I still have tons of work to do this evening, but I took the afternoon off to get some fresh air. I started by walking around the village. Caroline told me that in the not so distant past, this village was the head of a big insurance company (its building now an apartment complex right across from my lot) and actually had a few businesses.<\/p>\n
There are signs of this hey day all over, from a crumbling church to a large community hall, never mind the frost damaged sidewalks. There is also a swimming hole attached to a building with public showers and toilets. I look forward to that opening. The exterior of the building is a little scary, but if the showers are clean, they will be much appreciated.<\/p>\n
I walked out to the cemetery and will need to go back out there with a camera, the spot being so pretty. The cemetery is obviously well tended. The bulk of the names on the headstones are French-Canadian as this is a French-Canadian community. I had a look at some of the other lots for sale, each bigger and more beautiful than the next, but I know I made the right choice. And a good view is just a block away!<\/p>\n
Now, I wasn’t going to share this next tidbit, but, really, it’s too good not to. The majority of the residents of this community have one of two last names. The first last name is that of my maternal grand-mother. The other last name is that of my maternal grand-father, so the name of just about all my relatives on my mother’s side. WHAT?! That is a really weird coincidence. The names are common, but we’ve done the genealogy and we all appear to come from the same 17th century immigrants. So I am likely a distant blood relation of many of my neighbours. How weird is that?<\/p>\n
Finally, I really did intend to keep the name of the village private, but there is a nearby attraction that shares the village’s name and which I simply cannot hide from the world, it is so wondrous. It’s only 2KM away, albeit uphill, so it could be a good place to hike to once or twice a week.<\/p>\n
Some of you may remember the wonderful gift I got from Jody for my third RVing anniversary, a trip to Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park<\/a>. This park has petroglyphs carved into vertical rock faces.<\/p>\n Well, there are some much rare petroglyphs in North America, ones written on horizontal surfaces. One such location is right here, at the St Victor Petroglyphs Historical Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n It’s a bumpy drive up to the petroglyphs (so I glad I have my truck because even with it I almost lost my fillings). The petroglyphs are carved into sandstone and very faint. Truth be told, I couldn’t see anything today and made note of the idea conditions (rain or dusk) to see them. Standing up there, I felt the same magical connection to the world around me that I did at Writing-On-Stone and in the Badlands<\/a>. These are places of immense power.<\/p>\n The pictures below are of the landscapes as seen from the petroglyph locations, mostly to prove to Caroline that I am NOT in stereotypical flat prairie landscapes. \ud83d\ude42 Also, the crocuses were out!<\/p>\n\n\t\t