Interesting Weather Vanes

In the UK, we were used to seeing the traditional weather ‘Cock’ on the top of a church spire.

But here in Lunenburg, there is a much more significant shape on the top of the spire of St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. Lunenburg became famous for boat building and cod fishing . Fishing schooners, fished on the Grand Banks and the largest cod brought in to Lunenburg was 211 pounds. So it is only fitting that one of the churches here in Lunenburg should have a weather ‘Cod’.

Today we walked at Indian Point and saw an assortment of weather vanes. Common birds, like the heron

and goose/swan?

Various forms of sailing schooners, from copper,

to painted,

to black,

to white.

The whale, like the cod is pretty unusual.

And I’m not sure what inspired the Flying Pig, but it looks fun.

The last photo is not a weather vane, but is on the roof of a house in Lunenburg. Does anyone know the inspiration? It’s not the Owl and the Pussy Cat, but is probably from some children’s story.

Moby Dick in Lunenburg

Lunenburg is a quiet little town, yet a lot happens here. This past week has seen the filming of a  television mini series of Moby Dick.

There was a need for extras and I thought that would be something very different to try, but as they needed women of size 6 and 8 to fit into the costumes, I couldn’t have a part. Jeff, however, was accepted, but as he was only going to keep me happy, he didn’t bother to join in the fun.

Lunenburg became Nantucket and the boat yard and foundry the location of the sets.

William Hurt plays Captain Ahab with Gillian Anderson as his wife. Ethan Hawke and Donald Sutherland also star.

The Curling Club ice shed was used for the costumes.

One scene was an auction of whale oil.

Another had the same horse and buggy driving round twelve times!

The first morning of filming was foggy, so it must have helped create the atmosphere for this scene.

The main water scenes are being filmed in Malta and Norseboat of Lunenburg is making 6  traditional whaling boats which will be shipped out for the filming.

Some more filming was done at the Lennox Tavern in Lunenburg and Jeff and I did see Gillian Anderson in costume with her children.

It will be interesting to see the production.

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.