Ah, Nova Scotia, you have my heart

There's a place I'll always cherish, 'neath the blue Atlantic sky
Where the shores down in Cape Breton bid the golden sun to rise

Ah, Nova Scotia… every time I go, I feel more and more connected to this beautiful piece of Canada. It has a grip on me that I can’t explain. Maybe these pictures can say it better than I can…

 

And the sturdy fishin' schooners, sways so laz'ly to and fro'
Nova Scotia is my sanctuary, and I love her so

 

  

It seems to say, be on your way, there's a welcome at the door
Where the kinfolks are a-waiting on that gay Atlantic shore

 

 

But if God came here on Earth with us and asked if he could rest
I'd take him to my Nova Scotia home, the place that I love best

Lyric excerpts from Hank Snow’s My Nova Scotia Home

Our ties to 9/11

I wasn’t in or anywhere near New York City on September 11, 2001. I didn’t know anyone who was there and I didn’t lose any family or friends. But my hubby and I will always have a tie to that day.

Our wedding day was September 14th, 2001 — three days after 9/11. We woke up on the morning of our wedding to news that the Prime Minister of Canada had proclaimed September 14, 2001 a National Day of Mourning. Our Master of Ceremonies was in Germany and unable to fly back to Canada for our wedding. My brother and his wife had planned to fly up from Pittsburgh, but had to drive up instead. We had two tickets to fly to Halifax the day after our wedding for our honeymoon in NS and PEI. But I was too scared to fly, especially because of the association between 9/11 and the airport in Halifax.

Flash forward eight years to September 11, 2009. Hubby and I were flying to Halifax to celebrate our anniversary at the same time the two planes hit the World Trade Center back in 2001. Things eerily coming full circle, in a way.

We originally planned to go to Peggy's Cove later on during our trip, but we decided to go the day we arrived in NS instead. About 1.5kms from Peggy's Cove, we saw a sign for the Swissair Flight 111 Memorial. Another eerie coincidence that on the 8th anniversary of 9/11, we were at the scene of another tragic plane crash.

Here are a few pictures I took at the memorial. The first explains the memorial, and the rest are pictures of the memorial and the Atlantic Ocean. It's too bad the sound of crashing waves can't come through the computer screen — they really add to the drama of the memorial site and  remind you of the power of the ocean...

 

After much thought, hubby realized that the three slots in the stone likely represent the number of the flight – 111.

The clouds couldn’t have been more perfect…

I was so goosebumpy seeing the Swissair Flight 111 Memorial, and the coincidences between September 11, 2001 and September 11, 2009. Tragic events that we’ll never forget, both because of the impact they had on the world and because of the ties my hubby and I have to 9/11.

Summer 2013 in pictures

Summer, it was nice knowing you for the short time you were here. You didn’t arrive till the end of June, you were hit and miss in July – cold, hot, rainy, dry – and August went by in a flash.

As short as Summer 2013 was, we did have some good times. It was a blast having our foster puppies Cane & Chloe in the house. Cane just went to his new forever home last Sunday, and Chloe will be going to her new forever home this coming Saturday. They’ve grown a lot in the two months that they’ve been here! Cane & Chloe then and now… they like to hold paws :-)

I have a bazillion pictures of them – these are just a few recent ones…

 

We also had a chance to visit our former foster puppy Joey at his new home in Montreal :-) His name is Cajun now, and he’s all grown up! I think he remembered us – he came running out to the car to greet us, and gave LOTS of kisses :-)

And our foster Gizmo is officially a foster fail – we adopted him a few weeks ago, so now he’s ours forever :-) Seriously, how could I split up a boy, his dog, and their beer? ;-) (No alcohol was consumed by the furry four-legged boy!)

 

And in non-dog related news… in spite of the not-so-great weather, I did manage to fit in some quality cottage time. I’m not a big fan of having the dogs wake me up at 5:30 in the morning, but at least I caught this beautiful sunrise :-)

Sunset is more my thing!

We checked out the BAWI rock balancing festival in August. The things these talented artists can do with rocks & gravity is absolutely amazing!

    

I discovered the joy of BBQ pizza and experimented with some different flavour combinations – like pulled pork and chicken with spinach dip sauce & veggies. Both got a thumbs up :-)

And in decorating news… our master bathroom renovation is ALMOST done. There’s still no vanity, but the shower is in and good to go, and I don’t ever want to use any other shower ever again! The Brizo Virage faucets are absolutely gorgeous, and I don’t know how I lived all this time without body jets. Seriously, they’re TO DIE FOR. I don’t want to give away too much yet, but here’s the shower before the glass was installed…

And just as exciting as the shower is this awesome painting by Andrada Anghel that will hang on the focal wall. I sent Andrada some inspiration pictures, and she created this gorgeous painting for me. She named it Kelly’s Seashore :-)

So yeah, that’s pretty much my summer in a nutshell :-) It was too short. as always – the countdown to Summer 2014 is already on!