Cape Breton

We have arrived back on the mainland.  We thought that we had seen the last of the sculptured lawns and the considerate, friendly people.   Nope.  They exist here on Cape Breton Island too.   We need to take a quintessential essence of the people of the Maritimes and, using a huge fleet of crop dusters, spray it over the rest of Canada.  It is not that we have found the rest of Canada unfriendly, far from it, it is just that you think Yohan Blake is fast and then Usain Bolt shows up.

As far as the sculpted lawns go; the Maritimes can keep that bit.  Mowing lawns to me is like putting lettuce in salad.  Everyone does it and it makes the salad look good but there always seems to be a lot of it and it takes a lot of time.  I have similar feelings about lawn mowing and lettuce.

The ride into Baddeck today was refreshing.  It was quite a bit cooler than it has been with a few rain showers now and again.  Since we have been existing in a heat wave since late June it was nice to have the cool showers.   I didn't even put my rain jacket on, I just enjoyed the sprinkles.  Luckily it wasn't until I arrived here in Baddeck that the rain began to get down to business.  Since it was raining and cool we had to have another Lobster dinner.  Sigh.

This morning I got a phone call from the Ferry service that runs to Newfoundland.  Apparently the Newfies heard Telen was coming and are scurrying to hide all their mussels.  Prince Edward Island talked. The Newfies came up with the excuse that one of their ferries is malfunctioning to give themselves more time.  So, our reservation to get to Newfoundland has been delayed by two days.  That set us to scurrying because we are now arriving in Newfie on the labour day weekend.  Accommodation is going to be scarce.  Fortunately the place that we had booked already was able to accommodate us.  Whew!

We have two days to kill.  I have been reluctant to do the Cabot trail because I have a fear of heights.  Every time Telen mentions it I squirm and whine but she has been supportive by suggesting that I was being childish and cowardly.  So I hid under the bed and stuck my tongue out at her. She won, of course, and so tomorrow we start on the Cabot trail.  I can hardly wait...

Cape Breton has a very Celtic flavour.  A lot the road signs are in both English and Gaelic.  Almost every face here is pale with lots of freckles.  It almost feels like we are back in Ireland again, including the rain.  The area was colonized by mostly Scottish immigrants, though, not Irish.  (Hence the name Nova Scotia) Since there is such a huge Scottish influence here I thought the lake here needed a monster.  I can fix that. I will go for a swim...

Today we went for lunch at Wong's Bras D'Or chinese restaurant and were served by a young lady with red hair and freckles.  Served our food by a celtic lady in Chinese restaurant with a french name.  Only in Canada, you say?

Cape Breton is really mix of Scottish and French.  A lot of the Acadians that were expelled from New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and parts of Nova Scotia by the Brits ended up here in Cape Breton.  This is creating a new mix that is unique to this area.  It should be interesting to explore.

By the way - the Cabot trail is mis-named.  John Cabot's real name was Giovanni Caboto.  He was from Italy.  It should be the Giovanni trail and they should serve Spaghetti.

In my world they would.