an icy holiday drive

Where were you this past Boxing Day? Did you have electricity like so many didn't? Were you braving the traffic and crowds for Boxing Day sales?

This year, we drove the highways and backroads of Nova Scotia to visit Wally's father in Truro.

 

We had no idea of what we were in for.

 

Although we did know that the roads were forecast to be clear,

 

though that doesn't necessarily mean it's true.

 

We headed down the highway, me with my little camera in hand,

 

heading south on Highway 101

 

delighted by all the photo "ops"

 

despite the one

 

to two seconds delay on my camera.

 

You can be sure I had a lot of lost photo "ops" (oops!)  as well

 

but out of the 263 photos I took,

 

a few turned out.

 

Many were blurry but romantically salvageable;

 

most were tossed.

 

You will find that I am not my best editor

 

so I hope you will forgive the amount of work I'm sharing with you today.

 

These are more familiar sights for me now

 

along the road to Windsor where we will turn

 

just past this abandoned Nova Scotia Textiles factory

 (that someone had to give up renovating into condos)

 

 

onto the road that will take us to Truro, past these gypsum cliffs,

 

for an hour of sideroad travelling

 

past the most remarkable scenery

 

and humble homes

 

like this one

 

and this one

 

small farms

 

like this one

 

and large ones

 

like this,

 

always with the quiet that only winter can bring.

 

It pleases me to share this sheltered part of the world with you,

 

so raw for the most part,

 

that sees a steady summer traffic

 

but a much more local one in winter.

 

Every now and then, one will see a grander home that knows how to do up Christmas

with garlands wrapping the house like giftwrap ribbon.

 

But by far

 

the outstanding feature of our drive

 

was the icy winter corridor we drove

with these guardians of the forest watching over us

 

It's been a long time since I've seen anything so otherworldly

 

So utterly of its own primal world

 

a tangled wilderness unto itself

 

one cannot underestimate the vastness

 

of these sprawling Canadian forests that so typify the north country

 

It is truly humbling

 

As we got closer to our destination

 

the fields began to open up.

 

The grass wrote messages in the snow.

 

 

In fact there were graphic messages written everywhere.

 

Everywhere

 

It doesn't take much to understand how close we are to a time when nothing was taken for granted.

 

 

and I think of Joni Mitchell's song:

I wish I had a river I could skate away on...

 

 

 

The next afternoon we would lose our electricity along with 4,000 others for 15 hours!  How beautiful the snow, and...how cold!

As you can see, we survived, which is probably why I'm content to do this photo essay today in the sanctuary of my warm home. My fondest hope is for all to have safe and secure sanctuary in a home that they love, and , as always,

 

peace on earth