Drove over to the east shore beaches north of Dartmouth where Karl surfs. Good waves but too much wind, so we stopped at the Rose & Rooster for coffee and brownies. Went a little further to the tiny village of Musquodoboit Harbour (“Musket-dob-it”) about 45 km. from Halifax to turn around and grab some fresh, locally grown produce at Uprooted, the local grocery store. [All photos Max Vollmer, Click on any image to enlarge]
Uprooted Grocery, Musquodobit, N.S.Fresh, local produce. Lots of apple varieties to choose!Everything you really need. Veggies, fruits, meat, seafood.
On the way back to Halifax we stopped at the Herrick Cove Volunteer Fire Station where my son Karl is the Captain. The station has five salaried career firefighters who are on call 24-7 and twenty four volunteer firefighters who respond to calls as needed.
Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency, Station 60, Herrick Cove.Karl beside the brand new Engine 60 which can carry approx. 550 gallons of water.
Engine 60 is only 3~4 months old, cost approx. $750,000, and is the workhorse with the pump that feeds up to four hoses. The captain rides in the right front seat with a driver who does not leave the truck. Four additional firefighters ride in the crew cab where they gear up on the way to a fire. Engine 60 carries oxygen tanks for crew, fire hose, and specialty tools like chain saws, “jaws of life,” etc.
Cab with computer, communication gear, etc.Crew cab holds four on Engine 60.Pump, the heart of Engine 60.
Tanker 60 carries approx. 1200 gal. of water, 1.5 km. of fire hose, and a two ladders, one of which is a 2-flight ladder that will support a fireman in full gear carrying a second person in the case of rescues from upper stories.
Pumper 60 carries approx. 1200 gallons of water, ladders, and other gear.Truck for non-fire emergency calls.
Bunks, bathrooms, kitchen, break room, gym, and Karl’s office are on the 2nd floor. There is a traditional fire pole for firefighters to descend quickly from the 2nd floor. You see the Canadian flag along with one with the star, crescent, and red cross that is the Mi’kmaq flag of the indigenous people. Here’s a good place to mention that the Acadians have their own flag which is the French Tricolor with a yellow star in the upper left corner. I see it flown on homes of those who identify as Acadians.
Traditional fire pole for crew to quickly descend from the 2nd floor crew quarters.Gym.Acadian flag.
Karl’s house in Duncans Cove is about 20 minutes from Halifax and adjoins a Provincial Nature Reserve. Fox, bobcat, lynx, mink, weasel, and deer are all native to the area and will occasionally cross the lawn. In the winter months he has the wood stove to supplement electric heat, which makes for a cozy living room. [All photos Max Vollmer, Click on any image to enlarge]
The house faces east.Karl in the kitchen.Warming my feet in the living room.
Spruce trees are sparse on the thin soil and the vegetation is buffeted by strong winds most days of the year.
Looking to the south.Looking to the north and the lighthouse. Halifax on the distant horizon.
I hiked across the reserve to the lighthouse in 50 degree weather and then followed the rocks along the shoreline back to the house. Waves were modest today, October 30, but the effects of hurricane Melissa will bring heavy rain, strong winds, and high surf over the next two days, with the peak of the storm expected on Friday.
Granite boulders.Breaking waves down below the house. This is where the harbor meets the Atlantic Ocean.The message? Your guess is as good as mine.Low to the ground Fall color.Subtle leaf colors at shoe top level.Gull feather.
YESTERDAY, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29
Karl and I rode the “Harbor Hopper,” a converted WW II amphibious vehicle that took us sightseeing around downtown Halifax and then, being amphibious, drove into the harbor so we could see the city from the water.
Harbor HopperSold out!Halifax waterfront and the Dartmouth ferry from the water.
I made this trip by train on VIA Rail from Vancouver, BC, to Halifax, NS, to visit my son Karl. For the first two nights, I stayed in the Samsun Hostel in downtown Vancouver. It was affordable, efficiently laid out with individual rooms ( 4 or 8 beds), plus shower rooms and bathrooms on all four floors. Everything was kept very clean by staff and guests. Free, all-you-can-eat breakfast was a healthy mix of fresh fruits, cereals, and bagels with butter and jam. Staff provided the food, but guests bussed and washed all their own plates, bowls, cups, etc. in the kitchen area at the back of the main floor. [All photos Max Vollmer, Click on any image to enlarge]
Breakfast at Samsun Hostel
I stayed in a 4-bed room and got a good night’s sleep both nights. Four metal lockers on rollers for personal belongings slid under the bottom bunks. Each bed also had a lamp and an outlet against its back wall to charge a phone, and a privacy curtain. While it was not supposed to happen, I ended up with a young woman for a roommate. Fortunately she wasn’t bothered.
My room.
I had a full day to explore a little of the downtown and to walk along the seawall to Stanley Park, a preserve with an old growth forest of cedars, firs and maples on a promontory west of the city center.
Downtown Vancouver high rise apartment buildings, with the seawall to the left.Seawall and walking/cycling path out to Stanley Park.Path by giant Western red cedar.Cedar, firs, ferns.Vine maple.The Inukshuk, traditional welcoming sign of the Inuit people along the coast, created by native artist Alvin Kanak out of grey granite. The Inukshuk stands along the seawall facing the open sea.
I boarded the Canadian, VIA Rail’s premier scenic run from Vancouver, BC, to Toronto, Ontario, on Sunday afternoon, 10/20. The entire train including my sleeper is vintage 1955, venerable but well maintained, with lots of solid stainless steel and aluminum trim and a few genuine leather details. I had my cabin, meant for two, to myself and appreciated the quiet comfort.
My room.My room with private bathroom.
Meals are included in the sleeper fare and are served in the dining car by reservation. Tables for four meant that I met people from Germany, France, and Japan. The real surprise was how many of my fellow passengers, couples and singles, young and old, were Canadians (the majority) and many of them French speaking. Few were from the U.S. which was fine with me. Dinners included rack of lamb, beef tenderloin, and salmon, all excellent.
I took advantage of the surprisingly roomy shower room at one end of the sleeping car each morning at around 6:00 a.m. and then took a seat in the dome car to watch the day begin before breakfast.
First morning. Cloe, French graduate student, on the right.The train follows the Fraser River to its source in the Canadian Rockies.
Our longest stop on day two was in Jasper, BC, a jumping off place for Jasper National Park.
Stopped in Jasper, BC. There were over a dozen cars, at least four of which were dome cars.Happy traveler.
Jasper National Park does not disappoint and is the reason many people ride the Canadian.
East of Jasper. Jasper N.P.Early snow. Jasper N.P.Canadian Rockies. Jasper N.P.Late afternoon, day 2. Jasper N.P.
The next morning dawned over the plains of Alberta and, yes, it is very flat. Saskatchewan is pretty much the same, perfect for growing wheat, barley, and oats for export.
Dawn over Alberta.
By late afternoon on the third day, we were crossing the what’s know as the Canadian Shield, a region north of Lake Superior with the oldest exposed bedrock in the world. Something like 50 million years old. The climate is moderately wet and there were small bodies of water, like potholes, across the terrain all the way to Toronto, Ontario. From Toronto, I took a separate train to Montreal, Quebec, where I spent a day and two nights before boarding the VIA Rail Ocean to Halifax, NS.
The Ocean follows the St. Lawrence River through Quebec until it turns south into New Brunswick, the land of the Acadians. The story of Acadia and the 1755 Expulsion has not been forgotten locally. French and Acadian culture is still a big part of local life. Homes in small communities along the river were uniformly well maintained and small by U.S. standards.
Along the St. Lawrence River.Along the St. Lawrence River.
When we turned south toward Halifax , we entered Mount Carleton Provincial Park and the forest was a mix of birch, eastern larch (bright yellow), spruce, pine, and fir.
Mount Carleton Provincial Park.
My train ride ended in Halifax, three hours late which is typical of VIA Rail, where Karl picked me up. After eleven days traveling, I was more than ready for a hot shower and a long night’s sleep, a full four time zones away from Oregon. Karl’s house in Duncans Cove sits atop a rock face overlooking Halifax Harbor and is built on concrete footings set deep in solid granite and once held a shore battery to protect the harbor during WW I. Halifax and Dartmouth, NS, are on the horizon to the north.
View from Karl’s living room overlooking the entrance to Halifax Harbor. Lighthouse on the left.
Truly engaging in reality, however it presents itself, is far more interesting than any fantasy which smooths out the wrinkles. Embrace the moment that will never return, and experience life’s mysteies. [Click on the image to enlarge]
Actually ‘splitting wood’ more accurately describes what I do each winter in order to maintain a two year supply of cured firewood for my woodstove. [All photos Max Vollmer, Click on any photo to enlarge. ]
Red oak (Quercus rubra)
A year ago I felled a red oak tree on my property that had succumbed to a pest locally referred to as the ‘green ash borer.’ The base of the tree was a little over 24 inches in diameter and I cut the bolts (log sections) into approx. 24 inch lengths to fit my cast iron, airtight stove from Ireland. I let these bolts sit all summer to begin to dry and then in the Fall I split them into sections left to dry another year. I fell trees and split firewood when the days are cold to avoid breaking a sweat. Temperatures in the low to mid-40’s Fahrenheit are perfect for splitting, while temperatures in the mid-30’s are better for felling and bucking.
Split red oak
I’ve been splitting firewood since I was 11 or 12 years old. As a kid I used a Plumb ax to split wood for the family fireplace. For the last 40 years I’ve been using a maul which is much more efficient! Currently I am using an 8 lb. maul which is needed for these large oak rounds. When I bought my current property it came with a gas-powered log splitter that I used for one season. It was fast, but I sold it because I prefer to split the wood by hand. It’s naturally much harder work by hand, but it is part of what keeps me in shape at 73. Through the years of using a heavy maul, I’ve learned how to put biomechanics to work for me. I’ve perfected something like a full overhead, figure-8 swing that employs gravity, momentum, a pendulum motion, and centripetal force to do the work. My arms and arm muscles don’t really do the work of splitting, so much as they direct the mechanical motion and application of force (mass x acceleration = force) that does.
In the old plaza, Truchas, NMCounterpoint in Truchas, NM
Max Vollmer (Click on any image to enlarge)
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly… this is my way. (Anonymous)
Max Vollmer, Click on any image to enlarge]
