Blackberry Picnic

John Wightman invited us to pick blackberries from his garden. This week, we made blackberry jam, following Jane’s recipe.

Afterwards, we decided to attend the Liberal Annual Picnic at the Legion in Bridgetown. Guest speaker was Stephen McNeil, former Nova Scotia Premier. He described his work in marketing Nova Scotia’s Resources to the world. For the current government he agreed that the issues were health services, housing and inflation. Our current Liberal MLA is Carman Kerr. I hope to meet with him later this week. My concerns would be quality versus quantity. And in particular leveraging our intellectual resources.

Within this context, I had a useful video chat with members of ESRI Press, Catherine and Stacy. The general topic was the application of StoryMap software to my blog. A more specific issue was the representation of rural Geography to a global audience.

I found it revealing that I had been anticipating a conversation between rural Nova Scotia and urban California. In reality, Catherine was located in Maine, Stacy in New Jersey.

This week, aside from a conversation with Carman (face to face). I will meet with Edward Wedler to discuss the technicalities of connecting my blog to online GIS software. More later.

After attending the Annapolis Valley Exhibition, I remain concerned about the linkage between the education Resources at COGS and the need to provide agricultural education in the Annapolis Valley.

We need creative application of the technology to maintain the agricultural lifestyle in rural Nova Scotia. This means leadership.

Acknowledgements

John Wightman shared his blackberry patch, and encouraged our attendance at the Liberal Party picnic. Carman Kerr shows his continual support for the community. Catherine Ortiz and Stacy Krieg from ESRI Press for the video chat. Feedback came from Edward Wedler, Brian Arnott and Heather Stewart.