Staff Vacations #4 - Alex's trip to Nova Scotia!

We had fabulous weather in Nova Scotia this year – lots of hot sunny days.  My golf game was not good, but that was more than made up for by all the other activity – catching up with family and friends, and meeting cousins that my wife hadn’t seen in 50 years.   

In August there is also the Folk Harbour Festival, which has many wonderful artists, and this year we attended the Sunday morning gospel session which meant we got to hear about 20 different artists in the space of two hours.

This year the Tall Ships were in town on the same weekend so the town was very crowded. On the Friday night the town used a barge in the middle of the harbour to set off a wonderful fireworks display – mostly reds and whites in celebration of Canada’s 150^th.  Two nights later it was clear enough to also see some of the meteor shower, which I would rate as even better than the fireworks.

There seemed to be a little more wildlife this year than usual.  On the drive down, near Riviere-du-Loup, we saw a large cat crossing the road near our B and B, which we believe was a cougar although these are apparently rarely sighted in Quebec. At the cottage, not only did we regularly see seals on the shoal about 150 yards away from shore, I also saw what I believe was a sea otter running across the causeway leading to the island.  Twice I saw a hawk flying off with a fish in its talons, as there were frequently schools of mackerel disturbing the water in front of the cottage. 

My cousin next door has also been feeding the deer (not necessarily a good thing), and they now come around every evening looking for dinner.  My grandson fed one from his hand.

Then there was the usual varied bird life: hummingbirds and blue jays near the cottage; herons, loons, terns, gannets, and gulls over the water in addition to the hawks.  And then there was this monkey, my grandson.