August 7, 2017. Western Head, Nova Scotia. Ami McKay.

Ami McKay is publishing a new book, "The Witches of New York."  Last Saturday she came to The Readers' Festival in Port Medway to read from her new book.  She is charming, well read and accomplished as well as being a good writer so I enjoyed the hour with her at the last festival of the season.

She was born in Indiana but now lives on the north shore of Nova Scotia along with her husband and children.  She had read at the festival several years ago, just when she had published "The Virgin Cure".  I had enjoyed her presentation the last time  and I was not disappointed now.  I have also read her first novel "The Birth House", which won lots of awards.  She is a clever interesting writer and I am now about to attack the new book.

Ann and Graham came with us with the group from Western Head.  They were as impressed as I am about the event, that a tiny town on the coast of Nova Scotia holds these interesting events with these top notched writers, all of whom who have some connection with the Maritimes.  We all enjoyed the stimulating event.  And as usual, the lunch served after the hours of discussion was delicious too.  

August 6, 2017. Western Head, Nova Scotia. The Dinner Party.

Over 40 years ago we all attended Picnic Group every week, at least the ladies and children did, but tonight, Gill and Mary had a marvelous dinner party for those of us who are in Nova Scotia.  Our friends Ann and Graham are here visiting us from Durango, Co. and tonight we celebrated our friendship.  It was great fun with excellent food and conversation.  Before dinner, some of us sat on Gill's deck enjoying the waves crashing on the shore.

Tonight at dinner were 4 members of picnic group along with their spouses.  In addition, one of the children, Tojo, now grown up was there along with his wife and 2 boys.  And Al and Oba were there, along with Peter too.  We were a lively group of 14 who all sit down together.  Tojo toasted the grandparents.  Gill toasted the picnic group and I gave a toast to our two hosts, Mary and Gill.  The diner party was splendid.  The 2 chidden were on their best behavior and the adults were delighted to be together again.   The evening was a great success.

August 5, 2017. Western Head, Nova Scotia. Home # 4.

A breeder had an undersized dog on his hands.  The bitch was too small to show so Ken was asked at the hospital if he needed the dog for research.  Ken liked the dog so called to ask me if we wanted a dog.  We were thinking about getting our self out of our selfish mode of living because soon we wanted to think about having children and we thought that looking after a dog would be an interim step.   But to have a dog we needed a yard.  At the same time I was at our dentist in Galveston and he happened to mention that he had a home for rent.  He and his wife renovated this small 2 bedroom house and had lived in it for two years but his sister and brother in law died in a car accident and he and his wife were guardians of the 3 children.   Ken and I went to look and rented it immediately.  It was certainly the cutest home we had ever lived it.  And we brought the dog into our lives.

There were two aspects about that home we loved.  First it was modern and cute, with one room for living and eating and two bedrooms.  It was a perfect home for us.  It was modern inside but ordinary from the street.  But the best thing was that we lived directly across the street from The Magnolia Grocery.  The older couple who ran the place was wonderful to us.  I could go over before work and select the groceries.  They would bring them over and put them into the fridge and freezer.  The system worked beautifully.   In addition our new home was just a block away from our friend Eleanor Porter.  We enjoyed the house which was just a couple of blocks from the seawall.   Our homes were getting better, step by step.

August 4, 2017. Western Head. The Guest House.

Ken and I are grateful for our guest house.  It has allowed friends and relatives to visit with us yet be private too.  We have just spent a week with my nephew Norm and his wife Diane.  They are busy people and we have never been able to spend much time with them but with the guest house, they were comfortable to visit with us but also have a good rest.  We saw them for lunch and dinner and talked long and hard.  We thoroughly enjoyed their visit.  I feel sure they would not have come without our guest house.

Having guest just 100 yard down the road from us makes life easy for everyone.  Dave and Irene stayed in the guest house this year for three weeks.  Again, they enjoyed their privacy but also visited with us for lunch and dinner.  Now our good friends Ann and Graham have just arrived and will stay in the guest house.  Ann is an artist and I feel sure will sketch from the deck.  I am so pleased that our friends and relatives are able to enjoy Nova Scotia as well as visit with us.  We did a good thing when we built the guest house.

August 3, 2017. Western He'd, Nova Scotia. Helen Humphreys.

Helen Humphreys was the first writer to talk at our Reader's Festival.   She was excellent.  I had not read her before even though she has published 8 novels and two books of fiction.  Her speaking style was personable and charming and careful.  I knew right from the beginning of her talk that she would be sparse with words.  She started out as a poet so she is careful with words.  I loved her address at the festival and I love her writing even more.

At the cottage I read "The Evening Chorus" and loved every minute.  The story is complicated but because of her sparse language and her attention to the feeling of the character, we readers are easily able to figure it all out.  And she does it all in 288 pages.    This is a wonderful little book.

Right after the reading at the festival, I read her "Nocturne", a tribute to her brother who died at 45.  She addresses her brother in the book, telling him what she has done and what is happening, now that he has died of cancer.  It seems maudlin but it is not.  It is a wonderful tribute to her brother.

Helen Humphreys is a wonderful and careful writer.  In September, she will publish a book about apples, part fiction and part non-fiction.  I intend to read it.

ASugust 2, 2017. Pleasantfield, Nova Scotia.

The internet let us down. at the cottage  Apparently, according to Eastlink, the signal was fine but we were not able to use the system, despite hours of Ken's working on it.  Finally we gave up.  After staying at the cottage all day today Ken and I returned to our ocean house, where the air is cool and clean. The cottage was hot.  We are happy to be back by the shore.

August 1, 2017. Western Head, Nova Scotia. Coming and Going.

We have enjoyed having Norm and Diane visiting us by the shore.  We had not seen them since our 55th anniversary and we did not have much time to talk with them then.   But our situation has been perfect.  They are staying in the guest house and enjoy their privacy and the beauty of the view.  The deck has the best view anywhere in the property.  Every morning they go for a walk to Sand Beach, a distance of just over 2 miles return.  We see them during the middle of the day and always for dinner. It is a real treat to be able to spend as much time with them.  Tonight we talked to 10:30.

For some reason, the internet is only working intermittently at the guest house, so they must come over to our house to respond to their e mails.  That gives us more time to enjoy their company.  They might not be as pleased as us with the internet.    Today they met friends for lunch in Lunenburg.   They ate at the restaurant in the Museum which they said was not good, which was a shame because there are lots of good restaurants in Lunenburg.

But now they must leave tomorrow to drive home.  When they leave, the house will feel empty so Ken and I will drive to the cottage for the night.  It takes me awhile to get used to the empty house so we will get out of town to enjoy our tiny cottage.   They return to a home that just completed a large renovation so much work awaits them.  I am so pleased they came to visit and were able to have a rest by the sea.  Nothing better than sleeping beside the ocean.  Now they are going and we will miss them.