Monday, June 28, 2010
Liscomb
 It's been two years since our family has visited "The Head", Pye's Head, Liscomb, in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia. My husband's family has had roots for at least four generations, perhaps more. While I'm a relative newcomer, I've always had a good time there, and while I'm sure those early days were difficult, perhaps bleak, and exceptionally hard work in a place that is so rugged and difficult to tame, the beauty, the energy, and the nature are amazing and take my breath away every time I visit.
This year we were fortunate enough to have deluxe accomodations. Scotian's cousin bought the one-room Liscomb school house some years ago and had it moved to the family land on Pye's Head. The school house remains reasonably intact on the inside with comfortable bedrooms and a spacious bathroom, complete with clawfoot cast-iron bath tub installed in the basement below. I won't even beat around the bush here: I LOVE THIS SCHOOLHOUSE. Some of you know it has been my dream for a very long time to purchase a deconsecrated church or other heritage property to make my own, and while that dream hasn't come true yet, I can live vicariously through the schoolhouse!
The night we arrived we decided to have a bonfire on the front beach (Pye's Head is located on a peninsula, so there are more beaches than a person can easily keep straight: front beach, back beach, the wharf, field beach, and there are probably more that I haven't learned yet). With marshmallows in tow, and enough driftwood on the beach to easily find roasting sticks, we successfully burned a few marshmallows and watched the most spectacular strawberry moon rise over Liscomb harbour.
There's one thing you need to know about Pye's Head: you NEED good rubber boots. But, good karma followed us and we woke to spectacular sunny skies Saturday morning. We took advantage of the day to take the kids to Sherbrooke Village. I was probably more excited than the kids, I LOVE historic villages. LOVE them! But we all had a really nice time here. Sherbrooke has a long history as a ship building town and very busy port, and Sherbrooke village is, to me, nothing short of amazing and of course I find myself day dreaming about what life would have been like back then. I had a long, interesting conversation with their soap maker, wanted to go to work immediately at their printing press, and declared to Scotian that when I retire I'm going to work at Sherbrooke Village as their new resident soap maker.
Saturday night was family gathering for freshly-caught lobster to celebrate the opening of lobster season. While my husband and children dug in to the clawed delicacy, I remain one of those odd Maritimers who does not enjoy lobster. I did my best to extract the meat for Spunky, who enjoyed his lobster in a reserved manner. BananaMuffin scarfed it down as though it was her last supper!
While we enjoyed good food, good drinks and good company, we all watched the sun go down over Liscomb River.
Sunday, we were graced with ANOTHER beautiful, sunny day (two in a row is some kind of a record!), and while there were intermittent showers, we all walked single file through the wooded path to the Field Beach, a place I had never visited but was glad to discover. We all experienced our own little piece of tranquility and memories:
::Blue Flags growing in the boggy woods. They are a type of iris and I'm sure Blue Flag is not their official name, but that's what my parents call them.
:: Cranberry plants in blossom.
::My little girl lost in thought on the beach. I wonder what she was thinking...
I've discovered a little slice of heaven in a place where there is no cell phone signal and where my kids can run free to discover nature at their own pace. BananaMuffin even befriended a homeless robin's egg that her great-uncle found on the ground that morning.
Where is your slice of heaven?
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