tribute to her Cdn side

I found this hat in the piles and piles and piles of baby clothes that I’ve been sorting through. While it looks amazingly cute on Madeleine, she does kind of remind me of a drunken voyageur.

Now, those of you who may not be up on your Canadian history may be wondering: What the heck is a Voyageur aka a Coureur des bois? (aha, now I REALLY have you confused!)

Voyageurs were an integral part of the fur trade in (what is now) Canada in the late 17th- and early 18th-centuries. Given where I grew up, we were often (very often) taught about this part of Canadian history. You can see some images of Voyageurs here:

a fife corps (re-enactment)

Voyageurs (painting by Frances Anne Hopkins) — scroll down. I’ve been to this museum!

Parks Canada — irony having the beaver dressed as a Voyageur…