legault-a-go-go

corn country

2006-09-29T05:57:00.000Z

There is an image in my head that's been haunting me since I saw it.
I was driving down the street, somewhere near five corners when I looked at the on-coming car and saw this:
A tiny car, an old Honda Civic or something. Inside the tiny car, was a very fat lady. This very fat lady was eating a cob of corn. While driving her car. She had an entire cob of corn in her hand, eating it, driving down the street.
I can't stop thinking about it.

The pigs are out!

2006-07-17T23:44:00.000Z

A friend told me that when you don't feel like writing out big long paragraphs about things that are going on, the best way to remember them is in point form.

-Grace is walking on her own now, it's amazing to see her stomping around. It makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time.
-Todd rigged up an outdoor shower and now we bath under a hose in the back yard.
-We slaughtered Curry the Goat on Friday. It was a hard thing, but it was crazy to be involved in the complete process, from watching the animal die to cutting it up to eating it the next day. I think that it made me even less of a vegetarian.
-The pigs escaped today, Lex and I had to chase them back into the their pen with lots of oinking and clapping.

100 rue du Monastrey

2006-07-07T22:32:00.000Z

The two weeks here at SNAC as part of the Gooch family have been pretty great. I've been dumpstering and to the drive-in. I've milked goats and chased pigs. I've watered gardens drunk at three in the morning. And then I went camping.
The Canada day weekend camping trip was such a blast and turned out so well considering we had no idea where we were going until we got there. On Saturday morning Me, Todd, Camille, Gooch and Michelle all piled into Michelle's car and headed east with a trunk full of beer and pockets full of dreams. We drove for five hours getting turned down at various campsites along the way until we found ourselves at Caliper Lake, part of the Lake of the Woods in Ontario. We settled down at our lakeside campsite and spent the rest of the weekend swimming, canoeing, drinking and making cowboy coffee. It was good times indeed.
Billeting's almost finished now and after Folk Fest this weekend (and mom and dad!) it's back to normal Katmavik life. Then six weeks of that before it's back to real life. When I think of being home, I'm just a big bubbling mix of excitement and uncertainty. Thanks 100% to Jen, I got an email today from the manager of the Bookman offering me a job and an email interview. It's such an amazing opportuinty (who doesn't want to work at the Bookman?!) but the job comes with a commitment to living in Chilliwack for quite a while. I want this job and I love my friends and family...but I've got the adventure bug. I think I'm starting to understand the expression, you can never go home again.

make it snappy

2006-06-23T03:33:00.000Z

I've been in Manitoba for a month and I just got around to taking some pictures.

Not much going on out there.

Just a small glimpse of where I work.

For some more pictures...http://www.flickr.com/photos/legault-a-go-go/

Prarie Panic

2006-05-31T19:23:00.000Z

Yesterday I had my first experince at my new work placement, an organic farm called the St. Norbert Arts Center (here after known as SNAC). I'm house manager right now so I didn't get to start work this week, so last night Todd, Gary and I walked down there and met up with a guy that works there, Alex. We all hopped into some canoes and paddled down the La Salle River to the beer store in town, there's something awesome feeling about buying beer with a paddle in one hand and your barefeet covered mud. Then we got back in the canoes and with the current going our way, floated back to SNAC enjoying the spoils of our trip.
Once we got back there we sat around the firepit just chilling out, drinking and playing guitar. Soon more people joined us around the campfire until it was a full-out party with work partners, old hippies, young hippies and all other sorts of people.
After a few hours of locally-brewed beer and other hippie substances, I staggered home feeling happy, content and oh so excited for the next three months.

Goodbye Fredericton

2006-05-22T02:09:00.000Z

You've seen the pictures.
You've read the stories.
Now see the movie.

I don't think we're ever going home

2006-05-11T14:24:00.000Z

I've put a new movie up! It's a little glimps at some of the good times we've had here in New Brunswick.

Full-length version coming soon!

snip snip

2006-05-05T22:01:00.000Z

This is how we pass a boring Thursday night in the Katimavik house.

After the Garden

2006-05-02T19:30:00.000Z

This past weekend the ol' group and I went to Moncton for some New Brunswick brand fun. We went out the Hopewell rocks as well as this really neat underground lake.Check it ooout!

I only have three weeks left in Fredericton. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this...but I'm pretty sure I'd rather stay here. It's just starting to get really nice (all the trees are about to explode) and my job is getting better and I'm doing cooler stuff each day. I guess I should be excited about going to Manitoba and starting chapter three...but I'm just having so much fun here! Next weekend we are going to this town on the Bay of Fundy called St. Andrews and then the week after that we are going to work on the Fundy Footpath and do some camping. It's an action packed few weeks coming up so at least we're going out with a bang.

Do you...canoe?

2006-04-11T02:00:00.000Z

This is the canoe trip I took with Jean-Claude on sunny Sunday afternoon.

A Day in the Park

2006-04-05T01:22:00.000Z

From the same people who brought you the Katima-Life.

Alderwood Drive

2006-04-01T17:46:00.000Z

Well today is day one of billeting in Fredericton. I'm staying with a French guy named Jean-Claude and his wife, Margret. When we met, I got the whole French name/Don't speak French thing out of the way. They both used to be librarians, which I think is funny for a number of reasons. So far my favorite part of being here is when Margret says "Jean-Claude, you're not understanding English!". Also they poured me a big glass of wine last night and I got a little drunk/sleepy, that was fun too. I think it's going to be a very relaxing two weeks.

I put a bunch of new pictures up on the internet, most of them are from my group's trip to St. John. Check it out http://www.flickr.com/photos/legault-a-go-go

My First Atlantic Ocean

2006-03-22T03:27:00.000-01:00

Upon seeing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, I couldn't contain my excitement and quickly removed my shoes and socks and scampered into the water.

It was cold, wet, salty and I got attacked by the waves. They're just as tricky here as they are on the west coast.

Pictures from Fredericton

2006-03-11T23:46:00.000-01:00

Ranger André

2006-03-02T19:21:00.000-01:00

I just spent three hours driving around the trails of Odell park on a litte 6-wheeler buggy. We were learning about the different types of trees and just checking the park out, it's such a beautiful place. Parts of the forest with lots of hemlock and cedar really remind me of the trees back home so that made me happy. I'm excited to get more in depth into the tree ID around the park and start doing work on the trails and in the gardens. I think my favorite part about working at Odell is the fact that now I'm following in the footsteps of my dad. When I get home we can go toe-to-toe in a tree IDing contest. First I did the library thing, now I'm doing the forestry thing... I never thought I'd get these kind of opportunities when I agreed to come on this crazy program.

Every day is an adventure

2006-02-25T23:49:00.000-01:00

Well I'm in Fredericton now and my three days here have almost already been better than my three months in Picton. I had some good times there and met some great people, but the East coast is awesome, it just feels better. We've already had lots of fun. Last night we saw this awesome ska band, the Johnstones, play at a small pub downtown, today we spent a day at Crabbe mountain competing in a snow challenge (where the "Katima-guys" placed first) and then we just got back from a big celebration dinner for the snow challenge with prizes and awesome food.
My job here in Fredericton is at Odell park which I'm super excited for. I'm going to have to be getting up early but I get to be outdoors and drive a six-wheeler and work in a provincal park all day! I'm going to come back from Katimavik a man. Speaking of which, it's week three in Operation: Fredericton Beard and progress has slowed after a strong start. I think if I can survive this slow patch, my beard will be big and bushy in no time. I think doing hard work outdoors will help too, it's all psyhcological. Cheers!

This just in!!

2006-02-17T15:33:00.000-01:00

It's the world debut of the short film that's the buzz of Sundance this year,The Katima-Life
Watch it today!

History o' the County

2006-02-17T14:44:00.000-01:00

I did a talk for some elementary school classes on the United Empire Loyalist Settlers of the area. It was really fun and the kids really liked it. Then yesterday I set up all my stuff into a display for the children's room at the library. "Weeeeie! Loyalist Settlers!"

Also! I finally got the address of where I will be staying at in Fredericton:

Mr. André Legault
76 Forest Hill Rd.
Fredericton, NB
E3B 4K2

And if that address wasn't helpful enough, here's a visual refernce for ya.

Notes for Regional Office

2006-02-13T16:08:00.000-01:00

With one week remaining in Picton, my group spent this Saturday causing mayhem in our nation's capitol. I haven't been to Ottawa since I was a small lad and couldn't form real memories, so it was neat to get to see the city. I did all the good stuff; drinking in Gatenaux, farting in the House of Commons, smooching a potrait of Kim Campbell, peering into the windows of Stephen Harper's house and shopping at a mall. It was a fullfilling experience and I feel that I've grown as a young Canadian from everything that I learnt and experience on this trip. And you know, I saw some cool stuff. If you want to see some pictures I took on the trip, visit my online photo blog, and see the sights for yourself!
So I'm off to Fredericton in a week and super excited about it. Picton has been grand (although most of the fun I had was outside of Picton), but I'm definitely ready to leave. I'll miss Aryne and some of my co-workers at the library but the east coast will be a blast.
Stay gold Canada.

drove to Toronto, all things know, all things know

2006-01-30T18:05:00.000-01:00

Before you do anything, go here: www.myspace.com/theghostisdancing and listen to those songs.

I went to Toronto again this weekend and again it was heaps of fun. Rosemary, Victoria and I went for Indian food in Little India and it was so good. I haven’t had Indian food in such a long time and I stuffed myself. After that Victoria and I went out to a couple clubs. The Queenhead was playing all hip hop and it was pretty funny watching all the hipster kids standing around and occasionally busting out some dance moves. After that we went to the Bovine Sex Club, which wasn't quite as dirty as it sounds, but it was still pretty odd. There was lots of weird stuff hanging from the walls and rough looking scenesters.
On Saturday we walked around and did some sight seeing. We went to Union station and the CBC building where I got my picture taken with my childhood hero, Mary Lou Finley (Barbra Budd was there too, but who cares about her). We went to the harbour front and checked out the boat that Victoria used to sail on. It was cool, it looked like one of the old tall ships just smaller. She told me a lot of stories from when she was sailing and it sounds like such an awesome experience. Now I’m yearning for a life at sea. I guess it’s good I’m going to the east coast soon.
Had Japanese food for dinner (I’m happy to be getting my ethnic food fill while I can) and then tried to go to the body works exhibit, but it was sold out so we saw Walk the Line instead.
After the movie we went to a show at El Mocambo, this really cool venue which is apparently one of the oldest in Toronto. First band up was the I Spies, they were quite (indie) rockin’ and had tons of energy, or at least I thought they did until the next band came up. The nine band members (two trumpet players, violinist, accordion/recorder player, keyboards, guitars, bass and drums) of the Ghost is Dancing got up on stage and proceeded to blow me away. Hands down, best live band I’ve ever seen. If you didn’t check out the songs the first time, do it now www.myspace.com/theghostisdancing. When you’re listening, try and imagine hearing that live with the energy cranked up about ten levels and maybe you’ll see why I’m so in awe of these guys. The next band, Shoot the Moon were really good, but they were a lot slower and couldn’t make me stop humming the songs I had just heard.
Sunday was very rainy, and we mostly just hung around the apartment only venturing out a couple times for dinner ingredients and the flea market.
We drove back this morning and now I’m back to the old swing of things, watching teenagers play computer games and surfing the internet.
I’m still billeting this week, so it will be good to continue my routine of a bottle of wine a night and maximum sit around. Todd’s going to come over one night and we’re going to finish off a case of beer Rosemary had sitting around and play guitar, it should be good times. I want to get a little four-track recorder to have with me on this trip for all tunes we come up with. Afterwards we could release all the songs as the Katimavik Sessions.

All things go, all things go.

The Govenor General of Penguins

2006-01-26T03:33:00.000-01:00

Two things I forgot to mention in my post about Toronto:

I saw Adrian Clarkson at the St. Lawrence market. She hadn't done her hair yet. It was big!

Rosemary has a cat named Sasha. A cat! Except it's spelt Sascha or something.

Also: I put a couple new pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/legault-a-go-go

The André is Dancing

2006-01-23T17:45:00.000-01:00

Have you ever been in a mood where you can't really describe it any other way than you feel like you're going to explode...but in a good way? I'm still so excited about the lady I'm staying with right now and from my weekend in Toronto, I'm all farts and sunshine.
The lady I'm staying with is named Rosemary and is probaby the coolest old broad I've ever met (next to my mom). She has excellent taste in everything, movies, food, art, music - we had a discussion about which Smashing Pumpkins album we like best. I'm pretty sure she's loaded (do normal people have condos in Toronto and enormous televisions?) and is all kinds of well travelled. Her and her family lived in the middle east for seven years and from what I've gathered so far, has been everywhere, even Harrison!
Toronto was a gas. We drove into the city with her sister and niece (who were rather hickish, but entertaining) and then stopped at her apartment and waited for her daughter (Victoria) to get home from work. Then we went out for Ethoipian food, which was fantastic. The whole time I wanted to make a comment about how impressed I was with the food considering Ethiopia's main thing is that everybody is starving and I was relieved when Victoria made a joke about everybody having to finish their meal because there are starving kids in Ethiopia. Sometimes it's hard to be politcally correct.
That night I went out for beers with Victoria to this place called "C'est What?". It was a great atmostphere and we just hung out and talked and got tipsy. Victoria has pretty much the coolest job I've ever heard of anyone having, an acoustical architect. Basically she designs sound systems and A/V system for places like concert and play halls, churches, board rooms and she's helping do the new addition to the Royal Ontario Museum. We also talked about music a lot, turns out she has really good taste! For example, once she had Murder by Death stay at her apartment after talking to them at a show. Mom, you'll remember them as that band with the cello that opened for The Weakerthans.
The next day we went to the St. Lawrence market in the morning (it's like a five minute walk from the apartment) and bought crossiants and fruit drinks. Next we were supposed to goto the Science Cetner, but it was so packed that we decided to go to the Royal Ontario Museum instead. The ROM was awesome, except the palentology exhibit was closed. No dinosaurs for me. That night we had an awesome meal (I got to cook the fillet migons on the barbeque) and then Victoria and I went out on the town. Turns out the Toronto night life is actually pretty fun.
The next morning we were considering trying to goto the science center again, but instead decided on going back to Toronto next weekend so we can go to the Body Work exhibit. Also there's this fantatsic band from Toronto, the Ghost is Dancing, playing on Saturday that Victoria told me about so we'll get to check them out too. Until then I've got a week of great food, lots of wine, even more CBC and the complete Firefly series on DVD.

And I thought going back to Katmimavik after my weekend in Montreal was hard...

Picton days and Katimavik nights

2006-01-19T04:48:00.000-01:00

Today in Subway there was a girl sitting in a booth eating whipped cream straight out of the can.

I went to brush my teeth, then I realized I had put the toothpaste on the wrong toothbrush. Sometimes it's hard living in a house with ten people.

I'm wearing my glasses all the time now, when I go to wash my face I forget to take them off first.

I have a friend in Montréal who found a downtown, four bedroom apartment with a balcony for $700 a month. Now I kind of hope the Conservatives get voted in.

I'm staying up late filling out the excursion protocol sheet for my group's trip to Ottawa. I should goto bed because I have to work in the morning, but my group is relying on the sheet being filled out tonight.

2006-01-16T14:26:00.000-01:00

Well it's been awhile since any kind of real update, so I guess I should write something.
It's Monday morning and I'm just kind of hanging out before I have to leave for work. The sun is out and there isn't a cloud in the sky, but it is freezing outside so I will have to bundle myself up quite well before I walk anywhere.
The highlight of the last two weeks (and probably my year) was my trip to Montréal last weekend. Me and my Katimavik friend, Todd from Halifax, took the train from Belleville to Montréal on the Friday night and stayed there until Sunday. Wow, what a place. Being from the west, I'm not used to really old buildings and it was so strange to be in a city made up almost entirely of them. I did everything I wanted to do for the weekend and I'm satisfied with the trip, but at the same time I also feel like there is so much more I could have done. I will definitely be returning to that city as soon as possible.
After Montréal, coming back to Picton and the confines of Katimavik was kind of a downer and it took awhile to get back into the swing of things. Todd and I stayed home from work and were in charge of all the cooking and cleaning around the house. I normally like to be humble, but this week was just non-stop fantastic meals from Todd and I. Usually when people are cooking they always make the same thing (burritos, pasta and red sauce, soup, pizza) so our goal for the week was to make all entirely different dishes. Some of our best meals were shish kabobs (outside on the barbeque of course), greek salad, mushroom fried rice, vegetarian lasagna, quesadillas and veggie burgers. I feel sorry for the people that have to follow us this week, their meals will pale in comparison.
In Katimavik, there is this part of the program called "Billeting" where each person in the group goes and stays with a different family in the area for two weeks. I'm excited to do this for a couple reasons. First to get away from the group for awhile and secondly the lady who I'm staying with is going to take me to Toronto for a weekend. Apparently we're going to the Science Center and then clubbing (I'm assuming the dancing kind, not the baby seal kind) with her daughters that live in the city. Between my trip to Montréal, this trip to Toronto and a trip to Ottawa and the Winderlude festival in the works, I'll have visited each point of the "golden triangle" by the time I leave Picton.
Well, I better go start getting my woolies on out so I'm ready to walk to work in this chilly southern Ontario weather. Au revoir.

Group Photo

2006-01-06T19:52:00.000-01:00

2005-12-25T05:53:00.000-01:00

Hmm, it's December 25th, but there's no way it's Christmas. I'm just not feeling it here. It's nice and festive, but it's just not the Christmas I remember. Oh well, that's part of growing up right? Letting go of stuff that was important to you as kid? I spoke to Charmaine this evening and she was talking about when her and I were little, and we used to get up early and play with our presents and root through our stockings until our parents woke up. Those were the little things that made the holidays special to me that won't be recreated no matter how hard anybody tries. The thing is, I don't think I'm sad about it. I have to move on sometime, I won't always be able to be at home for Christmas. I had a really good night. I made a fantastic dinner, we watched Home Alone, played Scrabble and then I made some gifts. While none of it felt like the Christmas I'm accustomed to, it was still a nice evening with some nice people and I guess that's the kind of things that are important about Christmas (well, the way I see it anyways since I don't care about Jesus).
Tomorrow I've get to make the turkey, it should be damn interesting. My mother told me the turkey equation (20 mins/1 lb) so I should be able to fake my way through it. I'm not too sure what else we're doing during the day. There was talk of visiting the old people who get left at the old folks home during the holidays and taking them some cookies. I think that would be a pretty cool thing to do, old people are usually pleasant, especially when you've got cookies and company.
Well I should get to bed, I have to be awake by nine to get that goddamn bird in the oven in time so it's ready for "The Christmas Feast".
Season's Greetings everyone!

2005-12-21T18:33:00.000-01:00

My group leader put all of the pictures from her camera onto the computer. Wahoo! Here's where you can find them:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28627379@N00/

2005-12-20T15:46:00.000-01:00

Last night I booked my train ticket to Montréal! I'm leaving January 6th and I get back here January 8th. It should be a good time, it's just a shame it's only for 48 hours.
I'm house manager now, which means I do all the cooking and cleaning. Last night we (my house manager partner is a girl from Ontario, KaraLise) made a fantastic veggie chili and some delicious bran muffins. The chili rivals dad's chili for the best I've ever eaten. Today we just finished making bread which is rising at the moment. Tonight for din-din we're making a roasted vegetable pasta and greek salad.
I'm going to go get the mail, hopefully there's something from one of you guys in there!

2005-12-16T10:58:00.000-01:00

It's seven am and I just woke up because I thought I heard little elves sawing away at my dresser. I realized once I got out of bed that it was my project leader scraping snow off the van. It's snowing like a sonofabitch here and it has been since last night and I have a sneaking suspicion that everybody is going to get a snow day but me. I know dad always stayed home because of the snow, but I can't ever remember mom doing so.
Well, I should go start trying to fashion some snow shoes out of thing I can find around the house. It's going to be a long trek to work and my west coast legs aren't very accustomed to walking in snow yet.
I don't miss the rain, I don't miss the rain, I don't miss the rain...

2005-12-10T00:23:00.000-01:00

I just got back from sledding and it was crazy. Gary the Frenchman lead us through the forest to these two massive hills and we were there for like an hour. And these hills aren't just Ontario massive, they were scary massive. There was snow everywhere in my clothes that snow could actually get. Weeeie!

2005-12-09T15:38:00.000-01:00

Another post from work! I've got a bunch of things on the go right now, but I can always find time to update this blog. Some of the projects I'm working on: Making the history resources more accesable to the public by putting together a pamphlet, making up some presentations I'll be doing later - one for an elementary school about local history and then hopefully a storytime, compiling a list of all the demographic information about Prince Edward County (that's what the island Picton is on is called) and the most exciting job - scanning a box full of old news paper clippings! Weeie!
We just got a huge dump of snow last night so my walk to work this morning was fun. I found this alternate path to the one I used to take to work, and this one brings me through the forest and down hills and over little streams. It's much nicer than walking on the side of the road like before and it kind of makes me think I'm in the land of Narnia.
Nothing else terribly exciting to report. We're going to Kingston on Sunday to goto this rock climbing place for a team building/healthy living activity. It should be fun and I'm excited to see Kingston. Well, back to work with me.

2005-12-02T16:28:00.000-01:00

I'm at work in the Picton Public Library right now and I'm cover for someone in the Children's department, so I have some free time on the computer because all the children seem to be at school. I'm supposed to be working on my research project but I figure if I have the time I might as well use it for something completely useless.

The walk to work this morning was really nice. It started snowing when I woke up and was coming down pretty hard by the time I left the house and stepped out into the dooryard. It takes about a half an hour, just enought time to listen to the first five songs on the new Broken Social Scene album. I didn't really like that cd at first, but I think you need to listen to it when there is nothing else distracting you and you can concentrate on the music. Then it's pretty amazing. I work until five tonight and then walk back up the hill to the house I'm staying in. Hopefully when I get there Todd and Emily will have dinner finished

Living in the house with everybody else is going quite nicely actually. My favorite people are the Francaphones. Last night they were doing karaoke and there's nothing funnier than hearing bad pop songs sung in heavey French accents. Pretty much from the time I arrived in the Ottawa airport I started talking to this guy from Halifax, Todd. We've hung out the most and get along the best. He brought a guitar so we've been jamming occasionally, with me using the shitty classical guitar that somebody left in the house. It's nice having someone I can talk about anything with and fart around. He's no substitute for some of you guys, but it's as close as I'm going to get. Speaking of you guys, thank you very much to those who sent me mail. It was nice to hear from you, even if it was just rambling about the weather and the end of the world. To be quite honest though, I haven't really missed too many of my friends. I think all the new people I've met and new stuff I've been doing has kept my mind busy enough to not think about back home. Which is good because I don't want to spend all my time being mopey about home and chatting on msn. I guess I should go do some work now. The history of the county isn't going to make it's self more accesable to the public!

2005-11-29T12:13:00.000-01:00

It's like 8 in the morning, and I am just getting ready
to go for the interviews to see what job I get for the next three months.
I'm interviewing at the local library, the elementary school and this
program to teach adults to learn. I hope I get the library.
Anyways, so far everything has been a blast. The group I'm living with is
really great and I've already made some good friends. I think my favorite
people out of everyone are the Quebecois. There is this one guy who
doesn't speak any English except for a few words and phrases. We made
dinner together the other night, it was pretty tricky.
The town is nice too, it's small but there is a theater and some bars so
we shouldn't get too bored. Well, time to go eat some breakfast!

2005-11-21T08:43:00.000-01:00

here's one of those blog things so you can keep tabs on me while i'm out and about.