A break with friends...

This week two friends - Colleen and Julie - flew from Manitoba to join me for a few days in Halifax.  When I was on sabbatical 5 years ago, I began my time off by spending a weekend with these 2 women.  We raised our toddlers together - the youngest of our toddlers is now 26 - so that was a very long time ago!!  It was great to re-connect with each other at this stage of our lives, and we made a pact that we would spend some time together every fall, with one of us hosting the others every year.  I think they are going to have a bit of a tough time topping my invitation to Halifax!!!  This is one our first day together as we set out to explore the City.

By bus of course!!

One of the places we went was the Maritime Museum.  Here is Julie at one of the lighter moments in the museum:

In addition to wandering the streets and seeing the sights of present day Halifax, I was also wanting to know more about the history and what has helped to shape the city, so to speak.  There were two events that were incredibly significant - the sinking of the Titanic in April of 1912, and then the major explosion five years later on December 6, 1917.  I had heard of both of these things before, but it was different to be there in the museum, and to see the stories unfold - personal stories of the people actually involved in the disasters were incredibly touching to read.  First:  The Titanic:

Colleen & Julie thought this Titanic Deck Chair was a good illustration of how I look while I am sabbatical! 

When the Titanic hit the iceberg, the port in Halifax was where the bodies of the deceased were brought - the survivors were taken to the original destination, which was New York.  It was sad to read that the class system survived even in death - first class passengers were embalmed and brought to shore in caskets, second class were put into canvas bags and brought - the crew were carried off on stretchers.  A coroner from Halifax designed a small canvas bag, along with a very detailed system of identifying a body, and collecting all the personal effects in that bag so that the bag could eventually be shipped off to relatives.

I know that you can't really see the words on this plaque, but it was written by one of the chaplains from a memorial service.  He said that there is no need of a sermon tonight - what we have seen with our eyes has said much more than any words could ever capture.  His compassionate and heart-felt words made me thankful for chaplains world-wide who have been an important pastoral presence in the face of such massive loss of life.

Some of the bodies were impossible to identify.  One of the things that was found was a small boy's shoe - it was decided to erect this headstone in memory of all of those children who died in the disaster - whose lives were cut too short too soon.  Very touching.

Next: the explosion.  It was only 5 years later when a French cargo ship filled with high explosives collided with a Norwegian cargo ship.  The fire started on the French ship - the crew quickly realized the fire was out of control and they fled the ship.  20 minutes later there was a massive explosion - an entire part of Halifax, and parts of Dartmouth, were completed destroyed.  2000 people were killed and 9000 were injured.  Remember those small canvas bags?  It was a system that worked so well, they used it again in collecting the personal effects of individuals which were discovered in the piles of rubble.

This picture is from a man who was a minister in Halifax.  His wife and son were killed when their home collapsed - he and his daughter survived.  What it says on the plaque is: "if this disaster was truly the work of God, I would tear off this clerical collar".  What I kept thinking about is that even in the face of his own personal grief, he was likely called upon to officiate at the funerals of many, many of his friends, neighbours and parishioners.  Can't even imagine the emotional and spiritual toll that would take on a person.

One of the things that often brings people together is a disaster such as this explosion.  Boston Red Cross sent massive amounts of relief, and were very instrumental in helping Halifax re-construct its community.  For Christmas, 1918, the City of Halifax sent a Christmas tree to Boston as a way of thanking them for their assistance.  In 1971, that tradition was revived, and they now continue to send a Christmas tree to Boston - it has become Boston's official Christmas tree, lighting up the Boston common.  A lovely way for the cities to continue to pay tribute to one another.

Yesterday, we decided that it might be fun to get out of the City of Halifax to see a different part of Nova Scotia, so we took a tour to Wolfville.  We thought it might be helpful to do some research on possible resources for communion.  But wait - we're not Anglican!  Oh well - we decided since we were already on the bus, we may as well sample some of the wine anyways!  We were a little excited about where this adventure would take us!

One of the places the tour stopped was Luckett's winery, which is famous for the Red Phone Booth, right in the middle of the vineyard.  It was apparently brought over from  England for the owner, who used to go to a very similar phone booth in England when he wanted to have a night out on the town with his friends!  You can make one free call to anyone you want, anywhere in North America.  This is Colleen who called her husband - who just happened to be on a combine in a field near Portage La Prairie in Manitoba!

One of the wineries we stopped at was an organic vineyard - much less manicured than the other ones.  This was L'Acadie - named in honor of the Acadians, and also in honor of the Nova Scotian grape - also named l'acadie.  It was a very picturesque place to be:

We were quite pleased when the tour guide stopped at a view point so that we could look out over the Bay of Fundy.  The scenery was quite stunning:

One of the articles I read the other day as part of my "sabbatical pondering" was talking about the energy that we receive from music.  Often it is a piece of music that can soothe, or comfort, or energize us when we most need it.  The music scene in Halifax is quite wonderful.  When we were wandering along the water front, we came across a trio that were playing some traditional toe-tapping, hand-clapping pieces.  According to Colleen, all they were missing was the spoons!  But we sat there in the sun, and clapped along - a perfect Halifax moment:

I am ever so glad these two sister/friends were able to come and share some of the Halifax experience with me.  We have a couple more days together, and then I will be back to finding my own way on the streets of this city.  I will end this blog with a picture that I look out on in the Bedford Basin, which is just in front of the apartment I am staying in.  The explosion happened in the Narrows between this basin and the Halifax Harbour - knowing about the destruction and the tragedy of those days, it makes me even more thankful for the peace and the beauty of the Bedford basin today.