Sauerkraut Hangover

There and back with a stop in between

Yesterday, Alison took her longest bike ride yet, spending 5-6 hours out and about along the riverfront with stops here and there. One of her stops was at the Marche Vieux Port, where she took pictures of some impressive root vegetables but dined on a sausage with sauerkraut.

​After she returned from her bike ride and I finished work, we laid in bed and continued to listen to an audio book of The Nature of the Beast, from the Québecois author Louise Penny.  Unfortunately, at least one of us tends to fall asleep when we listen, so we wind up backtracking a lot.

After listening, we had dinner on the back terrace. Alison prepared a mean pork chop with asparagus and mashed sweet potato. It was excellent, and a welcome change from the many meals out we've had.

After dinner, we headed back to Scéne Bell to hear two musical artists: Alessia Cara from Ontario and Selena Gomez, the American pop singer. The 20-year old Alessia Cara was excellent: poised and confident and backed by a minimal band. She took the stage in jeans, sneakers and a tie dye t-shirt, had no special effects, but a clear and wonderful singing voice. The 24-year old Selena Gomez, by contrast, was disappointing. The performance was heavy on American-style spectacle and bombast, but the vocals had so much processing layered on that Alvin the Chipmunk could have been singing and you wouldn't have known the difference. In fact, I'm pretty sure that we were listening to pre-recorded vocals, since the vocals continued smoothly even when the hand-held microphone was nowhere near her mouth.

About 30 minutes into Selena's set, Alison felt the early twinges of a sauerkraut hangover and so we hustled back to the apartment. She's now snuggled in bed, sleeping late and slowly recovering.

The Selfies

People have complained about the lack of selfies recently, so we took these two. I'm not sure why they are dark and fuzzy.

Tidbit #1

Despite the fact that Canada and the United States share the North American continent, the term "Native American" refers only to the indigenous people of what is now the United States.

In Canada, there are three distinct indigenous peoples, each with its own distinct culture: Inuit, First Nations and Métis. The Inuit inhabit the northern, Arctic region of the country; the First Nations inhabit the south; and the Métis represent the descendants of the earliest marriages between the men of New France and the women of First Nations.

Tidbit #2

Formerly, the Inuit might have been referred to as "Eskimo," but that term is now considered offensive. Don't use it.

Also, if you're curious, a single Inuit is referred to as an Inuk. It's a nice word; use it when the opportunity permits.