KatieTheKat

No, I'm not talking about myself. I was sitting in a tent at the Jazz Fest, waiting for Little Miss Higgins to come onstage, and there was a vacant seat next to me. Seeing a woman looking for a place to sit, I motioned her over. It wasn't until she sat down beside me that I realized the flowery pink bag she was carrying had a mesh panel on the end, behind which a frightened-looking white cat huddled. I asked the woman what her cat's name was and she told me "chat blanc" in a voice that was high-pitched and mousey. She then immediately proceeded into a 5-minute long monologue which I think was about the history of the cat and its siblings whom she found somewhere in Saskatchewan. I found the mousey, fast-paced French hard to follow. Eventually she asked me a question and finally paused in her speech, and I had to ask her to repeat it a couple of times, at which point she suggested she switch to English. I thought this would prove easier to understand, but in that I was mistaken. It was around this point that I picked up the stench of cat urine that was emanating either from the woman or her poor cat's tiny carrier - probably both. The chairs were packed so tightly that I couldn't introduce any extra space between me and cat woman - on my other side so close that I had to hunch my shoulders inward was a smoky-scented boisterous character, also from Saskatchewan. It may seem strange that I was surrounded by Saskatchewanians at a concert in Montreal, but when Little Miss Higgins came on stage she explained that she was in fact from Saskatchewan also, and not from Ontario as all of the festival information had claimed. I noticed a quality in her voice something like squeaky cat lady's, but not quite to the same extreme. Anyhow, despite or perhaps in addition to my interesting neighbours, the show was really good.

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one night, the following session was a free harmonica lesson. There I received a free harmonica and saw the most spectacular harmonica-only band I have ever witnessed.

Other things that have been happening. Well, I guess I haven't blogged since Deb and Andre came to town last week - I was too busy at the time, and ever since I've been mostly busy working. Busy doing what? Well.. eating lots of fat and carb laden Quebecois foods such as poutine, bagels, smoked meat, pigs' feet, cheese, cretons, and the Binerie's famous feves au lard, complete with molasses on the side. Mmm, beans. The pool of lard at the bottom of the dish seems a little much, but yes, they are tasty. On the healthier side, we also managed to fit in an overnight kayaking/canoeing trip in Parc de la Mauricie. Unfortunately no meese were to be seen, but we got a good dose of mosquitoes and did see a porcupine on the side of the road. Aside from that, the week consisted of much exploring less-touristed areas of the city, searching for tartes aux framboises (still yet to be found), checking out a fringe festival play and joining a couple of participatory parades, and randomly meeting people I have met in my meagre few weeks here. In fact the random meeting happened again last night at the Jazz Fest - in line at a food stand I met up with the other girl who came along on my ride to Toronto. So even though there are enormous crowds everywhere, this is apparently a small city.

One such enormous crowd was that at the Fete de St. Jean, a Quebec-specific (or is it European too?) holiday that involves dressing up in blue and white, displaying flags, wearing silly hats, drinking beer and partying. It will be interesting to compare it to Canada Day, which is a rather controversial day in this province. I must have been taken for a local a couple of weeks ago when I was invited to a Seperatist Canada Day boycott.

Well, that's it for me for tonight. Tomorrow I actually DO work at 8am, unlike today when I THOUGHT I worked at 8am and didn't discover my mistake until the little meeting in which restocking tasks are assigned. zzz.

A la prochaine!

Kat