Halifax, Nova Scotia.... which stands for New Scottland... aha!

Halifax, Nova Scotia (which stands for New Scotland)

Fog like pea soup this am about six… and how did we know… the fog horn started its’ “booooooo” sound… every 30 seconds… actually put us back to sleep… By the time we got to the dock, the clouds were lifting. Got off the boat about 9ish and walked the waterfront. It was gorgeous; wish they could build up Tacoma’s waterfront like that!
Came back to the boat and picked up Halley and Dan for a trip out to Peggy’s Cove… supposedly the most photographed lighthouse in Canada… and, wouldn’t you know it, the fog clouds rolled in around that point. Just about the time we were leaving, the sun finally poked it’s head out. Still, the rock formations there were beautiful… lots of granite, most of it all smooth and round. The light house sits there so stately… and notice the ants around it… NAW.. those are people… I did post a picture I took of a picture that showed the lighthouse when it’s all clear.
On our way home, we went by three memorials… One for the plane that crashed in 1998 killing all aboard; one commemorating and explosion that took place in 1917, when a munitions ship and a chemical ship collided, exploding and killing 2000 people and totally wiping out all the homes within a mile. Those that didn’t die instantly died later cuz they had inhaled the chemical fumes…. And, finally, the last memorial was for the Titanic passengers who died. We simply drove past that one… so, so, so many tourists.
Wow, what run on and run off sentences… I hope some of my well heeled friends aren’t driven crazy by this!
Left the dock listening to the sounds of a bagpiper and drummer… felt like we were in the movies! Oh, and we are so mad at ourselves… we brought the News Tribune with us to take our picture with the paper and then get the paper to print it. We kept forgetting so we too one topside on the ship as we were leaving. And the angle I am standing… with Black Plaid Shorts… egads… I look HUGE… Damn, me and my vanity… still gonna send it in though… Tomorrow we will be in Bar Harbor, Maine. I’ll chat with you later!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dang, there he is again, working... but he found some free WIFI!
 

 

 

Sydney, Nova Scotia - Kinda feel sorry for the place

Woke up to a beautiful view… clear water, the houses across the bay reflecting in the water… perfect… As for the town… kinda, sorta, well, not a whole lot. Jerry and I walked around the place, and it just reminds me of a place that wishes it could be something but just doesn’t have the energy to make itself something. They had free internet on shore, but, the reliability stunk… Jerry is in the process, as I said before, of helping a client, so, he needed dependability… electronic forms and all that stuff…. Got back on the boat, ate some lunch and he finished his stuff up.
They have a fiddle here… check out the picture below… I felt like the razor clam in Longbeach and this Fiddle belonged together… being the gigantic things they are!
Alrighty, going to bed… Got to talk to Jillian today… was fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PEI: A beautiful island!

Not to make anyone jealous… but, I am sitting on the verandah, in my jammies, I hear the water lapping along side the ship, the sun has just set and the clouds in the distance look darker as the sky below them is that beautiful orange… The Lord has blessed this night!
Last night we had a marvelous concert… Cajun music and so much more… then Smitty surprised the audience and ended up jamming with the group… Later Audrey Assad performed, and knocked our socks off, but, with a different style of music. The evening had us laughing… big belly laughs… as the comedian John Branyan had us going… We were ready for bed… good thing, cuz the next morning (that would have been today) we had to be up early…. Going to Prince Edward Island (PEI)!
They grow lots of potatoes here, recently started soybeans, and canola. The yellow in the pictures are the canola plants in bloom… should last another week. It just is a beautiful area… and, much like the other cities we’ve visited, has winters with lots of snow… you would never know it by what it was like today.
Remember the books “Anne of Green Gables”, etc, etc… well, they were written by a young woman, Lucy Maude Montgomery who grew up here. The whole island is just gorgeous… and I can see how the character of Anne came about. We visited where the author spent much of her life and, also the home where her Aunt and Uncle lived, which is what she based much of her fictitious book on. We went to the forest, she referred to as the haunted forest… then there was the ‘lovers lane’… you could just see how she could come up with all the characters in her books
Ended up on back home by 1pm… which gave us time for lunch, some pool side snoozing, then dinner… and the best: a 90 minute concert with Michael. His talent as a writer and a musician and a singer… awesome! He has come out, in the last two years, with two instrumental albums that are beautiful. ‘Freedom’ and ‘Glory’… highly recommend them.
Not going into any details, but things get so unique with Halley… Thinking, maybe this kinda of travelling we won’t be able to do anymore. We shall see. Keep us and her (well, I guess Dan too, but he is not so much going to be in the picture in the future) in your prayers… It gets so hard at times and writing this blog, well, it helps me to see the positive things that we were able to experience and not let the other stuff take over!
Tomorrow, Sydney, Nova Scotia… Not sure what that holds… but we know it will be great! This part of Canada is beautiful!
This lighthouse was the first thing we saw as we woke this morning and got ready to dock!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carriage ride at Lucy's Family's home
 

 

 

The home Anne of Greene Gables was based on!
 

 

Halley and Dan are able to eat to their hearts content... Lunch... Salad, pesto pasta and a sandwich... and that was just for one of them....
 

Old Quebec City

The great thing about cruising is how you wake up each morning in a new city. Sunday Morning we were docked at Old Quebec City, at the foot of the Hotel Frontenac…another one of those hotels built by the Canadian Pacific Railroad… way back in the day… other’s you may know are the Empress in Victoria or the one at Banff… gorgeous places.
We found a tourist guide who drove us around… works so much better with Halley. We were able to have the gentleman and his van for 2 1/2 hours which allowed us to get out and look, not just drive by!
First we headed off to the Montmorency Falls which were gorgeous… They are higher than Niagara Falls… but obviously, not near as wide. They were used for electricity years ago, but not now, just an attraction that locals and tourists enjoy. In the pictures, notice there is also a hillside that has steps you can climb to get to the top of the adjacent hill where you can view the falls (and of course, you don’t see us on those steps). Cuz of our van, we were able to drive further up. We were dropped up half way off up and we took some photo ops, and then we walked to the top. Halley and Dan were already there, and Halley just hang out in the shade of a tree. Didn’t want to do anything else, so we took Dan on out over the bridge over the falls…. Glad we are not afraid of heights… it was up there!
Later drove through and visited the Citidel that protected the city. The old city is actually surrounded by a brick wall… three feet thick, quite a few battles between the English and the French… Obviously, the French came out ahead in the end. BTW, Quebec is not a French name but an Indian name….
The old city reminds one of Europe… but the streets are wider… we could even drive through them. Before you enter the ‘old’ part of the city, there are many cathedrals… most no longer in use… some torn down, some become condos, some gyms… kinda sad.
Evening ended with a great concert with Scott MacIntyre (blind American Idol Finalist) and then about 90 minutes of Michael… Awesome, Spiritfilled music!
Monday we are now ‘at sea’ all day… gives me time to do this. (Jerry is doing some business as I write this, otherwise we could not go on these trips. His clients are not left flapping in the wind… between his ‘cohort’ on land there to help and the cell phone, he can still help them!) The water is petty smooth today… just a few whitecaps… all is good! I have a new book to read and, gee, not sure what else I’m gonna do!

You can get a glimpse of the wall through the trees that surround the old city
 

 

 

 

 

 

Hellllloooooo down there!
 

On top of the falls
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a mural on a flat wall... with no windows