Dealing with Cabin Fever Between the Snow Storms

Today we were snowed in again. I went for a a walk outside and the flakes were thick and fluffy. The snow is supposed to continue all night and tomorrow we’ll get ploughed out.

The snow fence helps keep snow from blowing back onto the long driveway.

We must get in the habit of parking at the end of the driveway when we know a snowstorm is coming. We can sled the groceries etc the 500 feet down the driveway to the house. The road we live on is ploughed regularly, although the hills from here to town are very roller-coaster-like which makes me a rather white-knuckled passenger.

Thank goodness we had the good sense to have a little studio party last night. It was a very last minute event. We invited people with only 2 days notice. I guess we weren’t the only ones with cabin fever, because the vast majority showed up! 

The snow stopped long enough for our gathering.

The advantage of get-togethers here in Bear River is that most everyone already knows each other and so there are already lots of shared terms of reference and shared experiences. It’s like people are continuing the long conversation they’ve been having for many years.

Stories are passed down to the next generation.

It also means that people are well aware of any new person(s). In a small community, this can be pretty exciting. A new person means new stories to hear and to share. Not everyone is a skilled or comfortable story-teller, but everyone is an eager listener.

Larry and love the energy that friends bring to the studio.

That shared experience thing makes me feel sometimes like I’m part of an extended family. Even when people mention someone I haven’t met, chances are I’ve heard them referred to by someone else so I ‘get’ the reference. It seems to me that Bear River is just the perfect sized community for me.

Last night people talked about their challenges in their studios, the challenges with their chickens adapting to indoor life because of the snow, renovations, the eternal quest for a warm, affordable heat system, the need for funds to keep the community owned buildings going in Bear River, the hope that young people will find their way to Bear River like they did in the early 1970s.

In the background Larry shows his latest silversmithing creation to a neighbour.

Many people figured that we had the power restored at our new/old house (we did!) because several had seen large NS Power trucks driving through town on Friday. Hallelujah!

The power company gave us a new meter.

This morning I woke up feeling happy. I looked out the window and the snow was coming down fast and thick. I felt like I could handle another snowstorm or two, or more. Bring it on.

The snowmobile pants, jacket and fur hat are from Frenchy's. Total cost:$15

As long as we can intersperse the snow storms with gatherings of friendly souls, I’m certainly up for it.

Take me to Frenchys

Just so you know, life here isn’t only about creativity and weather, it’s also about independent fashion statements. How does this mesh with voluntary simplicity or simple living, you ask? The answer is in two words (well, maybe 5)

Guy’s Frenchys Family Clothing Outlet.

Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, in Atlantic Canada knows what I’m talking about. But sadly for everyone living west of New Brunswick, Frenchys does not exist. You ask 10 people in rural Atlantic Canada where they got the pants or shirt or coat they are wearing and at least 4 will proudly say “I got this at Frenchys”.

Frenchys is an addiction. In the summer, busloads of mostly women will do a Frenchys’ run down the French Shore of Nova Scotia, stopping in all the outlets on the way. Why, you ask, do they check out different outlets? The answer is obvious….Because every outlet carries different stock! You see, Frenchys sells end-of-the-line clothing, second hand articles and all the accumulated discards that can be found in the New England states. And all of this at standardized pricing.

 

 

In Toronto we had Goodwill and Xtoggery and the Salvation Army stores, but they didn’t carry the same broad appeal to the general public as Frenchys does.

So here are some pix of my latest finds.

a winter jacket for $6.65

a 100% wool knitted sweater for $3.75

a linen, hand embroidered large table cloth for $2.00

a new boiled wool vest for $3. and a skirt with 2 layers of silk for $3.75

Then I bought a purple wool sweater for $3 and brought it home to cook it up. This will mat it up nicely so that I can use it for dry-needle felting.

However, even Frenchys’ doesn’t always cut it. I put back this sparkling wedding dress. It was too big for me, and besides, $25 seemed rather overpriced. Why I could buy 7 wool sweaters for that price!

The challenge now is to go to Digby and NOT to stop at Frenchys’ on the way home. I mean, I’m running out of places to stash the stuff……….but speaking of stash…..I bought the sweetest leather shoulder bag for $2.

For a complete Frenchys’ price list, click on this photo:

Christmas Day

So far, every day that we have been in Bear River has been different that any day than I have ever experienced in my life. I realize how dramatic and exaggerated that sounds and even impossible, but for me the difference between living in Toronto, Ontario and living in a little village in Nova Scotia is like night and day. The landscape is different, the culture is different, the food is different, the radio is different, the newspaper is different, and norms are different, the expressions are different. It’s possible that 50% of that difference is because I can choose what I want to do every day.

Christmas Day here was unlike any Christmas I’ve ever had in keeping with the “I’ve come to a new country” feeling. Every year at Christmas we have said that we are going to scale back and then Larry and I have felt driven by a myriad of reasons to go out and buy all kinds of expensive gifts for each other and for the kids. I’m not really sure why that happened year after year… we often tried to break the cycle but there was always that thought in the back of my mind “is this going to be enough?” Even now I wonder if our kids were disappointed with the scarcity of gifts this year.

This year we managed to give secondhand gifts, handmade gifts, or magazine subscriptions. It’s not difficult not to shop here because there are no temptations. Currently there is only one commercial store opened in the village where you could buy a gift and everything there is delightfully secondhand. We don’t have any television reception and therefore missed all references to Christmas. We only go into Digby once or twice a week so we had little exposure to the Christmas hype. It was more like…I’d walk into Shopper’s Drug Mart, hear “White Christmas” on the loudspeakers and think “oh ya, it’s going to be Christmas.” Because of all of these factors, this Christmas was the least stressful that I have ever experience in my entire life.

After lunch on Christmas Day, we were just about to leave for a walk along the river when there was a knock at the back door and our neighbors across the river Zoë and Jeff dropped by to wish us a Merry Christmas and to give us some homemade marmalade and fresh-baked dinner rolls. Later we caught up with them at the ‘head of the tide’. This place is the farthest the tide reaches up the Bear River and this is where the fresh water and the salt water mix at high tide.

Zoë is the president of the Bear River historical Society and she gave us some good information about the history of the Hydro building. It was privately built by the lumber barons in the late 1800’s and only much later incorporated into the provincial grid. Because of this, Bear River is frequently spared blackouts in Nova Scotia that occur from wild weather (windstorms and snowstorms) because we have our own Hydro generating Station and grid.

Jeff and Zoë with the Hydro building behind them.

Larry, Jesse and I came back to a Christmas dinner of turkey and trout and a long Skype visit with Emmy and Mike. Merry Christmas!

Larry and Jesse ….the food after the long walk.

 

 

Merry Christmas!

This is our pretty little tree, cut in Pam and George’s farm. Our decorations are still in storage so we improvised with cards and ribbons. This year the gifts are mostly home-made and second-hand. We’ll be eating turkey (Jesse) and trout (Larry and me) and talking on-line with Emmy and Mike using Skype.

Have a wonderful holiday and thanks for reading the blog and posting an occasional comment!

Flora and Larry