Flooding

We moved to Elm River Park near Debert, Nova Scotia on Tuesday. They had had a downpour on Monday, with the Debert River running right by the campground, at high tide late on Monday, they had a number of sites flood on Monday night. They got people to move from sites that were anticipated to be concerns starting at about 8pm Monday. The site we were assigned to be in was technically not flooded, but the normal access to it was flooded, so they moved us to one of the sites that had been evacuated Monday night.

We walked around on Tuesday afternoon...

The campsite that we were originally assigned to would be right in front of that "lake" in the grass, next to one of those evergreen trees.

This is over the road that we would need to use to exit -- the lady who checked me in said that she thought it would be clear by the time we would be leaving on Thursday, but for Tuesday, if we were going to leave in the Jeep, to go around the campground the wrong way on the roads to get out.

Just across from our campsite was this trailer which must have found a soft spot as it was being backed in.

When we were walking around on Tuesday, we thought it was unlikely that the exit road would be clear by Thursday, but, amazingly, rigs leaving on Wednesday morning went out that way, and we drove the Jeep out and the road was fine on Wednesday.

After we got back on Wednesday afternoon, we saw a tractor getting the trailer across from us pulled out and then backed into its space -- it was complicated by the fact that there is a large shrub/tree on one side, and decking built on the other side (a seasonal site). I'm still not sure what caused it to sink down into the ground where it appeared to be stuck -- the trailer wouldn't be all that heavy, and that area of the site would normally be well packed due to the tow vehicle parking there. Anyway, they got it into the site successfully on Wednesday.

Everyone is telling us, "It *never* rains like this here!" If any of my friends have been praying for rain for Nova Scotia to help with the wild fires, you can stop now! I think there are still fires in Quebec and further west, but I think it would be nearly impossible to get a fire started here!

Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo

On Monday, we drove in to Halifax to see the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo.

We had planned to go in to Halifax on Canada Day (Saturday) to see various events going on, including a flight performance by the Canadian Snowbirds -- but, the flight show was cancelled due to weather, and we figured the other events which were also outside would possibly be cancelled or, at least, unpleasant in the rain. So, Monday was our first jaunt in to Halifax.

Monday was also cloudy and overcast with rain predicted, but as we drove in, it wasn't raining...

We saw some interesting murals as we drove... couldn't get all of this one... is that a cat with a really long neck under the tail of the blue jay? (Actually I think it is the branch that the bird is perched upon, but it sure looks like the back of a cat's head on the right side!)

We're not sure what this mural was illustrating! (Some more information about the murals along this road: https://discoverhalifaxns.com/things-to-do/discover-the-murals-of-quinpool-road/)

The Tattoo was going to be in the Scotiabank Centre. I had researched, and found that there was no parking at the centre itself, but there were indications that there was street parking, and a "parkade" at Scotia Square (a downtown shopping mall) - just a block or so away. We were following the Garmin's directions to the parkade, but the road to get there was under construction and closed, so we turned on another street... it appeared traffic was really tied up as we got closer to the Scotiabank Centre, and we saw a sign along the street that indicated that there was pay parking in a garage under a building, so we turned in...

... the ceiling was a bit low, and the columns made the parking spaces a bit tight to get into, but we got parked! Then we joined the line of people who were as clueless as we were about how to pay for the parking, but we eventually got to the automated pay machine and registered our license plate and paid.

As we were walking to the Scotiabank Centre, we passed the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site -- we had hoped to visit it on Saturday, but, alas...

Outside of the Scotiabank Centre

I had selected and purchased our tickets online a couple of months ago -- I wasn't sure about what the best seats might be, but it turned out that the ones we got were really good! (Carl took a picture of me as we were waiting for the show to begin.)

Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo

You may be surprised (as we were) to find out that the first definition in the Oxford English Dictionary for the word "tattoo" is the definition for what we were seeing:

tat·too¹

noun

noun: tattoo; plural noun: tattoos

1. an evening drum or bugle signal recalling soldiers to their quarters.

   "a military tattoo takes place with clockwork precision"

   • British

     an entertainment consisting of music, marching, and the performance of displays and exercises by military personnel.

     "a visit to Edinburgh during the Festival includes a visit to the Tattoo"
   • a rhythmic tapping or drumming.

     "she tapped her fingers in a nervous tattoo"

Origin

mid 17th century (originally as tap-too ) from Dutch taptoe!, literally ‘close the tap (of the cask)!’.

(The second definition is the verb and noun relating to marking the skin.)

Soon after we arrived, a bagpipe player came out onto the floor and "piped" some of the other audience members to their seats -- in the section right next to us! The lady sitting next to me confided to me that it cost about CN$100 more for the seats if you got "piped" to them.

There were also 3 rows of dignitaries or invited guests in that section next to us, right at the same level above the floor that our seats were, who were brought in as a group right before the event started. The US ambassador was in that group of people.

For more information about the event, you can currently view their website at https://nstattoo.ca/ -- I don't know how long it will have information about the 2023 event.

We thoroughly enjoyed it! Carl took lots of pictures and videos during the 2.5 hour show, and I consolidated them into a 12 minute 20 second video that is available on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/iECd3mIrE60

I hope you might enjoy some of it too!

Around the campground

The weather has been pretty miserable, but we did get out and take a walk around the campground. It initially appears small (like maybe 10-12 sites in the front where we are), but it goes way up the hill behind us -- a total of 150 sites, I think! 

We saw a few lupines:

They are so pretty -- often we see them while we are driving in masses along the side of the road (but not in any places that we've been able to stop and take pictures!).

It raised a question in my mind, "What's the difference between a wildflower and a weed?" Google pointed me to an article from UNC (https://ncbg.unc.edu/2019/05/20/wildflower-or-weed/), quoting a part of it here:

I once read that the only difference between a wildflower and a weed is our perspective. Anyone who has noticed a sea of pale purple as they pass a roadside patch of lyre-leaf sage or seen the billowing white waves of frost aster growing in a powerline right-of-way will most definitely agree with this. Many of the native plants we see growing along our roadsides or in old fields are often thought of as weeds, but many of these species can be attractive elements of the garden.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a weed is defined as “a plant that is not valued where it is growing” and a wildflower is defined as “an uncultivated plant” and “a flower that grows in natural places without being planted by people.” These are broad, simplistic definitions, but they suggest that it is all open to interpretation.

These are definitely flowers in my opinion!

They are much larger (taller with larger flower stems) than Texas bluebonnets, but I guess they are in the same genus (Lupinus).

Maybe we'll get some better pictures before we leave Canada.

Peggy's Cove

On Friday, we also visited Peggy's Cove.

Introductory information about Peggy's Cove

Welcome in 3 languages:

Mi'kmaq

English

French

A map of the area

Peggy's cove - picturesque fishing village -- pictures may have been prettier in the sun, but nice anyway!

Many of the former homes of fishermen are now gift shops.

Another view of the cove

Look down the coast toward the south.

Peggy's Point Lighthouse with a tour boat off the coast.

Lots of other tourists joined us at the lighthouse regardless of the weather!

Obligatory selfie at the lighthouse

Alpine horn player at the lighthouse.

Another view of the lighthouse - Carl "warmed" and increased the color "saturation" in this picture with photo-editing software.

While we were out at the lighthouse, fog came in, so some of the views of Peggy's Cove changed as we walked back through the village...

Gift shop building more muted.

Looking across the cove...

Looking out the cove - can definitely see the fog coming in...

Similar to the above picture, having been saturated and made warmer with photo editing software.

As we returned to the Visitor's Center where we had parked the Jeep, we saw a sculpture in the side of a hill...

A photo with Carl on the side of the picture to show its size.

Information about the sculpture and sculptor:

Grace

Bounty

Work

If you'd like to see a video, I've posted some pictures and a couple of video clips here: https://youtu.be/rUA5Kpu6gA0

We made our way back to the Jeep and then back to the campground. We enjoyed being out for a little bit!

Visiting nearby

Regardless of the rain and fog, on Friday, we decided to drive the few miles down to Peggy's Cove to see what we could see there.

On the way, we saw an informational sign indicating that a memorial to Swissair Flight 111 was along our way, so we stopped to see it.

The flight crashed in September, 1998. According to information that we've seen, the crash occurred due to "Electrical and instrument failure due to in-flight fire, causing spatial disorientation and loss of control."

A view of the site and the ocean beyond where the memorial is located -- there is a gravel path/walkway out to the memorial through this coastal area...

... to two large stones.

"In memory of the 229 men, women, and children aboard Swissair flight 111 who perished off these shores September 2, 1998.

"They have been joined to the sea and the sky.

"May they rest in peace."

"In grateful recognition of all those who worked tirelessly to provide assistance in the recovery operations and comfort to the families and their friends during a time of distress."

Another view of the memorial

Later in the day, when we got back to the rig, we watched an episode of "Mayday" that focused on this disaster and another news-type show that focused on the investigation done by a RCMP officer who participated in the search for the cause. The RCMP officer felt that the cause was potentially due to an incendiary device being placed on the plane (bomb), but that wasn't what the official Canadian National Transportation Safety Board report indicated.

Solemn location, sad to contemplate.