Posts Tagged ‘nova scotia’

Spring has sprung
The grass has riz
I wonder where
The birdies is.

That old childhood rhyme sprang to mind this week as Mother Nature begins to make her powers of renewal evident in most parts of the country.  Of course the biggest evidence I see is the massive bug collection on my grillework and the backs of my mirrors.

There are still a few areas being reluctantly dragged into showing signs of the impending summer. Not the least of these is right at home in Nova Scotia.

There is little question, even there though, of where the birdies is, as many of them are falling within the range of Marilyn’s questing camera.

I’ve decided to include a few of Marilyn’s most striking images in this post as she is learning the patience needed to get the perfect shot. 

All in all a great bunch of shots from Marilyn and I know she took many many more in order to get the ones she saved.  I hear nothing but groans via the instant messenger during every rainy day that keeps her from roaming the yard with the camera.

To view more photos click on this one.

 If anyone else has some great backyard bird shots they’d like to share with our readership please send them along. Include any information you’d care to add and email them to grumpy@grumpyoldtrucker.com.  See ya next time and stay chirpy.

The following morning,  Tuesday 25th of August, as I said in the last post, we breakfasted with Evan then bade him adieu and headed into Yarmouth to see what trouble we could get into.  First we stopped into Canadian Tire where Helen was already hard at work.  I love work, could just watch it for hours, but when Helen spotted us, she stopped working.  So, we had to buy some batteries for one of our cameras to keep her from getting in trouble with the boss.  Not exactly true, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Saying goodbye to Helen once more we descended on beautiful downtown Yarmouth and immediately discovered the Fire Fighters Museum of Nova Scotia.  Well I guess we didn’t exactly discover it as it’s been there for a number of years and the information lady in Kingston had given us a pamphlet.

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Entrance to the Yarmouth Fire Fighters Museum.

Firebell near the entrance.

One of many lovely restored fire engines on the site.

Speaking of restorations. Some were steam driven like us.....

.......And many were of the horse drawn variety.

Before that, man power was the way to go.

The museum boasts hundreds of fire brigade badges from all over the world.

Of particular interest to us was our own local volunteer brigade where we live now........

.......and where we used to live.

You wouldn't think they'd allow vagrants in the museum would you?

This was as close as we wanted to get to the flames.

The museum also has a collection of antique toy fire engines, uniforms, and a huge collection of shoulder crests, patches, and badges from fire departments around the world.  There are also many photographs from fires around the area, including the Circus Ship Fire of 1963.

By the time Marilyn and I had toured the entire museum (both floors) and taken numerous pictures, we were beginning to get hungry again.  I don’t know what it is about vacations that makes one so hungry but that seemed to be a common problem for us throughout the week.

In the next installment I’ll tell you about the pleasant afternoon we spent at the very scenic, and  Helen recommended, Yarmouth Lighthouse on Cape Fochu.  Don’t miss this exciting adventure.

When we left the Walton lighthouse we were already getting hungry but realized we would likely have to drive through to Windsor to find a place for supper.  I had remembered a restaurant there which we had visited once before when Marilyn was trucking with me several years ago, so we headed for it, enjoying the scenery along the way.

Now the Cross Roads restaurant isn’t anything special to look at.  It’s on the edge of Windsor on Hwy 14 and situated between some other nondescript businesses.  Where it distinguishes itself, however, is in the food, and as far as Marilyn and I are concerned that’s what really counts.  Marilyn had the fishcakes, and she’s still raving about them a week later. To be honest, I can’t remember what I had, but I know it was good. Darn memory.

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Cross Roads Restaurant, Hwy 14, Windsor, NS

Just look for the bright yellow sign. Good food, decent prices.

During supper we asked the waitress about local campsites and she informed us the closest one, Smiley’s, was closed due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Bill.  We thought that a little extreme, as whatever was left of Hurricane Bill was only expected to strike the south shore of Nova Scotia and parts of Cape Breton.  We expected to see no more than same rain and wind where we were.

After supper we did some research on the internet and decided on Klahanie Kamping in Aylesford, NS.  We phoned first to be sure there was an opening and by the time we arrived, payed our entrance fee, and located our site it was dark.  Hurricane Bill, or at least the rain from same, was supposed to arrive around midnight,  so we called it a night, even though it was very hot and humid.  We left the sliding door open in hopes of catching some air and waited for the rain to arrive.

Sunday morning at Klahanie Kamping in Aylesford, NS

Even though it got quite windy during the night and on into the morning we hardly knew about it in our campsite due to the heavy tree cover.  The tenting sites at Klahanie were very spacious, well sheltered and handy to water and washrooms.

Lots of trees at Klahanie

The Klahanie Kamping site at Aylesford, NS

The first drops began around 4 AM so I closed the door and we endured the humidity until daybreak.  Due to arriving in the dark and the rain the next morning we didn’t get many pictures so I’m including a couple of pics from our visit to the Visitor Information In Kingston the next morning.

Visitor Information Kingston, NS

Now that's a lot of Bull.

Sunday was a rainy day thanks to Hurricane Bill but as predicted the worst effects were felt along the south shore, far from where were were.  Next episode I’ll tell you about the interesting things we found to do despite the wind and rain.

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From Burntcoat we continued along Hwy 215 through Moose Brook and Tennycape till we arrived at Walton which boasts the last original lighthouse on this piece of shore line.  Constructed in 1873 the flashing of the light was provided by a clockwork mechanism that the keeper had to wind each night.  Nine keepers tended the light during the nine decades it was in operation.   Manning of the light was discontinued in the early 1970′s, but today it is the last original lighthouse remaining in Hants County.

This may be beginning to sound like a lighthouse tour but that wasn’t our intent when we started.  It’s just that Nova Scotia has a lot of lighthouses and they tend to be a very important part of the province’s history.  As at Burntcoat, we found neatly attended grounds and some spectacular views.

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Walton Lighthouse

Looking past the light house there is a lovely view of the Walton River with Cape Blomidon appearing on the other side.

Walton River and Cape Blomidon

The signs on the lighthouse.

Setting up the next shot.

Stairway to the light.

Looking past the light to Minas Basin

The wind up mechanism that powers the revolving light.

View of the parking area from the top of the light.

View of the cliffs from the top of the light.

Stairs down from the second level.

The light keepers quarters was small and spartan.

There were plenty of pictures and newspaper clippings on the wall about the local area.  Once the prime industry in the area was a barite mine.  Ships from around the globe docked here to load barite and a railway was constructed to accommodate trains.  Two huge cement silos still stand near the shore where the barite was stored for loading on ships.  The mine is no longer in operation.

Picture on the wall of the open pit barite mine.

My stalker in the parking lot.

Flowers near the door.

All in all Walton light was another pleasant interlude in our day.  Since we didn’t leave the house till around noon and it is now nearing supper time we have already had a big day. Next episode will include our supper stop in Windsor and our search for a place to spend the night with the impending arrival of Hurricane Bill.  Pretty good name for a hurricane don’t you think?

Well Mrs. Grumpy (Marilyn) and I finally had a vacation this year for the first time in two years.  Last year I was in the middle of changing companies so we didn’t have a chance to get away.  I’m going to use the next few posts to tell you about our week traveling in Nova Scotia and share a few of the 750 photographs we took.

Two years ago we went for a short (5 day) trip to Newfoundland and enjoyed ourselves immensely but this year due to money constraints and trying to get the roof of our house re-shingled we decided to do our vacation thing on the cheap.  Of course nothing is really cheap when you come right down to it, especially with the truck sitting in the driveway, not making any income.  But you know what I mean.

The only real plan we had was to get as far as Yarmouth, NS at some point in our trip to visit with an old school chum of Marilyn’s she had not seen in 40 years and just recently rediscovered through her art gallery website http://MarilynsArtGallery.com.  We had no set itinerary for several reasons, not the least of which was the predicted arrival of Hurricane Bill on Sunday.  We weren’t too concerned as the storm was expected to hit mostly along the south shore of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton.  Since we were traveling along the Fundy Shore we didn’t expect more than a bit of wind and rain and that turned out to be the case.

Since we live at the tip of the Bay of Fundy near Truro, NS we decided to focus our trip along the Nova Scotia edge of the Bay of Fundy.  Having no itinerary the plan was to drive till we saw something of interest and then investigate.  Where ever we happened to be come evening we would look for a place to spend the night.  On our Newfoundland trip we had stayed in hotels and bed and breakfasts.  This time we removed the seats from our minivan, put an air mattress on the floor and packed our supplies around it and on the roof and we were ready to roll.

First stop was the Visitor Information at Maitland, NS where we managed to pick up a new map of Nova Scotia (our old one was a couple of years old) and some brochures of some of the sights and attractions along our intended route.  The folks there were very friendly and helpful and we snapped a few photos in the area.

Maitland, NS Visitor Information

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South Maitland Tidal Observation Deck

Marilyn took advantage of our trip to get lots of practice with the camera.  It turns out her artistic talents come in handy for things other than just painting, scrapbooking, knitting and crocheting.

Marilyn was determined to get some good shots.

There were many peaceful rural and maritime scenes on our way.  Not wanting to bore my readers I’ll include only a few.

One of many peaceful scenes along the way.

Marilyn couldn’t pass this old church without taking a picture.  Who knows? After Hurricane Bill it might no longer be there.

This church has definitely seen better days.

A short way down the road from the old church we spotted this rustic seat near the road as if inviting passersby to set a spell.

Rustic chair.

In my next post we’ll continue along the shores of Cobequid Bay and some of the interesting things we found.