Author: edebock

Hiking Kejimkujik Seaside

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Nova Scotia’s Kejimkujik National Park is actually one park divided into two completely separate areas. Thankfully, locals refer to it as Keji because I’ve had a terrible time getting my tongue around that name! The meaning of the Mi’kmaq name is uncertain, but the park’s official stance is that it means “tired muscles”. Yesterday, we spent several hours hiking the beautiful Seaside portion of the park; 10.7 km in all and I’m proud to say that my muscles are just fine today!

The hiking trails ramble through coastal barrens and bogs, around rocky headlands and along cobbled and sandy beaches offering views that are breathtaking. The trails are well maintained and there’s very little change in elevation, but if you go, you’ll definitely want good footwear for the rocky sections.

Come along on a virtual hike with me.

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In the past, sheep were grazed on the barrens. Here are the remains of the shepherd’s home; definitely a room with a view!

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Wildlife share the park with hikers. A sign at the entrance warned that bears have been sighted. Thankfully, we didn’t see any, but there was plenty of scat along the trail. The only wildlife we saw was birds, a squirrel and this harbour seal sunning itself!

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Colourful Lunenburg

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Old Town Lunenburg, Nova Scotia is one of only two urban communities in North America to have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s also considered to be the best surviving planned British colonial town in North America. Its harbour-side streets are lined with well preserved and colourfully painted historic buildings.

This colourful section of King Street is known as the UNESCO Fresco!

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Canada’s Maritime provinces are dotted with old wooden churches, none more beautiful than St. John’s Anglican Church in Lunenburg.

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Visible for miles around, Lunenburg Academy, built in 1895, dominates the hilltop. Imagine going to school there!

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This stately giant stand nearby.

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Though we’d visited before, we thoroughly enjoyed wandering the streets and busy harbour front again.

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I loved the name on this fishing boat!

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Searching for colour and finding history

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We knew from our previous visit with Ronnie and Myrna, the dear pen pal that I inherited from my mother-in-law, that they enjoy sightseeing drives through the lovely countryside around Mahone Bay. Like my own father, however, Ronnie has macular degeneration and is legally blind. He still has some sight, but not enough to drive. When we suggested taking them for a drive to look at the fall colours that Nova Scotia is famous for at this time of year, they jumped at the opportunity and off we went!

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With Richard behind the wheel and Myrna navigating, we headed inland toward New Ross. Sure enough, though many of the trees were still green, others were aflame. For those of you who are accustomed to the wide range of reds, oranges and golds of autumn, our delight might seem odd, but where we live in Alberta, we don’t experience the same array of colours in the fall. Most of our trees just turn shades of yellow.

We saw much more than trees, however. Soon Myrna was pointing out the house where she grew up. It was here that she wrote the first letters to my mom-in-law over 75 years ago! Obviously well cared for, it has new shutters, windows and front door since the last time she saw it.

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Along the same road, we saw her uncle’s old horse barn

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and the one room schoolhouse that she attended.

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At 16 years of age, with a grade 11 education, Myrna became a teacher in a similar school! She taught for five years before she and Ronnie married.

Nova Scotia has been changing before our very eyes with more colour every day. Here are just a few more sights from that day’s drive.

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Mahone Bay… a little piece of paradise

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Though I love to travel, life is really about people, not places. If the weather had been horrible and the view boring, our time with the Hs would still have been wonderful! The relationship between our two families goes back 77 years and we felt so welcome. Add to that the indescribable beauty of Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia and the most amazing fall weather imaginable and I think we’ve been in paradise for the past few days!

The Hs live at Indian Point, a tiny community on the shore of Mahone Bay about 7 km from the town itself which is best known for the three churches located along the edge of the bay.

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Every morning, we woke up to views like this one.

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Words aren’t adequate to describe the beauty that surrounded us, so I’m simply going to share a few photos. Several of them were taken from the water while we were out on Lindy H’s boat.

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This is Ronnie and Myrna H’s house where we spent lots of time visiting.

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What do you look for in a fashion retailer?

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Several months ago, one of my favourite fashion bloggers, Pam Lutrell at over50feeling40 wrote an article for Midlife Boulevard entitled “What Retailers Need to Know From The Midlife Woman“. It was a great conversation starter and it certainly got me thinking about what my preferences are when I shop for clothes.

What do you look for in a fashion retailer? 

Quality and price are always my first considerations. I like to shop for clothing that’s stylish and up-to-date without being too trendy. As a woman in my 60s, I’m not trying to look like a teenager, but I definitely don’t want to look matronly either.

I like a store that’s clean and well lit with attractive displays and not overcrowded. I rarely shop for clothing in department stores because there’s just too much to choose from. The racks are usually overfilled and customer service is almost non-existent.

I like to be greeted by staff who are friendly and helpful without being pushy or overbearing. I don’t want to hovered over, but neither do I want to feel invisible. If the sales associates spend their time standing behind the counter talking about last night’s date, I probably won’t hang around long. I also expect to be treated with respect and as a valued customer regardless of how much or how little I spend.

Dressing rooms are an important part of the shopping experience. They should be well lit, large enough to move around in and have somewhere to put my purse and belongings. A three way mirror in a well lit spot near the dressing rooms is absolutely essential.

Lastly, music that’s loud and intrusive is definitely a deterrent. I want to be able to hear myself think! Something quiet and relaxing in the background creates the kind of atmosphere that I appreciate in a clothing store.

What do you look for in a fashion retailer?

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Peggy’s Cove

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Peggy’s Cove, a quaint fishing village on the eastern shore of St Margaret’s Bay, about 45 km from Halifax, Nova Scotia, is probably one of the best known and most visited locations in Canada. Though we’d been there twice before, we couldn’t resist stopping at this picturesque spot again as we made our way from Halifax to our next destination at Mahone Bay.

The iconic lighthouse dominates the rocky point overlooking the crashing waves below.

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Though it’s the lighthouse that attracts the most tourist attention, I love walking around the village photographing the colourful boats and the houses that cling to the rocks around the cove.

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Also of interest is the Fisherman’s Monument carved into a 30 metre granite outcropping by artist, William Edward deGarthe, who emigrated to Canada from Finland in 1926 and settled in Peggy’s Cove in 1955.  The sculpture depicts 32 fishermen, their wives and children, a guardian angel with wings outspread, and the legendary Peggy of Peggy’s Cove.

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Halifax Seaport

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We spent most of our weekend in Halifax exploring the harbour area. Our first stop was the newly renovated Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Canada’s last standing ocean immigration terminal. It was here that a great many of the immigrants who arrived in our country between 1928 and 1971 first stepped onto Canadian soil. As well as offering a fascinating step into the past to experience what it was like to immigrate through Pier 21, the museum showcases the vast contributions that newcomers have made to Canada’s culture, economy and way of life. I was particularly touched by the wall of testimonies written by previous visitors to the museum. Here are just a few of them.

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As we explored the Halifax Seaport, a vibrant waterfront area and a popular destination for both locals and tourists, we passed “The Emigrant”, a beautiful bronze and marble monument depicting an emigrant leaving his home country to start a new life in Canada. The piece was designed, sculpted and donated by artist, Armando Barbon, himself an immigrant who wanted to say thank you to his adopted country.

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In addition to being the place where many new Canadians first stepped onto our shore, the Halifax harbour was also the location where thousands of First World War soldiers last stood on Canadian soil. A trail of footprints burned into the wooden boardwalk traces the path of the long-gone fighters to a memorial arch bearing the words “The Last Steps”.

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The Seaport is also home to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. There, I found the exhibit devoted to the 1917 Halifax Explosion most interesting. On that darkest day in Halifax’s history, at 9:06 a.m. on December 6,  a dreadful miscommunication between two ships in the harbour resulted in an explosion of cataclysmic proportions. 2,000 people were killed and 9,000 more injured. It was the largest man-made explosion in history prior to the first nuclear blast.

In addition to exploring local history, I loved just walking the boardwalk and enjoying the harbour sights.

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Hello Nova Scotia!

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As I write this post, I’m sitting in the sunshine on the beautiful south shore of Nova Scotia! These are the views out the window beside me.

With this trip, we’re killing four birds with one stone. First of all, we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary on Sunday and we wanted to do that somewhere other than home. We spent the weekend in Halifax where we stayed in a lovely Victorian bed and breakfast that is older than the town we live in! Ascendence Harbourside Mansion was built in 1891 for the Auditor General of Nova Scotia. We stayed in the luxurious Auditor’s Suite. Our hosts went above and beyond, placing chocolates and fresh flowers in our room when they learned that it was our anniversary. The breakfasts were wonderful and we had a great time visiting with the other guests around the table each morning.

Our main reason for choosing Nova Scotia as the destination for our anniversary trip was the fact that we’ve been wanting to return to Mahone Bay for another visit with the pen pal that I inherited when Richard’s mother passed away. The two little girls began writing to one another when they were 11 years old. When Mother passed away in 1993, the family asked me to write her pen pal to let her know. In return, I received a beautiful letter from Myrna telling me that she didn’t want to lose touch with the family that she’d known only through letters for so many years. I began writing to her and the relationship between our two families has now been going on for 77 years! As I write this, I’m sitting in her son’s living room three doors down the road from her house at Indian Point, just outside the beautiful little town of Mahone Bay. You can read about our first visit in 2009 here.

The third reason for this trip was our longtime desire to see the spectacular colours of eastern Canada in the fall. So far, everyone here has been apologizing for the fact that the trees aren’t in full autumn colour yet due to the extreme lack of rain in this area this year, but we are still seeing colour we would never see at home! Hopefully we’ll see more before we return to Alberta over a week from now.

Lastly, we had lots of Air Miles to use up before they begin expiring on Dec. 31. We’ve been collecting them for years and had enough saved to pay for our flights and our little rental car and still have enough left over for a mid winter vacation!

Stay tuned for future posts and pictures as we continue our travels. Right now, the sun is shining and the locale is too beautiful to spend any more time sitting at my keyboard!

Welcome to Canada, Uniqlo!

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Screen Shot 2016-03-18 at 11.07.24 PM 3One of the things that I loved about living in Japan was Uniqlo, that country’s popular casual apparel giant. When we spent a semester in China, I was delighted to discover that Uniqlo was there too and I was able to add several basic items to the rather minimalist wardrobe that I’d brought with me.

I’ve long been hoping that Uniqlo (pronounced you-nee-klo) would come to Canada and today my wish comes true with the opening of it’s first Canadian outlet in CF Toronto Eaton Centre! A second store will open in the Yorkdale Shopping Centre, also in Toronto, on October 20. The only problem for me is that Toronto is over 3000 km away, a bit too far for a shopping trip!

The world’s fourth-largest specialty apparel company behind Zara, H&M and Gap, Uniqlo is taking a slow, cautious approach to expansion in Canada. The company eventually wants to open stores in all major cities across the country, but it hasn’t yet set a timeline for future openings.

Though not yet well-known in Canada, Uniqlo has stores in 17 other countries and is recognized for its innovative yet functional apparel and simple, modern designs as well as its high-quality, reasonably priced, easy-to-wear basics for men, women, children and babies.

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With winter approaching, Canadians might be particularly interested in the brand’s Ultra Light Down jackets and vests which fold into their own tiny carrying bags. Also of interest would be Uniqlo’s HeatTech line made of innovative fabric that absorbs body heat and stores it in air pockets deep within the fibres to keep the wearer warm. The brand also offers cashmere sweaters and extra fine merino garments suitable for our cold climate.

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Here are a just few of my favourite items from Uniqlo’s American website. Uniqlo doesn’t yet have online shopping in Canada, but items can be ordered from the US.

Biker jackets are everywhere this fall. This faux suede offering is available in black, brown and tan:

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The cotton 3/4 sleeve crew neck t-shirt is available in a wide variety of colours:

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This 2way stole comes in single colours as well as combinations like this one:

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And, of course, I love the comfy looking loungewear:

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There are also sweaters, shirts, blouses, dresses, skirts, pants, jeans, leggings, activewear, intimates, socks, slippers and numerous accessories to choose from.

Yes, welcome to Canada, Uniqlo! I can hardly wait for you to come to the west!

*Please note: This is not a paid endorsement. All photos are from either uniqlo.com/ca or uniqlo.com/us.

 

 

Animal prints

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There are some things that never seem to go out of style. American actress, Jean Harlow, wore animal prints in the mid 1930s and they’re still showing up on runways today.

 

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Animal prints are like neutrals with a bolder twist. They are, after all, made up of black, brown, beige, grey, and/or white. They’re seasonless and can be worn with almost anything.

I was walking through Sears in Burnaby, BC’s giant Metrotown mall last week looking for shoe polish for my Dad when I passed a half price sales rack and this leopard print top caught my eye.

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Obviously, it came home with me! The rayon/spandex fabric is soft and comfortable and I love 3/4 length sleeves.

If you’re concerned that an overall animal print might be too much for you, why not try some accessories like those shown here.

Small doses can be just as eye-catching, but less overwhelming. I have a pair of leopard print flats something like these ones on my wish list for fall.

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