Home for a rest

In just over an hour I'm going to be cruising the 401 on my way up north to Deep River, where my parents have been living for 22 years. This town of just over 4000 people was built as a housing community for the scientists recruited to Chalk River when Atomic Energy of Canada Limited was created by the government in 1952. (This cold-war nuclear research project was set up as a way to study peaceful nuclear energy. Despite promoting peaceful use of nuclear energy, between 1955-1976, the labs in Chalk River provided 250kg of spent reactor fuel (aka. plutonium) to the US Department of Energy, which then went on to make nuclear bombs, including the one dropped on Nagasaki, which contained 6.4kg of this plutonium.)

Needless to say, Deep River is a nerd town. Almost everyone who lives there works for AECL in some way. My dad is a chemist and oversees nuclear waste management in a way that is as environmentally friendly as possible. Once named Canada's highest concentration of PhD holders per capita, the population is aging and my generation has now gone off and graduated from university, with a vast majority of kids undertaking studies in engineering or science. My brother and I are covering both of these bases: Simon is at Queen's taking mechanical engineering and I got my BScH in biochemistry last year. Go nerd family!

Despite feeling extra nerdy and therefore extra awesome when I go back home, there is another purpose to this visit. Every two years, my town puts on the immensely popular Summerfest, which is basically a huge gong-show weekend in August that includes live music, dragon boat races, vendors, a triathlon and (perhaps most importantly), a huge beer tent. I'm taking Caroline up this weekend with me to experience it and to meet and hang out with my super french-canadian family. The big acts under the main stage this year are The Planet Smashers (a ska band from Montreal) and K'Naan (a Somali-born Torontonian rapper/poet, recently popularized by the FIFA anthem Wavin' Flag). The population of our town nearly triples as everyone flocks to see the bands and to visit again with all our townie friends from high school. I'm beyond excited to see everyone again, including my high school teachers who will surely be in attendance with their families.

So the point of this post, then, is this: I won't be blogging much this weekend. They're calling for fabulous weather up in Deep, and with Caroline and my family all together (a rare treat) I won't be spending much time glued to screens of any sort. I'm going to be taking some notes on my mom's cooking though, since I want to make it my life goal to pass along my family's rich tradition in the form of food. My grandmother's ragou d'pates de cochon, tourtiere, tarte au sucre...my dad's spaghetti sauce with family secret ingredient, my other grandmother's potato salad and tourtiere du Lac-St-Jean. ... ok I'm drooling on my keyboard.

Ok I better pack and go get the car. I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend and enjoys the weather wherever you are! Special shoutout to the Queen's University Pipe Band, home of all my best friends and pipe band family, who is competing at the Glengarry Highland Games this weekend in Maxville. It's their first year as a grade 4 band, and last year we tied for 1st in this North American Pipe Band Championship/shitshow weekend! GO GET 'EM GUYS!!