After a leisurely breakfast, the Barney weekend special, we get ready for a big day at the 350th in Rivière-Ouelle. We went into the town hall Quonset hut which was now packed with artisans and representatives of the various family associations. We had a good time speaking French and English with the two older men at the Levesque table and scoped out the art. We went over to the large tent, called a chapiteau in French, as we had bought tickets for the lunch. One of the fellows we saw at the Levesque table came over and introduced us to two other older fellows, both Anglophone Levesques, one who lived in Maine, one in Canada. Both were surprised that we had come all the way from California for the event, and I mentioned the connection to Lynne Levesque and her book. They were very nice and welcoming. There were remarks and a short film about the connection to Hautot-St-Sulpice, a small town in Normandie where many of the early settlers came from. After a squash soup, there was a bacon-wrapped chicken roulade with haricot verts and carrots and tiny potatoes, and I think the vegetables were local as we had seen lots of haricot verts in the small grocery. We chatted with some other folks - most people here switch fairly easily to English, though I always speak French first and try to do only that, but I do get stuck with not hearing things quickly enough to understand and respond. A spice cake with fresh berrries finished the lunch, and it was a really nice meal.
The big event for us was Lynne Levesque’s lecture. In my earlier correspondence she had mentioned having a translation, which we were grateful for. She wore a simple costume similar to what Jeanne Chevalier would have worn, and a man named Jaques had a costume similar to the Seigneur, her third husband (who we later learned was her real-life partner). They enacted the lecture as a conversation between the two, giving history and anecdotes that explained their lives. The English translation was 12 pages so we were very glad to have it, as a 75-minute presentation in French would have been a bit tough. There were other Anglophones in the audience as well. After the lecture we had a nice chat (after she finished signing books, I had forgotten mine at the gite), she told us how she spent a sabbatical in Normandie and eventually decided to stay there, and now lives in Dieppe. We learned a lot, and they did a great job bringing this history to life.
After the lecture, we visited the cemetery next door and took photos of the marker for Jeanne and Robert. Back to the town hall, we did our registration for the Levesaque Association, bought some lovely photo cards of the area to send to the family, and a nice red tote bag with the Levesque “coat of arms.” Outside we watched a blacksmith demonstration, and I bought a small ceramic bowl from one of the women who was demonstrating pottery-making.
We decided to drive out to the quai, saw more 350s on many homes and barns, and noticed it was starting to cloud over. We passed fields with huge rolled bales of hay just like in an Impressionist painting, and arrived at the quai where it felt 20 degrees cooler and windy. The views of the water and the mountain beyond were magnificent and dramatic. We decided to drive along the water then to Kamouraska, stopping to enjoy the views. We had a nice dinner at the main fish restaurant t and fresh fish vendor, salmon torte for me, fish and chips for Barney, and the local Boreal beer. We stopped at La Fee Gourmand chocolate shop, which was recommended by Josee who owns the gite, and got some cookies for dessert and some chocolates for Madeleine. Back at the gite, I caught up on my notes and got ready for the Circuit Rouge and the Levesque markers to be explored tomorrow.
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