Last Thursday, we had to drive to Shelburne for a Moderna vaccination at Lawton Drugs. We left around 8:30 am for the 1 pm appointment. Afterwards, we continued on Highway #103 to Yarmouth and back home by 4:30 pm.
The highlight of the trip was the stop at Pine Grove Park, just outside of Liverpool.
It contains a wonderful collection of rhododendron and azaleas planted by Captain Dick Steele. The park has been renamed in his memory. Online, later that evening, I found Jodi DeLong’s tribute, dated 17 March 2010, under Bloomingwriter: Gardening in Nova Scotia.The piece is titled: “The plant does all the work. Remembering my friend.”
The roads were empty. Across from Annapolis Royal to Liverpool on Highway #8, via Kejimkujik National Park. Along Highway #103 to Shelburne. We arrived early and had time for seafood chowder at the Sea Dog Saloon on the waterfront.
At the Shelburne Mall, I noticed a Trans County Transportation Society (TCTS) vehicle from Bridgetown. Obviously others were making the long trek across the province. The injection took one minute and then a fifteen minutes wait to ensure no reaction.
After talking to the TCTS driver, we decided to return to the Valley via Yarmouth. The end result was a round trip of over 500 kilometers.
Here are a couple of lessons:
- When you drive the south shore from Liverpool to Yarmouth you realize that the landscape is full of treed bogs and barrens. Imagine the United Empire Loyalists who arrived in Shelburne and Birchtown. What were the opportunities for making a livelihood, from the sea? Yes. From the land? No. This part of Nova Scotia is a Mecca for rare and unique coastal plain species. I remember from my days at the National Museum, developing the list of rare plants of Nova Scotia. Heather remembers it too from her graduate work on Agalinis neoscotica.
- Talking to the TCTS driver, it seems odd that residents from Annapolis County had to travel that far for a vaccination. Could the vaccinations not be offered on a geographic basis ? Why not Bridgetown? In remote communities in BC, they offer vaccinations for several age groups in the community.
IF BOOKS COULD SPEAK
Through Neptune Theatre, books can speak. Heather recently signed up for an audio book ‘We keep the Light by Evelyn Richardson (published in 1954).
Through Neptune Theatre books can speak. Heather recently signed up for an audio book ‘We keep the Light by Evelyn Richardson (published in 1954).
In looking through her collection of botanical books, Heather found three in need of repair:
Moss flora of the Maritime Provinces (1982)
Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest, Part 3 (1961)
Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest, Part 4 (1959)
A phone call to Gaspereau Press directed us to Legge Conservation Services in West Brooklyn, Nova Scotia. Next week, we will pick up rebound copies.
The first book was written by Robert Ireland. I recall working at the National Museum in Ottawa. Ireland was Curator of Bryophytes. I was working with George Argus on Rare Plants of Canada. We published Rare Plants of Nova Scotia (1978) and Rare Plants of Saskatchewan (1979).
Later in 2000, Heather worked on the Grasses of the Columbia Basin of British Columbia at the BC Museum in Victoria. At that time she acquired Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest.
Books do speak. They remind us of other places and times. Different geographies and different interests. In our case, forty and twenty years ago.
References
Robert Ireland, 1982, Moss flora of the Maritime provinces.
Cronquist et al. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest.
Postscript.
I had the chance to check the work of George Argus, my mentor at the National Herbarium. George is a renowned expert on willows. http://skvortsovia.uran.ru
Acknowledgements
Heather and Siqsiq joined me on the round trip. Edward added the graphics and links.
Ernest Blair Experiment 
We’re asking the same question. What sense is there in having people drive hither and yon burning up time and gasoline for their vaccination? By waiting it out a bit we were able to get an appointment in Bridgetown. Your comments on the loyalists arriving on those shores has some personal relevance. According to my family history they arrived in Port Mouton from New York having been promised land for farming. After one winter – no doubt cold, lonely and hungry – they packed up and headed for the Hay Bay area of Upper Canada where the family still thrives. My grandfather and his brothers went west to homestead in Saskatchewan around 1900.
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