"Build it and they will come"

In this case, we built a bonfire at Broad Cove Beach and others came to enjoy it. A fun time in the dark, illuminated only by the flames of he fire, with the soothing sounds of small waves lapping on the beach. And the lesson for the night… people have different perspectives of “bonfires.” How so, you ask. As evidenced in that Joel brought a box full of 16” firewood to stoke the fire, while and Don brought a truck load of 4’ (yes, four foot) logs for the same purpose. We had enough wood to burn several days, but decided not to so.

SpongeJoel MudPants

Today was a great day of sailing with Don in his 16' trimaran named Inkling. We spent several hours cruising Medway Harbour, and travelling north to the mouth of the Medway River, where it got too shallow to proceed any farther. And as time passed, Joel became frightened of hitting submerged rocks as the tide started to recede. So we headed in for Don’s dock house (pictured below at high tide).

Unfortunately, the water depth in Don’s inlet is reduced at low tide to a point where it became impossible fro us to return to the dock house. Instead, we were forced to come ashore several hundred yards away, along the grassy shoreline. However, between our landing point and the hard-packed shore was twenty-feet of knee-deep, yucky mud, which we had to traverse.

Wearing his shoes and pants, Don plunged off the boat into the muck and slowly trekked his way to shore. It is questionable whether these clothes could ever be cleaned of the would ever be cleaned and worn again. I, on the other hand, placed his shoes around his neck and clambered ashore barefoot wearing only short-pants. A pressure washer was required to later clean his legs and feet (pictured below).

Batman... and Robin?

Me (Susan), "What the....that's a bat! Joel, get it outside. Gross!" Me: Exit room. Joel, "Come back. You've got to help me." Being a city girl, Susan calls her friend from the country, Glennie. And she Googles. All good suggestions.....for people without 20 foot high church ceilings. Bat is currently hanging out at the top of the 14 foot stained glass window. Feel a long night coming on.

Queens County Seafest

The Queens County Seafest was this weekend at the Brooklyn Marina, drawing out hundreds of participants and thousands of spectators. Susan and I served brew on Friday night, and enjoyed some fine entertainment during the remainder of the weekend.


Here is a short synopsis of the event, from the Seafest website.

“From humble beginnings in 2000, Queens County Seafest has become one of the most popular community events in Nova Scotia. It is an exciting homecoming event for dozens of former residents of the county and attracts visitors to the province from across North America and beyond. For shark fishermen in Nova Scotia Seafest is a premier event that can not be missed.

There are only about 1000 people in Brooklyn, but the population of the village explodes during Seafest. People just can’t seem to resist this huge ‘block party’. The street along the waterfront is closed, neighbours and friends maneuver from home to home, party to party and the marina, is alive with people, fishing boats, sail boats and yachts of every size and description. The marina is the focal point for all the events and activities.”

Lobster Feast

Yesterday, Susan suggested that we have lobster sometime before the end of September. Today, we hosted a lobster feast that was attended by folks from East Port Medway (both permanent and seasonal residents). It was a fantastic time with yummy food, from which I came away with several observations/conclusions:

1) it is easier to have Sobeys prepare lobster rather than “do it yourself,”

2) we have some really great friends,

3) those darn mosquitos are bothersome, and

4) Susan really (and is good at) enjoys hosting these events!

Custom Walking Stick

I was honored today when a new friend, Paul Lewis, provided me with a custom carved walking stick. Paul uses “moose maple” (acer pensylvanicum) for his walking sticks because the bark remains intact, regardless of it’s age. Paul carves interesting and pertinent designs on the sticks, that will be meaningful to the owner.

In the case of this stick, Paul has carved the word Ulgedook, along with some fern leaves, an arrow, and a star - all in keeping with Mi’kmaq traditions.

I sincerely thank Paul for this walking stick, which will be used earnestly, and will join some other sticks that I have obtained over the years.

Here is some information about the type of wood Paul uses.

Acer pensylvanicum (striped maple, also known as moosewood and moose maple) is a species of maple native to northern forests in eastern North America from southern Ontario east to Nova Scotia and south to Wisconsin, Ohio, and New Jersey, and also at higher elevations in the Appalachian Mountains south to northern Georgia.

It is a small deciduous tree growing to 5–10 m tall, with a trunk up to 20 cm diameter. The young bark is striped with green and white, and when a little older, brown. The leaves are broad and soft, 8–15 cm long and 6–12 cm broad, with three shallow forward-pointing lobes. The fruit is a samara; the seeds are about 27 mm long and 11 mm broad, with a wing angle of 145° and a conspicuously veined pedicel.

Moosewood is an understory tree of cool, moist forests, often preferring slopes. It is among the most shade-tolerant of deciduous trees, capable of germinating and persisting for years as a small understory shrub, then growing rapidly to its full height when a gap opens up. However, it does not grow high enough to become a canopy tree, and once the gap above it closes through succession, it responds by flowering and fruiting profusely, and to some degree spreading by vegetative reproduction.

The wood is soft and considered undesirable among maples. Although ecologically there is no reason to consider it a pest, foresters sometimes consider the striped maple to be unwanted, often cutting it or applying herbicides to kill it. Its shade tolerance makes it difficult to control, as it is often present in great numbers in the understory.