Musings on design & other stuff jen's place

I'll be honest -- Nova Scotia wasn't what I expected. I think I expected something like Ireland, and what I experienced was more like Maine. That said, there are still lovely places to visit, excellent food (a variety of smoked salmons, lobster everything, and seafood chowders), and plenty to drink (I found a Halifax-made bitter beer that could rival any English bitter beer, and we brought a case a wine with us for the friend that we were visiting).

We stayed with our friend in a house on Western Head -- a cliff about 50 feet over a rocky ocean. I'd always thought that living on a cliff over-looking the sea would be romantic (I am a descendant of Danish ship builders and Vikings from all over), but there are reasons that people stay in the more sheltered coves and inland towns. For one, it's very isolated up on the cliff. It's a long drive to get out there, and the remoteness is exacerbated by the clear view out to open sea. I could imagine being married to a young sailor who deposited me on that shore, and then left again to go work for several months -- it was intimidating to say the least.

The towns that we saw only dated back to the 1750's, and they were proud of the part that they played (acting as a staging area) in helping the British launch their attack on Boston, which began the Revolutionary war. Having lived in the Boston area for the last 10 years, I had some mixed feelings about that heritage.

We traveled to the nearby towns of Liverpool, Lunenburg, and Mahone Bay, supporting the local economy where ever we went. There are a large number of talented painters, potters, silver and pewter smiths in the area, and we brought home many of their creations. We chartered a small fishing boat to take us for a ride out of Port Mutoun, and we built bonfires on the cliffs by the house. We collected sea urchin shells, and dipped our toes in the many icy waters of the white sand beaches nearby. We had clear blue skies and temperatures in the 70's every day, which I hear is unusual.

It was a relaxing vacation, for sure, but if we return, we'll go by plane. We took the CAT from Portland, and had rough waters on the way back. My daughter (and about a hundred other people) got sick on the 6-hour journey over the cold black ocean. Great Big Sea has a song in which the refrain is "There isn't that much ocean between Boston and St. Johns" -- they are referring to Newfoundland, even further away than Nova Scotia. The song was written to "beg the patience of the fairest maiden" that the lead sing ever knew -- my response is: if she swallowed that line, you'd better hold onto her ;)