September 30, 2008. Chevy Chase, Md. Home Again.

Do not stay for a hurricane. The winds are strong and the rain is hard and the electricity quits working. So you go from the 21st Century to the 19Th Century in one giant step. The waves were high and frothy and beautiful. The biggest impression on me from the hurricane was the wind. The noise was so strong and noisy that it gets spooky. The only thing to do to get rid of the sound was to go to sleep, which we did. We left home very early for our flight in Halifax, but of course the flight was cancelled so we were required to come home via Ottawa and then on to Dulles airport. It was a long day but a nice day, spent with Ken. We walked and read and ate, then repeated the process in both airports. Both airports are quite pleasant and modern, with good restaurants and comfortable chairs. Finally, in bed by just after ten o'clock, and very happy to be there too. We left a bit of a mess for Jackie, as I could not wash the dishes from our party Sunday evening, and with no washing machine I left the beds to launder. Mary reports that the electricity came back on today, so the freezer food should be fine. These hurricanes are not good.

One of the topics of conversation that Ken and I discussed during the day yesterday was about our future, or more accuraately, our 70s. In our 60s we spent a lot of time and energy and money purchasing, building and renovating our homes in Nova Scotia and Texas and at the farm. Now the question we are asking is "what are we going to do now?" We discussed every possible options, discussing the pros and cons of every course of action. Remember we were together all day with nothing to do. Nothing was decided yesterday, but tonight after a good glass of port and a fine dinner of vegetables we both agreed on our course of action for the next nine years, and here is the answer. I will work until I am 80, and we will wander from place to place. Ken agrees to walk with me five days of the week, and continue to cook. We will travel to one new place every year. And that is the plan for us while we are in our 70s. It seems like a good plan to me.

September 28, 2008. Western Head, N.S. Closing Up.

The surfers have been out in the bay since early this morning, and they are still there now at four o'clock. The waves continue to get higher, but it seems that the big storm is going further west, so all we will experience is strong wind and some rain. I hope so, because we have dinner guests tonight, ten in all, to welcome Susie and Jeff Bond and to say farewell to us. I still had chowder from the 50TH, which I froze, but it won't survive in the freezer until next year, so we are serving it to our friends. Now Betty told me that chowder freezes very well, but I am not so sure it will be as good as the first time. Betty makes the most wonderful chowder, so I guess it will be fine. My basic concept is that people come to visit and to talk, and that the food is incidental. Not everyone thinks that way about entertaining, but it works well for me. Normally I do not serve any appetizers, but tonight I am having shrimp and sausage rolls, so if the chowder is not so good, at least some food will keep people full. And with a heavy carrot cake for dessert I think the dinner will be fine.

Our checklist is complete. Ken has closed up the hot tub, I have left a cheque and note to Jackie, my clothes are all ready for the morning, the clothes are clean except the sheets and Jackie will do them after we leave, and we are ready for our next adventure. Our truck is in the garage with the battery on a slow charge and the fountain is out of the pond. I always like to have everything completed the day before we depart, as for some reason, I don't think very well on the day of a trip. When we return, the weather will be cold, but we will still turn on the old Victrola we bought at an auction on Saturday. It came with fifty records so we will have fun. We also bought another bike and a wicker rocking chair for the cottage, also an old steamer trunk. We enjoyed the day, as we usually do at auctions. The items we bought will all be waiting our return. Now we are ready to hit the road.

September 27, 2008. Western Head, N.S. Ike and Kyle

I knew it would be a mess, but the aftermath of Ike is even worse that I thought. My friend Alice Anne, who lives in the west end of Galveston sent us a report today. She and three friends are staying in League City, as their homes on the west can not be lived in, and there are trash and debris covering their yards several feet deep. A dock is in her pond, but it is not her dock. A roof is in her driveway, but it is not her roof. She reported that poking through the trash is similar to an Easter egg hunt, except it is more interesting. She has found jet skies, canoes, kayaks, propane tanks, life jackets. She also found her own canoe. Her barn was hardest hit.. The green house is gone. Her tractor died a Mariners death. Yesterday she hired a young man to help with the clean up. He expects it will take him at least three days of ten hours a day to get rid of the debris. Alive Anne has been back to her house three times. We wish her well.

Now here is the good part. She has been gathering objects that she no longer needed, and has been storing all this stuff in her barn, as she was preparing to have a barn/garage sale. Ike's surge cleaned her out. Everything in the barn has gone. No need to ask friends to help sort and price. It has taken her two years to collect all these treasures that she no longer needed or wanted, and in one gigantic wave, these treasures are gone. She should have donated them all to The Salvation Army, so she could get a tax deduction. She agrees with me that getting rid of all that stuff was a blessing. But she has a mess to get over now. Still no electricity or water, but soon all will be well. Again, we wish her well.

Kyle is coming into the Bay of Fundy. Folks here are not used to hearing that Hurricanes are coming to Nova Scotia. Five Years ago Juan blew into Halifax and blew down half their trees. We brought all the outside chairs into the garage and carriage house, so we are ready for the storm. The surfers were out in force this afternoon. We leave on Monday so we hope we can get up to Halifax and out of town. The storm is expected to go into New Brunswick, with winds and rains in Queen's county. For tonight, we will sleep well, but tomorrow will be interesting.

September 26, 2008. Western Head, N.S. Cream.

Everything tastes better with cream. I never buy cream. I don't use cream. But when I do, anything I eat is better. This morning we had breakfast at Lanes. At least once on every visit to Liverpool. we go to Lanes for breakfast. Their food is good, especially the breakfasts. This morning we slept late, because we stayed up late last night. We ate dinner watching another The Last Detective, then we watched the first disc of Foyal's's War Volume four. It turns our that the show was the first one we ever saw, years ago when we were flipping channels. But the plot was complicated, so neither of us could figure out how and what was going to happen, so we kept watching. I'm not sure what that says about us, but I am sure it is not a good thing. Then the best part of the evening was watching Oregon State demolish the Number One ranked team in the nation. I don't know how the game ended up, but for the better part of two quarters, I loved it. Then of course, we had to hot tub, so by the time we went to bed, it was almost One o'clock, which for us is very late. We woke up at seven and Ken, as his custom, went down to make the coffee. He brought me coffee at nine:fifteen, both of us having falling back asleep. It was a wonderful decadent evening and an even better morning.

I ordered strawberries and oatmeal for breakfast. The berries were brought first, all by themselves, along with a small pitcher of cream. My custom is to put the strawberries on top of the oatmeal, but as no oatmeal appeared, I started to eat the berries by themselves and on a whim, I added a little bit of cream. Now I mean to say, these berries were better with the cream. The oatmeal arrived along with Ken's French Toast, and by then I was on a roll, so I added the cream to the oatmeal too. Now I had ordered skim milk with the oatmeal, but of course, the only milk they had was one percent, so now I am eating the oatmeal with the cream and loving it. I drank the mild straight from the pitcher, so the waitress, who we know, does not think I am totally bizarre in my eating habits. But I decided right and there, that cream makes everything taste better, which everyone probably knows already. But I am still not going to buy cream. However, if anyone serves me cream, I have decided that it would be rude of me to decline the cream. I'll just have to walk another mile after every portion of cream.

September 25, 2008. Western Head, N.S. Canoe.

It is the most beautiful canoe we have ever seen. Today it was delivered to the cottage by Dan, the man who made it. Now it resides in our boat house, awaiting our return next summer. Today we closed the cottage for the season and brought all the supplies back home. The plumber will soon come and blow out the water lines and winterize the cottage, making it safe for the freezing winter weather. Now Dan makes a few canoes a year, and only to people he likes and appreciates his canoes. From now on, he will make one or two a year, so we are some of the lucky owners of a hand made canoe, made by Dan. Once he told us that a canoe was totally sacred. I was not sure what he meant by that, but I know that he is a wonderful craftsman and that his canoes are beautiful. He even weaves the seats himself. Every seat has a back too. He says that his canoes just knife through the water very quickly, but we will have to wait until next year to try it out. Ken suggests that the canoe is such a work of art that perhaps we will just look at it and not ever put it in the water, but I don't think so. We will use it and enjoy it. Now we just need Kate to name the canoe, then we will be ready for next season.

In addition to closing up the cottage, we are starting to organize to leave on Monday. The weather has been perfect, but a storm is out at sea. The waves are high and the wind is strong, so I believe we are due for some weather. Last evening I had an interesting conversation with Ross. I was asking him whether they go south during the winter, as almost everyone who is retired heads south for at least part of the winter season. His response was unusual. He told me that they do not like to travel at all, and especially hate to travel in the winter. I was so surprised with his comments that I was unable to ask any follow up questions. It is such a different response to my attitude to travel. We will return here in the winter, but I don't know when, because Ken is organizing our schedule and he has only gotten as far as January. Soon we will know I am sure and I plan on putting our schedule on my little web log. But not yet!!

September 24, 2008. Western Head, N.S. Village at sea.

We could not figure out what those lights were out at sea. We knew no town was there because there was no land any where around the lights. But it looked like a village had appeared right out on the horizon of the ocean. There were lots of light moving to and fro. Finally we decided it must be fishing boats. When we asked the next day about the lights out at sea we were told that the Mackerel were running and the fleet was out working. Now they are back. Ken noticed them in the middle of the night and they are back again tonight. Lots of lights moving around with the occasional spot light looking across the water. Even with the binoculars the individual boats are not visible, but you certainly can see the little village right out in the middle of the ocean.

There are so many lovely sites for homes here in Nova Scotia. I am impressed every time we drive the slow route to Bridgewater, right along the shore and then up the Lehave River. Today we crossed the ferry too. Many ships captains lived along this river, so the homes are large and old and beautiful. After we completed our business, we drove home the fast way, but it is not so pretty but does get you home quickly. We needed to get home because friends were coming to dinner and we needed to be ready. Connie and Ross moved to Liverpool two years ago from Frederickton, N.B. He is a retired Physician. He also plays the bagpipes and Connie plays the fiddle. They are fun. Frances and Kelly moved here from Edmonton where they were both teachers, or rather Frances was a Principal and Kelly taught high school Math. They rented a house just across the bay from us so we got to know them well. They purchased a home three years ago in White Point Estates and have been working on their five acres of land ever since. Today their yard is absolutely glorious. The Mitchells came too, so our dinner was lively and fun. The weather was so beautiful that we spent the cocktail hour out on the deck. The sunsets have been especially lovely these past few days. September is a great month to visit Nova Scotia.

September 23, 2008. Western Head, N.S. One Day.

Today Ken went fishing with Vinal, and I had the whole day to myself. Now this is not something that happens very often, in fact we have chosen not to have this happen too often. For two years, we elected to have Ken stay In Nova Scotia all summer, while I went back and forth to work, staying in Bethesda for two or three weeks at a time by myself. We did the same in the winter in Texas. Two years was enough, so now we go together. We can function quite well by ourselves, but we finally asked ourselves the question "why would we want to be apart?" Every now and then Ken goes fishing and I have the whole day to do nothing. I have always wondered how I can get so much done when I am alone. For instance, today I organized and put away in the album the pictures from the 50Th party. I phoned several friends and relatives. I read the whole New Criterion, visited with Mary and Walt, walked from their home to Fort Point Lighthouse, ate lunch at the Woodpile, walked the whole length of Main Street, bought a card for Bud and Mary, sat outside on the deck, purchased four candles and did a load of laundry. Also invited some friends for dinner on Sunday night, the last night that we are in town. So my day was pleasant and productive, but not dramatic. I think that my whole life has been like that... pleasant and productive but not dramatic.

My good friend Beverley wants me to write my legacy for my grandchildren in this small web log. The only thing I do well is to do the ordinary things that every one has to do, but I seem able not to feel put upon or anxious about doing them. And I seem to be able to have fun with everything I do. There is very little misery in my life. Perhaps everyone is like me. Today was a perfect example of a lovely day. Tonight Ken and I watched a DVD, The Last Detective. Not the best series in the world but we enjoyed it. Once again the day was glorious, a perfect Nova Scotia day. We are so fortunate.