Out With The Old In With The New Part 1

May turned into June turned into July before I was able to return to my beloved "Chateau", however time was not wasted while I was 3000 miles away. I was on my own now as the Chateau had failed to impress my husband on the maiden voyage. In many ways I was just as happy to be left to my own devices. This was to be my undertaking, my space, my house. I took great solace in the peace I thought I would find amongst the hills and waves of my new surroundings. I was still so very tender from the events of the year before and needed a place to grieve and shed my tears in privacy. I needed a distraction and I needed to feel that I was building - or rather - re - building something. Instinctively I knew this would be a cathartic process. I had no idea then that it would become a long term, passionate love affair.

So I took mental stock of all that was missing or broken and began to make my list. Sears online and I did a robust business. A new couch and chair were in order as was a new refrigerator. Before I headed east again I arranged with Frank (a local) to come out and install a new furnace, water heater and pump. I called the lovely, ever patient Mary at the Sears depot in Parrsboro and arranged for delivery of my items. Someone would meet me at the Chateau with all my gooides the day after I returned.

Yet again I eagerly boarded the red eye to Halifax. The car rental people began to know me by name and vehicle as I happily wobbled off the 6:30AM flight. I had by now fallen into a routine. Wait half an hour for luggage (you'd think it would be faster that early in the morning!), cruise past the car rental counter - chit chat with the guy or gal there. They always asked me if I knew where I was going. I always replied yes, though after no sleep on some flights (when the Maritime boys came back from Fort Mac and were a bit too loud for me to drown out with headsets) I wasn't as sure. I always got a 4 door with lots of room for luggage as I was hauling all kinds of gems from the homefront in Alberta. Extra dishes and pictures and knick knacks. Things belonging to my mother that would have a new life out east. New bedding. New tablecloths. A maritime flavoured wreath from Winners (why I thought they wouldn't have a shell wreath in Nova Scotia escapes me!) I was nesting!! Off I would go - stop at the Timmy's for coffee (double double) and an apple fritter and down the highway I would drive. I'd get the Halifax Chronicle to read once I got "home" and either drove along in blissful silence - breathing in the moist morning air - or I'd crank up the CD and sing along at the top of my lungs. All to celebrate the joy I felt at being in this place.

I didn't care that the furnace didn't work. I didn't care that there was no water. I was free to be with my thoughts and to do what I needed to do in order to get past these untimely partings. Many conversations were had with both my friend Gerri and with my mother on these drives to my reprieve. I would drive up the hill and stop in front of the by now, very wiggly stairs. Turn the key in the lock and...I was home.

Beginnings

Life At The “Chateau”

Think “A year in provence” meets “under the tuscan sun”…in Canada

We have all had that desire to transform “nothing” into “something”. To make that “silk purse” out of a “sow’s ear”. I actually took the plunge and followed my heart and wallet to cover faux wood paneling, purge bad plumbing and scrape nasty paint off outside walls. All for the love of a dream cabin by the Bay of Fundy. I wanted to take charge and fix this “chateau” since at the time I seemed to be unable to fix bigger projects in my life. Little did I know what I was in for.

It all began 5 years ago when my mother passed away. It was a difficult passing. My dad was in his mid seventies and could not cope, so things were left for the most part to me. November 1^st we had toasted to the news that her breast cancer was gone. By the end of March it had returned with a vengeance – we were all shocked and wandered through the next months in disbelief as the disease progressed. I read everything I could on breast cancer and bone cancer and brain cancer – any kind of cancer in case I might be able to find something all the doctors couldn’t. The Friday night before she passed found me on the phone sobbing, begging the doctor to make it all end. Of course that could not be done. Mercifully at 5AM on Sunday morning it was over.

One of my good friends had also recently passed away only a few months earlier. I had little time to grieve her as shortly after she died we had the diagnosis that my mom was terminal. Now that they were both gone, I did the only thing that I knew how to. I threw myself into my work, trying to run from the pain of knowing that I had been unable to save either woman with my advocacy, intelligence or sheer will. It was a dark and lonely time.

What saved me was my work on the east coast. I had been coming to Halifax and other parts of Nova Scotia for years on various projects. There is something about that coastline that soothes me like no other. The waves speak to my soul. I love the rough terrain and the winds that blow. There is something wild and untamed about it all. I feel at the mercy of what nature has in store - and I like it!

I was working with a crew on a documentary series. They kept asking me if I was going to buy some land since I was out there so often. I had frankly never thought about it. They kept telling me there was still land to be had for cheap. You just had to look for it. My husband and I had been talking for a long time about finding a place by the ocean but I think he was more interested in the West coast. We looked there once but the prices were way out of our price range.

Shortly after my mom's death one of our crew asked if I wanted to head up to the north part of the Bay of Fundy to see a play at Ships Company Theatre. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive but he assured me it would be through beautiful countryside. I agreed. We drove past towns with the most unusual names I had ever hear - Mosquodobit - Stewiacke - that one still makes me laugh out loud - there was Upper and Lower Economy and of course Economy mountain. Well...being from Alberta I roared as we drove up and down the "mountain". The name Economy was a good fit. I asked to stop again and again as my cares left me and I became enthralled by the scenery. The Bay was calling me and we pulled over many times so that I could run along the red earth revealed by the ebbing tide. Everything was new and fresh to my eyes and to my heart. For the first time in many months I felt at peace - out there in the middle of nowhere.

The town of Parrsboro reminded me of a small town in New England that I really liked. Quaint victorian homes, big trees, friendly people. And in the middle of seemingly nowhere - there was a theatre. Ship's Company - built around the Kipawo - the play that night was Brighter Than The Light of the Sun. It blew me away. The actors and staging were terrific. I was expecting to be polite and say how lovely it all was yet inside I was thinking it would be marginal at best. There are many things about Nova Scotia that would continue to surprise me. The part of the day that won me over completely though was the time on the beach in front of Ottawa House. The mists were rolling in and I sat on that beach and breathed in the air. Time stood still and in that moment I fell in love. Something inside me knew I had to be there, by that bay breathing that air and rolling with the tides.

I began to look on the web for real estate in that area. There was lots to choose from and it was cheap! I could have bought a trailer with an acre of land for $15,000! Oh my - I was hooked! My husband thought I was off my nut but I was a dog with a bone. Late one January day I found it. The house of my dreams.