Catriona and Devin are off on their adventure to South Korea. First point of departure...the Digby bus station. From here to there...and points beyond... it has begun, at last!

Bangor, Nova Scotia

In Bangor, Nova Scotia, there is an old sawmill. It runs only for demonstration purposes during part of the summer. It was not open when we stopped to see it, on Thursday. However, our snapshots follow:

Drive to Victory

Victory is a nearly deserted hamlet in the middle of our part of Nova Scotia. Catriona and I decided to go for a drive to Victory. The road is quite a rough road, in parts, and it gets increasinly rough going, but certainly not impossible, as it gets closer to Victory.

Catriona pondered how those old logs got there.

We reckon they are left over from when the road was cleared. They are certainly quite old logs, large, covered with moss and looking nearly half decayed from lying on the side of the road for a long time.

All along the road, and sometimes nearly touching the road, were huge boulders. Often the vegetation was growing so closely to the rocks that it was difficult to actually ascertain their full size until we got out to look at them.

Down one logging road, we saw this tree, pushed over by the wind, we presume. There was a large rock underneath it, so it may well have been unstable due to growing over a rock, and therefore the roots had not enough depth to truly anchor the tree. At any rate, Catriona and Phiri went to have a closer look.

And then Catriona crawled back out, dusted off her hands, and proclaimed it a very interesting item. When we returned home, Nigel reminded us that bears often make their homes under such overturned trees. As Catriona said, "It's a good thing that it wasn't home, then, because I was right underneath." Indeed it is.

Another frequent sight along the road was this type of landscape - a small brook running near the road edge, or underneath the road. Often deciduous trees lined the bank of the brook, and a clearing could be seen in the background.

Sometimes there was a lake in the background.

There were several blueberry fields along the roadside. They all had huge boulders scattered through them, like giants were playing marbles. And each field had "no trespassing" and "no picking blueberries" signs at the roadside.

Another landscape that we saw often was clear-cut. This is when all the trees in an area are cut, and some are removed for sale, while others are left as litter on the ground, where they eventually rot.

And the final landscape was this typical sprucebog.

The trees have died, and a marshy land has grown up around them. It eventually fills in with reeds and rushes, and small cranberry or blueberry bushes.

An amusing sight for us was this survey marker - old boots used to mark the stake.

Catriona tried to look inconspicuous while I snapped pictures. Amazingly, we had very little mud spattered on the car when we popped out onto the tar road just south of Milford.

on

Hurricane Bill

Hurricane Bill travelled about 75 km off the southern coast of Nova Scotia. By the time it reached our province, it was a category 1 hurricane, which is substantial enough, but less than the weather forecasters had predicted. Thankfully, it was offshore. That meant that our villages and towns on that side of the province experienced high waves, and strong winds. There was some destruction, of course, but it was minimal. There was some foolishness too, with young persons playing in the waves, but they were regularly warned and monitored by the Mounties. On our side of the province, in our sheltered Annapolis Basin, we had medium winds and steady but gentle rain only. This is defniitely the biggest benefit we derive from living in Smith’s Cove. We can see the weather out in the Bay of Fundy, but it rarely decides to take a detour into the Basin. We stayed inside, of course, and I used my funny little camera to capture a few moments of the storm, from the front window, and from the back door.

After a spluttering and stalled start, the next stage for Catriona and Devin can finally begin. On September 1, they shall fly out of Halifax, bound for South Korea, with a brief stopover in Toronto to visit relatives there, and in western Ontario.

Much as we have enjoyed having them live with us, we are pleased that they are finally making that step towards an adventure. It is long overdue.

I couldn't resist, because I mentioned it in an earlier post, here is one historic snapshot of Donna, Rick and me. That's Donna on the left, me on the right, and Rick behind the gate, held captive by the budding beauties keeping guard on the steps. Plus que change, ne change rien....

Catriona and Devin's Second Anniversary

August 4 marked the second wedding anniversary for Catriona and Devin. Here they are, in our yard, just before they drove off to a day of celebration. We booked them into Milford House, a holiday hotel about 45 minutes away. They had a cabin, a canoe, and all meals provided. When they returned this morning they looked relaxed, and expressed their thanks for the unexpected treat.

Patty's BinAger Family Pool Party

Us, casually posed, and looking gorgeous, of course.

Us, gooning, but still looking gorgeous.

Topp, our goony photographer, also looking gorgeous. Catriona and AnnaKate, the techies, checking the images for quality.

Ager women (minus Andrena who is behind the camera, and Auntie Anne who is beside Andrena)

We all enjoyed time around the pool. Guess who is in the pool (hint - teenager)

First cousins, and second cousins.Donna and Andrena, enjoying our day together. Rick, as often was the case in the historic snapshots, is in the background. Our two classic scholars. The family connections are academic as well as visual and behavioural.

Bill and camera. We took turns playing with Reese.Yes, Rick had a snooze .The teenagers socialised in an alternative mode, playing video games in the games room AnnaKate, Auntie Anne and Catriona listening to one of us pontificate.

Renee was difficult to capture in a snapshot. She seemed to keep dodging the camera.

Good for Sheila, she brought in the damp bathing suits. And made sure the towels were hung up at the pool. Rick and Keith set the world to rights. Ray was our marvellous host, ensuring we were enjoying ourselves. Colin, such an imp, was. Auntie Anne and Bill smiled through it all. Patty, our delightful hostess, kept the food and drink in plentiful supply.

. Keith, and then Rick and Ray, just 'chilling' Donna and Renee, enjoying the cool pool.