11/6

 

Last Saturday, early to bed, and Sunday morning, up early - still dark at seven. The weather forecast was for rain all afternoon but there was time for a walk in the morning, before it began. The Park is divided in half by the Tyndal Road. To the west, the inland side, are the campgrounds with roads for RVs. The ocean side is the site of an old farm. There are no longer any signs of the farmhouse, barns and outbuildings though a variety of apple trees gone wild still survive along the paths through the woods - their apples are very nice to munch of a morning walk. A few drops of rain but nothing serious. Signs of bear and deer though none presented themselves, a lone eagle soared above the beach heading toward the lighthouse on a southerly breeze. What a fine way to spend the better part of two hours - quiet except for wind in the trees and soft waves breaking on the beach. No foot traffic  on the woodland trails, no traffic on the road. Thank you Annabel.  

The name 'Annabel,' meaning 'loving,' appeared in Scotland as a girl's name in the twelfth century. It is also the name of the small stream running along the southern edge of the Park. As previously mentioned, 'You get a line and I'll get a pole and we'll both go fishin' down at Annabel's hole.'

In the afternoon Andrew and Vicky Forsyth came by for a glass of wine and a chat; they said they'd keep an eye on our place during the winter - another example of the kindness that has been shown us over the years by our neighbors here in Nova Scotia. Later, as I was sauteing scallops for dinner, Nick and Becka brought Liam (3) and Linden (16 months), both boys all dressed up for a Halloween visit in their costumes. They were our only Trick or Treaters and we had no treats except candy, which was a no-no, so Melanie gave Becca her witch's hat.

As usual Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, Melanie is off to her exercise class. The internet is 'down' at the moment so I am off for my daily walk, this time toward the Shinimicas (4 miles). It's a fine warm (12 C) day though temps are supposed to drop by Thursday. Geese are in the air, there's not much traffic, I scared some ducks out of a roadside ditch, and passed a small garden still producing on November 1st, in Nova Scotia - global warming anyone? Altogether a nice morning. Just as I got home another family of cottagers was leaving Cold Spring Head for the season - 'see you next summer.' In the afternoon I mowed the lawn and put the mower away for the winter. Hooked up the Casita to move around in front of the shed, it will be easier to pack there and will open up one of the bays in the barn so folks can use the space to store trailers, lawn mowers, garden tractors, cars, etc.... At the moment the electric trailer hitch on the Casita is belly up; I want to see if we can get it fixed before we depart, otherwise we'll leave the trailer hooked up and get the hitch repaired or replaced in the States. Beautiful cloudless glow of orange and pink for sunset this evening.

After supper Tuesday evening I was in need of a dessert. We still had the heel of a loaf I'd baked last week, and a jar of honey. Two slices of home made bread with honey did the trick.

I eat my peas with honey.

I've done it all my life.

It makes the peas taste funny

But it keeps them on my knife.

That came to mind around three o'clock this morning. Early on in our time in Nova Scotia, perhaps eighteen years ago, we bought two fifteen pound buckets of honey from a local farmer who kept bees. We finished up the first tub fairly quickly, put the second tub 'in a safe place' and forgot about it. Recently Melanie came across it in the basement. We opened the bucket. The top inch or so had crystalized - honey butter - and the rest was pure vintage Nova Scotia honey. Melanie put some of it in half pint and one pint jars, some of it has gone into me, the rest went back in the cellar to await re-discovery at a future date. 

Tuesday morning Melanie was up early - three o'clock is early - making small loaves of zucchini bread, which used up some high fibre cereal left from Loren and Peter's visit to the Shore. She also made French onion soup and a curried zucchini dish for dinner tomorrow night. I got up, showered, brewed my cuppa and updated the blog. Then, thinking about blogging I opened my email and came across the following from the New Yorker magazine: The Most Ambitious Diary in History, which this is definitely not, but which you may find interesting. Later in the morning we went into Amherst, towing the Casita as a warm up to the big journey beginning next Thursday. Among other things we stopped by the golf course. I met with Michael, the club pro. Cousin Bob and I donated $250 to the club from the sale of Uncle Bob's Harley golf cart.  The money will be used to sponsor a kid next summer in the Amherst Golf Club's junior program.

On the way home we stopped by Jack Brown's to give him 'the books' from the TBAG. Jack, in exchange for a bottle, for the past few years has gone over our books, making sure everything is legal and above board before we submit them to the appropriate governmental agencies. After lunch I continued with various tasks related to our departure next week. In the evening I attended the monthly meeting of the Tidnish Community Association on which I serve as representative of the Tidnish Bridge Art Gallery (or TBAG). Usually I am able to attend six meetings; last year I attended none and this year three, but 2022 will be another story, I hope. Then home to watch the returns from the Virginia gubernatorial election; the GOP did well, Democrats will have to pick up the pace in the months ahead.

Wednesday, at home, working on the computer while Melanie went to exercise class. When she got home it was time to finish preparations for dinner - Bud & Nancy, Jim & Donna. The onion soup was excellent as was the  curried Zucchini. Melanie had also made a Key Lime Pie. I made a small contribution by working on the meringue for the key lime pie. I also made a lemon based yoghurt cake  which turned out quite well though next time, I'll use a larger diameter spring form pan. The meringue, a first effort for me, turned out very well except there was too much of it - I used

four eggs and the meringue was roughly three inches deep, five or six times the depth of the key lime part of the pie - a wee bit of overkill. In the process I used our twenty year old KitchenAid mixer, what a treat, I suspect I'll become a regular user. What with drinks, wines, a lovely meal, and catching up on life in the Maritimes over the past nineteen months, it was a fine evening - so good I didn't feel up to doing the dishes before bed and, when I got up Thursday morning, Melanie had already cleaned up the kitchen - usually my chore. At this point you may think all we do in Nova Scotia is eat, drink, and talk. Though that is not actually the case, the Tanguays have invited us out tonight for fresh Wallace Bay oysters - I made a small double loaf of bread in the afternoon (using the mixer) and Melanie has something in a crockpot to take along, part of our contribution to a dinner for ten. The freshly grilled oysters were excellent - thank you Jean for all the time and effort opening and broiling them.

Friday morning Melanie lead the fitness class using her slightly modified Christmas playlist, then came home and cooked several dishes for dinner. When she was finished I took over in the kitchen and made another loaf of bread - the dough rose very quickly, and too much, so though the bread tasted good it did not have the texture I want. Around four I readied the grill and first seared, then baked, our pork sirloin roast - start to finish, thirty minutes. We were joined by Jack & Shirley and Ian & Marjorie for dinner - a good time was had by all and the liquid from Melanie's berry compote apparently makes a nice liquor. 

Saturday morning we were just up when Jean & Bev came by - Bev still in her bathrobe - to show off their new vehicle, a 1980 MG. It was chilly but clear and calm. I'm not sure that Chuckles has adapted to the new ride since the heater isn't working. They came in for coffee, I toasted some of yesterday's loaf, and Jean explained a few of the finer points of bread making to me - they will require a digital cooking thermometer, more attention to proofing, and lower oven temperatures than my recipes suggest. Then Jean took me for a short spin, to Ted Embree's, where he discussed some work the MG will need and I learned about faulty connections in the Casita's trailer hitch motor. Back home, they left, the phone rang, and I was off to meet our neighbor, Nick Smith, to try to show him one of our common property corners - no luck but I gave him a better idea about where to look when the leaves are off the trees and bushes.

The rest of the day was spent sorting, discarding, filing, and packing in preparation for our Thursday departure. But of course I had to catch up on the morning news:

Nova Scotia is on the cusp of something to brag about - it will soon welcome its millionth Bluenoser. From Yarmouth's rugged coast to Cape Breton's rolling hills and all points in between, Nova Scotia's beauty and way of life is making it an attractive destination. By comparison, Prince Edward Island's population is 166,000 and New Brunswick's is a little over 793,000. 

In the afternoon I was upstairs, doing some bookkeeping when Melanie shouted to me from downstairs - "Brodie Trenholm was just here. Jean and Bev are in their car down at the foot of Mud Creek Road, on their way to Antigonish to see one of Jean's daughters and the car stopped." So we drove down to see what was going on. Sure enough, the MG had stopped and needed a jumpstart. We offered to take them home to pick up their everyday car but Jean was intent on showing his daughter their new car. After providing the jump and chatting with folks who stopped by to see what was going on, and saying goodbye to Brodie who was on his way to Halifax, Jean and Bev took off again. As they pulled away I thought we'd best follow them for a few miles, just to make sure their car was OK. They made it all the way to Northport, about a half mile down the road short of the Shinemacas Road, when the car died, again. We jumped the battery, again; by this time Jean was ready to go home and get their 'regular' car so we followed them as they took the MG back to Ted Embree's - Ted will play with later in the week - then took them on home. Jean gave us a bag of fresh Wallace Bay oysters by way of compensation - we'll have a treat tonight - hope they have a good trip down the coast.

Marnie Simmons, who used to have a cottage out behind us and who now lives in a rental in Northport, came over for supper in the evening. We saw her at the Pugwash Market and it was good to have a chance to sit down together and catch up on the last couple of years.

For an appetiser I shucked oysters. It has been a number of years but the feel came back quickly, used an old wooden platform Bill Bowser made for me a long time ago to hold them in place while opening them with a screwdriver; I became more proficient as the oysters went down - they were lovely, very salty. But Jean, I must say, I prefer them on the half shell rather than broiled. Excellent, excellent! Sorry you weren't here to sample a few with a chilled bottle of white wine.

Time change last.  Sunday morning it was light by 6:45. I'll got up, proofread this effort and sent it out into the ether.