I cannot express how much I LOVE my home province and more specifically my hometown of Havre Boucher. Growing up I couldn't wait to grow up and leave this place. I remember sitting on the swings behind the school with my BFF Pauline and dreaming about where the future was going to take us. Years later we happened to be home visiting at the same time and went for a walk around the village together. We stopped at those same swings and our conversation turned into how much we love being here now and coming home.
Everytime I mention my hometown...or rather, village...to friends in Florida, I have them all convinced that their next vacation is going to be to Havre Boucher. I paint the most idyllic picture of this little seaside community and turn it into a Norman Rockwell painting...in their eyes! In fact I did have 2 friends from Florida fly up 4 years ago and they have often told others it was the most beautiful, relaxing vacation spot they have ever visited...so there!!
There are MANY reasons why I love coming home but I will pull a Letterman and do my Top 10 Reasons!
1. The grass is green and the sky is blue. Well it is in Florida too but you don't notice it as much living in a city because of all the buildings and cement. This is the first thing I notice as I make my way home from the airport. How green the trees of the countryside are against the vast blue of the sky.
2. The water is sooooo cold at dads house that my fillings ache when I brush my teeth. I love it. BUT....on the other hand the water is sooooo cold at the beach, that there is no way these Floridian peeps are venturing out further than our big toe!
3. My menu is planned the night before and my personal chef prepares it the next day. All my old home cooked favorites are on the list and my daddy lovingly makes me everything....from his famous roast beef, to hodge podge to homemade biscuits for strawberry shortcakes. YUM-O. And don't get me started on all the free food from Shaws family restaurant!
4. Driving off the transcanada highway into the village is like stoping time. Nothing has changed from when I grew up. The old church and elementary school are gone and a new church and community center are now built, but on the whole the houses are all still the same and the place is exactly the way I remember growing up. It's a nice change from the ever constant growing and changing city I live in. Where everytime I drive down the road something new and bigger is being built.
5. CIGO and CJFX the 2, yes I repeat only 2...radio stations play Bye, Bye, Bye by N Sync and Dressed for Success by Roxette like it's a Top 10 recent hit. With all the new songs out there they are stuck in a rut playing these oldies. But don't get me wrong....I'll be the first to crank up the radio and belt these tunes out at the top of my lungs while crusing into town.
6. Number 3 was about food and now number 6 is going to be about food again....Is it any wonder I gain 10+ lbs every NS vacation. But how can I pass up any opportunity to chow down on a coffee crisp, sour cream & bacon chips, smarties, wonderbar, any and all vachon cakes oh and ketchup chips too. They are Canadian favorites and unfortunately cannot be bought in Florida...anywhere. I once saw a coffee crisp bar at the Dollar Store and bought all 11 of them. I was like a madwoman grabbing them off the shelf for fear that someone else would eye them and want one. And no I didn't share...not one!
7. Pot holes. Trans Canada highway in general. I'm not sure how anyone has a car left to drive, these highways are so horrendous. I guess its not one of my top 10 reasons why I love it here...just thought I'd throw it in!
8. Speaking of highways...I am constantly on alert when driving here. At night it is sooo dark I become mesmerized by the dotted white middle line flashing by. I drive at night in Florida but I live in a city so it's always lit up. Also the highway here is turned into an obstacle course with deer dodging off and on the highway and dead porcupines littering the side and sometimes middle of the road. Since all my senses are on high alert I become a better driver here paying closer attention to the road. Also the no-talking-on-your-cell-phone law helps too.
9. Oh the eau du skunk. Such a lovley smell for the nostrils. An animal that we don't have in Florida fortunately. Well maybe there are some in the country but not in the city where I live. And cow poo. Another lovely smell for the nostrils. I'm joking here people but a smell that I do love is the smell of freshly cut grass. There is so much of it here that the smell is intese. In the city where people have a 5' by 5' lawn...there is no lingering cut grass smell. One of the smells that reminds me I'm back in the country.
and number 10.....Mamma always gets a new tattoo. Shaw once joked that he wasn't going to let me come home anymore because everytime I returned to Florida I had a new tattoo. Wait until he sees what I have in store for him this year when I return!!!
City living is where I chose to be but I'll always be a country girl at heart. Like Dorothy said...There's no place like home!!
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