Music at the Sugar Shack

We took a coach trip to an evening in the Sugar Shack. It is a great pleasure for me to go on a coach trip with someone else as a guide. A sort of "busman's holiday" for me. Our guide was very engaging. His name was David and he told us a little bit about Quebec. We were struck by the railway station as we went through the city, a truly palatial building for the Canadian Pacific Railway. David told us there would be many other visitors to the sugar shack and that we would be treated to as much as we could eat of traditional Canadian lumber-jack fare after a talk and visit to the shop. He had been there so often, he said, that he would not be eating with us, but would join the ethnic band and play the spoons. There would be a chance, he said, to play the spoons for anyone who wished to. All the buildings at the Sugar Shack were wooden. Our talk explained how only the Canadian Maple, which is perfectly adapted to the Canadian climate, particularly the cold winters, could produce the delicious maple syrup, which Canada is famous for. I managed to buy some bottles of the syrup to take home before we went for our traditional meal in another wooden building laid out with tables. There were hot chicken pieces, cole slaw, fried potatoes, slices of ham, a sort of savoury egg pudding and, the most delicious baked beans I have ever tasted, but sadly we discovered them too late to do them full justice. Afterwards we had apple pie (always irresistible) and pancakes with maple syrup. All eaten to the music provided by a band, which played in a mixture of traditional French, Scottish and Irish styles. There was a French song we joined in with and quite a few of our table joined our guide David, playing the spoons. There was just time to look at some local wildlife which had been subjected to the art of the taxidermist. David hastened to assure us the animals were not trapped or hunted and had died naturally. These were in a separate building. Before we went back in our coach, we were treated to maple syrup caramel, made by pouring the heated syrup on to snow! Wow, delicious. We were chattering amongst ourselves excitedly on the way back about the splendid evening. I mentioned how brilliant the evening had been, and the passenger in front of me turned round to say "you've got to be joking!". I was so surprised, could not find the words to reply.