Ernest Blair Experiment

First Christmas card arrived yesterday (from my brother). This put me into a frenzy, trying to find street addresses. Then I remembered that through my blog I have a significant list of email addresses. Furthermore, I don’t have to rely on Canada post.

From Shorefast, I received an email ‘Investing in the Places We Live‘.
‘At Shorefast, our work begins and ends with place : the source of identity, care and the foundational site of economic agency’.

Zita Cobb recently shared with Matt Galloway, on CBC’s The Current, a vision for Canada that centres on the places we live (listen here).

From my mantelpiece, I picked up ‘The Spirit of Georgetown award’ from the Georgetown Conference ‘Redefining Rural’, October 2013. Heather and I reminisced, walking from the Annapolis Valley to Georgetown, PEI with Bodhi, our dog, and Edward too. Twelve years ago we were on the Road to Georgetown.

Tonight, on CBC TV ‘Mr Bean’s Christmas.. ‘Tis the season.

Edward is back from Florida. Hence we have graphics and links.

Thanks, Edward.

This week, I finished reading Bob Bent’s ‘Broken Hearts and Longing for Home’. Each short story begins with a classic country song. From Jane Baskwill’s review:

‘These are stories that remind us why we read in the first place – because the right story teller can make us feel at home in someone else’s life and maybe even see our own a little more clearly’.

For myself, there is a real pleasure in the ‘sense of place’. In the words of Mariana Fedyshyn:

‘The narrative is rich with emotional depth and a keen sense of place, with vivid description that brought familiar Nova Scotia settings to life for me .‘

This week, I was listening to CBC Listen. Matt Galloway interviewed Jim Balsillie on his Prescription for Canadian Business. He established RIM in Waterloo, Ontario. This gave me serious ‘food for thought’ about the creative rural economy. In particular, the relationship between the Centre of Geographic Sciences (COGS) and the GIS industry in Canada and the United States. It takes me back to Roger Tomlinson, John Wightman and the geostrategic nature of the global economy. e.g. ESRI and ESRI Canada.

If you receive my blog posts, I would appreciate any feedback on these two perspectives. It can be lonely out here, trying to understand education in a rural setting.

Edward’s comment,”we need a mindset to unearth and support our home grown talent.”. Something like the Local Prosperity Institute is trying to promote.

Finally, Edward sent me a link to the ESRI Canada GIS Day presentation.

Here it is:

https://www.esri.ca/en-ca/news-events/events/seminars/past-proceedings/s2025/gis-day

Hope this works for you !

Through inter-library loan, I received Manchan Magan ‘Thirty-two Words for Field. Lost Words of the Irish Landscape’. Next week’s reading.

In the words of Jim Balsillie, who describes himself as an ‘economic nationalist’

“carry the load you can handle”.

After the Saturday, MTRI event (see previous post) it was time for us to get outside on Sunday. We headed to Valley View Park; en route we happened to stop at the Paradise Christmas Craft sale. It was an opportunity to catch up with local authors: Bob Bent, Jane Baskwill and Anne Crossman. I also picked up a second hand souvenir of Evangeline Country by Longfellow and Jane’s ‘Together in Time’ set in Roxbury.

We stopped at the Park for a short walk. Followed by the coastal drive from Hampton , Port Lorne, Cottage Cove, Port George and home.

Later in the afternoon, we needed to pick up British fare – Weetabix and Branston pickles at Sobeys. It was an excuse for a stop at Kingston park for a local walk.

We were in Kingston again, the next day, to drop off snow tyres at Andy’s Tyres. While we waited, we took the opportunity to walk down to the Green Elephant. It was the perfect stop for a coffee and date square, mid-afternoon. We noted that the Kingston library was closed. However we did window shop the restaurants and wine/beer making on the Main Street.

Returning to Andy’s Tyres, we learned that we will need new snow tyres. They can be installed mid-December. Ready for the Christmas run to New Glasgow.

References

Bob Bent. 2025. Broken Hearts and Longing for Home. Self -published.

Jane Baskwill. 2012. Together in Time. In Sych Books.

Anne Crossman. 2025. Commonplace. Moose House Publications.

HW Longfellow. 1952. Evangeline. A Souvenir of the Evangeline Country. Art Multigraphers Ltd.

Postscript.

At the same stand, they had an old copy of Ernest Buckler’s The Mountain and the Valley. I should have picked it up, for old times sake.

Edward is still away in Florida. Sorry, no graphics

Today, we attended the MTRI Biodiversity Conservation showcase at the Centre of Geographic Sciences (COGS). This proved to be an excellent agenda at the perfect location. I was impressed by the catering and the familiar facilities at COGS in Lawrencetown. Midway, between the resources at Acadia University and the resources at MTRI, CARP and at Kejimkujik National Park.

Besides the presentations in the AV room. There were student poster presentations in the Gymnasium. I was able to pick up the SW Nova Biosphere Times, Volume 4, Issue 1 and the Clean Annapolis River Project Native Plant Guide for Stormwater Gardens. The only shortcoming , for me, was a lack of presentations on the application of Geomatics technology to our local geography.

Yesterday, we stopped at the ARTSPLACE Gallery in Annapolis Royal. Two exhibitions of interest were the relationship between AI and Art; and Bev Wigney, Rewild: the Art and Science. Unfortunately, I believe the exhibition ends today.

The common ground is citizen science, as represented by Save Our Old Forests (SOOF) Association.

From Round Hill, Wigney shared her experience audio-monitoring of birds, trail cameras, nature journaling and Rewilding a property.

References

September 2025. Restoration in the Biosphere. SW Nova Biosphere Times Volume 4 Issue 1.

Clean Annapolis River Projects’ Native Plant Guide for Stormwater Gardens. Published by CARP.

This week, I visited GekkoTech in Berwick. I needed to replace my iPad. The challenge was gaining familiarity with the new interface. Fortunately, Jason was able to ‘hold my hand’ through the transition.

This morning, I stopped at COGS to obtain information on the 2025 MTRI Biodiversity Conservation Showcase ( November 22nd at COGS).

Congratulations to MTRI and COGS. I hope that we will continue to see integration between Landscape Management science and Geomatics (GIS and RS) technology.

After COGS, we stopped at Bees Knees. I wanted to thank them for securing my debit card. I had misplaced it, in my excitement to go to Kejimkujik National Park (see previous blog).

On the writing front, I was pleased to find the latest book of short stories by Bob Bent. I savoured the first story ‘Wildwood Flower’. It reminded me so much of Heather. As indeed, did last night’s The Nature of Things on CBC, the first person narrative by Natalia Rybzynski

From the Middleton library, through inter-library loan: Dervla Murphy. Full Tilt. Ireland to India with a Bicycle.

At Bees Knees, this morning, I was able to pick up the current Bridgetown Reader. Meanwhile, in the Register, Anne Crossman emphasized the importance of libraries in the Valley ( see this week’s column).

Acknowledgements

Jason at GekkoTech, Nina Newington on the MTRI Biodiversity Conservation showcase, Anne Crossman, Bob Bent, Pam Ellis at the Bridgetown library, David MacLean at COGS.

References

Bob Bent 2025. Broken Hearts and Longing for Home. Digby Print and Promo.

Dervla Murphy. 1965. Full Tilt. Ireland to India with a bicycle. Eland London

This morning, we decided to revisit Kejimkujik National Park. Part of the ritual is to stop at Bees Knees in Lawrencetown to pick up a few baked snacks. The drive takes about 1 1/4 hours. Part of the trip is to listen to CBC radio on a Saturday morning, on the drive down Highway #8 from Annapolis Royal.

The park was open; no-one at the entrance kiosk. No entrance fees.

Our favourite walk is to Peter Point, through red oak and white pine woods. The trail is about three kilometers to Kejimkujik Lake. The parking is at the end of the Eel Weir road. We encountered only one other couple on the trail. The hike is well marked. The trail was covered with dried oak leaves, lichens and moss.

Our memories started early in the day. Through Facebook, I received a photograph of Patrick (eldest son) with the caption ‘Windbound on the Coppermine. August 2005. Paddling on the Big Sky Expedition. Hinton,AB to Kugluktuk,NU; 100 days on the water’.

Walking the Peter Point trail we remembered Peter Hope, Sally O’Grady, Cliff Drysdale, Rick Swain, Jonathan Sheppard, Amanda Lavers, Tom Herman and others.

Driving along Highway #8, we were struck by the number of larch. In mid- November, after a long dry Summer, the tamarack retain their colour in the Autumn light.

We left home around 10 am. We were back in Middleton by 2:30 pm.

Of course, en route, we remembered our time in other National Parks : Haida Gwaii, Banff, Jasper, Churchill, Gros Morne, Terra Nova and Iqaluit. Will the landscape values continue, with the federal government cutbacks ?

This morning was busy (Thursday). I decided to talk to Pam Ellis, Librarian at the Bridgetown library. I wanted to know whether they had a complete collection of Rachel Brighton’s The Nova Scotia Policy Review. Unfortunately, the answer was negative.

Prior to leaving home, Ed Symons emailed me that he was meeting with Jennifer Wesman and Jamie Dennison at CORAH to discuss community asset mapping. Ed now teaches at COGS in the GIS technician program.

The concept was to engage students in the program with citizens, with an interest in mapping community assets. It was likely about a dozen years ago when Ed worked with Heather Leblanc, Anne Crossman and others in Annapolis County. This led to MapAnnapolis.

Ed also shared access to Chris Turner’s book ‘ The Geography of Hope’. A Tour of the World we need.

The end results of the CORAH meeting was a plan for a series of community mapping sessions, defining and mapping local assets, starting in February 2026.

Anyone who follows my blog will understand that I have deep interest in our ‘sense of place’, the availability of mapping resources at COGS, and through Ed Symons, at CORAH.

Talking with Ed today, I realized, yet again, the changes that are happening, in terms of education and mapping technology, with both traditional tools, as well as online technology.

I look forward to attending these community mapping workshops in the Spring of 2026. I also look forward to discovering more about our Geography: its unique assets and stories.

Reference

Chris Turner. 2008. The Geography of Hope. A tour of the world we need. Vintage Canada.

In my previous post, I mentioned the rediscovery of the Chronicle Herald, Saturday, February 15, 2014. At the same time, I found three back issues of the Nova Scotia Policy Review : Politics, Culture and Justice (Vol. 1:3 December 2007, Vol 2:2 September 2008 and Vol 2:3 December 2008). This publication was edited and published by Rachel Brighton from Bridgetown, Nova Scotia. My task this week, is to see whether the local library has other back issues on file.

From the GrapeVine (November 2025) I enjoyed the references to Exploring with FoodArtNature (p.14-15). Members of FAN are taking the Annapolis Valley stories to St Johns, Newfoundland to Impact Atlantic Canada, a sustainability and tourism conference (p.9).

Every week, on Thursday, we appreciate the local news in The Bridgetown Reader.

This week, Heather and I found time to reacquaint ourselves with the Mickey Hill trail, just outside of Annapolis Royal. Afterwards, we had coffee and muffins at the Brown Dog cafe.

Acknowledgements

Edward is away in Florida this month.

References

The Nova Scotia Policy Review 2007-2008. Politics, Culture and Justice, Edited by Rachel Brighton. Finest Point Periodicals Ltd, Bridgetown, NS.

The Grapevine. November 2025. Issue 22-11. Arts, Culture and Community.

PS. This week was marked by Chris D’Entremont, MP for Acadie-Annapolis crossing the floor from Conservative to Liberal. Chris continues to represent the interests/ concerns of his constituency.

I received an email from my old school friend, Andrew, in England.

‘I’m expecting you to come up with your great plan for the future of NS……. Put your ideas, knowledge and vision forward……..Andy.’

Co-incidentally, as I was tidying up my papers in the basement ( a year after the move) I came across a saved copy of The Chronicle Herald, Saturday, February 15, 2014, Section E. Why NS needs a ‘national project’ by Ray Ivany.

Besides a map by Michael de Adder showing One Nova Scotia, Shaping our Economy Together. It includes commentary from Jim Meek, Gail Lethbridge and Bob Howse.

Without getting into the details, the important point is that it is almost twelve years since the publication of the Ivany report ‘Now or Never, an urgent Call to Action for Nova Scotians’.

Live Here and Prosper. Jim Meek

To prosper overall, Nova Scotia has to find a way to stack the odds in favour of economic prosperity, to make success stories a norm rather than an anomaly.

Hellfire and Damnation. Gail Lethbridge

Ivany report is just what laid back Nova Scotia needs : a proverbial boot up you-know-what to push us out of our comfort zone.

Make World Our Oyster. Bob Howse

Nothing is going to fall in your lap. You have to seek it out and you have to have excellent skills, and, preferably, a service with a bit of a unique edge, to sell.

Where are we today ? Almost twelve years after the Ivany report. What is Tim Houston’s, (current Premier of the Province), concept of a National project ?

Sunday afternoon. Heather and I attended Dykelands Community meeting at the Lower Granville Hall. We were interested in what was happening with Dykelands along the Granville Road and Alain’s Dyke. We were also interested in future community collaborations that could take place, including potential land acquisition for the purposes of environmental protection or recreation. The meeting was well attended, demonstrating Nova Scotian’ concern for their landscape.

We have walked the Bohaker Trail several times. This week we decided to accept the challenge of Charlie’s Trail. We followed the Old Shore Road West. We walked to the end of the road at Sloans Brook. Without much signage, we stopped short of the Charlie’s Trail loop. Another day !

However we did realize that these Annapolis County trails represent a great, healthy walking resource. Two days earlier, we visited the First Lake Trail, outside of Annapolis Royal. The trail is well marked with red flagging tape.

On our way home, we recollected other trails closer to Middleton.

1) Lawrencetown tree nursery trail from Highway #201 down to the Annapolis River. There is the advantage of a stop at Lunn’s Mill.

2) From the Lawrencetown Cemetery, it is possible to walk up South Mountain to the Inglisville Road.

3) From the Mount Hanley road it is possible to walk along the North Mountain ridge top.

4) From Valley View Park, there is a trail from the tower to the cabins on the Hampton road.

When we lived on Highway #201, we had access to the top of South Mountain, as well as the trails along the Annapolis River.

Given this selection, it is possible to imagine a book ‘Wilderness Trails of Annapolis County, with maps, significant features etc.

Each element of the ‘mountain and the valley’ offers wilderness hiking. One can imagine a different hike for each day of the week.

To avoid the drive (and gas) to Delaps Cove, we shall continue to explore both North and South Mountain within a twenty mile radius of our new home in Middleton.

Postscript

Edward is on his way to Florida for a month. Therefore, the next few blogs will miss his cartoons, art work and links.