September 2, 2016

Bonnie:  Because it's the Labor Day week-end, our visit with Villeneff's was cancelled. So, we planned to visit Fort Temiscamingue (the French spelling of Temiskaming) in Quebec. The problem was that our internet went off this morning and we were going to have to wait for a service tech to come between noon and 5:00. Fortunately, service came back on a little later.  So, we spent the day in Quebec. It was quite interesting to learn about the history here. After looking inside the museum and watching a video, we took an outside walk to see quite interesting displays, including an "Enchanted Forest." and some grave sights. Hudson Bay Company was English and it's rival for the fur trade was North West Company, made up of French and Scottish men. These men were encouraged to marry the First Nation, or Algonquin women. The descendants of these cultures are called the Metis today. The Metis have quite a history in and of themselves.  Anyway, it made for a fun day.
We did the grocery shopping on the way home, and I have been doing house-wifely stuff this evening such as preparing dinner and doing wash. I also did a series of my French lessons. Now, it's time to really relax!
I  hope everyone has a relaxing week-end as well.
Love, Mom/Bonnie

Bob: Fort Temiscamingue was a commercial fort, not a military fort. Circa 1679, Montreal merchants established a fort on the west side (Ontario) of Lake Timiskaming to compete with the English posts on the Hudson Bay, but it was destroyed by the Iroquois in 1688. In 1720, a new Fort Témiscamingue was founded by French merchants on the east side (Quebec) of The Narrows where the two shores of Lake Timiskaming come closer than 250 meters (820 ft) to each other. It eventually went through several owners and today is a National Historical Site in Canada.
In the spring, canoes from Montreal would arrive carrying goods to be traded for furs at this site and other sites further north. The canoes would then be loaded with furs and return to Montreal. These canoe trains would make 3 trips during the summer. The men that worked on the canoes were called Voyaguers. I have attached some pictures below.
Hope your day was as interesting as ours. Love to all and good night brothers.
Dad/Bob

The Beaver, one of the sources for the fur trade

Replicas of the Voyaguers Canoes

A Voyaguer unloading the canoe

Canoe "shop", teepee, and Lake Timiskaming in background

A crooked growing tree in the 'Enchanted Forest'

A note from Wikipedia about the trees: Overall, over 80% of the total area of the park is a wooded area with approximately 20 different stands and a number of plants from the climatic forest type of the Laurentian maple stand and the Upper St. Lawrence forest sub-region. Of particular interest is a forest of cedar trunks so twisted that it was nicknamed the "Enchanted Forest".