Shubie

Saturday Oct. 10
Shubie Camp Ground, Dartmouth Nova Scotia
It’s 9:30 on a rainy Saturday morning in Darmouth Nova Scotia. All night we’ve been laying in our little bed listening to the rain falling on the roof outside, thinking how happy we are not to be in a tent. It’s a lazy morning here. We’ve been camped out here for the last four days since Tuesday. Dartmouth is right across the bay from Halifax and has become swallowed up by greater Halifax region, sort of like the GTA has done with all those municipalities around Toronto. Each morning we wake up and walk to the bus stop out front and take the bus down to the ferry terminal. From there we take the ferry over to the other side where it drops us off right downtown on the Halifax harbourfront. It’s a nice ride. Sitting on the ferry we get a nice view of the Halifax skyline as it approaches. We also get a nice view of all the activity in the harbour. Big cruise ships coming in, oil platforms brought in from the ocean for repair, there’s the naval base with a few modest warships there, big ocean going freighters in dock unloading their cargos. We took a tour of the area the first day on one of these little tour buses to get the lay of the land. After that we spent a lot of time walking. Also a good way to see the city. We stopped in at Pier 21, the famous gateway to Canada for all of our parents. It helped to put into perspective what they and so many others went through to come here, and why! We walked up to Citadel Hill for the firing of the noon day canon. Halifax has played an important part in the development of Canada. Built by the British in the early 1700’s it was so well fortified that it has never fallen to any conquering nation. It played an important role during the “Seven years war” during which time France slowly lost it’s grip on Canada, but it also was a deterrent to invasion from the United States later that century, if not we might well have been Americans today. Halifax is also home to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. We were able to spend some time there yesterday. Mari timers have a right to be proud of their art gallery. They have many pieces of fine Canadian art including a huge selection of maritime art that is very important to this part of Canada. Included here is an exhibition currently on display of Maude Lewis, a folk artist, including the home she lived in (a small shack) which she painted inside and out in the same brightly colored style as all of her works. Much more than just her art, is the story of her life, which was an enormous struggle of overcoming adversity, with a modest cheerful disposition. We had the privilege of attending a single act one woman play of her life. It should be required viewing for all high school kids in Canada! She is an important example of maritime history. Well it’s time to hang up now. Today we move on again. First (it’s raining ) so we plan to go shopping. Then we want to drive down to Peggy’s cove for a bit of a look around, and eventually tonight we hope to be in Kentville Lord willing. I have some piks but will add them in later. Stay tuned.