East Coast Culture – Page 14 – Just An East Coast Girl

Prayers for Fort McMurray

Spring and Summer season can bring wild fires in the West Coast of Canada. And unfortunately it has started this year with a devastating fire in Fort McMurray

The only bright spot in the wildfire that has caused the entire Alberta community to evacuate is that no injuries or fatalities have been reported so far. The fire raging in the Fort McMurray area forced officials to evacuate 60,000 inhabitants.

Many Maritimers have called Fort McMurray home ( or second home) for a number of years as many have gone there to work in the oil sands. There are many friends and family from Nova Scotia that are dealing with this devastation… PLEASE PRAY!!!!

What is up with this white?

Ok, so I was NOT expecting this!! Freak weather today.

I peeked out my window this afternoon after David texted on his way home that it was…SNOWING!!!!!!

What?

Nope NOT expecting this!!!!

Wear your Plaid Proudly, It’s Tartan Day!

Tartan Day in Canada has become an annual event. The concept of “Tartan Day” began at a meeting of the Federation of Scottish Clans in Nova Scotia on March 9, 1986. Tartan Day is a celebration of Scottish heritage on April 6th each year, the date on which the Declaration of Arbroath was signed in 1320. In Canada, on Tartan Day, Canadians are encouraged to wear tartan in commemoration of the contributions of Scots and their descendants to the fabric of our society.

(Picture below from the Government of Nova Scotia)

Screen Shot 2016-04-06 at 10.42.26 AM

And it’s so funny to me…unbeknown that it was Tartan Day today, I was at my parents last night and Mom gave me the Tartan shirt that she bought for my Dad so many years ago in 1961. It doesn’t fit him anymore and she knows how much I love the Nova Scotia tartan. I washed and ironed it, and tried it on this morning and it fit me!! A beautiful keepsake that I will always cherish.

Wear your plaid proudly!

Screen Shot 2016-04-06 at 12.49.37 PM Screen Shot 2016-04-06 at 12.50.25 PM

Winter … Spring…Winter?

Brrrr!!! It’s chilly out there!

This Winter season has been interesting to say the least starting with Christmas Day. Beautiful warm, no snow weather and then periodically for the last few months we have had snowstorms, melting, green grass, bike riding temperatures, freezing cold, snow, melting, want to get the rake out be in the garden kind of weather and NOW that it is OFFICIALLY Spring….it is cold and snowy again! Geesh!!!

I took a picture on the 1st Day of Spring…

And took another picture today…

My poor flowers. I am kinda happy I didn’t get around to planting daffodils and tulips like I wanted to…the poor things would be destroyed with this mix up weather.

On the bright side, it is March 22 and we don’t have the mounds and piles of snow we had last year and it is soon gonna warm up…meanwhile, I’m “Spring cleaning” and painting and sprucing things up inside so that when nice weather is here…I’ll be in the garden!

Woke up to WHITE

Well, the signs and forecasts were correct!

This morning when we woke up it was white…and snowing! Ugh….

it’s so pretty though, almost like a first snow, and we really haven’t had too much this year BUT it is March 5 and I really like the “no snow kinda days” we have been having lately. Well…the snow came back! And there’s LOTS. About 15 centimetres down and still snowing and blowing at 8:30am.

ENJOY your snowing weekend on the East Coast!

It’s like this before a MAJOR storm

It’s March! And this winter has been fantastic. I can’t believe the difference from last year. Many days the sun has been shinning and warm through my windows…actually making me feel like I should be Spring cleaning. Oh the dust bunnies on those kind of days haha. But I will wait a just bit.

Last year EVERYONE was tired of snow and snowstorms, begging for a reprieve from snowstorm after snowstorm. It’s one week til March Break, one of the busiest weeks for travellers heading south to escape the cold and snow.

Halifax Airport Parking Lot March 2015 — March 2015

This year is not so bad…many will still go…We usually enjoy a Winter escape in February, but this year is a little different. It’s Cuba in April for our son’s wedding, (later than usual) and I’m just thankful the weather has been so great, otherwise I would have wanted two vacations.

People in Nova Scotia who love to get out and about and photograph our beautiful province have been sharing some gorgeous photos …sunrises, sunsets, beach and wave photos, and signs of an early spring… and because we are a coastal province, many learn to watch the water to see the signs in the winds and the waves. I guess the last couple days the water along the coast has been acting the way it does before a MAJOR storm comes.

“The Bay of Fundy had plenty of power tonight. It’s not that the waves were overly large, it was the wind speed and energy coming from the ocean. It’s like this just before most major storms – I hope I am wrong.”~ Phil Vogler

Weather predictions are that we are in for a snowstorm this weekend. It’s hard to believe looking outside…other than the temperature is now -10 rather than the +15 it was earlier in the week.

What will the weekend hold? For the last couple storms we have been on the right side of the currents only getting rain. I don’t mind rain, it doesn’t need to be shovelled. Either way, even if we do get a major storm and (cover your ears) snow…it won’t last!

Have a GREAT weekend! We are in to March now and just a few weeks until it’s “officially” Spring! SPRING is my favourite season of all!!

Better than snow…

Throwback Thursday…

~Heritage Day 2016~

Nova Scotia Heritage Day 2016

Perhaps no one shaped Nova Scotian politics, literature or freedom of the press more than Joseph Howe, youngest son of John Howe. He expressed his love for the province in all he did, from the push for responsible government to his Halifax inspired poetry, such as the Ode to the Town Clock (1836).

As publisher of The Novascotian, a spirited and popular newspaper with commentaries on the day’s events, Howe loyally promoted notable Nova Scotian literature, including the first of Judge Thomas Chandler Haliburton’s Sam Slick series.

Joseph Howe is perhaps best known for his rousing speeches. In particular, the 1835 defence of free speech for the press. Howe had been accused of libel for comments found in The Novascotian towards the magistrates. He was called before the court, and as no lawyer would defend him, Howe represented himself. He spoke to the court for two days, and after a short deliberation, was acquitted of all charges. The event is commemorated on a statue of Howe located next to Nova Scotia Province House. At the base is a bronze plaque showing the newspaper publisher addressing the court.

Howe eventually became a member of the Legislature in 1836, then Premier from 1860-1863, and then finally, a federal cabinet minister. He was appointed Lieutenant Governor for a short time before his death in 1873 and now lies buried beneath a slab of Nova Scotian granite in Camp Hill Cemetery.

Joseph Howe is this year’s Heritage Day Honouree…

It’s fun to celebrate our beautiful province on Heritage Day. And what better way then with some traditional local food. Last year we enjoyed homemade Beavertails and Lobster. This year I went for something a little different … Sauerkraut and mashed potatoes! This is a Lunenburg county meal and my family loves it. And for dessert…Apple Pie with Ice Cream. ( February is Apple Month in Nova Scotia) Delish!

And of course, I was sportin’ my comfy Nova Scotia tartan and enjoying my coffee from my NS mug. lol Happy Heritage Day!

A PERFECT day for Pancakes

Cozy inside…it’s a BLIZZARD out there!

Yesterday these were the headlines for Nova Scotia…schools were cancelled, flights cancelled and delayed, Facebook was a buzz with people posting questions and comments as to whether the storm had started. It was windy, very windy all morning as we waited… Screen Shot 2016-02-08 at 9.21.18 AM Screen Shot 2016-02-08 at 9.31.44 AM

and waited… and at about 1:30pm yesterday it started. Snow and wind and yes siree, a good old fashioned East Coast Maritime Blizzard. It snowed and blowed all night!!

So today, again, there’s no school and we are cozy inside ( after shovelling) Well, I didn’t shovel this one. David had to work early so he was up at 3am snow blowing and a little guy came knocking on our door this morning wanting to shovel the driveway so James hired him! And then James went out and helped him and they did the back deck instead. We paid him ( gotta encourage them when they’re young) and then James finished the driveway with the snow blower.