Our Bear River Adventure

Entries categorized as ‘Digby’

Birthday on the Rocks

May 6, 2009 · 6 Comments

Our mantra about moving to Bear River reads something like this:  

We love living here and we feel thankful each and every day to have had landed here…except for one important aspect.

Our adult kids live thousands of miles away and inspite of Skype and email and the telephone, we miss spending ordinary (but really extraordinary)  time with them. You know what I mean. It is lovely to just sit in the same room together and talk about politics, the cat, working life, twitter vs facebook, American vs. Canadian belief systems, Battlestar Galactica, Naomi Klein, childhood memories, house renovations, artists, musicians and more.

Explanations are easier face-to-face

Explanations are so much easier face-to-face

But it’s also nice to walk through a room and see Emily sketching the cat or Jesse strumming his guitar–both of them expressing their creativity. What a pleasure for a parent to see.

They have surprised us with a trip to Bear River and we’ve been having a great catching-up time with them. It is so nice to swap stories and it’s wonderful to cook for them AND to be able to sit down together and share a meal with them! Their lives are so fast paced and busy that they mostly eat take-out food, restaurant food so it’s a great opportunity for me to spoil them with home cooking.

Homemade bread and lasagna.

Homemade bread and lasagna.

This visit coincides with my 58th birthday, with our daughter’s birthday and with Mother’s Day too! It’s quite amazing for me to share my birthday with them both. Last year’s birthday was pretty special too as we were gallery hopping with our daughter and son-in-law in Los Angeles on my birthday and I saw some amazing work by Matisse as well as German Expressionist painters too. We even got to see a bubbling tar pit in action.

This birthday we drove a short distance from Digby to Point Prim, a beautiful spot that we never tire of visiting and that we wanted so much to share with the kids.

Tidal pools form in the basins left behind by cooling lava.

Tidal pools form in the basins left behind by cooling lava.

Except for a couple of sites in Nova Scotia, like Peggy’s Cove, there are many, many beautiful, geological and geographical sites to see in this province that are not really promoted or known about except to the locals. Point Prim is one of those spots.

Our daughter took most of the photos in this post.

Our daughter took most of the photos in this post.

The geological formations are so varied and so interesting and tell an ancient tale about molten lava forming millions of years ago.

The body of water is part of the Bay of Fundy and the wind was still quite cold for a warm day in May. The water was a deep blue and it felt exhilarating to be there.

Just us and the ocean waves.

Just us and the ocean waves.

We stayed for an hour and only saw one other couple as we were leaving so we really had the whole ocean to ourselves. It’s hard to describe how wonderful it was to spend time together, on my birthday, in this magical place, with the people who mean the most to me in the world.

The textures in the rock formations make interesting patterns.

The textures in the rock formations make interesting patterns.

I watched our offspring climb over these rocks that will still be here in another million years. I thought about how fortunate we are to be right here, right now. If you are coming to Nova Scotia, anyone in Digby can tell you where Point Prim is.

Lunch in Digby.

Lunch in Digby.

The rocks are eternal and so is the interconnectedness and the love that so many parents and children and siblings share. What a perfect birthday!

Categories: Digby · birthday · family · ocean · visitors

William Wallace’s Sword in Digby

June 30, 2008 · 1 Comment

The movie Braveheart, celebrated the courage and action of William Wallace, Scotland’s patriot who fought for Scottish independence in the early 1300’s. Another famous Scot, poet Robbie Burns, wrote an independence poem that referenced Wallace and his famous sword.

from the brochure “Homecoming Scotland 2009″ http://visitstirling.org

My dear Scottish grandmother, Flora Mary Riach Coutts Brown, used to sing Scots Wha Hae to me like it was a lullaby. She would toss back a shot of scotch whiskey and then emphasize the line “welcome to your gory bed or to victory!”

‘Scots, wha hae wi’ Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome tae your gory bed,
Or tae Victorie!

‘Now’s the day, and now’s the hour:
See the front o’ battle lour,
See approach proud Edward’s power
Chains and Slaverie!

‘Wha will be a traitor knave?
Wha will fill a coward’s grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave?
Let him turn and flee!

‘Wha, for Scotland’s king and law,
Freedom’s sword will strongly draw,
Freeman stand, or Freeman fa’,
Let him on wi’ me!

‘By Oppression’s woes and pains!
By your sons in servile chains!
We will drain our dearest veins,
But they shall be free

‘Lay the proud usurpers low!
Tyrants fall in every foe!
Liberty’s in every blow! -
Let us do or dee!’

When Larry and I read in our local paper that William Wallace’s sword was going to be shown in Digby for a few hours today, we just had to go.

Some councillors from Stirling, Scotland spoke and it was interesting to hear one describe economic problems in Stirling that are much the same over here in “New Scotland.” Things like young people moving away to the city for jobs, along with the resulting loss of shops and schools in villages. Local farmers going under as a result of cheaper imports; the attempted transition from a farm economy to a tourist place. But one of the most thought-provoking dilemas that he mentioned was the real estate conundrum. People often buy summer homes in and around Stirling because it’s only an hours drive from Glasgow or Edinburgh. This has driven the price of homes up which means that some locals can’t afford to purchase a home anymore. The once viable village becomes a dormitory for people who are only there for a few weeks a year and who can’t participate year-round in developing the community.

Many former fishing towns in Nova Scotia are practically ghost towns during the winter and many homes stand empty while locals have difficulty finding somewhere to rent. On the other hand, locals will also tell you that it is far better to have someone buy a place and fix it up, than to have it stand empty and go to ruin.

There are no easy answers or solutions to any of these dilemas. I wonder what William Wallace would have to say about all of this if he were here.

Categories: Digby · community event

Ferry, cross the Bay of Fundy

October 15, 2007 · Leave a Comment

As you can see, Larry was pretty thrilled with the trip. We could barely contatin our excitement to finally be arriving at our new adventure.

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Here is a video of the ferry ride:

Categories: Bay of Fundy · Digby