Gadding About in Cape Breton With My Longtime Friends (75 year friendship).

Arriving in Cape Breton Island. 

This is a continuation of my last post.  We did so many things on this trip to Nova Scotia I couldn't cover it all in one post.  Late on Wednesday we arrived at the house, and very soon after our arrival had a nice visit from friends Catherine and Michealette.

Up early on Thursday to head to Sydney via St. Peter's stopping at the post office in West Bay to see Linda, friend and post mistress. St. Peter's is a pretty little town and a trip there always means a visit with my friend Frances.  In Sydney we visited down at the waterfront where there is a giant fiddle that welcomes visitors.

In front of the Giant Fiddle in Sydney.  

We returned to the house via The Cedar House where we ate a late lunch and stocked up on their wonderful baked items: bread, oatmeal raisin cookies, Aussie cookies, oat cakes and blueberry pie.  They were out of strawberry rhubarb pies, my favorite.

Friday we were up early and made our way over to Cheticamp and drove up the Cabot Trail as far as The Bog where Pat W. and I hiked out over the wooden walkway suspended on the bog.

The Bog along the Cabot Trail. 

In the afternoon we headed back down south to Inverness and the Cabot Links Golf Course.   The Panorama Restaurant that overlooks the 18th hole at the Golf Course is a favorite place to have dinner.  We arrived a few minutes before Panorama was open, but I very nice gentleman took us up to the back in his golf cart where we could enter the Restaurant without climbing the steep stairs.  He let us in and we each ordered a dessert to have while enjoying the beautiful view.  The gentleman turned out to be the Assistant Manager of the Food Services and when he learned that we were celebrating the year we all turned 81 he brought us champagne on the house.  And after our desserts he took us down to our car in his golf cart.  What hospitality!!!!

Our ride to the Panorama to avoid the stairs.  Great hospitality. 

Here's to our 81st year. 

Cookies and ice cream. 

Looking out over the 18th Hole. 

On Saturday we went over to Iona to visit the reconstructed Highland Village.  The church that is there was moved by water from Malagawatch. 

The pulpit of the church.  

Sunday we just stayed around the house, slept late and enjoyed the beautiful view.

The house.  

Our neighbor Patt Up (I'm Patti Down) had beautiful flowers planted in our window boxes.  

Before we left for Halifax I made one last breakfast where we enjoyed the cinnamon buns from the Cedar House Bakery and frozen wild blueberries with banana slices.

Cinnamon buds from the Cedar House Bakery 

Travelling with Our Tilleys

Tilley hats are made in Canada.

 
When Dan and I travel we always have our Tilley hats.  Right now we are traveling with our Tilleys in Italy..  See where we've been with our Tilleys. 

Pat at the harness races in Inverness.

Dan waiting for our rental car to be delivered in Halifax. Maggie is in her "taxi".

Dan shopping for a new Tilley for Italy.

Leaving for airport for trip to Italy.

Pat sailing on the Bras d' Or Lake, Nova Scotia.

Lake Gaston with Tyler and Zach.

Dan on safari in Kenya.







  

A Mermaid Tear for Grace

Sea glass among the pebbles on our beach.

While walking along the beach the other afternoon, I saw something shiny green among the small pebbles.  I had found another piece of sea glass.  Though never a serious collector, I have over the years  found  twenty or so pieces along our beach.  My favorite is one that is green and embossed on what must have been the bottom of a bottle with “Made in” .  I assume “Canada”, but one never knows. 

Sea glass, often called mermaid tears, is glass found on beaches of oceans or large lakes that has been tumbled and smoothed by the waves, water and sand, creating smooth, frosted shards of glass. Combing shorelines for sea glass is a hobby for many beach-goers either who collect or craft it into jewelry.

The beaches of Nova Scotia are among the best places in the world to collect sea glass, and in particular, the beaches at Inverness where we were last week.  We didn’t have time to go searching for sea glass, but near our cabin at Beach Village we noticed an avid collector’s license plate, C GLASS.

A sea glass collector's license plate.

A few of Brenda Reichel's rare pieces of sea glass.

There is a beautiful collection of sea glass at Brenda Reichel’s  Tears of Glass Studio in Inverness (www.tearsofglass.ca)  Brenda has collected sea glass since the age of 15, and now she crafts the most stunning jewelry using these pieces of glass that have been “turned by waves, tumbled through rocks and polished by sand into multi-coloured jewels”.

For my ten-year-old granddaughter, Grace, I chose a beautiful little pendant fashioned from  a single green “mermaid teardrop” and embellished with a tiny Swarovski* crystal. Brenda called this one "Sea Jewel for a Princess" and I thought the name and the necklace very fitting.  I hope Grace is going to like this tiny jewel from the sea.

"Sea Jewel for a Princess" designed and crafted by Brenda Reichel.

*The Swarovski Company of Austria has made the finest, precisely-cut crystals for over 100 years. (www.swarovski.com).

Bet my money on a bob-tailed nag--Doo-da, Doo-da

Grandpat (me) enjoying the races.

        As a girl’s day out, last Sunday Christene and I went over to the Inverness  harness races.  I’d never been to a horse race although a trip to Louisville and  the Kentucky Derby is on my “bucket list”.  We had so much fun that when Dan asked what I’d like to do for my birthday, I said I wanted to go back to Inverness for the Wednesday night races and a celebratory dinner at the new Cabot Links Restaurant there.

Harness racing is a form of  racing  where horses trot or pace while pulling a driver (not called a jockey) in a sulky.  At Inverness the horses pace around the half mile track for a distance of a mile. The horses line up behind a slow-moving, hinged gate mounted on a motor vehicle, which then leads them to the starting line. At the line, the wings of the gate are folded up and the vehicle accelerates away from the horses.

 

 

Driver in the sulky with his pacing horse.

Horses lining up behind the mobile starting gate.

Going to the races here reminds me of attending a Durham Bulls baseball game back home in NC, because both are essentially family events where folks of all ages are just having a a lot of fun  It’s fairly inexpensive entertainment.  Admission to the harness race is free.  One can buy a program listing the races with the entries and info about each horse for $2.50 and for $2.00 one can place a bet  I placed a few bets and spent $15.00 total for a fun evening.

On the first race I bet on a quinella.  That means I chose two horses to win and place, and they can win or place in any order.  I chose horse number 1, Liberal Arts Major, and horse number 5, Little Wubbs.  Horses 1 and 2 came in first and second, so I didn't win.  I chose number one because of her name and just randomly chose number 5. 

Gwen (on left) owner of Liberal Arts Major, the winning horse in the first race.

The lady who owns Liberal Arts Major was sitting directly in back of me.  Her horse won the race.  If only I had just picked number 1 to win and had not bet on a quinella!

Program for the harness racing.

I’ve discovered a new past time, have met some new friends, and I’ll be back next year for the harness races in Inverness.

Path of Gold at the Cabot Links Restaurant

The newly opened restaurant upstairs at the Cabot Links Golf Course Clubhouse in Inverness, Nova Scotia, ranks among the top restaurants in Cape Breton.  Dan and I celebrated my birthday there on Wednesday night.

Beautifully set table at the Cabot Links Restaurant.

The decor is  modern with white walls, white tables and white dishes, and the blue and white plaid carpet with tinges of orange plays well against the white. Mahogany panels on one side and mahogany chairs of modern shape soften the starkness.

The Cabot Links Restaurant dining room.

The lack of artwork on the austere walls may reflect the recent opening of the restaurant just a month ago.  Yet no art could rival that provided by nature in the breath taking vista over the water as viewed through the floor to ceiling windows along one whole side of the room.  There was a bit of  glare in the early evening from the sun’s path of gold  reflecting off the water.  Perhaps solar shades will be added to reduce the glare as needed.

View over the 18th hole to the ocean beyond.

The sweeping view over the 18th hole to the ocean beyond is matched only by the mouth watering cuisine.  Dan’s appetizer, an Asian inspired soup, pear with zucchini, with hints of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger was a harbinger of more good food to come.

Halibut and scallops cassoulet.

We each chose the dinner special, a cassoulet of halibut and scallops in a white cream sauce with shredded  red and yellow sweet peppers, snow peas and fingerling potatoes.  The halibut and scallops were just-off-the-boat fresh..  The rich white cream sauce was mildly seasoned with a variety of herbs. Delicious!

For dessert it was difficult to choose between the maple bread pudding and the fresh blueberry cobbler. We chose to share a serving of the cobbler.  Wild blueberries, locally hand harvested, topped with a crispy crust, garnished with fresh plump highbush blueberries and mint leaf, and served with their homemade vanilla ice cream provided the perfect ending to a perfect meal.

Wild blueberry cobbler with homemade vanilla ice cream.

                       
Husband and wife chefs John Haine and Tracy Wallace have a winner here.  I suspect you’ll be hearing more about these two award-winning chefs and this restaurant at Cabot Links.

After this memorable birthday dinner it was off to the races–literally.  Another birthday treat was an evening at the harness races in Inverness.  More about that later. Stay tuned.