September 2016
Monday September 19
The view from Luckett's Vineyard
Ann and I were out biking again on Saturday, this time to the Annapolis and Gaspereau Valleys for the Ramblers annual tour of the vineyards. We started at the parking lot of the Grand Pré National Historic Site, rode out over the farmyard reclaimed from the Bay of Fundy by dykes and then along Highway 1 to the Grand Pré Winery where we stopped to sample a few of their wares. From there we headed up into the Gaspereau Valley and up the steep hill to Luckett's Vineyard for a bit more sampling. (When it was all over we decided that they had the best view but the most ordinary wine.) It was downhill to L'Acadie Vineyards and finally to the Gaspereau Vineyard before climbing over the South Mountain (what they call the ridge of hills along the south side of the Annapolis Valley) and back to Grand Pré. We liked the wine at Grand Pré and Gaspereau the best and went home with half a dozen bottles.
Yesterday I finally got around to priming and painting some of the spots in the kitchen that got missed the first time around. So of course, today, the tapers came back to fix up a couple of cracks that appeared as the drywall dried leaving several more spots that now need to be painted again.
Monday September 12
Near Stewiacke
We have had another uneventful week, getting used to being empty nesters again. We did go on a nice bike ride with the Ramblers on Saturday. We started in Stewiacke, rode the back roads through farmland to Brookfield, then west to South Maitland and back along the Shubenacadie River to Stewiacke. For lunch, Ann and I picked up some sandwiches and cookies at the Brookfield Bakery which we ate in a small park overlooking the river.
Monday September 5
Along the Shearwater Flyer
Now that the summer is almost over, things are changing somewhat on the home front. James went back to Acadia today; I drove him up this morning and helped move his stuff up to his room. He is back in residence again, this time in a single room with a better view. At the end of last year he did try to arrange a place off campus with some of his friends but it fell through. Although he started out in Computer Science, he has switched to Mathematics and Computer Science as that is more in line with his interests.
It has been a beautiful weekend here though nobody would have been terribly disappointed if we had a little rain. There is a possibility that we will get the tail end of Hurricane Hermine later in the week but it is currently forecast to pass well to our south. On Saturday, Ann and I took advantage of the weather to go on a long bike ride, starting with coffee and cinnamon rolls at Two If By Sea Café, then biking along the waterfront trail to the Shearwater Flyer (a trail along an old rail bed near the old military Shearwater airport), then back along some trails through Forest Hills that we had not been on before.