Nova Scotia 2013

We are here and we are connected. ... sort of... our phone still isn't working.

The strange thing about returning to a house that we lived in before is that after the first day it felt like we had just returned from vacation. We were back home after a LONG holiday. I keep wandering into the living room and shocking myself asking: Where is my furniture? and where did this mess come from? All I want to do is flop down on my couch and pick up a magazine and relax...I am so tired.

After the craziness that was June (and May for that matter) with writing essays and exams, getting rid of stuff, packing and then loading the trailer (and then unloading and reloading...don't ask) driving across Canada was somewhat relaxing. Except for the heatwave that followed us across country...and me without my air conditioning.

I drove over 5500 km.

Myself.

I have never driven farther than the Okanagan to Vancouver on my own. That is only about 5 hours. This was over ten times as long.

The trip was good and fairly uneventful...other than celebrating my baby's sixth birthday in Kenora, Ontario. We went out for Kalamari and spent the evening talking with a couple of fishermen at the end of the pier. The kids were quite taken with the one-eyed Newfoundlander...he offered them many pieces of advice and may well be the highlight of the trip. (Other than the big curly slide at the hotel in Brandon, Manitoba of course).

I was happy to arrive home. Happy and tired. I have spent the past week doing all the fun things...like unpacking, trying to get our utilities in order and getting oil changes on our vehicles. And then staring at all the boxes of books that currently have no shelves.

Last Saturday...before I started in on all the fun stuff...we took a day off and went to the beach.

After all the time in the car the kids needed to have some space...

The boys were really excited about being at a beach with creatures to collect and look at again ... they never did learn to love the lakes of the Okanagan.

They had such a good time collecting crabs and snails and jellyfish...

The day was a scorcher with record temperatures over 30C very hot for Nova Scotia. It was so nice to be able to go down to the beach and cool off.

While it was a regular hot summer day for us... for many it was unbearably hot and the beaches were PACKED!

I love Nova Scotia. The boys didn't even realize how busy the beach was.

After the beach we decided to splurge on our favourite post-beach treat...

Nothing is easier after a day at the beach than throwing a bunch of lobsters in a pot for dinner. I love that we can do that here. It feels so luxurious...and tastes so good!


The rest of the week has been fairly uneventful.

Although, we did go strawberry picking.

 Moving when we did we get a very extended strawberry season. We were able to experience a good portion of the season in the Okanagan and then arrive in Nova Scotia for the beginning of the season here. No one in our house is complaining!

My favourite moment was when my youngest came over to where I was picking..."mommy I found one just for you". He had the sweetest look on his face...

that of course disappeared as soon as I lifted up my camera.

Our days have been busy but we have been enjoying the little bits of exploring we have been doing.
We are making the most of our summer while trying to organize the house. We have had a few walks around the neighbourhood and trips to the park. We'll be able to do more when the hubby finishes teaching his class at the end of the month. For now, I think the boys are happy just to be out of the car...

and I am happy to be home and finally settling down... at least a little.

Why I Need to Take my Camera Everywhere

This morning I learned a very important lesson...

MY PHOTO

BEAUTIFUL MAMA DEER

AND HER NEWBORN BABY

Do not go anywhere without my camera. The soon to be 5 year old and I took the back roads home after dropping the kids off at school. Half way home, I had to pull over to the side of the road to watch a mama deer licking what looked to be a very new baby deer. It was the smallest deer I have ever seen...it took a few steps on wobbly legs closer to his mama to have a drink. SO CUTE! And me without my camera... it was a great moment for me and my baby boy who isn't so much of a baby anymore.

Yesterday afternoon our family enjoyed visiting a few local farms for open farm day...

we visited a local asparagus farm where we enjoyed a tasting of grilled asparagus and cream of asparagus soup (the kids all loved it and I think it will be on tonight's dinner menu).

The kids also enjoyed learning how to pick asparagus and eating their pickings raw.

My favourite moment may have been when the farmer pointed out the field of barley and I was able to listen to my 7 and 9 year olds "discuss" how much they loved barley and trying to figure out how many bowls of beef barley soup mom could make with this field. I loved watching their eyes light up at the thought. And I felt a little surge of pride (and a hint of sadness) as the farmer remarked how impressed she was that they would make those kinds of connections as most kids can't anymore...wouldn't it be great if all kids could do that!

At the pasture-raised chicken farm we were able to go for a ride on a horse drawn cart...

and watch chickens scratching around outside just like they did in the "good old days".

We saw how chickens can live and thrive outside with moveable houses and electric fence.

After a long afternoon visiting farms we headed home to play outside and cook up some leftovers...

I purposefully bought and boiled a few extra lobsters because the best kind of leftovers always involves lobster...

I put a pot of water on to boil...tossed in a box of linguine...deshelled and chopped up the extra lobsters and a handful of flat leaf parsley...

I melted some butter in a saucepan and tossed in the lobster and parsley ( I would have added a squeeze of fresh lemon but I was all out of fresh lemons)...

After a couple of minutes when the pasta was done I tossed it with the lobster mix...

pulled the leftover tossed salad out of the fridge and created the fastest, easiest, loved by all, Sunday supper...

have I mentioned yet how much I love week-ends?

Lobster Season!

I had to smile when I saw the sign at my local small grocer...LOBSTERS...one day only...preorder by May 22nd!

Normally, I like to eat local, but, I also like to eat with the seasons and I have been missing Nova Scotia this month as May is the opening of Lobster season. And so, without too much (well, honestly not any) thought I walked straight to the meat department and was the first one on the list...

I ordered a few and then after thinking about it for a couple of days, I ordered a few more...and then a few more.

I brought my two youngest to pick them up. They were so excited. It has been almost two years since our last lobster feast and even though my youngest boys are only 7 and (almost) 5, they still remember lobster season and couldn't wait to bring some home!

My daughter was upset that she missed the homecoming...so she asked if she could cook them...so she did. No squeamishness... just tossed them in the pot. In the craziness my camera was placed on the side and not picked up again until dinner...

The kids loved having a whole lobster to themselves.

I loved watching their curiosity and enjoyment.

They really enjoyed eating the lobster. But what I thought was really funny was that even more than eating it they loved asking for the shells...

to play with in the grass.

So while the adults finished up and cleared the tables for dessert, the boys played with their temporary pets and had a great time (who needs toys anyway!).

Even though we are no longer in Nova Scotia and lobster is far from local - we indulged and had a great time doing it.

happiness...

The hubby and I have been formulating plans for our future...our Plan B future.

I've been reading old journals, looking at family photos and reading my old blog posts.

As I think about our future while looking at our past, one item stands out...

When the hubby and I were engaged, I would bring home tourism brochures from the travel agency I worked at. We would look through them and talk about all the places we could live. We were young and the whole world was available to us. The thought that we could live anywhere in the world was exciting. After looking for weeks at brochures for a reason that I do not know we settled on Prince Edward Island. It seemed perfect. We talked about it for weeks, months...but I had a mortgage and a good job and after we married, we stayed where we were.

Nine months into our marriage, I was given the opportunity to take a business trip to New Brunswick. The tourist board flew a number of us over and showed us why we should send our clients to New Brunswick. If I had been single without a mortgage, I would not have returned home. I loved it. Each place I went I fell more and more in love. I remember the last night of the trip standing outside the Algonquin hotel in St. Andrews by the Sea. It was very late at night and tears were running down my cheeks and for the first time in years, I felt like I was home. I missed my new hubby but I did not want to leave. I spent an hour on the phone with him trying to convince him to drop everything and meet me there. We could open a BandB or something, right? We could make it work. I loved the few days I spent in New Brunswick and talked of it often over the next decade.

When my hubby mentioned graduate school in Nova Scotia...I jumped at the chance!

FINALLY...I would get to live in the maritimes.

 We spent two years there and as I look back at our pictures at the smiling faces of my children playing on the beach I realize that (aside from the long commute that my hubby had) we were happiest there.

 We loved the ocean, the day trips, the museums, the galleries, the history, the architecture, the slow-paced lifestyle.

 The maritimes suit us.

The past few weeks we have spent hours discussing and more hours pondering and praying about what we should do. Looking at our photos...of the house we lived in (that is owned by my mother-in-law and rented out) and available to us...it did not take us too long to decide where we should be.

Plans are in the works for a more permanent summer move to Nova Scotia...we feel relief, peace and happiness...no more lobsterless summers for us!

Looking East

This week our family has been feeling a little nostalgic.

 Maybe it's the craziness of my hubby's hours (he had a few days that lasted until 2am in the studio)...

maybe it's the beautiful September weather that still feels like summer...

it could be that we were stuck in the house for a day and the boys were getting restless and I may have mentioned once or twice how nice it was to have a large house with room to run around...

perhaps it was visiting the local beach and the only sealife we found was 20 or 30 tiny crabs and they were all dead (no hermit crab racing here)...

or maybe it's the fact that Lobster season is over and we didn't have any this year (all but one of us thoroughly enjoyed lobster seasons for three years).

 But, everyone in the family has been missing the Maritimes.

All of us.

 Every day for a week.

 I can't seem to get away from it.

 I pull a random book off the shelf and it is "Above Atlantic Canada", I grab another and it is Anne of Green Gables.

I turn on the TV and Chef Michael Smith is cooking "at home" in Prince Edward Island.

I apologize for the lousy phone photo, but that is me and my daughter and chef Michael Smith in PEI.

 I walk into the kitchen and my daughter is looking at photos on the labtop, scrolling through the past few years...

sigh...

and to top it off, just for fun I pulled up the MLS listings for our current location with homes starting around 1.5 million for a fixer upper...switch to the Maritimes and a similar house will set you back less then 100 thousand. With 1.5 million you can buy your own island or hundreds of acres, or an estate. I do love Vancouver and think the next few years will be a great adventure for our family. But, I am still dreaming of my farm...

and maybe some lobster.