A Wonderful Winter Evening à la Québécoise

The report back from Henry was that the day spent at the Valcartier snow tubbing park was a blast. He was in Ben's care for the day since I had business in town, and they had a great time together. Apparently they spent most of their time on three slopes, of which Henry enjoyed (no surprise) "the Himalayas" (the steepest) the best. Perhaps it was best I was not there to watch...

Tonight, Henry and Kayla's Welcome Family welcomed me and Sylvain (Kayala's Dad) to their lovely home for a delightful evening of friendship, food, and -- what else -- hockey. Patrick and his wife, Marie-Eve, have three young daughters, live northeast of Quebec near the Montmorecy waterfall. After picking up Henry and Kayla around 5pm at Le Colisée and taking them home, he came back into town to pick up Sylvain and myself (talk about gentilesse).

When we arrived, Kayla and Henry were on the couch playing an Xbox game of NHL hockey against one another. They looked very much at home. For dinner, the Welcome Family had prepared a "fondue Chinçoise, with two fondue pots on the table and a plethora of finely sliced meats and shrimp and assorted sauces around the table. In each fondu pot was boiling beef broth, and you would grab your meat, put it on a stick, and drop it in the pot. In a word, "delicieux!"

After consuming vast quantities of meat and shrimp, we pushed away from the table to get ready to go to the local outside rink for an evening of "pond hockey." It was starting to snow lightly (8 inches was forecast). Patrick drove us, and 3 minutes later, we pulled up to a lighted vision of winter bliss: an outdoor complex of one NHL-size rink, several small rinks, and an oval "track" around the entire complex. We popped into the warm room to put on our skates and another layer or two of protection (it was a balmy -2 degrees F) at "game time."

There were four other skaters on the big rink, two players from the Pee Wee Québec Nordiques and their dads. We threw our sticks onto center ice, divided them up, took our respective sides, and off we went for the next hour. WHAT A BLAST! Henry and I were on opposing teams, and we had fun playing defense on each other (I use that term loosely for my play). Hey, I even scored a garbage goal in front on a deflection! Despite being the oldest guy out there, I held my own, and left on my own power, which is always a plus.

By the time, we left the rink, it had begun to snow a little harder. Taking a look around the spot-lighted rink, the falling snow, and my boy enjoying himself in the February chill of Québec, it was a lovelyheart-warming sight. Some of my favorite memories of growing up on Long Island was playing pond hockey on the LILCO pond off Fort Salanga Road. It was a "dream come true" to be here with Henry to share in a similar experience together.

Here are some great videos of the night's festivities:

Arriving at the rink:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2saN9MuPEkQ

Pre-game warm ups:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxLKkdM_LHg

Post-game victory talk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A8z4_qb4tI

The "Pocket Rocket" (in which Henry skates out from under his hat!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2ITaDjsPkI

"Ice Capades":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C12TiTu37So

Skating the oval track (I tried to stay up with Henry, but you can see how far ahead of me he finished up!!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Kaxh1QH1k

After we returned back to Patrick's house, he had a lovely dessert of pecan pie and ice cream. We finally took our leave around 10pm, with Kayla and Henry practically falling asleep in their chairs after all day on the slopes and all night on the ice.

As Patrick drove us back into town, the snow was starting to come down heavily. It was a "winter wonderland" scene weaving through the old streets of Québec. As we turned the last corner and headed up the hill to the Château, it was a magical site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obkU4fNGYko