So that was perfect

Some people do stuff on vacation. You know, they DO STUFF. Then come back exhausted. I've done this a few times. Maybe I will again, but it's not something I'll plan.

A few years ago in Nova Scotia was my first real effort at not doing anything. I wanted to be a beach bum for 3 weeks. I even gave up shaving, till the white stripe down my chin horrified me. I didn't want to drive anywhere or do anything but hang out at the rented house and walk on the beach when I felt like it. That meant walking on the beach at 2 am, with a nearly full moon, on a deliciously warm night.

This time I wasn't quite feeling that lazy. There were a few things we wanted to do, but mainly, it was to walk or run on the beach, and get some serious work done on my novel. Mission accomplished. There is still more to go on it, of course, but I got through a couple tough scenes I've been putting off. I now have a couple related scenes left to go. There is still a lot of little stuff to go. Like these chapters things that everybody keeps talking about. I wrote scenes, not chapters. I'll have to figure that out.

But back to the beach. We rented a cottage at the end of Crescent beach. Not the first end, but the second end. It was lovely and secluded, and just perfect for us. At low tide it was almost exactly a 5 K run to the far end of the beach and back, and I did that several times, once with a buddy. And yes, we had to pay attention to the tides. At high tide the only way out to the rest of the world meant getting your feet wet.

We were over to Hirtle's beach several times, and I ran on it once, for a little bit, then went for a short swim. It's by far the nicest beach in Canada, and right up there with some of the beaches in Bermuda. We spent a bunch of time just watching the waves. Very relaxing.

We slept in. Several nights, after the moon set, I stood out on the balcony and looked at the milky way. I met two blog buddies and really enjoyed spending time with them. I ran into one of the neighbours that lived just a bit further down the beach, and had a great chat with him. We bought souvenirs, once of which weights 12.9 pounds. Photos later. And we visited the La Have bakery several times. A bunch of times. Lots. Maybe not quite every time we drove by it, and we drove by it a lot. Butter tarts. Cookies. Molly cake. Date Square. Brownies.

The last couple days were a bit more fraught. We had been told by lots of people that just outside of Halifax is Fredie's Fabulous Fish. We wanted to try it. Finding it is a cast iron bitch. Worth it, but tough if you don't have a native guide. One of the days we went for a long walk in a nice Provincial Park not far from the B&B. My doggie buddies will be happy with me that we rescued a lost dog, and that was a lot more work than it really needed to be.

We stayed at a very nice B&B near the airport. The only thing we didn't like about it was the damned chiming clock, the kind that fire up every 15 minutes, and gong out the hours. Very melodic, but we aren't used to it. Perhaps if we'd been in an upstairs room we wouldn't have heard it.

The cats were sure happy to see us. A few hours later they were back to their normal cat selves, mostly ignoring us unless they wanted to be petted or fed. Linda's garden survived much better than she thought it would, with even some of the annual plants in the planters still with us. There is a bit of clean up of course, but it could have been much worse.

Tired. More later.