When it was the French school

Exciting things are happening around the old Blockhouse School near Mahone Bay. The 1962 building has been abandoned since the local French Acadian school moved to its new location outside Bridgewater in 2010. That left the property in the hands of the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg  (MODL).   Plan B was to bulldoze the property. They were looking for someone with Plan A.

A growing group of people has been coming together around a vision – repurpose the building, and show the world how it can be done.  Insulate it to its eyeballs and add active and passive solar heating. Use it as a business incubator for projects that will make the area more self-sufficient and sustainable.  Plant perennials that will add to our food supply in the long term, and teach people how to do the same. Aquaponics. Permaculture. Green roof. Composting toilets. Time-share commercial kitchen.

Possible future model

Check out the new website at TheBlockhouseSchool.org.

Tide was 2.2m (7.2 ft) late this morning (see this link for tide chart), and near the causeway to Oak Island the road was covered with several inches of water. In 8 years of watching storms here, this was the highest storm surge we’ve seen, with water flowing completely over the road.

Pam Birdsall in Canada Day parade

Just wanted to put in a plug for Lunenburg MLA Pam Birdsall and her website.

I first saw Pam years ago when we both had booths at the Nova Scotia Designer Crafts Council shows. Pam was a force behind that organization, as well as local business organizations and community groups like Second Story Women’s Centre, all while co-running Birdsall-Worthington Pottery Ltd. and raising a family.

Among her other legislative duties, Pam is chairing the committee to set up Arts Nova Scotia.

Pam would like her website to bring government and people closer together. Nova Scotia being a small and friendly place, its can happen.

Spotted in Mahone Bay: a sweet wooden catboat named Margie, nicely parked across from the Anglican church.

Mahone Bay Swimming Pool website

Kids in Mahone Bay learn to swim at the Mahone Bay Pool, a gem in the heart of town.

The pool is open in July and August, and welcomes visitors as well as locals.

There are public swim times in the afternoons and evenings.

Mornings are devoted to Red Cross swimming lessons, from beginners to Bronze Medallion and Bronze Cross.

The teachers are mostly young people who have come up through the system. It’s a great summer job.

Classes and public swims are not crowded.

Registration is coming up soon. Find more information on the Mahone Bay Swimming Pool’s new website, created by yours truly.

And so the shoveling begins.  We have about 3-4 inches of very dense snow here near Western Shore on the shore of Mahone Bay.  A friend near New Germany, inland, reports at least a foot and a half of “thick heavy snow”.  Meanwhile, someone in Kingsburg, which juts out into the Atlantic Ocean, has no snow at all!  This pattern is typical: rain near the coast, snow inland.

Here’s how a tidal inlet on Mahone Bay looked this morning:

Jan. 13, 2011, after a snowstorm. Taken with a Fujifilm FinePix S1800 at the widest angle setting, equivalent to 28mm.

St. John's Lutheran Mother & Daughter Choir, taken from the back of the church with a Fujifilm FinePix F1800, which has an 18x optical zoom. This photo was taken hand-held, from the back of the church, and isn't even at full zoom.

Don’t ever imagine that life in the more rural parts of Nova Scotia is devoid of fine cultural experiences.  In fact, there is more going on in many communities than a busy person can take in, and often it is all the richer for being home-grown.

Such was the case tonight when the St. John’s Lutheran Mother & Daughter Choir, directed by Leslee Barry, presented their Christmas Concert.  The beautiful, large church was packed.  No wonder: the music was very fine, with interesting, complex arrangements well executed, and very accomplished instrumentalists accompanying the choir. Much money was raised for the local food bank, and everyone went home satisfied, and in fine Christmas spirit.

Photos taken with a Fujifilm FinePix S1800 digital camera.

Christmas concert in St. John's Lutheran, Mahone Bay, one of the "Three Churches". Taken at wide angle (28mm) with the Fujifilm FinePix S1800.

So much the better for knowing several people in the choir!  That’s the human scale of life here in Nova Scotia.

House on Edgewater St., Mahone Bay, between the churches. I was impressed by how the S1800 could take pictures at high ISO settings (here ISO 800) allowing after-dark, no flash, no tripod photography like this.

Grey birch on a neighbour's lawn

Many people were without power for a day or two due to trees and branches falling on power lines.

Damaged roller-reefing jib in Mahone Bay harbour

One of the two floating cabins in Mahone Bay harbour dragged its mooring inland.

Who's the strongest of us all? This spider's web is battered but not broken.