Canada reminisces

We're now into our second week of steaming hot weather and our times running about much cooler eastern Canada seem like a distant memory. It was the hottest July on record here and mercifully, we missed much of it. I drove 4,362 miles in 24 days. Although it was much more expensive than I thought it'd be, I am so glad we did this trip.No huge news here although today another piece of mine appeared here in the Washington Post Sunday magazine.Posted here is one of Cape Breton's bilingual English/Gaelic signs plus a few things - good and bad - that made our trip stand out:1. $4.65/gallon gas2. Magnetic Hill, a bizarre tourist attraction in Moncton, New Brunswick3. Tons of peonies everywhere. Never seen so many. They obviously do well up there.4. Tim Hortons, the omnipresent coffee/doughnut shop5. St. Hubert's chicken sauce6. the Canadian 'eh'?7. how nearly everything in Atlantic Canada is named after a saint8. rainbow roads: red asphalt in Nova Scotia and green in New Brunswick9. red-winged blackbirds everywhere. They used to be down here years ago10. Moose warning signs on the freeways11. how the annual seal slaughter in the far north is referred to as 'Canada's cultural heritage'12. 'dinner' there is 'lunch' down here.13. bright, multi-colored rocking chairs on porches. That trend is making its way down here but the Canadians make theirs own of decent wood; ours are made of plastic or PVC-ugh