Lunenburg Winter 2015

We didn’t have a white Christmas here at Lunenburg, but we’ve seen nothing but the white stuff since the New Year.

The Back Harbour is usually frozen over in the winter, but it seems even more so this year, with the covering of snow on top of the ice.

It’s difficult to see what is land and what is sea, although you can clearly see the ocean in the background.

The Polar Prince icebreaker, sits in the ice.

I have never seen the front harbour frozen like this, since we came here in 2007!

It doesn’t look as if the lobster boats are going to get to their traps any time soon.

The snow around the town is loaded onto lorries and cleared away, but there are still some big heaps.

Even more snow is heaped at the roadside at St. John’s Church.

Hanging icicles look very pretty.

Today is another snowy, stormy day, with several more snow days forecast for this week. I really love winter and snow, but it’s so cold that there’s not much we can do outside. It’s even too cold to go skiing!

Happy Christmas from Lunenburg

Just to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas from Lunenburg. I put this photo onto my Facebook and have to admit it isn’t my house.

It seems that even here in Nova Scotia, people suffer from the North American ‘tacky light syndrome’.

Lunenburg has more tasteful lights, with the little sponsored trees at the bandstand.

And the decorated  fishing boats at the harbour.

They make for a very pleasant walk along the front.

It has snowed here this morning and this is the view from our window into the garden.

We should have a white Christmas.

Jeff took this photo!!! It’s a bit out of focus! – but might make a nice painting.

Have a wonderful Christmas, and I’ll see what I have to report in the New Year.

A Snowy New Year from Lunenburg

We had a fall of snow here in Lunenburg before Christmas and then it rained, so that we had just a slightly snowy Christmas.  We looked on while most of Northern Europe was being hit by severe snowfalls, and wished for enough snow to go skiing.

Yesterday, 1st January 2010, the snow started gently in the afternoon and by 5 pm Jeff and I decided to walk to Louise and Cameron’s for dinner, rather than drive. It snowed all evening and we had a tiring walk home through deep snow.

This morning, we woke to the best (or worst) snow we’ve had since last winter. We decided to walk into Lunenburg and take some photos. It was an interesting walk over Hospital Hill, where we looked out over the harbour.

The old buildings in the town looked good with their coverings of snow and icicles.

Many houses  still had their Christmas door decorations and the shop displays looked very pretty.

The  snowplough was trying to keep the streets clear, but the snow fell quickly.

When we moved here to Lunenburg, the orange building ( a great tratoria) was one of the brightest in the town. Over this past year the buildings on either side have been renovated and painted in very contrasting colours.

There has been a lot of discussion in the town regarding these colours. People seem to either love them or hate them. I wasn’t too sure about the green, but quite liked the raspberry building.

They have attracted visitors and there are always tourists photographing them. One thing is certain, these historic  buildings have been preserved, rather than being allowed to fall into disrepair.

The dark grey, white and red building is also owned by the same owner and sits on the corner across from the raspberry building. Its colours are more traditional and perhaps more acceptable to the majority.

Jeff went off to the Hardware store while I was taking photos and the snow continued.

We walked home, back over the hill along a very snowy main road!

We’d had an exciting walk and some exercise after all we’d eaten over Christmas.

Tonight the snow seems to be turning to rain. I hope all this snow hasn’t gone by morning!

Spring is here!

Yesterday was Good Friday, so we decided to have a trip to Digby on the Bay of Fundy, as we haven’t driven that far yet. Digby is a little  fishing town, famous for its scallops and is also the port for the ferry to Saint John in New Brunswick. It was almost a 3 hour drive, but it was a beautiful morning and the roads were empty, despite it being a holiday.

Digby harbour is not very different from any other but you can see what a fabulous day it was.

There wasn’t too much to interest us in Digby, most places being closed either because of the holiday or because they don’t open for the season till June. We had a look at the map and decide to head up the River to Bear River. We had no idea what it was like, just saw the name and followed the road signs. There was still snow at the sides of the road and in the woods, but this scene in a garden at Bear River was the first colour we’ve seen this year. I see these are called Chionodoxa or Glory of the Snow, which is an apt name for the first flowers after the snow.

Bear River is built on the Bear River!!! The first building we spotted was the Tourist Information Centre in a traditional Dutch windmill!

This Flights of Fancy store is a very nice Gallery shop with some really unusual crafts.

Unfortunately, it was closed and we could only window shop. One of the carvings in the window is from an elk’s antler, the other from a whale’s vertebrae. You can see me taking the photo and Jeff peering for a price label – which incidentally was $2,300!We had our picnic with us, so weren’t too concerned that the Changing Tides Diner was closed.

Or that Inn Out of the Fog, hadn’t yet started its season.

There was so much to see in this tiny community, that I will add a second article on it in a few days, so that you can see some more of the photos.