Peter’s Visit

This week, my brother visited from Toronto (see also post To the South Shore and website Peter Maher).

A visual biography, taken from artist’s website www. petermaher.ca

We wanted to show him what rural Nova Scotia had to offer the world. I won’t go into all the side trips/ stops across Southwest Nova. But it included Lunn’s Mill, BeesKnees, the Green Elephant, Annapolis Royal, West Dalhousie, COGS and Gaspereau Press.

Yesterday (Wednesday ) we went to Lunenburg and Mahone Bay. The primary destination was the bookstore, Lunenburg Bound (a favourite of mine). I could not resist Robert MacFarlane’s ‘The Gifts of Reading’ and James Rebanks’ ‘The Place of Tides’.

The route was Highway #10 from Middleton to Lunenburg. Exit #13 on Highway #103. Cross country to Caledonia. Highway #8 to Annapolis Royal (AR) and home.

We stopped at the Brown Dog Café (AR) for coffee (see MicroAdventure: Annapolis Royal).

At the Library, I found ‘Wild Maps for Curious Minds’ in the second-hand book section.

Again a quick read of the Chronicle Herald newspaper and home.

The main topic of conversation was the roads and forests. Once we left the #103, we did not see a car. The forests at this time of year are beautiful, full of colour: oaks, maple and birch. Why were there no tourists at this time of year?

There is a significant conflict about the forest industry in Nova Scotia and yet it’s hard to imagine that tourists would not enjoy the beauty of the Fall colours. Could the government not invest in this extended season? The existing road network is excellent. There are road works, but that is normal preparation for Winter.

References

Robert MacFarlane, 2016, The Gifts of Reading, Penguin Random House Canada.

James Rebanks, 2024v The Place of Tides, Mariner Books, Harper Collins Publishers

Mike Higgins, 2022, Wild Maps for Curious Minds:100 New Ways to see the Natural World, The Experiment, NY.

Edward: thank you for adding the graphics and the links. They always add to the blog.