Old Ones Dream

The End of World War II and Rationing, and the birth of Joe B

Thomas brought Libba and newborn Joe B home from the Tri-County Hospital and I remember (in monochrome) the simultaneous delivery of a new clothes washing machine. Watch out! Here we go again because that was July 1945 and according to some sources washing machine production had been suspended by the war effort no later than June 1942 and did not resume until 1947 (or possibly 1946). Read more →

Nova Scotia: Halifax, Lunenburg and Baddeck

After a week at Five Islands and a week at Parker's Cove we moved over to the Halifax area at the juncture of the South Shore and the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia. Halifax is a beautiful historic city with much to see and do with a great music scene in the bars down on the docks. An urban soul could find enough to keep them occupied for several days. Our rural souls just hit the high spots, being sure to visit the farmer's market, and got out of town at the end of the day. Read more →

On Blogging; Team Memory, Comparative Remembrance, and Self Absorption

I had a notion that family stories could be told (together). I did not have the notion that more and more folk are turned off by the internet. Turned off by the incessant noise and the tsunami of totally bogus stuff and by the very real security threats; turned off such that they really don't care to winnow the wheat and the chaff, and that they consequently more and more refuse to click on a link to anything. Read more →

German Prisoners of War in South Carolina

The Afrika Corps did not receive adequate support from Berlin and surrendered in May 1943. The Allies found themselves with 275,000 German and Italian prisoners. Feeding and housing these prisoners in Africa was a rather large logistics burden at the end of an already overloaded long supply line. It was decided to transport the prisoners back to the U. S. in Liberty Ships that would have been otherwise returning empty. Read more →

Remembrance: Stories, Dreams and Song

My very first memory (monochrome), took place at the Northwest corner of the Farm compound where the large cast iron bell for “calling all hands” was mounted. Thomas was away on this day and Libba “called all hands” and tore down an old barn that had been falling down for as long as she could endure. They removed it by the time the squire returned. Read more →

The Best I Ever Had: Liver and Onions

One of the reasons that we chose Freeport Whale and Seabird Tours at Freeport NS for our whale watching excursion was that we had seen it written that one of the really good restaurants in Nova Scotia is located at the dock and that the ticket office for the whale watching tour is located in the restaurant, Lavena's Catch Cafe. Read more →

Whale Watching in Nova Scotia

We boarded and headed north into the Bay of Fundy where, within about 20 minutes, we were among humpback whales - and we remained among whales for about two hours.We had a great time. We saw and cavorted with more whales than we could have reasonably expected, the equipment performed well, and the personnel were very gracious and informative. The trip exceeded our expectations and we would give it 5 stars. Read more →