Our Message Archive

May 2025

Sunday May 25

Tulips in the back yard

A week ago Tuesday, we were up early to get Ann to the airport for a 7am flight to Ottawa. The next day, she and Morgan rented a car and drove to Montreal where, on Thursday, Morgan had top surgery. There were no complications during the operation and they returned on Friday. Ann spent the next week at Morgan's helping with post-operative care. This Thursday, Ann met Ben and went to Renfrew for the night. On Friday afternoon, both Ann and Katy flew back here and I picked them up.

Katy came here for Ingrid's 70^th birthday party which was this afternoon at the Halifax Curling Club. It was well attended by many of Ingrid's friends and relatives including her cousin and his daughter who came from Toronto and her brother Paul who came all the way from Germany. Afterwards we had pizza at Ingrid and Mike's so that Ingrid could spend a bit more time with Katy.

While Ann was away, David and I co-existed peacefully at home. I went on some bike rides with the Roadents and Ramblers and, on the days when it wasn't raining, tried to get the garden in shape.

On Friday, I picked up Chapman and we drove to Truro to see John Reischman and the Jaybirds. Our friends Manon and Dave, and James and Erin met us there. John Reischman is a fantastic mandolin player who I have known of since we went to Vancouver in the early 90s and saw him playing with Slavek Hanzlik. The other members of the band were also all really good: it was a great show.

Sunday May 11

A farm in Stewiacke

Now that tax season is over, Ann has had more time to get out biking. Last weekend we rode with the Ramblers from Stewiacke, up to Brookfield and down a back road past Shortt's Lake. Unfortunately the ride was not without incident as we had to cross several railway tracks and the rails were wet and very slippery. Four of us slipped and fell; three were merely bruised but Lynn broke a bone in her upper arm. Luckily Colette had had a flat tire she couldn't fix, so Sylvain had gone back to get his car to pick her up. He and Colette came by shortly after Lynn fell and Colette took Lynn to the hospital in Truro while Sylvain rode back to get Lynn's car. The rest of us finished the ride.

We have also been out to Lawrencetown Beach with the Railers, from Laurie Park to Monte Vista with the Roadents, and around town with just the two of us.

I have spent a fair amount of time in the garden recently. The daffodils and tulips are out but so are the weeds. Out front, the garlic, dill, lettuce, kale, beets, carrots and parsnips are are well underway with more to be planted in the coming weeks as it warms up.

On Friday, we went to see the East Pointers with Symphony Nova Scotia at the Rebecca Cohn. We both enjoyed it. I had not realized that so much of there material was fiddle-based instrumentals; when they are played on the radio it is invariably one of their songs.

Riding in the Gaspereau Valley

Today we were out with the Ramblers again. I led a ride up and down the Gaspereau Valley then a loop through Hantsport and Avonport. The original route called for us to climb to the ridge along the South Mountain (the ridge that separates the Annapolis Valley from the Gaspereau Valley) but there was a strong westerly wind so we decided to make it easier for ourselves by staying on the valley floor. We did climb up another big hill through West Brooklyn, with the wind at our backs, from whose summit you can look out over Blomidon, the Minas Basin, and Grand Pré.