The writing retreat

First, don't forget to check out my early review of Marjorie M. Liu's A WILD LIGHT and enter to win a copy here!

So! Yes! I went on this mysterious "writing retreat" last week and left all of you with nothing but pictures of shoreline sunsets and adorable yellow labs to remember me by. So sad. But I am back now!

The truth is, I went on my (mostly) annual pilgrimage to Canada (or, Canadia, as I affectionately call it) to visit my family. More specifically, Bouctouche, New Brunswick. I wasn't lying about the whole writing retreat thing--I devote a large portion of the vacation to writing and, in fact, busted out 10K on TLOS while I was there (w00t!). But I was also there to get back in touch with my Canadian roots.

Here are a few highlights:

I purchased this AWESOME chair + awning, which enabled me to work on my laptop outside in the sun!! (Note: Working not pictured below. This photographic masterpiece is entitled 'Drinking of Canadian beer after meeting daily word count goal'.)



Another wondrous fact about Bouctouche: You can purchase six pound tubs of margarine in the regular grocery store. I didn't capture the true scale in this picture, but they were approximately the size of my freaking torso. These people do NOT mess around with their butter products.



Also available? Pregnancy tests at the dollar store. They did cost a whopping $1.25, however. Perhaps a marketing ploy to boost your confidence in the results?


This magical delicacy:


This is a poutine rape (prounounced poo-tin rah-pay). It's a regional thing specific to New Brunswick, as far as I know. Basically, you take some salt pork and surround it with potato and then boil the whole thing until it becomes a gelatinous brownish and/or grayish mass, as pictured above. Mmm-mmm. Tasty!! Actually, I used to love them when I still ate meat, back in the day.

Despite my snarky pictures, New Brunswick is freaking gorgeous. In Bouctouche, there is a huge Eco Center (excuse me, Centre) with a really long boardwalk along the dunes. It's beautiful and educational, as well as helping to preserve that portion of the coastline. It's also my favorite place to walk at sunset. It's quiet and peaceful, and the shoreline is dotted with herons looking for their evening meal.



Oh, Canadia. I shall miss you in the coming years.