Red-Faced Canadians: Baie St Marie

Hello folks,

Fall fun at Kejimkujik National Park.

We have spent most of our sabbatical time in a place called Saint Bernard, or Bas-de-la-Riviere. Our neighborhood is tucked on an out of the way loop which boarders the North end of the Clare region, and Weymouth. Our mailing address puts us in Weymouth, but municipal boundaries say that we're in Clare. These are 2 very distinct communities, Weymouth being an English settlement founded in 1783, and Clare being a re-settlement location for recently deported Acadian people (resettled in 1768, deported by the English, beginning in 1755), and still remains a predominantly French region. We are located about a 40 minute drive from Yarmouth, where I grew up. We're about an hour and a half drive from the Annapolis Valley, where Tim's parents live.

Brier Island, just across Baie St Marie.

Keji fun.

There were a few big reasons we decided to begin our sabbatical year in this area. The major reason was that we wanted to be close to our families for some period of time, and the second, we wanted to immerse our kids in the French culture in this area, which is distinctly Acadian. These obejctives have been achieved- with so much more goodness on top of it all.

Through some old connections from our undergraduate days, we were able to find a house to rent in the region. We had no idea what we were walking into, but have been pleasantly surprised in so many ways. We live in a big house on top of a hill which overlooks Baie St Marie, many days we see more boat traffic on the water than traffic on our road. We share a driveway with the landowners, who are fabulous, and we have an ongoing agreement with them where we provide them with homemade bread in exchange for fresh haddock. Every evening we get a different picture of the sunset over the bay, and every morning I sip my tea while on "baywatch" (as Tim loves to refer to my passtime). It's great big wide open space, and we love it. There is also so much to be said for Acadian hospitality and music. The best being where these two things intersect- the Acadian Kitchen Party. We've been able to really relax and enjoy ourselves here.

First day of school.

The girls are in French Immersion in the school in Weymouth, and are adapting well. It's very interesting to find out that some friends of theirs are the kids of people I used to go to school with. Never saw that coming! The girls also dance at the local dance school in Clare and have made lots of friends there, and have really enjoyed dancing. We've also started geo-caching with the kids, which has been a great way to explore the area.

Tim has been working on local research projects with scientists in the region, which has been keeping him busy. He's also enjoying time to catch up on writing and data analysis, and is really enjoying spending his work days in his home office where he can wear slippers all day.

I've been spending a lot of time doing 3 of my favorite things: biking, baking and band. There are so many places to explore here on a bike, and we still have the weather to do it in mid-November! Fall always brings out the baker in me, and the abundance of local produce has meant a lot of time spent on pies. This also gives justification to time on a bike for me. As for band, through connections made at a kitchen party, I was invited to play trombone in the local orchestra. I love it. We have 2 Christmas concerts in the next 2 weeks, and have been working on that for most of the Fall. Quite a few of my old teachers are in the orchestra, and so that has been a neat connection as well.

We have about 6 weeks left here, and although the next stop is New Zealand, I'll be sad to leave. This has been a really restorative time for our family. A time to step out of the rat race and find joy again in a simpler way of life.