Gadding About in Nova Scotia with my Friend Jeanette

Our house in Marble Mountain as seen from our beach.

A few weeks ago my friend Jeanette traveled with me to our place in Cape Breton.  It was the first trip to Eastern Canada for Jeanette, and we tried to take in a lot of sights.

The first of the trip was very frustrating because we missed our connection from Toronto to Halifax because of bad weather and we were stuck in the Toronto Airport for most of a day.  I used this as an opportunity to introduce Jeanette to Tim Horton's, Canada's Krispy Kreme.  The maple frosted donuts are particularly tasty.

Maple frosted donuts. 

We spent a few days along the South Shore of Nova Scotia.  Blue Rocks, Mahone Bay, and Peggy's Cove are all worthy of a visit.

Blue Rocks. 

St. James Anglican Church in Mahone Bay.

Mahone Bay on the South Shore.

Peggy's Lighthouse. 

Dan's cousin Bruce and his wife Becky provided us lodging for the one night we were in Halifax.  It's always fun to see them, and we especially enjoyed their three Huskies.

The Huskies. 

Our main visit was to Cape Breton and our place in Marble Mountain.  It is such a pretty place that we need not have ventured away from there, but we did make a few day trips.

Full moon over the Lake with reflection on our pond.

St. Peter's is a pretty little town on the east coast of CB and has several little restaurants that I like to frequent.  While in that area we drove over to Isle Madame and enjoyed the scenic views from the Acadian Villages.

Jen and Christene having lunch in St. Peter's. 

Isle Madame

Jeanette is a native of Australia, so a trip to Sydney, Nova Scotia was certainly on the agenda.  On the way over there is a lovely view from Kelly's Mountain looking down on the Seal Island Bridge that we traverse to reach Sydney.  A main attraction at the Sydney Port is the Giant Fiddle.

The Seal Island Bridge that we crossed to get to Sydney.

The Giant Fiddle in Sydney, NS. 

I believe Jeanette's favorite part of the trip was the visit to Bird Islands.  (Check back later for a blog on just the Bird Islands.)

Jen on the boat to Bird Islands. 

The last day we went to the Cabot Links Golf Course over in Inverness and up the Cabot Trail for just a bit.  A trip all the way round the Cabot Trail will have to wait for another time.

Looking out over the Cabot Links Golf Course. 

I hope I have whetted Jen's appetite for more trips to the Maritimes of  Eastern Canada for she is a gungho travel companion.

New Tires for Little Red

My new to me little red Hyundai. 

I've named my new to me car "Little Red".  She's a nice little Hyundai that had belonged to the father of one of my Cape Breton friends, and I knew she was well cared for.  Dan and I had often talked about getting a car to leave in Nova Scotia to use when we were there.  When this one became available I bought it.  On my recent trip up to Marble Mountain, I got the car registered and inspected and drove her around.  She passed inspection, but it was recommended that I get new tires before too long, so I decided to go ahead and get some on this trip. 

Ok Tire Company in St. Peter's.

Frances at work. 

My friend, Frances, works at OK Tires in St. Peter's so Michealette (she is Frances' mother by the way and a good friend of mine)  and I took Little Red over to get the new tires.  The tire specialists thought it was more important to replace the front tires than the rear ones.  She'll get new rear tires in August when I'm back in Cape Breton.


Frances "supervising" the tire installation.

New tires for Little Red.

Frances has been a friend of mine since she was a teenager.  She is lucky in more ways than one.  A few years ago Bridgestone Tires had a contest for a cruise to the Bahamas for four people.  Frances happened to fill out a form and entered the contest.  Mind you the contest was for all Bridgestone Employees in the US and Canada, and she won the cruise.  OK Tires is a small business (the owner, two installers, and Frances) so when the contest called to find out about the winner, Frances answered the phone and the caller asked to speak to the Human Resource person.  Frances said "That would be me".  The caller then asked if there was a gentleman by the name of Frances Oram that worked there, and Frances said "That would be me, and I'm a girl."  The caller was flustered because she was not authorized to tell Frances that she had won the contest, when she called she wasn't expecting to be talking to the contest winner.  All she could tell Frances was that she would be getting a phone call in a week with some special news. 


A week later, Frances got the news that she had won the cruise and she had a week to let Bridgestone know who she would be taking with her.  She took her mother and two of her friends.  Frances' husband doesn't like flying and wouldn't go.  The four were flown to Miami and onto the Cruise with all expenses paid.  A great trip. 


Just this year Frances' ticket was chosen in the Chase the Ace contest in Sydney.  She and a friend who jointly owned the ticket each won $80,000 plus change. She had one in 11 chances of picking the Ace of Spades and she would have won over $1,000.000 dollars.  Lucky, lucky lady.  And it couldn't happen to a nicer, more deserving person. 


I think the next time I go to the Casino, I will take Frances along.