MIA?

I'm back... did you miss me? Hubby and I were gone on a little trip for a week, to visit lots of old friends/neighbours and to celebrate our 25th Anniversary. We weren't too far away - no exotic locales for us - we were just "next door" in beautiful Nova Scotia. First on our agenda was to attend a surprise 50th Wedding Anniversary party for long-time friends and former neighbours Jack and Sheila. It was great to see them and have a visit. The party was held in a community hall on one of those stinkin' hot and humid afternoons.... it wasn't long before we were "wilting"... so upon leaving, we headed for the coast and enjoyed a little time in picture perfect Hall's Harbour- the temp dropped from 33C to 17C in just a few miles. Nothin'
like that good ole sea air to cool things off!! Sure felt good.
Hall's Harbour is a little fishing village right on the Bay of Fundy, famous for it's spectacular scenery, tides and fresh lobster. Supposedly it was named after Samuel Hall, an American privateer in the American Revolution who used the cove as a base to raid settlements in the Annapolis Valley. Settled in 1826, Hall's Harbour became a shipbuilding port, producing many schooners and square-rigged vessels. Today the main year-round industry is fishing - commercial lobster and scallop boats operate from the wharves, and the lobster pound is always a busy spot. Hall's Harbour is one of the last authentic fishing villages on Nova Scotia's Fundy coast,
and the HH Lobster Pound is one of Canada's largest lobster-holding facilities with a capacity of 65,00 pounds!! From this facility, live lobster are packed and shipped worldwide 365 days a year.
We were there at low tide so of course the boats were lying on the harbour bottom - the "ocean floor". It's too bad we could not have stayed so I could have photographed high tide as well - but you can picture these boats floating at wharf level then- the tide rises at a speed of one inch per minute. Billions of tons of seawater rush in and out of the Bay twice daily to create as much as a 42 foot height variance at HH!! If you've never witnessed the Bay of Fundy tides, put it on your Bucket List! It's an amazing experience...

From Hall's Harbour we drove along North Mountain to Cape Blomidon and another well known spot - the Lookoff. From here one can look out over the Minas Basin (which forms the eastern part of the Bay of Fundy) and miles of fertile farmland and orchards. The reddish cliffs of Blomidon are a familiar landmark to anyone who lives in the Annapolis Valley and I must admit, I still feel like I'm "coming home" when I get that first glimpse of Blomidon from Highway 101 just outside Avonport. Being an Acadia Alumnus, I will always consider the Valley "home".
The red cliffs of Blomidon, primarily sandstone, reach heights of  up to 600 feet. The beaches around the Minas Basin vary from red sand to mud rich in microscopic shrimp and worms, a "feast" for shorebirds. This provides many unique opportunities for interesting beach walks, where as well as the usual beach "finds" you might be lucky enough to find semiprecious stones and fossils.  Later in the
summer, the Bay of Fundy area is a stopover for millions of shorebirds, as they gorge on the rich offerings of the Bay mud, to triple or quadruple their weight before their long migratory flights back to South America. I hope to make more visits to the Bay this summer, and with luck, I'll visit Mary's Point in August when millions of semipalmated sandpipers and plovers stop over for their annual "feasting"...  But I'm getting sidetracked....back to Blomidon - The native Mi'kmaq people believed Blomidon was the home of their God Glooscap. When Blomidon is shrouded in fog, locals refer to it as "Glooscap's blanket"... But there was no fog when we were there- the view from Lookoff, where you can see five N.S. counties at once, was beautiful, a little hazy in the distance, but beautiful nonetheless. It
reminded me a bit of Ireland's "forty shades of green" as you gaze down on the orchards, farmer's fields and in the distance Canning, Port Williams and Wolfville..... It's a view I'll never tire of... Sigh.... If you'd like to see more of the Blomidon area, you might want to watch this video  or check out these photos  and click "Start Slideshow".
These photos from the Lookoff look in a southerly direction over the eastern end of the Annapolis Valley. The valley is about 125 km. long, stretching from Digby and the Annapolis Basin at the western end to Wolfville and the Minas Basin at the eastern end.  The steep North Mountain shelters the valley from the adjacent Bay of Fundy and South Mountain protects it from the climate of the Atlantic Ocean to the south. The shelter provided by these two mountainous ridges creates a "micro climate" of milder temps and that coupled with the fertile soil is why the valley is famous for its crops, particularly apples and vegetables. Farmer's markets abound and we took advantage of a great price on fresh picked strawberries... mmmmm..
Next I'll show you a bit of our stay in Halifax and the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo.

Peace,
Linda

"The earth belongs to anyone who stops for a moment, gazes, and goes on his way." ~Colette