owners were there. It almost feels like family. We started by sitting in the winter garden, looking at the beautiful sunset and making plans to finally paint it during this visit.

We enjoyed Janis’ home-cooked meal of salmon with rice and a salad followed by the crowd pleaser blueberry duff before we spent the evening catching up.

This morning, we were a little disappointed that it was raining. Janis, Hélène, and I decided to get the errands out of the way. After we did our “mandatory” trip to the bakery, we looked for a place to order a dinner and found the bistro “Le Comptoir Gourmand”, where Janis and Helene enjoyed a coffee on the patio while I drew some flowers.

 

Once the grocery shopping was done, the sun came out and we headed to St-Roch-des-Aulnaies, because we hardly had any wind at the time. There, we spent the afternoon at the parc “Le Havre du Quai”. All three of us painted two paintings despite the increasing wind which seems to be always stronger at this little park.

Le Havre du Quai, St-Roch-des-Aulnaies, oil, 11" x 14, unfinished

Afterwards we went to “La Seigneurie des Aulnaies”, which contains a mill, a bakery, and a Victorian manor with adjoining gardens that was part of the “la Fête du Pain” (Bread Festival), that was going on that weekend. We enjoyed a stroll through the garden with its beautiful flowers and I even got some specialty flour for my daughter from the mill.

At the house, Sharon and Bill were ready for Happy Hour, which was followed by Sharon’s wonderful creamy meal of “Creamless Cream of Cauliflower”, corn on the cob, ham with mashed potatoes and carrots followed by a creamy dessert with fresh fruit.

Now, we are all sitting happily but very tiredly in the living room enjoying a lazy evening.

I hope you enjoyed my travelogue and will join me for the continuation next week. Thank you for reading my blog. Please share my blog with family and friends who might be interested in my writings.