Surprise Visitors

I have not blogged much in the last few days, because we had some surprise visitors! It was a surprise to us kids, anyway. My Aunt Susan and Aunt Kathy came for a visit!

We had a great time with “The Aunts from Maine.” (If you have seen Sarah, Plain and Tall you know what I am talking about. :) Since these were our first visitors in our new home, we had a great time showing them the sights of this area. Lucky for you, my Aunt Susan is an avid photographer, so I have lots of great pictures to share with you!

The Aunts came over on the ferry late Thursday night. So our activities began Friday afternoon. We took them to the largest wooden church in North America. We had not seen this church either, only heard about it. They are right, it is huge. It is a Catholic Church, and it also houses a museum. There were many artifacts from this predominately Catholic area, and some interesting facts about the church itself. Everything inside was very elaborate, of course, but as beautiful as it is, this only appeals to the senses. How sad it is that their religion is only based on feeling, and they live in such darkness!

Leaving the church, we showed them some more of the area and stopped for some great ice cream. The ice cream shops around here do their cones right...a “one-scoop” cone would be at least a double scoop in the states, if not a triple! It is great!

From their we went to Gilbert’s Cove Lighthouse, just a couple of kilometers away from our house. (Aunt Kathy affectionately calls it the “light-bulb house” - ok, so its a little small.) Since it was a warm day, the younger kids were able to enjoy swimming while we toured the gift shop and museum in the lighthouse. We met some delightful ladies working on some quilting and latch-hook projects. They meet once a week and do some beautiful (and expensive!) hand-quilting. We enjoyed talking to them and hearing much about the history of this area.

Supper that night was to celebrate Aunt Kathy’s birthday earlier this week. So we had her favorites: Pizza Bread, with fresh strawberry and raspberry pies for dessert. She should have a birthday more often!!!

After supper we went down the road about 2 kilometers the other way to Savary Park, a beautiful park on the water. (Yes, we know, our life is hard here. :) The tide was going out, so we spent quite a bit of time walking on the beach, finding rocks and shells. I think this beach-combing is going to become one of my favorite pastimes! Can anything get more relaxing than walking on the rocks, with only the sounds of the waves and seagulls to keep you company?? I think not. It was so refreshing. We found lots of nice “souvenirs” to take home and share with friends.

Our biggest find was by Justin and Aunt Kathy, who found a dead seal washed up on shore!! It had not been dead for too long, because it was not bloated or stiff. Even I went and looked at it!! That was probably the only seal we’ll ever see in the wild, so we took advantage of it. :)

Saturday morning dawned bright and early for those of us who are not early birds. We headed over to the town of Bear River for their Cherry Festival Parade. We were able to sit and watch the parade at the home of some of our church friends, the Nortons. We had a nice time fellowshipping with them.

After the parade we headed over to downtown Digby for a picnic lunch...once again on the water. :) After eating, we hit the tourist-trap souvenir shops that line the streets. We also walked out on the docks and fed the seagulls. They were not very hungry apparently, which I didn’t know was possible with seagulls, but they were kind of boring. In Maine seagulls used to eat out of my hand!! Oh well, maybe next time.

We had a good time visiting the shops and looking for just the right souvenirs. It was a nice warm day, so that made it even more enjoyable. (Some people might have called it hot; I called it just right. :)

We went home for supper and played games at home for the rest of the evening.

We joke with my dad about Sunday being his only day of work in a week. :) Of course, that is not the truth, but it is a busy day for all of us. This Sunday we had the privilege of having a missionary couple, Phil and Susan Smith, visiting the church on deputation. They are going with BIMI’s CLAIM ministry, a helps ministry for missionaries on the field. This couple was so refreshing to us! We could not have a had a better time. They came to our house for lunch, and then we all went back to the Gilbert’s Cove Lighthouse for a “family picnic” the lighthouse staff was hosting. It is their one big fundraiser of the summer to raise money for the upkeep of the lighthouse and museum. We were able to do a little more beach-combing, and enjoy some time outside with the Smiths.

After church that night a lady in the church took us all out to eat. Mr. and Mrs. Hersey have been such a blessing to us, and they also hosted the Smiths at their home for the nights they were here. Unfortunately Mr. Hersey had to work, but we had a nice time with Mrs. Hersey. We went to The Captain’s Cabin restaurant, where I had some delicious fish and chips!

Monday was our last day with the Aunts. Oh, how time flies! Their visits never seem long enough! We were invited out to the South Range mink ranch for lunch. I have not yet blogged about the mink ranches, but it is a complicated and fascinating process, so I will one of these days! This ranch has a barbecue at the end of one of their busiest seasons, and they invited us and the Smiths, who were still in the area. There was so much food! These people know how to do a barbecue!! They enlisted the “professional” help of my dad, who in the past has been called “Roastin’ Randy.” :) They have already figured out that his is good with a grill!

We were able to show the Smiths and the Aunts the mink and explain the process involved...which I will try to explain to you very soon! It was so nice to be able to sit under the branches of a huge tree, stuff ourselves full with so much food, and spend time with people we are growing to love!

It was again a “nice warm day” (what some would call hot), so we went again to the lighthouse and let the kids swim while we, again, combed the beach. I found a couple of scollop shells, which I had been wanting to find, and Aunt Kathy found me a purple rock to add to my rapidly growing collection of rocks and shells. On the way back we saw a loon in the water...one of my favorite birds! I did not know that loons were in salt water. I am looking forward to learning more about the birds up here in Nova Scotia. there are probably not many differences from Maine, but being right on the water, there may be some different water birds. There were some little birds following me around while I was walking on the beach. They were very small, but they would sit right on the edge of the water and let the waves come in over their feet. Very cute!

After a pizza supper, we played ping-pong and Apples to Apples to conclude the visit from the Aunts from Maine. It went by way to quickly, but we packed a lot into the visit! We are already planning for their next visit and wondering who the next ones to visit will be. How about you?? We’d love to have you!