St. Mary's Church; Church Point, Nova Scotia

The largest wooden church in North America....some pictures from inside and outside. The beautiful hooked tapestry was made by ladies of the church; the labor was volunteer; the architect was from France, and built the church from the blueprints of a stone structure in France. It took 2 years to complete, from 1803-1805.

Pubnico- Oldest continual Acadien Village - 1653

Pubnico is the oldest continually lived in Acadian Village in Nova Scotia, which means the world, I guess, since Nova Scotia was the first place there were Acadians. This is the best map I could find of the little village. Each structure has an Acadian person in it, to explain it. All these people can trace their family in Pubnico back 11 generations to the 1700's. They still practice the same arts and crafts their ancestors did, as far as quilting, knitting, gardening, raising pigs and livestock, cooking, wordwork, fishing, building boats, etc. They were fascinating. The first lady standing with George was Judy, and the other lady (whose picture I'm very regretful I didn't even take) was Laura. They were both in the process of cooking different things on the wood burning stove, like Aunt May's. Judy offered us a freshly made molasses cookie when we came in, and then showed us all around the house, including the quilt which she was in the process of hand quilting. (They, of course, sold these quilts in the gift shop for around $800.) Judy was also cooking a huge pot of the leftover potatoes from peeling potatoes for another dish. She said they cooked them for the pigs, cause the pigs didn't like them raw.) Actually, she said that the 'old people' said that raw potatoes would give the pigs worms, but she said she didn't know if she believed that or not. Laura also showed us around and also told us that her mother had been born in that very house, and she showed us the room where the mother and her 2 sisters slept in the same bed. There were 3 daughters and 9 brothers in that family, and the boys slept in 2 rooms upstairs, and the mother and father had another bedroom. Of course, the guides also showed us old pictures of the houses, and also showed us on the floor planks, what the original 1 room house had looked like, before the family started adding on. Laura was making (among other things; both ladies were making several dishes) a cucumber relish, which was absolutely delicious. She told us we could buy it in the gift shop, but by the time we got there, it was gone, she I went back and she wrote down the recipe for me. The ingredients were all ground up, like on the 'chop' cycle on the blender, so I asked her how she did it....expecting to see a nice blender in the kitchen where she had chopped the ingredients. But LO... it was an old foodgrinder, like my grandmother used. These folks were the real thing!

The short man above/left showed us the 1 cylinder, 2 cycle gas marine engine, like the first ones used when these people changed from sailing fishing boats to engine operated. He also showed us the dock, and I tried to show you how very high the tide was, but you can 't see through the water to see that the other dock is below the water. The older man in the fuzzy picture was a boat builder, and he showed us exactly how it was done, and showed us plans, etc. Told us the wood types that were used for each part. The younger man also showed us a lobster claw which was as big as George's head. I just really didn't take enough pictures, but I was totally caught up in these people. The lobster had died on the way back home, after being put in the boat by the fisherman. (only his claw was in the trap...he would NOT have fit in the trap), and they can't be sold dead, so the man decided to put it on an ant hill, to get rid of the meat, and then keep his skeleton. But an animal came in the night and stole everything but the claws, and those were what we saw. They were enormous! The little wooden thing is a lobster peg. It used to be used by the lobster fishermen to slip into the joint of the huge claw, so the lobster couldn't pinch them. but when government controls came, they government wouldn't let them do it anymore, cause it bruised the meat. So now they use rubber bands.

Halifax, et al

All the clock towers in this post are for DPS.

And I thought this was a cute name for a yacht.

This island is where the British 'stored' the Acadians as they gathered them up from all over the area for deportation to parts unknown.

The historic boardwalk part of Halifax. This is a boat you could pay to walk on, but we've just walked on so many boats, and in so many lighthouses.....

Our favorite part of Halifax was the Citadel, the British fortress which is so impregnable that it was never even attacked, since the mid 1800's. A good case, as far as we're concerned, for the theory that strength is a good deterrent. It's actually a very interestingly designed fort, and if you like forts at all, worth a Google. All the workers were dressed in Scottish military uniforms of different ranks. They even did the changing of the guard, played the bagpipes at the quarter hour, etc. The young man standing by the cannon was our guide for the 45" tour. He really knew his stuff, and they actually belong to a group, not military, but they get promoted, awarded, etc.

This is the powder magazine, and black powder would have been stored in these barrels. The design of the magazine was amazing to prevent disasters in the event of an attack, or of an accidental spark. No metal, except for the copper on the barrels, was allowed at all in the powder magazine, for fear of a spark. Black powder is very volatile.

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

Dick took these top 5 pictures. He is such a better picture taker than I am; he has a feel for the balance and his pics are much more artistic than mine. I was thrilled when he picked up the camera. This Anglican Church was built in 1885. The lighthouse is still a working lighthouse.

These other 8 pictures are actually in Peggy's Cove, which is on the SW tip of this peninsula, and right out in the Atlantic Ocean. The landscape is very bleak, and existence in Peggy's Cove looks difficult. Especially in winter. The winds are relentless. In 2998 a Swissair flight crashed into the waters off the coast of Peggy's Cove, and this is the memorial.

This sunset is actually looking out on the cove from our RV 'yard'. It is on Margaret's Bay, a little north of Peggy's Cove, in a village called Glen Margaret; and is very sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean.

Heading to Nova Scotia, by way of New Brunswick

The night we spent in Petit Rocher, New Brunswick was on of our funnest nights! The people in the RV Park were mostly locals, who had homes within an hour away, and came to their rigs in the RV park for the entire summer every year. They all knew each other. As we've observed, this is the custom in Canada. They are determined to absorb as much of their summers as possible, and many many people have a rig of some sort permanently situated at an RV park near their home, and they live in the rig in the summer. This is people of all ages, even young adults with children. Their summers are SOOO precious, and they are aware of it, and they're determined to be 'out in it'. So we were immediately the odd couple out, but the residents reminded me of Cajuns. They were so friendly, and opened up their arms and accepted us immediately. When I checked into the park, the owner told me that she had hired a band for that night (Saturday of Labor Day Weekend), and we were welcome to come to the hall at 9:00 if we wanted to join in. So we decided that even though 9:00 was already past our bedtime, we'd go. We showered and dressed up a bit, and went to the dance. And we met so many extremely nice people, who, like Cajuns, LOVED to party, and were your friend from the moment they saw you. These are our special friends, Michelle Arceneau (I don't know how you spell French male 'Michael'. Help me out, REOS); and his wife Nicole. Her brother took the picture for us. I tried to also get a picture of the dance floor, and the 'band' which turned out to be an older man, who performed very very well, all by himself with his guitar and synthesizer. He sang mostly in French (even Chuck Berry and Rollin' Stones songs.) He was really gifted, and we enjoyed dancing, and meeting our new friends. We also met a man named Richard, who had retired from IBM. Michelle and Nicole still had jobs, and went to work from the RV park, and even went to church the next morning.

OK, this is absolutely the high point of Dick's entire trip. (The fog turned to rain, and when we stopped to gas up, he put on his raincoat from Niagara.) But inside the convenience store was this GORGEOUS Canadian Royal Mounted Policewoman. And and all of us who know him, know that's he's never shy about introducing himself to a gorgeous woman. He came out to the rig to get me to take a picture of him with his new 'friend.' Turns out she'd just come from a friend's wedding, where a group of Mounties stood in 2 lines, facing one another, and with their sabers, formed an entry for the bridal party as they entered the wedding. Wouldn't that have been impressive, and very memorable? Anyway, she was very gracious about having her picture taken, and a very nice person. She said her Dad had been a Mounty, and she decided to follow in his footsteps. I asked her name, but I've forgotten now. And George has even forgotten, but he said his brain was temporarily short circuited. ; - )

Last Day on Gaspe` Peninsula

Saturday, Sept. 4, when we left our campground at Perce`, it was beautifully foggy. We drove through fog most of the morning, heading back west up the south side of the peninsula, toward the crossing over into New Brunswick.

I was hoping to show you how beautiful the teeny town of Perce` looked at night, with everyone's lights on.

Typically, our last afternoon on the Gaspe` Peninsula was spent beachcombing. We chose the beach that advertised agates on the beach. There were very few shells, and tons of pretty agates. We picked up thousands of them. We're probably rich now. They kinda look different when they dry out, but we're looking forward to borrowing the rock polishers that we've given to granddaughters, and make our rocks valuable.