Saturday 10/2

Man with shovel attempts to rob New Glasgow, N.S. gas station - social unrest in the maritimes - from the online edition of SaltWire Sunday morning, and I've not yet opened the NY Times. Cloudy, rainy - quiet day at home; finally got out to the 'clay studio' i.e. cleaned up the shed, and threw a few bowls, first time in quite a while. I'll try to throw a few more tomorrow so we have a full kiln to bisque. 

Marney Simmons came for dinner this evening. Marney used to have a cottage out on the beach behind us. She is now living in Linden but will be moving to Northport in October. Marnie is the current manager of the Pugwash Market which keeps her busy, at least during the summer and early autumn. Speaking of which, autumn has arrived - today we'll see a high around 65. The remainder of the week promises to be cloudy with a bit of rain and temps in the 50's by day, 40's by night.

Given the beautiful weather Monday I took a walk - out to the beach, then up to the road by Annabel's, along 366, out Aggamore Point (picture above from Judy Wesockes's side yard), north along the beach at low tide, then back to 366 via Greeno Beach Road, past Dee's B&B, and home. Thoughts along the way were about my daily habit of reading the NY Times and Washington Post; it's is a hard habit to break but both seem to affect my state of mind - I lose my sense of 'be here now' and replace it with an almost subconscious low level concern about life in general, leaving Canada, the future of our lives in the States.

Garth and Carol came over for drinks and a bean soup Tuesday afternoon - we started at 4:20 in memory of Uncle Bob. Among other things we talked about the news 'habit.' Carol said that their son, Kevin, is totally involved in his family life and medical practice and is not at all aware of the news that plays a significant role in many lives. I know for many years I did not follow the news; it only became a regular part of my life when I was in my early forties and has remained so ever since. Now I feel it's time for a change, but as I write this, at seven o'clock of a Wednesday morning, I am quite aware of the gap left in my morning if I do not immediately 'open the paper' on my laptop. Today, instead, I got my cup of tea, stepped out on the back porch into a cool and cloudy east wind that portends showers, to smell the wet grass on the air and contemplate the morning - broken rain clouds in many shades of grey and pink lightened by the 7:12 morning sunrise reflected from puddles in the lane, the chain, from the Soleri bell hanging beside the back door, swaying in the breeze, and now the sky slowly clearing in the west. Melanie was off to fitness class so I pulled on my Newfie Sneakers for a walk through the wetlands along the southwest side of the property, past the springs which fill a small pond by the lane, following deer trails through dried out daisies, tall grasses, knapweed, lupin gone to seed, and goldenrod, by the future site of a small Xplornet transmitter pole, out to the shore where a seal, waiting for the sun, arched on a rock above the ebbing tide.

A new wrinkle in maritime travel, we now have to register in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in order to travel back and forth between the two provinces. This will impact our travel cross-border to visit friends and may lead us to opt out of Art Across the Marsh in two weeks; we, the Tidnish Bridge Art Gallery, are scheduled to have our work on display, and for sale, at the Wine Garden in Baie Verte, NB. The debate begins, shall we set up for two days of exposure to the public or draw in our horns and stay home? Time will tell.

I've very much enjoyed my recent leisurely one hour strolls around Coldspring Head and the shore. However, it's not clear how much 'good' such walks do for me physically, they don't get my heart rate up, unless I spook a dear or other wildlife and the benefit of such a rush is short lived. Some research was called for, and the results are in: 100 steps per minute is considered moderate intensity brisk walking. Fitness experts suggest a brisk pace (aerobic zone) is 3.5 to 4 mph. Friday morning Melanie lead a fitness class but had a bit of trouble with the sound system - phone & speaker - so I got a call and drove to the Hall to help. Of course, by the time I got there the problem had been solved.

I decided to stay in the area, parked the car at the TBAG and took a walk along Tidnish Head Road, past the Tanguay's 'old' place. It was a lovely morning. I found that though walking at 4.3 mph (per my Strava app) may be a healthy thing to do, it is not as enjoyable as moseying along at 3 mph - I have to concentrate more on walking and am less observant. Boats are still in the water and there was some shooting across the river in New Brunswick - sounded like 12 gauge shotguns with a heavy load, evidence that the bird season opened today; it certainly disturbed the geese, they were quite upset.

Folks are making plans to head south later this month; Heather and Hal to Dundee, Fran and Tony to Green Valley. We are beginning a series of farewell dinners even before Thanksgiving. With them in mind I'm trying some more baking. Today I did a small batch of Applesauce Tarts, they are cooling now. Unfortunately I don't have high hopes for them but will let you know how they turn out. Although I thickened the applesauce before putting it in the tart shells it still seemed quite runny - we shall see. End result - tastes good, nice texture, won't do them again soon. I have plans to do an apple pie on Saturday and a Newfie Molasses Bread on Monday - more about those later.

Thursday evening we got a message from Roger Roome to the effect that Melanie's Facebook page had been hacked and someone was trying to scam her contacts so I spent some time resetting her password and notifying friends and family that they should ignore messages purporting to be from Melanie - hope no one got hooked.

Apple pie day, again. I never seem to peel enough apples to make a heaping apple pie - next time use about eight apples instead of five or six.

Got up around seven this morning, Saturday, read up on bisque firing to get the appropriate kiln settings - we haven't fired anything in at least two years - and went out to the barn to load the kiln. It all seemed very familiar, even the cool cloudy weather, as I started the firing around 8 AM. A bisque firing takes about ten hours with four visits to the kiln to lower the lid after three hours, adjust temperature settings, and close peeps. If all goes well we'll do a glaze firing next week and have some new pieces for sale at Art Across the Marsh.

Back in for my morning tea and the peeling of apples for a pie. I'd made the dough several days ago and frozen it, put it in the fridge last night to thaw. It was to be a 10" pie but I didn't peel enough apples = a 9 " pie in a 10" pan, which looks quite edible. More in the baking vein - trying to figure out the best way to proof bread, now that we are into autumn weather and some additional heat needs to be added. I considered putting a light bulb in our cooler but that requires a thermostat. A little research: yeast works best at 77 F and the dough is covered with a warm damp cloth; an oven light will maintain a temperature of about 75 F but it takes a long time to get there; the oven light plus a pan of very hot water should do the trick. In any case an oven thermometer will be a useful addition.

Don & Joan, Heather & Hal, Jack & Shirley joined us for a gumbo dinner which was well received, as was the apple pie and Shirley's gluten free 'brownies' made with lots of chocolate and black beans. Don & Joan are also heading south later this month as things wind down along the Shore. We all partied hearty and finally got to bed around midnight, the dishes had to wait until morning - gettin' too old for that kind of stuff but it was a memorable evening and, as it turned out, an unplanned celebration of Don's 86th birthday.