How many of you remember Flat Stanley from elementary school? WELL, he came to visit us from Utah in Nova Scotia. To those of you who have no clue what I am talking about - Flat Stanley was a children's book written in 1964 by Jeff Brown about a little boy who was flattened by a bulletin board and his parents mailed him to visit his friend in California. In 1995 a teacher from London, Ontario saw an educational opportunity to recreate this in his classroom. Each student in the class makes their own "flat Stanley" and mails it to a friend or family member anywhere in the world. The recipient then takes Stanley on adventures that are iconic to the area in which they live. They then mail him back to his owner with a story and photo of the adventure they had together. The class then shares the stories of what their Stanleys did throughout the world. What a fantastic lesson in geography, literature, art, and even math.
One of Dylan's close friends, Three, sent us Stanley from Utah and boy did he have an adventure with us. He got to experience the life in Nova Scotia with which we have fallen in love, including fishing boats, lobster pots, native history, Tim Hortons, and board games.
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A lovely, sunny, yet cold and windy, winter day called for a walk in a new area. This beautiful bird sanctuary, on the outskirts of Amherst, is a lovely area for a stroll in the woods. Although the paths were iced over, we could tell that the area was full of groomed trails weaving through the woods, leading to a pond or two. On our walk down we passed a couple carrying skates and we were later followed by two gentleman carrying hockey gear - obviously, it is a popular spot for skating. The biggest draw for us was the fact that the birds in the area will actually interact with people. Dylan has worked very hard all winter to have the chickadees at our house land on her, but to no avail. It only took about 3 minutes after arriving to have the first chickadee to land on her hands, and soon after on her head. She was in her glory.
We were lucky enough to spend the afternoon on a lovely family farm on Saturday afternoon. The Baker/Beeler family were offering sleigh rides on their new family farm between Amherst and Parrsboro for the weekend. Their Belgian horse team worked beautifully together and Earle was an amazing driver, deftly manoeuvring around 90 degree turns through the forest. I had been in contact with Rebecca for many months as she helped me get situated in the area and provided valuable information on areas of the province fit for homesteading in NS and local hits. It was lovely to be able to meet face to face, see their lovely property, and meet their fur family.
Watch our video of the ride on our YouTube channel We discovered another treasure of a museum while spending a few days in Halifax this week. This modestly-sized museum packs in a wide variety of Nova Scotia history, highlights some of the unique aspects of the province, and gives the younger visitors an appropriate amount of hands on experiences to give them a well-rounded visit as well. Not only do they have artifacts, but they also have an armful of live animals with which visitors can interact. The current roving exhibit is titled, Dinosaurs Unearthed - a whole exhibit hall dedicated to animatroic dinosaurs, with artifacts and signage mixed in. It was a great balance of entertainment and education. Dylan's favorite permanent exhibit was a research ship that was set up so that patrons could drive, monitor the fish, and observe what was happening on board via screen monitors. She spent a good hour on that ship and still wasn't ready to leave it.
They also had a fantastic exhibit highlighting Sable Island, the crescent shaped, sandy island 190 miles southeast of Halifax. In 2013 this island was given the status of National Reserve due to a rich and diverse history of habitation dating back to the early 1500's. The island is a mere 12 square miles but is home to population of about 500 feral horses and the only structure is a weather station. It has very strict and expensive visitation regulations (a dream of mine) which helps keep the natural beauty of the island. There was also a lovely exhibit dedicated to the animals of the province with numerous taxidermy mammals and birds. A small room of the geological make-up of the province was also a hit for my sister and I. We enjoyed seeing that the area in which we are currently living may be the richest area of the province, geologically speaking. The last hall had a wall showing the history of the native people here in Nova Scotia and the other half was filled with a dozen or so live animals found in the province (mostly reptile and amphibian). Gus the tortoise was the biggest hit as he was out having a walk in the museum while we were there. This relatively small natural history museum was a lovely way to spend an afternoon in the city and gave us a taste of many aspects of the provinces history. While there, we decided to invest in the Nova Scotia Museum pass, which offers us entrance to 29 museums throughout the province. New goal - visit all 29 this year. Since she was about 3 years old Dylan has been asking to get her ears pierced. In Utah, many girls have theirs pierced as babies or when they are quite young. We have always lived by the motto that we will allow her to make decisions for her body when she has the ability to make them. At that time, we told her that if by her 5th birthday she still felt as though she wanted them done that we would take her. Well, after 2 years of constant asking, the time came. Will found a tattoo/piercing parlor in Halifax and off she went - with confidence and very little fear. We did not sugar coat anything but laid out the entire process of what to expect, including the pain and care, and she strutted into that parlor without hesitation. She is now almost 2 months into having it done and has been diligent on the up keep and care. There were no complaints even when she had to pass up going swimming, even when we had a hotel with a pool twice, while we waited the initial first month of healing.
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April 2019
AuthorCarolyn and Will Bollwerk share their adventures with their 5 year-old daughter, Dylan. |