Take your pick: adrenaline packed or slow and contemplative?
Published on Oct 12, 2018
This author is truly a very authentic storyteller: after more than 25 books, this fall she is publishing L’Autre Saison, a novel describing in all subtleness the changes, sometimes difficult ones, that we experience throughout our lifetime. Having now settled in Stoke, she shares with us some of her favourite places.
By Julie Roy
Taste. The author admits without hesitation that she has a soft spot for the bagels she finds at La Fabrique de bagel Café Noir, located directly on Main Street, in Magog.
“It’s impossible for me to pass by the shop without stopping. The fresh, right out of the oven bagels are a true delight!” Unable to resist, she says she can never wait until she’s back home: She bites into the warm crust as soon as she gets into her car! Other gourmet products are also offered there. “Of course, I can’t resist their “gigantic” date squares neither.”
Hearing. Passionate about birds, Louise Simard can’t miss mentioning the Réal-D. Carbonneau Marsh, located right in the middle of downtown Sherbrooke. “I can’t wait for spring to arrive to finally hear the birds sing as they return one species after the other: Warblers, sparrows, orioles, crakes, rails . . . and, if we’re lucky, we might even spot a least bittern,” she says.
Sight. Since the Townships are surrounded by mountain ranges, each as beautiful as the other, the author can’t choose just one, so she offers us two areas to visit. “I absolutely can’t make up my mind between Mont-Gosford, in Saint-Augustin-de-Woburn and the Franceville sector, in the Parc National du Mont-Mégantic, both with breathtaking points of view. The first is grandiose, the second touching and beautiful.” You can’t decide either? Why not discover both?
Smell. For this sense, it’s not about a place but rather about an ambiance. According to Louise Simard, the country roads of the Townships offer special aromas throughout the seasons. “First, in spring, the scent of the earth as it awakens, then, all the floral essences that spread their perfume over the passing months: Lilacs, wild roses, fields of milkweed and the aroma of fresh-cut hay. Even in winter, the wind has its own scent as it blows the snow up our nostrils.”
Touch. Canoeing on hot summer days with her hand gliding through the water is pure bliss for this author. Her favourite spot to be quietly lulled is certainly Lac à la Barbue, in Frontenac Park, in Lambton. “It’s also the perfect place to stimulate other senses as well,” she adds. “to listen to the incomparable silence of these surroundings is simply not to be missed, as well as admiring the water lilies, nymphaea and pickerelweed with their explosion of colours.’
Louise Simard’s latest novel, L’Autre Saison, is published by Éditions Goélettes. Click here for more news about the author: louisesimardauteure.com
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