Look at that sky. It is so blue, and so large, and the picture doesn’t really represent how breathtakingly beautiful it is.
I wake up, look out our window, and see the sun rising out of the Atlantic Ocean. An ocean that we see from almost every window, and which we swear lives at different heights from one day to the next.
I expected lots of wind, and rain, and clouds here on the east coast of Canada. Instead I have found nearly endless sunshine, some fairly warm days, and a sky that changes every hour.
And at night, my god, we’re so far from a town that we see every star and planet in the sky. The Big Dipper was enormous last night.
After living for decades in BC it still surprises me that Nova Scotia is so flat. Hills, for sure, but small ones, and nothing that makes your car work especially hard. Thankfully though not Saskatchewan flat - I couldn’t live in that pancake flat terrain.
The people here, like those in France, are friendly, and helpful, and won’t hesitate to stop and talk for ten or fifteen minutes in any setting. Outside of Halifax it’s still the case that you find what you need by asking around, not by searching on Google. And that means that personal recommendations are worth a lot. Because you know the person making that suggestion, it had better be a good choice.
We’re also learning that, like in France, there’s a divide between the local people who have lived here for decades or even centuries, and the “outsiders” who have moved in during the last decade. And just as we chose a home in France that had few of the dreaded ex-pat British, we find ourselves more attached to the true local Nova Scotians.
On one hand Home Hardware is truly still what a hardware store was before the likes of Lowes and Home Depot took over. On the other we’ve accepted that we’ll often be making the choice between the drive to Halifax, or the ease of Amazon. So far, Amazon is winning. I guess the good news is that the Canadian Tire in Liverpool burned down back in 1996 and was never rebuilt.
The Liverpool farmer’s market, about 45 minutes from our house, is pretty good. It’s local, and it has some good vegetables, and even better meat and actual fresh fish. It’s worth the drive up once a week to stock up and avoid Sobeys and the Atlantic Superstore.
For bread though I’m back to baking my favourite Roger’s recipes. The supermarket bread is dreadful, and even the highly recommended bakeries don’t produce anything good enough to merit $7-8 a loaf. I’m also looking very carefully at a some good French bread cookbooks.
Finally, Beatrice the cat loves the house, and loves being allowed to go outside to explore now that she has her industrial strength tick medicine.
And, today, we received our Nova Scotia driver’s licences.