More Maritimes News

We spent a few days with the Nova Scotia fam including Thanksgiving dinner for the first time ever. 

Rachel had Kings-Edgehill (KES) friends with her from Barbados, which added a fun element to the celebrations. We met several of the girls' friends over the weekend and were impressed by their intelligence and awareness of world affairs. Barak Obama is speaking in Halifax in a few weeks and Paul and Sue are hosting 6 young people to go to the event with them. 

Our visit to KES also left us feeling the future is in good hands with a faculty and student body fully engaged in the pursuit of excellence in academics, athletics, fine arts, and leadership.  

KES began as Kings College School in 1788 (the oldest independent school in the British Commonwealth and the genesis of Kings University in Halifax) followed by Edgehill School for girls in 1891 and they amalgamated in 1976.

The Maritimes provide an endless juxtaposition of old and new, for instance. the KES library built in 1863 and the new Halifax Central Library that opened in 2014, both housing up to date digital information technology.

the exquisite Convocation Hall library/museum at KES 

Halifax Central Library on Spring Garden Road

downtown Halifax

We love Mahone Bay for it's olde charme from the ship-building glory days. It has managed to keep chugging along, unlike many small towns, by attracting tourists and specialty shops like Amos Pewter. It also seems to have a thing for stuffed creatures, bringing people to town in the off-season. We've been to the Father Christmas Festival and this year the Scarecrow Festival. some were themed to the business that created them, odd but cute.

in front of O My Cod seafood restaurant

waiting for service outside a spa

advertising a wool shop

In the 30 years that we have “lived away” we have rarely “been home” in October. It’s not much different than British Columbia at this time of year though maybe a bit warmer on average until into December.We took the old road through the Wentworth Valley to enjoy the leaf colour, realizing that the trees are already dropping their canopies and it won’t be long until they are bare. With a high deciduous content the colour is spectacular but short-lived and if you hit a patch of wild blue berries it is breathtaking

Speaking of deciduous trees, while we tend to think Maritime trees are on the small side there are some that challenge anything the west coast can offer. This Linden tree has stood on the corner of Rochford and Grafton for at least a hundred years surviving everything nature and humans could throw at it.

Jim looking pretty tiny next to this Linden

It has been rewarding to have time to wander down so many memory lanes during this extended visit. There is nowhere quite like the Maritimes and Maritime people. Not to mention the lobster!