Travelling & first day in Portneuf

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It's 12.54 on the 25th March 2015. It's been a couple of days since I've done a blog, so I've a fair bit to write about today. I think probably from now on my posts will decrease a little in frequency as we settle into more of a routine in Canada, as I'd imagine there'll be a little less to report from day to day.
Anyway, I'll start with Sunday. We rose at around 9.30 and ate our breakfast, then got on with the little bits and pieces that tend to make up pre-moving days. We got a wash on, checked in for our flights and begun thinking about starting to pack. By 1 I was getting hungry, so popped out and bought a couple of slices of pizzas to eat at the hostel - my last unhealthy meal of the US.
By 3 I was getting bored, so Kate and I headed out to have a quick look around the central library, which was supposed to be very impressive. It was a pretty spectacular building - looking more like a London museum than a library. Unfortunately, however, we had to head back fairly early to begin the packing - which I delayed even longer by going out for a run.
Once we'd finally all packed it was getting late, so we all started our bedtime routines and one by one headed off to bed earlyish, ready for the early morning.
We woke at around 6.30 on Monday and had to finish our packing in the dark as the others in our dorm weren't yet awake. We left the hostel at just gone eight and walked, in the usual freezing wind, the mile or so to the train terminal to catch the Bus that would take us to the airport. All transportation thus far in the U.S. has been excellent, and this was no exception. The buses ran regularly, everything was clearly signed, and it was pretty inexpensive too.
Once at Logan International we headed to drop our bags, and passed through security. Once we had found a place to sit we all received a text telling us the flight was to be around 20 minutes delayed. We figured that this would be fine and we should still be ok to make the connecting flight to Quebec from Newark. Then, a short while later, we received another text telling us that in fact the plane was to be an hour late - dashing all hopes of making the connecting flight. We decided therefore to go and find a United Airlines rep and ask what we should do. However, on the way to do that, we all received yet another text that told us that the plane was now scheduled to leave a. mere 15 minutes after the original time and, thankfully, this was true.
The flight to Newark was short but fairly uncomfortable. With the flight time under an hour it seemed pointless to start doing anything too time consuming, and at the lower altitude the turbulence was particular bad - rendering, for me at least, reading impossible.
We arrived in Newark and promptly made our way to our next flight, a couple of terminals away. This flight was actually slightly delayed too, so after a little wait and a bite to eat we finally boarded and took our seats. This plane was tiny - with only one seat on one side and two on the other. I must have fallen asleep for most of the flight because before I knew it we we descending into snowy Quebec.
Quebec City airport was tiny, and I think ours was the only flight in that afternoon, if not that day. This meant that it only took 15 minutes before we were through the queue for Immigration and had our mini interview with one of the officers in the little booths. The man that I spoke to had just spoken to Kate, which helped. I sensed he was close to asking me to 'step to the right' for further interviewing when he saw we were in Canada for 117 days - but he eventually seemed satisfied with my explanation and let us through. Unfortunately Matt was held back so the three of us had to collect our bags and wait for him on the other side of customs.
Customs was a man standing by a door collecting the forms we had filled out on the plane. We passed through the door into the main lobby to find Ron (Kate's Dad) & Nicole and who we presumed to be Ted & Judie all standing together, waving at us. We all introduced ourselves and then waited around for Matt to appear through the double doors. He finally arrived around 30 minutes after the rest of us, so we donned our bags and headed for the car park.
The journey back to Portneuf from Quebec takes about 30 minutes along the freeway, past typical Canadian snow and pine. The Old Stone house is on the edge of Portneuf, surrounded by a large wooded plot and other similar houses dotted throughout the forest. We got in and Judie showed us to our rooms.
After unpacking we headed down to a dinner of homemade pea soup and ham sandwiches, which were delicious, and chatted to J&T. Ted is a card-holding native Indian, while Judie's family have lived in the area for many generations. Once we had eaten dinner we fairly quickly headed upstairs and all, bar Kate, fell asleep fully clothes on our beds after a full day of travelling and new places.
The Tuesday morning we rose at around 8.30 feeling thoroughly refreshed and headed down to an informal breakfast of toast, tea and coffee. Then the work began. To start, Matt and I cleared a path through 4ft snow to the potting shed while Rosie and Kate carried and piled wood from a tree on the plot. After 40 minutes or so Judie called us over to watch as Ted cut down an impressively large tree with a chainsaw that was then to be cut up and axed for firewood - a job that will take us several days.
Finally, Judie gave us a little demonstration on cutting wood before Ron and Nicole picked us up and we went out to the local restaurant for the Quebec dish Le Poutine - or chips with cheese and gravy. After eating we popped down for a look at Portneuf marina, but it was so cold that we quickly had to return to Old Stone House.
Once back in the relative warmth of the forest we passed the next few hours before dinner making a path down a hill for sledging, and chopping up more wood.
For dinner we had spaghetti with a sausage and bolognese sauce - just right for the end of the day wood chopping. Matt and I washed up, and the remainder of the evening was spent reading and watching TV in front of the fire with the dogs.
This day, I believe, will be the pattern of most days spent in the Old Stone House, so I think my posts will not be as often as they were in the U.S. We are heading into Quebec on Saturday so I shall certainly post some photos for that.

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