Nova Scotia week 4: scenes from a small town

Hello Everyone,

There are four multi-lane bridges that cross between Ottawa and Gatineau. They are such choke points that radio stations in the city provide updates every 15 minutes on the traffic status getting onto them. The town of Petite Riviere, the next hamlet over from where we are in West Dublin and which we pass through on many of our errands, has one single lane bridge. Not a bridge that has a single lane in each direction. No, it’s one lane total, for both directions. If someone’s already on the bridge when you get there, you just have to wait your turn. It's happened twice in the time we've been here.

When you cross from our direction, you first meet the Petite Riviere General Store. The local meeting spot that has a bit of everything you might need, including t-shirts and mugs that say “Petite Riviere General Store”. On weekend evenings (and maybe weeknights as well, we’ll have to check), you can find a handful of old-timers sitting on the veranda of the store, shooting the breeze and watching the traffic go by.

Our weekend routine is now pretty much set: Saturdays, we walk down to the farmer's market, which has fresh vegetables and flowers, a local butcher, a baker, some preserves, some secondhand clothing (proceeds from these go to the upkeep of the community hall), and a jeweller. Note the singular in all of these. The market consists of six tables.

On Sunday, we walk over to the Ploughman's Lunch, for brunch. It's in a reclaimed general store, with old timey counters and shelving, and outdoor seating from old church pews and random pieces of furniture. There are four tables outside and three items on ehe menu, though often only two are in stock.

In short, this place has no gridlock traffic and amazing local food. It's a hell of a trade we make when we move to cities that have the opposite of both.

We spent a good chunk of the remaining portions of both Saturday and Sunday hiking. First at Kejimkujik Park in the centre of the province and then along the beach near Green Bay. They were both over 5 km and on uneven terrain. Given her advancing condition, Emilie did great on both.

Mid week, we put out the garbage and compost for the first time here. There was the better part of a summer’s worth of slop in the bottom of the green bin when I put it by the roadside. When I brought it back in, I hosed the inside to clean it out a bit, dumping the residual slop in the yard behind the house, figuring it was out of the way enough so that we wouldn’t smell it. Little did I know that someone else, who shall remain nameless but walks on four legs and has black and tan fur, thought it smelled delightful. So delightful, in fact, that he decided to roll around in it to his heart’s content and came trotting back to the house all chipper and proud of himself.

He was much less happy with our reaction, which was of course to hose him down and shampoo the daylights out of him.

Wes

Photos

A good view of the front of the Ploughman's. Note the old church pew in the foreground. The other tables are at the side of the building. The green bin in front of the window has records for sale, 25 cents a piece.

Next is a shot of our haul from the farmer's market. The raspberry Danish at the back was revelatory.

Third, a picture of an interesting mushroom we saw on our hike.

Last, Emilie on our hike.