Tuesday, June 21, 2011

A Well-Worn Path

The path between Sunnyside and Gillams is pretty well-worn at this point. We are making this south to north version of the trip for something on the order of the twelfth time, making this our twenty-fourth or -fifth ferry crossing. You would think I would treat it like old hat by now but I don't. Obviously I must love the exquisite torture of checking the marine forecast ixty-zillion times, making myself sick to my stomach worrying about wind speeds and wave height and on and on.

Funny, however, that this time I have not been worrying at all. It's late June! The weather will be fabulous!

See how magical thinking works. Because I wasn't using my mind power to keep the winds down by worrying them to death, the forecast is actually horrible: gale force winds and four meter waves. On the plus side, I am so tired from driving the past two days that I don't even care anymore.

A few pictorial highlights:


The famous Mel's Tea Room in Sackville, NB. We always try to plan it so we can have lunch there. The food is actually pretty bad but the atmosphere is wonderful. The sign outside completely tells the story of what you will find inside.


Packed in among the spinning wheels and guitars.


Finn gets the special seat, designated for the snack-hander-backer. He fulfills his duty well.


The strange and wonderful radio tower thingies that loom on the landscape just before entering Nova Scotia. The signage at the gate leading up to them doesn't really answer all the questions these things give rise to. Atlantic Canadian friends, can you explain?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

just a guess--but oversea's flights (from NY to any point in europe) arc (they don't go straight across the atlantic). Much of it finally heads out to see near nova scotia.

I would think many of the towers are for all the different air traffic--(passenger, military, freight, etc) When you are back in queens i can show you (the semi secret) similar sight in queens for all the NY airport communications.

Jan Morrison said...

so nice to think of you all barelling along the road toward the ferry. We always stop at the Sackville, NB - coffee house - not even sure what it is called but it has high ceilings and big ole posters and great coffee and THE BEST ICE CREAM! I love the rituals folks get into on the road. I also love those CBC thingys - I call them the original dream catchers...
I hope your ferry ride isn't too crazoo.

Rilla Marshall said...

they are for Radio-Canada (french CBC) radio and maybe TV signals...?
They're pretty amazing, would make fantastic drawings.

Robyn said...

Thanks Rilla! It would be an amazing drawing - maybe it already is!