Our first stop was Lunenburg. It is a picturesque town - this was our view as we ate our fish and chips on the patio of the restaurant in the picture.
As the day progressed, we decided to follow his footsteps from 40 years ago. It was in August of 1976 that Art decided to take a trip before starting university that fall. His parents dropped him off on the highway at the east side of Winnipeg and he began to hitchhike his way to the East Coast. Times were clearly different - I can't imagine just dropping one of our sons off so that they could hitch hike anywhere!! However, he managed to get a wide variety of rides - some of them a wee bit on the wild side - and eventually he found his way to Lunenburg in Nova Scotia. He stayed in a rooming house just up the hill from the wharf where he is standing in this picture.
He decided that he would prefer to fly home, but he needed to make some cash to buy his plane ticket. So he was told that if he wanted to work on a fishing boat, the best plan would be to head to Riverport. For 3 days in a row, he would hitchhike from Lunenburg to Riverport - about 15 miles - so that he could be on the wharf first thing in the morning. On the 3rd day he was waved onto a boat, and became part of an 8 man crew - quite an adventure for a bonafide prairie boy! Luckily the boat stopped in Sidney before heading out to sea so Art was able to get the proper clothing for being out in the wind and waves and weather. They were out for 12 days. This is the exact wharf he stood on 40 years ago!
The day we were there, there was a couple of people on the wharf fishing for mackerel. They were very friendly, and told us they had lived in the area for most of their lives. The man was able to confirm for Art that the company who owned the boat he must have gone out on was H. B. Nickerson and Sons. In 1976 they were a constant presence at the wharf - it was a much busier place in those days. Fishing went into a pretty big crisis in the 1980's and the wharf is nowhere near as busy as it once was.
When we went to Yarmouth, we were able to see a boat that would have been very similar to what Art worked on 40 years ago. The net would get dragged behind the boat, catching primarily red fish and pollock.
In this next picture you can see Art's hand pointing out where the fish would go once they hauled the net up into the boat - they would go down in the hold where the crew would sort out what to keep and what to throw back.
I had heard bits and pieces of Art's story before, but it was quite wonderful to actually be there and hear him re-living what the experience had been like. Most definitely an adventure!!
One of the huge gifts for this sabbatical was the offer of a cabin that is owned by a couple who go to our church in Regina. Mark is from Nova Scotia, and they spend a large part of the summer at this cabin. It was an absolutely lovely "retreat" for us! The first night we arrived, it was a wee bit chilly, but Art got the fire going pretty quickly - felt very cozy.
The mornings were definitely a treat while we were there. I would wait for the coffee to perk (nothing like perked camp coffee), and then I would sit outside on this little rocking chair to watch the world wake up:
Every morning was a little bit different. The first morning, there was a very heavy fog and the lake wasn't even visible from the porch. This is what it looked like:
As I sat there, it wasn't raining, but it almost sounded like rain. There was a sort of crackling in the air - perhaps an un-thawing? Not sure - but it was very beautiful to listen to it. There were a few song birds, but mostly it was quiet enough to hear the leaves actually landing on the ground. The sun rose behind the cabin, and gradually began to light up the trees on the far side of the lake.
It was a fascinating way to start the day - to just sit and watch the scene in front of us change as the sun made its way further into the sky.
As the day moved along, we moved our chairs down closer to the lake. We had spectacular weather the whole time we were there - lots of sun and opportunity to just enjoy the colors. I took a gazillion pictures. It felt like the reds and the oranges and greens just got more beautiful every day. Here are a few of the pictures we took that first afternoon:
One of the readings for my Autumn Retreat from the Prayer Bench that I have been getting every Saturday was from the Gospel of Thomas: "See, I have sown fire into the cosmos, and I shall guard it carefully until it blazes." The writer suggested that it was like imagining that fire had been sown with a needle and thread into the cosmos, and it was smouldering away in the ordinary, ready to blaze whenever we bring attention to it. It reminded me of the ritual we have at the end of every Board Meeting at Sunset to draw attention to the Holy Moments that have occurred for each of us during the meeting that night. It is sometimes in the naming, or in the seeing, that our hearts are touched by the Mystery that surrounds us.
Here are a few more of our "blazing" moments as we watched the trees and the lake...beauty!
It was a great few days to just relax and have a very low-key pace to our days. We are now back in Halifax and will continue to tour around and enjoy being in this new city where there is so much to see and explore. Here is our Thanksgiving toast to you:
Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving!
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