Alexander Graham Bell Was Right

When he said that Cape Breton, Nova Scotia was one of the most beautiful places on earth. That explains why he made it his summer home for so many years.

We took this photo from a scenic stop along

the Cabot Trail.

Front roof panels off the Jeep.... cruisin' the trail. Perfect.

Except we had to keep stopping to record the life

and times of Dee Dee the Dinosaur. Sheesh!

We spent our Friday driving the Cabot Trail, and despite early morning rains, ended up with a spectacularly beautiful day to drive it. We stopped for a quick bite in Cheticamp (famous for their hooked rugs, of which we proudly bought one early this summer) and our waiter remarked that the weather on this day was unusually good. Yea!

It is surprisingly mountainous in the Cape Breton area.

We actually got off the trail accidentally but stumbled

on this quaint village at the very northern shore. It

seems that every aspect of this area is magical.

During our last few days at the cottage, we did venture "south" of our location and visited the beautiful village of Shelburne, primarily to eat at this restaurant:

"Charlotte Lane" restaurant is a very quaint and VERY GOOD

restaurant in this small seaside town. Reservations are often

difficult to get.

But not when it's late in the season! We had the small back patio

to ourselves, and enjoyed an absolutely wonderful lunch.

We then walked along the village shore to enjoy

it's historical beauty.

And of course we need to take a little rest in an chair along the bay.

So, in the future, when people ask you why Jay and Michelle were so crazy to buy a home in Atlantic Canada.... you can recall these photos and tell them that we aren't so crazy after all...

We headed out this morning for P.E.I (Prince Edward Island), which is the smallest Province of Canada. We drove the Confederation Bridge the ~10 mile length to get here, and then another 25 miles to the campground. We are now nestled next to a beautiful river and in the comfort of our RV as the rain pours down around us.

We hope to do some sightseeing in the morning, and then depart for a three day drive to Michigan. We hope you are all doing well!

Get Ready. The Muse is aroused....

You're going to have to read the blog to understand it.

Long time, no blogee!

There are a few reasons. First of all, this blog site - furnished by Google - changed on me and dagnabit, I don't like change. Don't like it. Don't understand it. Resist it. I'm getting old, and that's all.

Well, that's only partly true. Google did modify the blog software and I DON'T like the way it works as well, but I can live with it. But... it has been one of the reasons I haven't been ambitious to fire up the blog and slog through it.

And we have been "settled" again in the cottage, and life becomes, well, life. Fun of course... and in a beautiful place... but probably not exciting to read about. I mean, if our life was THAT exciting, we would be pure Drama Queens. Yikes. Not that.

Finally, I couldn't find that dang adapter that must be used to transfer photo's from my Canon Rebel camera to the MacBook. You will all be deeply relieved to know that I FOUND IT. And so here we go.

LET'S GO TO THE BEACH!!

Cousin Ian and wife Kathy have a cottage only 10 minutes from ours. The name "Kathy" and phrase "Let's go to the beach!" are synonymous.

And you thought I couldn't spell synonymous.

Yes, Kathy has a standard battle cry that brings us to the beautiful Summerville beach with pleasant regularity where soccer, body surfing, bocce ball, sandcastle building, and picnics outings occur.

Cousin Janet and husband Pat hate to miss a good party.

On this particular day, we played Bocce Ball on the beach and then returned to Ian and Kathy's cottage for a group dinner of lobster bisque and scallop burgers - a delicious recipe from Kathy's whose family previously owned a restaurant. It's worth the trip here to taste them.

Other days have been spent golfing. Paul and Moie invited us to play with them at the beautiful Chester Golf Club, located in - you guessed it - Chester Bay. It's hard to hit the ball when you are mesmerized by such beautiful surroundings. At least I find that to be a plausible excuse.

I was particularly attracted to the image of this house

which sits quietly by the edge of the bay (and golf course).

After beach, beach, golf, golf and golf, we learned that the Annual Queen's County Fair was being held in Caledonia, NS. Woo Hoo!

The epicenter of all things fun and exciting,

Welcome to The Fair.

I don't know the last time you went to a small-town (or county) fair... but it's good for the constitution. We roamed the (3) barns and looked at the critters -

And we admired the prize winnin' vege-tables.

And Jay even WON AT "TOSS A RING ON THE BOTTLE"!!! And that means you get your choice of any prize. Oh, man, this one makes the highlight reel!

Pretty good form, huh?

See that red ring on the bottle in the middle? Uh huh.

That's what I'm talkin' about.

Pretty little Carmen poses with her Nanna (Jay's

cousin Jeanne), and "Carnival", her new pink Unicorn.

Compliments, of course, of "Ringer" Jay Sevigny.

Of course no Fair is complete without the requisite presence of pretty girls and horses.

And finally, the parade. Note the standing room only in the arena.

Even Smokie the Bear made it for the event.

Who knew he was Canadian?

Finally (Hey, many of you ASKED for an update...) we visited the Annapolis Valley Wineries last weekend with Paul and Moie. We learned that there are 13 wineries in Nova Scotia (well, 14 if you count Moie's basement) and we got to visit 6 of them. One of our favorites was Luckett's Vineyards, named after the owner, Pete Luckett. Pete is a very well liked and known grocer/t.v. personality who has opened his own winery. He was actually there when we visited and demonstrated, first hand, what a good owner can do for his business. Just a great guy. He is English, and the signature icon for his winery is the red phone booth, located in the middle of the field among the grapes. You can call anywhere in North America for free from there.

Paul and Moie try out the phone.

In addition to Luckett's, we think our other favorite was Gaspereau Vineyards. They have an awesome barn in which they held a wine tasting upstairs, in addition to a bluegrass band outside, and a real grape-stomping contest.

Gaspereau Vineyards. The wine tasting event was in the barn loft,

where numerous vendors offered their crafts and foods.

Look real close at the woman in the black flowered dress.

Ok, here is a little help...

Who ever said there aren't pretty women in Nova Scotia?

And this is what's left after a whole bunch of stompin'.

And so that is about it, folks! We will have wheel's rolling out of here tomorrow, with a target of being in Michigan on October 5th.

Our final, final stop is planned to be Tennessee at the end of October when we will turn our attention to normal life once again.

Thanks for stopping by, and we hope that things are good with you in your part of the world. Hope to see you sometime soon!

Chillin'

Sorry for the absence from updates, but we are back into "Chill" mode at the cottage, and there isn't a huge focus on trying to identify noteworthy events to report on.

We haven't taken any decent photos for a while either! So please forgive the indulgence of stealing two wonderful photos that Rebecca Box (of Last Minute) took during their trip to Lunenburg, NS. This quaint town is located a little more than an hour from our cottage and it is the overall favorite spot for all visitors to see. We like to think it may be like San Francisco when it was tiny and authentic. There are beautiful homes, churches and buildings throughout the town.

This is a gorgeous wooden church - St. John Anglican - that

was just restored. This church was constructed in 1753. Wow.

This is a primary school called Lunenburg Academy, and it is still in service!

We played golf 5 times last week! That is a new world record for Jay. He also beat Michelle! Once! Don't laugh. That is the first time that has happened in about 10 years.

This week was quite special in the sense that we met a bunch of neighbors and really "moved the needle" in terms of feeling a connection to the neighborhood. Most of the residents in this charming community are "CFA's" (Come From Away's); many who live in Florida during the winter and here in the summer. We enjoyed happy hour with one set of neighbors and have coffee planned with another. Being in a place like this seems to be a great common denominator.... everyone is simply trying to enjoy life. It's done best with warm sentiments.

On the GREAT NEWS side, our neighbors informed us of a common housekeeper that they use, and we had her come and do a day of cleaning. We are officially in love with her and we now feel guilty about every smudge we make. We have been disappointed with the person we have previously had do our cleaning, so there is a lot of catch-up to do. But WOW... what a catch this gal is. See? Life at the cottage just keeps getting better.

As part of our continuing effort to experience "All Things Nova Scotia", we are attending the Queens County Fair next Wednesday. That is the day for the Big Ole' Parade, and some hogs and critters and such. We also have a day of golf planned with Jay's cousin Paul and wife Moie on Monday. OMG. Who has time for work?

We are counting down the days until departure. We will likely leave around 9/29 and head (in Big Blue) to Prince Edward Island (PEI). This pastural and idilic island is best known for magnificent shellfish and the fictional character of Anne of Green Gables. That's "Anne" with an "e".... if you read the book! We will snake our way west, back to Michigan and then to the heartland of America, Kansas, to see the two of the prettiest girls in America. Our daughter and granddaughter.

We hope you are enjoying your early fall, and we look forward to seeing many of you in the weeks and months ahead. Thanks for checking in.

Reunion

After weeks of waiting, Big Blue

was returned to service.

We picked up Big Blue from the Cummins shop in Montreal on Thursday, September 1st at 4pm. We then proceeded to navigate the nightmare of Montreal traffic to reach the campground where we stored the camper. By our calculation it took 2 hours to make the 30 minute drive. It was stressful for Jay driving in that traffic, but we suspect that as Jay squeezed the rig between the thousands of road cones that line the never-ending construction zones, that more than a few Quebecer's felt some stress as well...

It was a two-day drive to our cottage and we picked the small town of Woodstock, New Brunswick for our stopping point. To our delight we discovered a small but lovely campground nestled along the St. Johns River with generous turns and pull-through sites. It was a welcome resting point for sure.

Despite Jay's most fervent efforts to arrive at the cottage at 6:00 pm on the nose, he failed and arrived at 6:08 pm. Dave and Peggy forgave him for the tardiness and rewarded us with libations and appetizers. Ahh, it was worth the trip!

The cottage is bustling this morning, suggesting that it's time to conclude the blog for now. We plan to enjoy the month of September up here and return to Tennessee in late October. We will update the blog on Sundays, so check back in.

We hope you all have a great holiday weekend!

A Very Welcome Surprise

Danielle and Kirk - engaged at Almanor

August 13, 2011

Ending months of speculation and anticipation, Kirk popped the "big one" to Danielle in a grassy meadow under the shadow of Mt. Lassen. This smart young lad correctly surmised that Almanor was a special place for Danielle, and decided to create an Almanor memory for her and her family to top all others by asking her to marry him during this trip.

She hasn't made up her mind yet.

Just kidding! If you felt the earth tremble that Saturday night, it was from her jumping up and down with joy. Or maybe that was her family. Who knows. The handsome young couple is targeting a June 2012 wedding and if all goes well, a move to South America later that year as Kirk pursues an international teaching experience. Mr. and Mrs. Winger, that is.

With that as the top news, we had the typical experience of 7 days of sun, 7 nights of campfires and Smores. The peak attendance was 36 (for one night) with an average of about 25.

Below is a GREAT shot of Warren attempting to do a full flip over the wake on a wakeboard. To execute this, you must complete a full turn (100%) and land the board in a horizontal position.

Warren completed 95%. Again and again. He was one tired boy.

Warren on Lake Almanor with Mt. Lassen

in the distance.

Little Miss Hayden was present for the trip, of course and she made sure that the Smores were properly prepared; the beach was supplied with a sufficient number of holes dug along the lake's sandy shore, and that Grandma's lap was kept warm.

Style. All Style.

We were joined by Jay's sister Maribeth and husband Steve this year, who seem to have decided that they like this part of the world! They bought land just north of Reno last year and hope to build here as part of their retirement strategy. We took a drive out to their "little slice of heaven" and enjoyed the beautiful views.

This is Maribeth and Steve on their front porch.

Er, um... future front porch.

And this is the view from that same same

(future) front porch.

With views like that, we envision some mighty fine porch-settin' in their future.

We fly back to Tennessee for week of errands and porch settin', then drive to Montreal (without dogs!) and head to the cottage for the glorious month of September. It looks like we will head back to Tennessee in October and make an attempt to assimilate back into normal life then. Of course this is predicated on the belief that Big Blue is fixed. We certainly hope so!

Michelle has a big quartet weekend at the Nashville house next weekend. We'll try to get some photos of that to share.

Thanks for checking in. Hope your summer is going well!

Almanor Bound!

Let's start off with a picture of the nicest Mother a guy could ever ask for. Jeannie T. turns 85 next month, and is still full of chuckles and smiles. We enjoyed a quick - but nice - visit with her in her apartment and will swing by again in a few months!

We speak to you from the safe haven of Reno, Nevada - as we hastily prepare for a week of camping at the campground that holds nearly 40 years of memories for Michelle and her sisters. Jay has participated in this ritual for approximately 20 of the 26 years that he has been captive in the Montagne Clan.

With our truck and camper stuck in Montreal, we had to fly our here and rent an RV. We found a clean, OLD one, and we pick it up today. All in all, we think it is just fine, and we feel fortunate to have found it and have it available for our dates. The aspects of this that sting a bit though, is that the vast amount of "gear" that travels with us is stuck in Montreal... all the outdoor camping stuff for cooking, chairs, E-Z UP sun shades tents, bicycles, and summer clothes that fit. Oh sure, we could grab all the "old stuff" from Nashville that is in the back of the closet.... Oh well.

The latest word on Big Blue is that the problem (that has evaded remediation) is something called the "Collector Plate", an insidious little devil that is related to the clutch rods that enter the transmission and are prone to cracking and thus leaking oil. I guess we will see. We have been promised that the truck will be ready by the end of the week. Who cares?, we say. We won't be there to pick up up for about three weeks.

When we were last in Montreal we found some really nice grocery stores that seemed to reflect the local palates. One of the photos below show the beautiful produce isles while the other shows a long glass case filled with various flavored sausages. We bought one of the hotter sausages, (filled with some sort of pepper influence) and enjoyed it as our protein at dinner. The last photo shows a display case full of Pate's (you know, the spreads....). We've never seen an offering of so many varieties! Of course we had to buy a duck pate, and a pork pate and we enjoyed them as appetizers that evening.

Our meals at Lake Almanor may not be as extravagant, but they will undoubtedly taste as good! We are headed for 7 days and nights of warm days, cool nights and the starriest skies you could possibly imagine. And Jay's sister Maribeth and husband Steve will be joining for their first Almanor experience!

We'll update with some camping fun next week. Hope all is well with you!

Not So Good Of An Update

Well, the transmission was put back in.

It still leaks.

The new theory is that the transmission housing is cracked.

Jay's theory is that most mechanics' brain matter housing is cracked.

The transmission shop is taking responsibility for the repair. What they can't give us, is time. We have to leave now.

We will leave the camper at the campground (in dry storage), pack the two dogs into the Jeep and begin a 10 hour drive to Michigan, to be followed by a 10 hour drive to Tennessee. And then flights to California. Ultimately followed by a drive back to Montreal later this month (sans dogs!).

Yes, life was much simpler when Jay worked.

For grins, we'll update you again next Wednesday or so. We still have lot's of fun to look forward to in California and we will be with all our family. Now, what's not to like about that?