roadtrip
back to indexback to homewe are on a roadtrip for a wedding now, for a family friend of my girlfriend. today was our second day of driving, we have one more before we're in nova scotia. the wedding itself is on saturday.
last night we were in quebec city. i got to see the laurentian mountains for the first time. i *believe* that they're like. kinda the upper extent of the appalachian mountains. i've never been to appalachia before, so maybe i would get the same impression there, but they are so very pretty. i think it would be worth making a trip just to do something there, maybe camping? we drove up alongside the east end of the st lawrence before turning inland as we passed maine. the view of the mountains across the river was stellar; there were big clouds that kinda sloped up from the surface of the river, up and over the summits of the mountains, at places melting into the overcast skies. my girlfriend's dad talked last night about doing a bible study on the great flood, and how the waters of the earth and the waters of the firmament met, and seeing the clouds go over the mountains and blur where the sky begins and ends like that made me think of that.
quebec itself was very nice. in montreal i got my short attempt to order lunch in french, which caused the cashier to immediately switch to english. he did understand my order though, so i suppose this counts as a success. i really am always wanting to better my french, and seeing how nice quebec is makes me wanna do it more. if i had to pack up my stuff and move some distance without my connections, i think quebec city would be a good place to go. i think i have a cousin living there right now, actually..
there were a lot more quebec flags than canada flags, where back in ontario i don't ever see people flying provincial flags. maybe part of that is just our flag is ugly and difficult to read, while quebec's is very pretty. but definitely the sense of separatist or separatist-adjacent sentiment was somewhat apparent just passing through. maybe it's just wanting to do something new, but i would like to be in a french-speaking area and be more a part of some kind of french canadian culture than the anglo stuff
we're staying in new brunswick tonight. the nature out here is very pretty.. we stopped at a yarn store for a while, and while my girlfriend's mom went in, we went to check out the pond across the street. there were tons of cool bugs, but i got a really good shot of one of the great big dragonflies
dragonflyif you ever are near some gorgeous dragonflies or damselflies: they can be very skittish about motion towards or away from them, but are much less reactive to motion side to side. sway back and forth slowly while working your way towards them. pause for a bit every here and there, and slow down if their body language seems like they are alert and wanting to take off. you'd be surprised how close you can get, i got my camera maybe six inches away for that shot
when i was a kid, i remember the first website i made and put online was actually a little informational site about dragonflies. i was probably 13 or something, i'd been learning HTML and such for a couple years but had never learned the logistics getting something hosted. mind you, i was a kid without money, so this first website was on some shitty free hosting thing where they gave you an ugly subdomain, and the site didn't last long since they took em down if they didn't meet a quota for traffic. but for a little bit, it was live!
it's gotten me thinking this evening that i could recommit myself to that as a kind of homage. maybe a gemini capsule or a gopherhole this time, where i try and research odonates as much as possible to put a bunch of information there. i love learning about entomology in general, and dragonflies are some of the most interesting insects out there. it'd be good to write something up as kind of a love letter to them, maybe a combination of informational resource and compilation of art on them and whatever else. now, the really cute thing would be to have the server that hosts it be running DragonflyBSD....
anyway, tomorrow's to nova scotia. it'll be the first time i've been there. i've already visited new brunswick once before, somehow didn't see the coast, though! so nova scotia should be the first time seeing the ocean from canadian shores, for me. i'm really looking forward to it, although i haven't brought a swimsuit. i've been telling myself i'll get one after bottom surgery, but a fedi friend keeps talking about er trans swim meets and it's eroding that conviction. it's fuckin hot out this summer and a swim would be nice.. i looked into it and saw a lot of trans girls wear like, swim skirts. could be fun but i really see myself wearing a bikini, which is why i wanna hold off until bottom surgery, but i could get over myself and tuck, i think. i already do it in all kinds of shorts, a bikini isn't much further. i could even get a bikini and a swim skirt, they both seem cute. fuck, i'd have to do something with my hair, though. it's so long now.. i guess i could swim with it in a braid?
i'm also excited about the wedding, i've got a good dress that i've been needing a proper occasion to wear. i brought my nice platforms too, although i just learned the wedding goes until 1am and the platforms hurt my feet. well i guess i'll try it, i can always go barefoot if it's too bad. perhaps a little vain to be excited about the wedding mostly for the sake of what i'll wear, but in my defense, i've never met this person :v i am just tagging along with my girlfriend. i hope for a happy day and a long and happy marriage to match for her and the groom
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