We arrived home on Wednesday and literally staggered off the plane exhausted. We struggled to stay awake and I went to bed at 7:30 p.m. and slept for 11.5 hours. We are slowly getting back to normal.
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Nova Scotia. Son, Daughter-in-law, and Grandson were so kind to us and took us touring every day. The Annapolis valley is beautiful; lush and green.
One of our first tours was around the area where the family lives in Hants County. We went to Hantsport and stopped at the edge of the town and walked down to see the Minas Basin. The tide was out so we walked out on the floor of the basin. The loading dock was used to load gypsum on to ships when the tide was high (twice a day for 4 hours). It is no longer used. The Minas Basin is huge as it goes from where we were to Truro.
The blue water above Greenwood is the Bay of Fundy and the blue water above Wolfville is the Minas Basin.
We toured around the area looking at the apple orchards and saw how much they grew in the valley. Their growing days is similar to ours though they have more rain and humidity.
On Friday, we headed out to Lunenburg and it was wet due to Hurricane Irma.
Chester is where 103 meets the road we were on. We stopped and did a bit of shopping and then went to look at Mahone Bay.
We then headed to the town of Mahone Bay and stopped for tea and a snack. On the way to Lunenburg we stopped at Martins Brook cemetery to find my great grandparents headstone. While walking back to the car, I found my grandfather's second wife's parents' headstone.
We stopped in Lunenburg to get drinks for our picnic lunch. Across the street was this lovely building.
It was a home in its day but is now a dining room and hotel. After we ate lunch, we toured around Lunenburg and saw the old homes that are now homes or stores.
Lunenburg is a world heritage site and is preserved for its best example of British colonial settlement in Canada. What we noticed was how narrow the streets are and how it is built up a hillside. It is a very unique town and we enjoyed looking at the buildings. For me, I saw where my father's family lived when they came from Newfoundland. We went back another route coming out at Middleton in about the middle of the Annapolis Valley.
On the weekend, we attended the Hants County Fall Fair. It has been running for 252 years making it the oldest fall fair in Canada.
We toured the cattle barns and then did the building that had sewing, fruits, vegetables, and baking in it. There were garden tractor pulls, old and new equipment and the rides. We had a great day at the fair.
One of the dogs who is trained to work. They had show times at the fair where the dogs worked for their owners.
Our last tour was to Grande Pre in Kings County. Grande Pre is another world historical site as it was dyked by the Acadians about 1680 and today it still reflects how the people (known as planters) farmed.
The area is very unique as the dykes are extensive and go around the jut of land into the Minas basin.
We drove around to the cliffs you can see in the distance. We had lunch in a brew house and then drove to the top of the cliffs to see the lay of the land.
You can see the tide is out once again in the Minas Basin.
We were amazed at the acres of cabbage grown (dark green), how many acres of grapes and the number of wineries there are. Hops are also grown and there are breweries in the area also.
On our way back from this tour, we actually saw the tide coming in.
You could not see the mud flats 2 hours later. We walked on the New Minas Basin floor at the lowest tide and it was covered when we saw it on our way home.
Our trip was fabulous and we enjoyed every minute of our stay. The people were friendly, the food was excellent, and the weather was warm. It got hot (29C) and we lounged around the pool while our grandson swam. You can't ask for anything more than that.
It has been a while since I wrote anything. There wasn't much to write about but smoke and decluttering.
The weather has cooled down and we had a good rain a couple of nights ago. The mornings are cooling off with this morning coming in at 5C or 41F. I had opened the windows last night and we woke to a very cool house this morning. I had to run the furnace to warm it up.
Lifestyle
The Spousal Unit had his check up with the oncologist and all is well. He is feeling better and is dealing with boredom now that he has finished painting the outside of the shop.
He is puttering on the inside tidying up and packing what he wishes to move. A slow process but he is doing well with it.
We are in holding mode at the moment. The house is cleaned every day for viewing. We can be out of the house in about 30 minutes at this time. Three viewings in 24 hours was great practice. Even Elliott is cooperating and going into his carrier without a fight.
Elliott had his check up and is still overweight. He is on a new diet now and is doing fine with it. He has a toy he loves to play with. Fighting with feathers on a stick is fun. He also has to have dental surgery, something our previous vet missed. That will happen next week.
Sewing
The sewing room is cleaned up and not in use at the moment. I have purged the books and patterns and put what I kept into boxes. The others need to go to the thrift shop. I have put away the fabric except for the doll's black dress and I will be putting it away also. It is hard not to be able to go down and sew for an hour.
I am buying the last of the fabric I need for a craft project. The cotton is on sale and I can put it away. I am thinking of putting the fabric into boxes ready to move. At least the Christmas cottons. Will decide in a couple of weeks. I know I will be sewing up a storm when we get settled.
Knitting
I have been knitting a toque from a kit and there is a mistake in the pattern. I have to figure it out and then finish it and take it into the store.
I have to order Grandson some yarn for socks. He wants his football team colours which I can now get. It is part of the Touch Down yarn that I can buy from a yarn shop in Edmonton.
Other than that, my yarn is sorted and ready to be boxed up. Another holding pattern but I may put something on my needles or finish up a project that stalled.
The Future
I am not sure how much I will be able to post in the next while. While I am off line, I plan on rethinking the format of the blog and will be cleaning up and getting rid of useless posts. I have 2 years of posts to look at and make decisions about. I also want to look at the pages I have created and clean them up. Any links will be kept unless they are broken.
At this time, I will be posting when I can and if not, I will be back when life slows down.
Until the next time...................
