Moncton w Paula

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Sept 17-21. We're staying in Moncton, visiting with our niece Paula, sometimes to Shediac and Camp Wintergreen.

This is a small album but covers some of our stay in the Moncton area. The route taken to get here is pretty straight forward following the Trans-Canada highway from Quebec, along the south shore of the St Lawrence, to Rivier-du-Loup where you head south to NB through Grand Falls and Fredricton to Moncton. In Moncton we have a 3 bedroom VRB house on Elm Street which is very near downtown.

Paula works in Moncton as a postie but lives in the country. She has a comfortable, but small, cabin the woods near Cocagne/Shediac that she calls "Camp Wintergreen". That's about a half hour out of Moncton, a bit of a commute for her. Paula has two friendly dogs: Jerry is an older wirey little mutt, Felix is a much younger biggish black lab. With her neighbors they often share responsibility for one another's pets. They're good dogs and they must be very good neighbors.

Thursday, we arrive at the end of day. It's a long drive from Quebec city even with an early start. Paula has taken several days off work to be with us. That night she comes in to visit us and brings the critters (Jerry and Felix). Kate and Paula jam a bit on their guitars.

Friday Paula and the critters arrive with some wild mushrooms she has harvested from the woods at her "camp". None of them are familiar to us, but she has researched them and assures us that we will not die. I can recognize morels and shaggy manes that we have around here, these are all new to me. As you can surmise, we did not die.

That evening we go out to the O'Creek (brewery) which is well away from the town center. We arrive early but the space is already filled. We find a space at a table, meet some folks on their "first date" and have a good time. The critters stay at our house until we return and they head home with Paula for the night.

Saturday, Paula meets us in town, leaving her critters in a neighbors care, the plan is to make a full day of it. We take in an afternoon session at the Holy Whale (brewery), then another at the O'Creek (brewery) where we had been on Friday night. 

For dinner we got some take away snacks from a nearby Sobey's and returned to our VRBO. Kate and Paula did a bit of a song swap again and Paula played for us a song she had written for her dad's coming 70th birthday. The lyrics and melody are taken from a Fred Eaglesmith song, "He's a Good Dog" (2001). She sings it as "He's a Good Dad" and there are lots of great lines in it. For example, it opens with ...

He's a good dad, I've had him for years

He used to coach my T-Ball team

And he can wiggle his ears.

He's given me some good books

He shares good music too

We once went down Kentucky way

Had an infield Derby view.

Paula does a very good version of "Down Home Girl" (Rainbow Girls from "Give The People What They Want", 2019); I think she may have discovered it by the Old Crow Medicine Show but more likely by the Rainbow Girls. We find that it's a classic blues number by Leiber & P.J. Butler and find it on a Rolling Stones album, "Rolling Stones in Mono" (1965). The lyrics start with:

Lord I swear the perfume you wear

Was made out of turnip greens

And every time I kiss you girl

It tastes like pork and beans

It's a funny tune. Paula does an excellent picking job on it. Kate could play along with Paula ... me, I'm more of a hindrance.

That evening we lined up early for an evening performance at the Pump House (brewpub) in downtown but ended up in an obscure corner with no view of the performers. We were a little pissed about that; we walked out and went to a nearby restaurant, the Catch22 Lobster Bar, where I had a lobster feed. After dinner we caught a bit of the show outside at the Pump House but it was pretty cold to be outside. Paula stayed overnight with us — we have a 3 bedroom VRBO house.

Sunday, Paula heads home to Camp Wintergreen in the morning to deal with her critters. We meet up later to spend the afternoon at the Nashville Takeover sessions held at the Magnetic Hill Winery. It was a sunny day, a bit windy, a bit cool, and quite a distance from the city. But we had a good visit under a large special occasion tent where we saw a couple of sets. This was the last event of the Nashville Takeover.

Monday, September 21, Paula has another day off work to doddle around with us. We come out to Camp Wintergreen for a lunch visit and stay the afternoon. She is taking care of a neighbor's pooch today so there are 3 critters about. On the way to Paula's we stop in Shediac, explore a bit of the town (we had spent quite a bit of time there on our last trip, see Sept 2024/09 in this blog). We get some pre-cooked lobster at the Shediac Lobster Shop and take that to Paula's for lunch. Reg is in charge of getting the meat out of the shell, Paula has prepared the fixin's. It's a busy day at the camp as Paula is having a green/glass house attachment added to the deck. We're sitting outside, playing tunes in the picture above. We tried to get the workers, who are neighbors to Paula, to join in but the one couldn't be persuaded even though he does play with others. He offered to come back tomorrow and join us but that wouldn't work. 

The next day, Tuesday we're on the road. So tonight, is our sad good bye's to Paula and Moncton area.