Play First and then Work. . .

The first day I was here, Friday, was all about getting settled in, of course. Then I had a Double Sabbath--that is to say, a Day of Rest within 90 days of rest, and that was great! I had a lazy morning and then went to a little Adventist church in North Sydney. Naturally, I was invited to dinner, and naturally they had (Adventists will get this) haystacks! LOL And they were delicious, too!

Then I went hunting for an Atlantic beach. For quite a while I thought I wouldn't find one, but I did, and it was utterly private--not another soul came during the hour and a half I was there, even though the weather was so amazing I waded! Sorry, I didn't take pictures, so I can't show you, but here are some Cape Breton beach pix, anyway:

Yes, those are my bare toes, just to prove it's possible in late September in these northern climes that are wrapped in the Gulf Stream, or the Atlantic Current, or whatever it is. This beach, however, was all rocks. No Hawaii-like sand here.

Sunday I settled down to begin work. Spent the morning slaving over a bunch of stuff which I threw away in the afternoon and did all over again. . . Such is the life of the writer!

2013 Writing Sabbatical--Day One: Two Rainbows! Double luck!

I'M HERE, I'M HERE, I'M HERE!!!!!

Unfortunately, so I only got about 4 hours of  sleep my last night in the states. But I left my friend's in New Hampshire a little before 5 am Thursday, so I was miles into Maine before the sun woke up enough to show me a pretty, sunny/cloudy day, with leaves getting down to business and starting to turn. It took longer than I expected to get out of Maine, but I did get to the Canadian border by 11:20. What I had totally forgotten, and left out of all planning, was that I promptly lost an hour! That customs officer just yanked it right out of my watch! Or maybe it was the Canadian air that was responsible. . . Anyway, it was abruptly 12:20 instead of 11:20.

At first, New Brunswick was pretty, colors also off to a good start, but the clouds started darkening and spreading, and suddenly would splash mist across my windshield, as if I’d driven through a small cloud without knowing it. By halfway through, it was raining most of the time, that irritating kind that makes you turn your wipers off, and on, and down, and up, and off again… It settled down to rain in earnest by the time I entered Nova Scotia, at 4:06 pm. Then it lightened up and got pretty, and a chubby rainbow appeared over my way! It was really fat and misty, like baby clouds made it, and didn’t quite know how to color. I took it as a good omen and hoped we were out of the rain, but it started misting again right away.

A little while later, there was a second rainbow! This one was right over the road, and I was trying to drive through it, but of course it kept receding and finally faded. It was brighter and more distinct, though. I was driving dangerously, rubber-necking to count the colors.

So, more rain across the mainland of NS, which seemed to take forever, but I crossed Canso Causeway to Cape Breton Island at 6:30, which was only 2 ½ hours. Then I got stuck behind slow traffic, but made it to the cabin about 8:40. 

I lay on the hood of my car, nice and warm from all the driving, and stared at millions of stars. The sky was so thick with them that I could hardly make out the usual constellations! The river was chuckling to itself and the stars were singing and. . . . . . 

I AM SO HAPPY!!!!!