Up the Eastern Shore and all the way to PEI

I'm sitting in a farm house just outside of Summerside, in PEI.  The snow is coming down and I am cozied-up by the window, 'no where to be and all day to get there' (the Bills).  I'm doing a Home Routes house concert tour of Canada's East Coast with stride pianist Grant Simpson.  The tour has been a blast so far.  Grant bought a new-used camera in Halifax upon our arrival, so the trip has been well documented.  We've been packing sandwich fixings with us and going out each day to hike in provincial parks and along the coast.

It was hard to drive fast enough to please the locals as we wound our way north of Halifax.  We had to take turns driving so that we each got to look out the window for a while.  The road was so twisty and narrow that it was tricky to drive and look at all the fantastic views at the same time.  Best to stop and take a walk around.....

The colours were beautiful as we drove along the Eastern Shore in Nova Scotia.  These photos are from a hike we did at Tor Bay, or as Grant liked to call it "Mel" Tor Bay.  Tor Bay was the touch down point for the first telegraph line reaching to mainland North America from Europe.

We played at an place called Seawind Landing in Charlos Cove, NS.  It was on a peninsula, a perfect spot.  The two Burmese Mountain Dogs that lived there, 'Beaufort' and 'Emmy Lou' gave me my dog fix for the week.

After leaving Charlos Cove, we had a drive on the long and winding road up the Eastern Shore to Cape Breton Island.  We took a detour to Canso and got to see some of the old houses that were built when the telegraph station was put in.  The old telegraph office is still standing, though it is in rough shape.  There was a beautiful quote on a plaque from the last telegrapher to work there, talking about how thankful they were for their jobs and how he was pulling the plug, the station was going dark.

It is neat to visit places that I've always heard of and tried to envision.  Cape Breton is the stuff of songs and stories.  We had a really lovely welcome in St.Peter's with a packed house.  We left the next morning in a blizzard with a broken windshield wiper.  We will be heading back to the island when the tour is over so that we can spend some more time soaking it all up.  The folks in St. Peter's are working hard to bring attention to the lack of funding for the St.Peter's canal.  You can check out the video/song they made about it at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TDt8hOGQbA

We've been to Moncton, Charlottetown and Summerside.  Today we head to Shediac Bridge.  We really loved Charlottetown and day dreamed about moving there and eating fish and chips every day.  It felt like the perfect size.  The most glorious thing was staying in an old mansion of a house that has been beautifully restored.  We had our own apartment with decor and furniture from another era.  Lying in bed Friday morning and watching Anne of Green Gables was the icing on the cake.

We're about half way through the tour and are so grateful to all of the hosts who have welcomed us into their homes and been so warm to us.  The audiences have been great and Grant and I are feeling good about the music we're making.

We're looking forward to the next week or so of shows,

yours from the Island of Princes (especially Edward),

Kate