Wendy's Unoffical Guide to
Nova Scotia Good Times

Indian Harbour, Nova Scotia

Hello!

to my site!

My name is Wendy, and I'd like to take you on a mini-tour of some of the fun things we do in my home province, Nova Scotia. Sit back, grab a "cuppa" (tea!) relax, and I hope you enjoy your stay!

For those of you who may be familiar with people from Maritime Canada, you'll know that we love to have good times!! Music lovin', food eatin', family and friends get-togethers good times! Some of these events can be known as a Kitchen Party, or Ceilidh (pronounced
'kay-leey', meaning 'festival/party')

Ok, ok - so what's a kitchen party, right? No, we don't go swimming in the sink or dancing on the 'fridge! You see, we maritimers believe that the kitchen is the 'heart' of the home. So what better place to have a party than in the kitchen? (It's also where the food and drinks are too!) Young and old alike love a good times maritime kitchen party!

Want to have a Kitchen Party of your very own? Well, here's how :

Find a kitchen. Any kitchen will do, but the bigger the better!
Fill it with your family and friends.
Procure some food. No one should sing on an empty stomach.
Put some drinks in the sink to chill. (Remember, the 'fridge is full of food!)
Grab some musicians. None handy? Throw on some music. Turn up the volume. This would be a good time to invite the neighbours if you haven't already.
Celebrate. Dance. Sing along. Eat! Drink! Above all, have a good time!

You are now having your very own kitchen party!!!

When you're not in the partying mood, you can always find something else to do in Nova Scotia. From mountains to oceans to valleys, we've got it all. This leads to endless possibilities for entertaining oneself (and others, as the case may be). One of my personal favorites is whale watching. Humpback, Pilot, Minke, and Finback whales frequent the Bay of Fundy throughout the warmer months of the year. You can also whale watch from other points throughout Nova Scotia, since we're almost completly surrounded by water. It's a truly breathtaking experience to watch one of these great beauties glide through the ocean!

Of course, there are lots of other water activities if whale watching doesn't appeal to you. Canoeing, swimming, sailing - with so much salt and fresh water around, the biggest problem you'll encounter is deciding which activity you want to do!

However, for those who suffer from sea sickness and turn green in their own bathtub, there's an endless list of land lubbing activities. Maybe you just like to gaze at the water, not float on it? Check one of our local newspapers for the high and low tide times (you don't want to get stranded by the tide, that's dangerous - we have some of the highest tides in the world) and then head out for a little beachcombing. You never know what you might discover drifted onto the beach. Of course, you'll find the usual things you'd expect to see on a beach - shells, pretty rocks. But you can also find not-so-usual things too. Like a lifetime supply of rope tangling up your feet as you walk along the Bay of Fundy's rocky shores - you'll never have to buy any! Don't forget to turn over the odd rock or two - a favorite hiding place of crabs. Beware, though, they may be small but they pinch big! Hear these funny popping noises under your shoes? Take a closer look - it's seaweed. Brown, green, reddish brown - quite colorful to look at, but watch your step, it's very slippery when wet! Oh, and that shiny stuff winking at you in the sun? It's quartz! The cliffs on the Bay of Fundy shore are full of it.

For a quieter, smoother, sandier walk, head to Nova Scotia's south shore. The beaches are endless, the sand soft, and the view of the Atlantic ocean is breathtaking. You probably won't find as many objects embedded in the sand here, but it's worth the walk anyway!

You'll never be bored on your beachcombing expedition. But please take along a garbage bag when you go. There are many inconsiderate people who decide the ocean is their trash can. And take home as much of that rope as you can carry. We can all help clean it up, right?

Tired from your walk along the beach? That fresh salt air making you a little hungry, maybe? Well, how about some seafood? Lucious lobsters, tasty clams, fresh fish that just melts in your mouth. There is no shortage of seafood restaurants offering a wide variety to choose from. But the best you'll ever taste is that you've caught yourself.

Clam digging. Oh what fun you'll have doing this, if being in mud up to your knees and racing the tide to the shore doesn't bother you. Put on the oldest pair of pants you've got, gather up a bunch of your friends, some buckets, a shovel or two and head off for one of the most hilarious funny times you'll ever have gathering your own food.

Have you ever walked a beach and had water squirt up by your toes? I certainly have - sometimes the water has squirted up over my head, too. Well, in certain parts of Nova Scotia, that water in your face means clams under the sand. It's about the only indication you'll get of where they've hidden themselves unless you intend to dig up the majority of the beach. (By the time you do that, you'll be too tired to put the clams into the bucket.) Clams tend to congregate in "beds", and you'll never know where that bed is unless you happen to walk on it. So take off your shoes, roll up your pant legs, put the shovel over your shoulder and the bucket in the other hand and start walking!

Squirt! Hey, you've found your first clam! Okay, now comes the fun part. You've got to dig the hole, find the clam, put it in the bucket and then go find the next one. Fun? Where's the fun? Well, the fun starts when you realize that the tide is coming in faster than you can dig the clams. And then you notice something else - when you stop to dig, your feet disappear. You're sinking! Before you've got the clam, you're up to your knees. Who ever thought that wet beach sand has so much suction? By the time you've "fished" around under the water and you've got that one clam into your bucket, your knee caps are buried in sand and the ocean is lapping at your thighs. What to do now? You've only got a handful of clams in the bottom of your bucket and since clams are very small without their shells, you know you're going to need tons more to feed all of your friends.

You're off to the races! Well, tide racing that is. As fast as you can, you run ten feet further towards the shore and start digging. But wait! There's the tide again! How does it come in so fast? Two more clams in the bucket, and off you go again. And again. By the time you've got your bucket half full, the tide is all the way in, you've got sand in your hair and seaweed up your pants. But don't worry! Unless the friends you brought with you have been keeled over laughing, there should be enough in all of your buckets for everyone to have their fill. And plenty of laughs over the dinner table as you eat the food you gathered the
Nova Scotia way!

These are just a few of the fun things you can do in Nova Scotia! Hopefully, I'll get the time to add more stuff soon! Thanks for visiting!

For anyone who prefers to gather their food at the supermarket instead of "in the wild", how about trying out some of my traditional
Nova Scotia recipes?

Recipes

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