Music, Rocks and Friends, PEI and Nova Scotia

Hello from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. 

I am learning geography as we travel.  I had no clue where Cape Breton or Prince Edward Iland were before planning this trip.

The rocks are very colorful here.  We saw them first at Bay of Fundy, but now we are seeing them on the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic coast too.  Green, purple, orange, black, white, brown, red, and grey, there are layers and swirl, solids and spots.

At the Bay of Fundy we went to the Quaco Museum. An older woman greeted us and took our money and introduced us to a young man.  "He will give you the tour.  And this young lady is in training.  So she will be joining you."  The man was about 18-20, I am guessing.  The young girl was about nine-eleven.  

St Martins, where we were camped, used to build ships.  The stories were about the people and businesses.  The picture below is of a mast-head that served for many years and was sunk in a battle or something.  Someone rescued the masthead and tied it to a tree in their garden.   There it stayed for many years until someone else decided to rescue it and refurbish it. 

The young man told us about Painless Parker.  A dentist in the area who couldn't get enough people to come to get their teeth worked on because it hurt.  So he billed himself as Painless Parker and went about performing dentistry using cocaine as a painkiller.

The picture  below is a blueberry comb.  It is used to pick blueberries.

The young man was very knowledgeable.  His father had a lobster boat in the harbor.

While in St. Martin's we couldn't resist a visit to the local ice cream shop, The Octopus.

One morning I walked across the street to the General Store for groceries.  On my way back I passed the Quaco Museum where I saw our tour guides sitting, waiting for the adult to come open up the place.  The girl jumped up, "Do you need help?  I can carry those for you!"

Steve laughed when I told him about that.  He said, like a Girl Scout helping the old lady cross the street.  Lol.

While at the Bay of Fundy we kayaked to some caves nearby.  And the next day we were going to kayak to an island off the point where someone had told us there were seals sometimes.

But as we kayaked along the shore and the cliffs, we heard the fog horn blowing and could see the mist gathering over the point.

The island began to disappear and the sea got rough.  We decided to turn back.  In the picture below is the island in the mist.... sounds like a title for a book or movie.

Our next stop was Prince Edward Island.  Somewhere along the way, Steve discovered the water pump wasn't working.  The water pump is needed when we aren't hooked up to a water supply. 

It is good that Steve knows all about electric stuff and mechanical stuff.  Because my solution would have been to take it to a trailer service joint and wait around.  But he got right down in there, figured out the problem, and then he found a place that sold parts.  He says the pumps are pretty standard on these trailers.  So he found a replacement and we are back up to having running water even when we aren't hooked to a spigot.

Cavendish Beach by our campsite on Prince Edward Island.

There were purple flags at the beach which warned us of the jellyfish.   We saw many.

We had been told to check out the music in this part of Canada.  But I was surprised to find that there was music somewhere nearby every single night.  Stanley Bridge Hall was only 20 minutes away.

We went the first night to see Back Home Tonight.  But we didn't know you had to buy tickets in advance.  The hostess said that normally you don't, but this band is very popular.  The show was sold out.  So we sat on a bench in front of the place trying to figure out where else we can go to listen to music.

The hostess came out and saw us there and told us that there was a camera crew inside but they were leaving at 8:30 and then there would be room for us.  So we waited.

It was worth the wait!  They were very good.  I took a couple videos for you!  Here is one.  Here is the second one.

The piano player announced she would be teaching "stomp" the next morning.  This time, she said, she would be teaching chair stomp.  

In the basement of the hall during intermission they had ice cream and homemade strawberry rhubarb topping.  Again we didn't resist.

There was a table with books for free in the basement.  The next night we went again and I brought one of the books I wrote to add to the collection.  I am sure someone will find it when they need it.

I went to the "stomp" lesson.  There were only two other students there.  One was from China! We learned tap tap heel, right left right.  I felt pretty uncoordinated at times.

One of the bands we heard while on PEI sang a song about the red dirt roads on PEI.  The next day we were trying to find our way to the Confederation  Trail to bike and we found google maps taking us down one of those one lane red dirt roads.  This of course was just after we washed the truck.  Usually Google maps doesn't do this.  I had forgotten to change the mode of transportation back to car.  It was on the bicycle setting.  Good thing we were not pulling the trailer that time.

The Confederation trail had purple gates at the intersections with roads.  I took a picture of the opening so those that ride trike can judge how much the gates will slow you down.   They won't prevent you from getting through.

Trikes might be challenging on the trail.  There were long sections with a grassy middle.

We went by huge potato fields.  Lots of potatoes grown on PEI. 

We biked to a town hoping to get some lunch. We lucked out with a pub built in the historical depot where the author of Ann of Green Gables had her first train ride.

PEI was nice.  We could go back.  There is a lot more of the Island and Confederation Trail to explore.  And plenty more music to listen to.

I was missing having our friends around so I was excited for our  next stop in Nova Scotia.  We were visiting our friends we met through biking with the Withlacoochee Bicycle Riders, Jennifer and David.  They are super nice.  When George had dementia, they came over once a week and watched a movie with him so I could go for a walk or just out.  It was wonderful.

I also remember riding with George toward Floral City on what would be his last ride on his orange trike.  We were riding down to pick up the tandem trike from Regis' house.  I was grieving a bit about George not being able to ride alone anymore.  Then Jennifer rolled up next to me on her bicycle!  

She was going down to be with us!   I got tears in my eyes.  We were so supported by our biking friends.  When we got to Regis' there were at least 10 other friends there to support us and celebrate that George could keep riding the trail.

The day we arrived at Jennifer and David's in Mahone Bay on the East Coast of Nova Scotia, they took us for a drive to show us a bit of their town.

We drove though Lunenburg and they pointed out the Lunenburg bump.  It is an architectural bump out on the upper and sometimes lower floor at the doorway to a home.

At the harbor, Jennifer got excited.  The Bluenose was here!  It is a replica of a sailing ship that won many races against the USA.  It is loved by most Canadians.  It takes people out sailing.   We saw it out in the bay, with the sails unfurled, while we were visiting.

We went with them to a neighborhood get together and got to chat with some of their friendly neighbors.

Jennifer and David's home is beautiful, and it overlooks the bay.  Jennifer belongs to the garden club and loves pulling weeds and planting flowers like I do.  

She had some plants we had never seen before.  

Their land was all woods before they started clearing it to build their home.  They found some old rusted tools and wheels while clearing and they placed them around as decorations.  David made a plant hanger.

Their compost bin is ingenious.   As the bottom boards rot, new boards are added to the top.

Jennifer and Dave's friends invited us to go for a ride on their sail boat.

Steve and David

Jennifer and Tracy

It was a fun thing to do for a change of pace.  Thank you Jennifer and Dave for including us on this wind and sun outing.

Me, hanging on tight.

Jennifer and David, such nice folks.

Our sailing host explained that the boat may tip and it may feel like we are going to go over, but the boat is designed with a heavy keel. "Just so you know, it will tip far, but it won't blow over," he told us.   I am glad he explained because when the sails were up and caught the wind just right, we really tipped.

Jennifer and David also took Steve and I out for some kayaking in an area sprinkled with islands.  The islands protected the bay from the high winds and big waves of the Atlantic.

We launched at a lower tide and the little islands were coated with sea weed that is under water at high tide.

When we kayaked back to the boat landing, I was surprised how the wind had picked up. Some of the smaller islands had disappeared as the tide rose.

After our kayak ride, they took us to downtown Mahone Bay to a tea shop and then a tour of the town's fairy trail.  It is right behind the shops in downtown Mahone Bay.  Pretty cool.

The last evening, Jennifer and Dave showed us the area of the house that they lived in for years before they built their expanded home.  They had cats.  So in their large bathroom, David built a cabinet for the kitty litter box.  I have never seen anything like it, have you?

Our next stop was Broad Cove Campground on Cape Breton Island which is part of Nova Scotia.  It was a long drive.  Then when we got to our site, the septic wasn't working right and the stench from the sewer was bubbling up into our camper.  We were given a different site.  After we set up in the new site, it was late.  We ended up just making supper and going to bed.

In the morning we hiked down to the beach.   We saw this large deer-like poop on the trail.  Moose?  Elk?  Giant Bunnies?

We saw a couple seals in the water!  Yay!

We drove to a trail head then and hiked up to the top.

There was an iconic Canadian red chair at the top!

We had very little cell service in the Broad Cove Campground, a national park campground.  Near the entrance is a pay phone booth.  Those are not as common as they used to be, before cell phones.

I got an email that listed the wrong dates for our next campsite.  So I went down to the beach to see if I could call them when their office opened in the morning.  It turned out the email was a glitch and the dates I had in my calendar where the same as they had on their schedule.  I asked Steve if he would like to go there a day early.  (We were going to have to move to a different site at Broad Cove that day anyway.)  He said yes.   

So we said goodbye to the pretty rocks on the Beach.

There is a road that goes all the way around the National Park.  It is called the Cabot Trail.  It is touted as a bike route, but in most places the shoulder is very narrow.  In some places there is no shoulder at all.  It is a very winding road.  And the hills are often steep and long.  We chose not to bike it.

At one of the over-looks, I saw this graffiti.  "Steve, you didn't tell me you came here earlier this year?"

He said, "Look, they misspelled their own name and had to correct it.  It must be a relative!"

There was a guy resting at that overlook.  He was talking to a woman who was asking him about his bike trip.  He had left from Victoria Island, Canada on the west coast.  He is going to Newfoundland. (Jennifer was coaching me on how to say that.  Nu-fun-LAND.  The accent is on the last syllable.)

The biker was smoking and using this high spot to catch some cell service to contact folks back home.

We did a few little hikes to see things as we drove from the East coast to the West Coast on the Cabot Trail.  

One place had a demonstration model of the kind of shelter that the Scottish sheep herders used to stay in while tending their sheep in the highlands of Scotland.  The immigrants settled in these highlands because it seemed a lot like their homeland.  The natives helped them survive the first few years.

At the end of the day of truck travel, Steve's watch told him we had walked five miles!

Our campsite is in a private campground called Waves End just outside of Cheticamp, NS.  The beach is rocky.  We found some more pretty rocks for our collection.  And the first time we visited it we saw a seal pop his head up to look at the beach.

We had a 40 minute drive from our campground in Cheticamp to get to a bike trail.  It turns out the trail is about 93km long.  We biked from Inverness, NS, to Mabou, about 31 miles round trip.  The surface was crushed gravel and in very good shape with lots of shade.  Steve said he'd like to do the whole trail someday.  Maybe a credit card tour (motel to motel).

The small towns have low buildings.  There is usually one large church steeple that can be seen from a distance.  We saw this one as we approached Mabou.

There was no coffee shop open or convenience store.  But we found a grocery store and went in to get a snack.

I had to laugh when we saw these "chicken bones" on a rack in the store.  I thought I was buying Jennifer something special from the chocolate factory that we toured on our travels.  But it turns out they make commercial chocolate sold in lots of grocery stores.  

On the ride back to the truck I had to stop and take a picture of the lovely delicate forget-me-nots that were growing in the ditches by the trail.  

Last night we went to a Pub and Grill in Cheticamp that had music.  When we walked in it was pretty full except for one small table in the back.   By the entrance was a man with a long dark braid and a traditional Scottish outfit on.  During one of the songs he got up and danced.  I uploaded the video I made to share with you.

  

It was supposed to rain today.  So I planned on going to the local gym and then the library to write to you.  It didn't rain.  It is windy and warm.  But I followed the plan and went to the gym and here we are at the library and I am writing to you.  

Tomorrow we go on a whale watch boat.  The company we went with guarantees a sighting of a whale or you get a coupon for another try.  

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Time has changed.  I didnt finish the blog in the few hours we were at the library.  So here I am finishing up with another story I want to share with you.  

We didn't get to go on the whale watch boat again.  It is still too windy.  

We went for a nice hike and then went to the grocery store.  While we were waiting in line to check out, the power went out.  We waited a bit looking around and wondering if we need to just abandon our cart.  Then we heard the bleep of the scanner.  The power was still out.  The lights still off. But the checkout machines were still working!  We were able to pay with our charge card too!

We rushed the groceries home and went to the music venue to listen to music.   Only the place was closed to us, not letting anyone in.  The power was out, the kitchen was closed.  The (bouncer?) Door guy said that power is out all over the island.  All over Cape Breton???

He said the power company was hoping it would be back up by seven pm.  It is after seven.  It is still out.  Dirty dishes sit in the sink in  the trailer because the campground is on a well and needs power for water.  I would think they would have a generator at least to run the pump.  Maybe next time...

But that isn't the one more story I wanted to tell you.

Yesterday we did a video call with Steve's mom.  She has a full-time companion/caregiver during the week so we were able to call the caregivers cell.

She is now getting a little morphine three times a day before meals.  We had called her as the nursing home staff were preparing to deliver meals.

She said to us, "I don't know what you are cooking up there, but it sure smells good."

We laughed.  We now have telesmell!

She talks about getting better and stronger so she can go home.  She always surprises us, being on the edge of death and coming back, over and over.  Steve says it wouldn't surprise him if she is still alive in September when we return to NY.  

She has a room of her own now and her caregiver put a bird feeder outside her window.  

I forgot to mention when we were in Bangor Maine we went to a planetarium showing a video (in the dome) along with music from Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon.  If you like that album, I highly, Highly recommend that you try to find a showing near you.  It was out of this world!  What a trip, without drugs. 

I won't bore you anymore with what we are doing in this post.  I love your comments and emails letting us know what is going in with you.  

My friends who are suffering in the heat dome that is stalled over the Midwest and the east coast, I hope you find some fun and creative ways to stay cool and sane.

To my friends that are struggling with illness and pains, I hope you find yourself feeling better today.

Now I am going to mention current events, to give future readers an idea of where I am in history.  If you are news sensitive,  don't read any further.

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Epstein was a man in the wealthy and powerful circles that had a racket of getting young girls (as young as 12) and arranging for other rich and powerful men to have sex with them.  He was in jail, and going to be tried, but died suddenly.  We all suspect it was murder to prevent him from naming names.

Anyway, Trump said he would release the list.  But he knows he is on the list.  So he is not going to release the list.

It appears that pedophiles go to jail only when they are not rich and powerful.  A big part of his MAGA base believed it was all democrats on the list.  They are mad he isnt releasing it.  Now he is saying there is no list.

You in the future knows what happens next.  Is this the straw that finally brought down the autocrat?  

Also, not being reported much is that there is a 60 hour vigil on the Capital Mall in DC.  "Families First" is protesting the Medicaid cuts.

Other protests are happening in the USA and right now in Scotland because Trump is visiting there.

Be well and prosper, and thanks again for keeping in touch.