Sabbatical Journal, Day Seven

DAY SEVEN

            We had a surprise rain last night.  It was a fairly heavy rain, not just a light summer shower.  It happened just about when darkness was setting in and when the tide was coming in too.  That made it seem like a big storm.  Waves crashing ashore filling in the harbor with heavy rain pounding the land at the same time.  The rain continued until we were ready for bed so it was hard to know how long it really lasted. 

            When we woke up this morning, there were puddles in the driveway and everything was wet.  Clouds were heavy in the sky to make it look like the rain could return.  It did not rain, however.  Instead, the sky became gradually clearer until finally the sun shone through. 

            We visited with our neighbor who is renting the house not too far from where we are.  She is a college professor from Montreal.  We had met her when we were here three years ago.  She is originally from Germany but immigrated to Canada many years ago, when she was just a girl, so she has been a Canadian citizen for over 40 years.  She remembered us from our last visit and took to our little dog, Bo, quickly.  She likes dogs and says she wants to get a little dog of her own.  Bo seemed to like her also.  She is very talkative and told us many things while we just stood there and listened.  Finally, she left to do some chores while we got ready to go to the Farmer’s Market being held in Annapolis Royal today. 

            The Farmer’s Market happens each Saturday morning and it is one of the largest ones held in this part of Nova Scotia.  You can find plenty of produce grown in the area but also art and craft items made by artisans of the Province.  We toured the many stalls to begin and then began to find items we wished to purchase.  We first bought a hand knit dog sweater made by a woman who lives not too far from here.  It was of first quality and very reasonable in cost and Bo wore it around the market grounds and stopped traffic regularly to compliment him on how cute he looked in it. 

            There were baked goods around every corner, my downfall for sure.  We saw bread, pastries, cakes, and pies and finally decided on two loaves of bread, two croissants, and a homemade apple and raspberry crisp.  Then there was kale, turnips, peaches, and tomatoes that we had to buy. 

            We even bought a book that looked like it would be easy reading only to find out that it was actually a Canadian Sunday School book used back in the 1950s-60s.  It is a hardback book called “Myrtle’s Guest” with a picture of a woman who is a maid on the cover.  It may be a collectable but it looked like something we can find nowhere else and especially for just a dollar. 

            We love exploring the local community wherever we are and this is the second market we have gone to in a week.  We met a lot of really nice people, some of whom had to look at Bo in his new sweater and ask questions about him.  There are many friendly people in the world who will share about their own lives when you are willing to tell them a bit about yours also. 

            The human family still has many honest, friendly, caring people made up of people from all races, nationalities, and ethnic groups.  It does not seem to matter where we are from or what language we speak.  All that matters is that we want to open ourselves up to knowing more about them and sharing about ourselves and soon we have new friends.