Courting the colours...

Bras d' Or Lake from Alexander Graham Bell Museum

From Cape Breton to Corner Brook...

The last few weeks, which have included the long Thanksgiving weekend without a Villages sale, have seen us on the road...chasing the fall colours and soaking in as much culture and landscape as possible.  We thought the colours had gone missing.  People were speculating...perhaps the fall had been too warm, perhaps there had been too much rain...  And then, as we were leaving Cape Breton, around Baddeck (the home of Sir Alexander Graham Bell), it happened...as if overnight...everywhere a blaze of glory. 

                               

Our Cape Breton adventure took us first to the Fortress of Louisbourg, a national historic site on the southeastern tip of Cape Breton.  Between 1960-1985 the gov't of Canada poured money into what is purported to be the largest reconstruction project in N. America. Now we can visit this amazing 18th century French colonial outpost, exactly as it was, and enter into it's daily life.   







weight-operated rotiserrie...mmm

That evening we took in a Celtic Colours concert in Sydney on the Esplanade.  The 15th annual festival of traditional celtic music runs for a week and has venues throughout Cape Breton.  Our "Taste of the Festival" was a delightful eclectic potpourri from fiddlin' to singin'...



fiddle in front of Joan Harris Pavilion, Sydney


The next day, with great anticipation, we entered the Cabot Trail...one of the most scenic drives in the world according to our tour-book, and there's not much more to be said!



We spent our last night in Beddeck, which sits at the southern entrance to Cabot Trail, ate our first complete lobster dinner with a pail of mussels! and in the morning toured the fascinating Graham Bell Museum before heading back to Petitcodiac.  This was to be a very quick

turnover.  By noon the next day we were on the road again, truck loaded heavy with merchandise for our next big sale.  So...back to North Sydney, about 550 kms... to catch the overnight ferry to Port aux Basque. We were off to Newfoundland and Labrador for the very first time and Corner Brook was to be our biggest sale yet!

pulling in to Port aux Basque harbour at sunrise

We had arranged for an extra day with Brian Elliot, our director, so after arriving at our host family's place, we parked our truck, rented a vehicle and headed into Gros Morne park (voluntary service isn't so bad, is it?).  Of course, this is mid October, and past tourist season, so we found the Discovery Centre closed and the tour boat at Western Brook Pond no longer running.  But the geological wonder of Tablelands, a world heritage site for it's illustration of plate tectonics, was there for us to explore and the coastal fishing villages were quaint and wonderful. 

cod hung to dry

 a too windy day!

The moose evaded us... although we glimpsed a small herd of elk from a distance.  We were able to drive to the northern tip of Gros Morne, Cow Head, but then needed to rush back to Corner Brook to set up for what turned out to be a $34,000 sale.



sale at Cathedral of St. John the Evangel

Today is October 25, we have six sales under our belts with six to go.  We are now four volunteer couples, although one is leaving next week, and the schedule is getting more hectic.  This coming  weekend there will be four sales happening in three Atlantic provinces. 

Next...Gaspe!



Come along to Nova Scotia...

Late August...as we drove along the southern shore of the St. Lawrence wending our way to New Brunswick, we were fascinated that every little town we drove through was named after a saint... and featured a two-spired white Catholic church.

Now... two weeks ago, Dan and I had a weekend off and we headed off to Nova Scotia for three wonderful days.  Here too, we drove through a countryside  replete with churches... not Catholic, however... many Anglican and some Baptist, along with a sprinkling of other denominations. 

The churches are rivalled only by the many salt-shaker lighthouses.

Yes, Nova Scotia is "the sea-bound coast"... and.the old sea-faring song that I learned in school so long ago, rang in my ears as we wound our way around the South Shore. 

Our first day, however, was spent in Halifax, and we began with the historic harbour, Canada's gateway to the Atlantic.

The sun was shining brightly as we walked the boardwalk, watching the many sailing vessels moving in and out of the narrows.

One of our goals was to spend some time at Pier 21, Canada`s immigration museum.  Here we were able to search for the documents pertaining to both our parents' immigration from Ukraine to Canada in the mid 1920s.  With help we found them all.  I was particularly delighted to find the passenger list and a photo of Empress of Scotland on which my 21 year old mother, together with her mother and six siblings, sailed from Southampton, England in Sept.1925.  They landed in Quebec, as did Dan's parents, but the Halifax museum now houses all the historical immigration records. Between 1928 and 1971 1.5 million immigrants and service personnel passed through Pier 21.  The immigrant experience became much more real to us.

Above the harbour sits Halifax Citadel, the hilltop fortress of the 1880s, when Halifax was a key British stronghold.  Dan was happy to pose!

We were able to visit the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic (in Halifax on a later date) and the impressive exhibit portraying the great Halifax harbour munitions explosion of 1912, which destroyed the waterfront and several miles into the city of the day.  We also watched the National Geographic's amazing underwater   film of the remains of the Titanic.  Halifax harbour was where hundreds of those who perished washed ashore.

              From Halifax we began exploring the bays and coves of the scenic South Shore.

  

While eating our pasties at Peggy's Cove, we had an engaging encounter with a young woman from Germany (sitting there behind us), who had come, with her three young boys, to experience a year in Canada .

She has rented a house not far from Peggy's Cove, her envious husband  joining them on vacations.  She was very interested in our sales, and indeed showed up in Halifax two weeks later, to see what Ten Thousand Villages had to offer. 

From there the coastal route took us through the picturesque town of Mahone Bay,and then on to Old Town Lunenberg and the dockyard where the Bluenose II is undergoing a major restoration. The Bluenose, depicted on the Canadian dime, won many races in her time (1921-1946) and will be back sailing in 2012.

On our last day we pulled ourselves away from the south coast and headed for Fundy Shore and the famous Annapolis Valley.  Here we were looking for orchards and apples and wineries and were not disappointed. 

So, on this note we fare thee well...

Tomorrow we leave for a three day tour of Cape Breton and Celtic Colours!

So, what's a week look like?

There's an unbelievable amount of product that passes in and out of our little warehouse on 55 Main St. Petitcodiac!

When we began this endeavour end August much of our work was unpacking large shipments of product arriving by truck almost daily from New Hamburg.  Each item needed to be checked for damage and repacked into boxes that were then distributed among seven packages worth $40,000 or more each, being prepared for 32 fall sales. Lila King, volunteer from Virginia, is smiling at the large host of magnetic lady bugs that arrived in our shop one day. 

Dan and I have been involved with 3 sales now. Last weekend we were alone for the first time for a two day sale at marvelous St. Paul's Anglican Church in Charlottetown, PEI.  The island is famous, of course, for it's red sandstone.

There's a big learning curve for both of us as we arrive on site, assess our space quickly and begin to set up shop.  While Dan's on the truck supervising the unloading I'm getting the tablecloths on, assigning particular tables and beginning to unpack product.  There's quite a bit of pressure here, and my drive  for perfection is being seriously challenged!  We are very grateful when we have enough dedicated local volunteers to assist. 

What a wonderful thing when we're able to hug at the end and know we've had a really successful event.  We are meeting so many wonderful, dynamic people.  Madonna ( in red) is true to her name, in sense of mission to her community.  She and her husband, who is grounds keeper at St. Paul's, live above the church hall and she opens her heart and the church doors wide to whoever comes.  She tells me that her church has been "marked" by the street folk as a safe place to come. 

During the week now (we usually have Sunday and Monday off) we are unpacking what has been hastily repacked, going over product again, repacking and preparing again for the next round.

October 1 is Ten Thousand Villages 65th anniversary date. 

Lila King (here from Virginia with husband Ron) remembers when Edna May Byler, the early founder (1946) of this whole business, came around to her father's church in Wisconsin, with her trunk load of embroidery and crafts from Puerto Rico. 

Well, along with the labour comes friendship and laughter.  And Dan certainly does his best to help...

Yes, We Have Arrived...

We are now into our third week at Petitcodiac, New Brunswick. We have arrived and are well into our work with Ten Thousand Villages.  Last weekend Dan and I were in charge of our first sale.  This took place at a historic inn, Auberge Le Vieux Prespytere, in the lovely village of Bouctouche.  But before we take you there, let me review briefly our two week trip that brought us here. 

We left Winnipeg on August 14, and after a too short visit with Stephanie, Carlo, Ben and Clare we headed to New Hamburg, Ontario.  There we spent two nights, toured the Canadian headquarters and warehouse for Ten Thousand Villages, laughed through Shakespeare's Twelvth Night at Stratford with Dan's brother Walt and Irene before driving on to Ottawa. Here we were graciously hosted for three nights by Rennie and Jenny Regehr.  We were touring the Parliament buildings the day Jack Leighton died.  We would say that The Canadian War Museum is a must see...a very sobering look at the question of war. 

From Ottawa we drove to Montreal and stayed in a little village north of the city with a French Canadian couple, Yves and Chantal Bourgeault, Mennonite Your Way hosts.  It was amazing to find they had warm connections to Debbi and  Robert Marten Koop. 

Next stop was Quebec City.  We had arranged for a B&B in Old Quebec and had a delightful time touring and eating, including a free performance of Cirque de Soliel. From there we turned our hearts and minds to our Maritimes destination.  However, the drive along the south coast of the St. Lawrence was wonderful, the weather continuing mild and sunny. Dan was more than delighted when we happened upon the former summer home of Sr. John A Macdonald, now a heritage home and B&B. 

So, now we are here...working quite hard really, for a retired couple, but we are happy to be here and finding ourselves becoming inspired by "free trade" and the artisans we are supporting around the world.

This is the inn where Dan and I set up our sale last Friday. Built in 1880 as a residence for the parish priest, it now graces a wonderful interfaith chapel and invites guests to refresh in body and spirit. Our sojourn in the Maritimes will take us many places. We have hardly begun ...