Saturday, August 19

We started the day with Joni's album Blue, from 1971. It's one of her classics, and contains the song Little Green. It's one of the most wrenching songs I know, as it recounts her giving up a child for adoption. 

On a more uplifting note we noticed some action down the coast in the Elliston harbor so we headed down to check it out. Unfortunately we just missed a performance that was part of a larger region wide art festival. It was an interpretive dance called Sturgeon Woman Rising. I guess it was cool, but my glimpse of the sturgeon woman looked more like a bad mermaid imitation writhing around on the beach. We hung out for a bit as the crowd dispersed, chatted with a couple locals, watched a seagull pluck a crab out of the ocean and devour it on a rock, and listened to the unique sound of a lone loon in the bay. Nice:)

We headed across the street to a little diner that we spotted yesterday, likely the only dining establishment in Elliston:) It was actually pretty tasty. I had a fish burger and Kari had a donair. For those unfamiliar with a donair, think of it as a gyro with a couple wrinkles-beef instead of lamb, and a sweet sauce instead of tzatziki. For food geeks, here's the story about it's origin in Halifax in the 70's: https://www.foodnetwork.ca/article/the-delicious-history-of-the-halifax-donair/

Here's a shot of Kari headed back to Shirley after lunch. You can tell from her dress how cool it was, at the same time it was blazing hot back home. Timing is everything!

Next we were off on a coastal hike. The 17km Little Catalina to Maberly Trail was about a mile down the road, and as all the trails before, it was spectacular. It was blustery and cool, with amazing clouds swirling overhead. We saw one other person. We did six or so miles on an out and back hike. 

Adjacent to the trailhead there was another art exhibit that was part of the same festival as the sturgeon woman. This dude wasn't named after a fish, but he was a decent painter. The second pic is a little hard to see, but it's a shot of another art exhibit. 

Here are some shots of the hike: 

We were also in the self-proclaimed root cellar capital of the world. Really. http://www.rootcellars.com They have 135 documented root cellars, some of which have survived over 200 years. Go figure...

Back with Shirley, there was plenty of time left for some additional lounging with our puffin friends:

We finished the day with a pasta dish with fresh scallops and shrimp. Love my wife:) We were sad to see the day end, knowing we'd have to decamp in the morning.