Hello from breezy New Brunswick

Hello bunnies,

Autumn has finally arrived in beautiful New Brunswick, and it is our favorite time of the year to get outside and enjoy the cool breezes, changing colors of foliage, and natural and historical monuments in the countryside. It is also the time of the year I always make sure to bring my camera along for our country drives and antique hunts .

This afternoon was nothing special, just a simple drive out to Hillsborough for an estate auction, and to Sawmill Creek to take a few snapshots of the covered bridge and creek.

We stopped at our favorite haunt; a 1950s greasy-spoon diner where the entire staff know us by name, and $1 gets you 12 songs in the jukebox.

The estate auction did not yield any treasure this week, so we continued on our way. About 45 minutes outside of town, through the winding country side, sits a weathered little covered bridge from 1905, where we stopped to get some fresh air.

Early Autumn is my preferred time of year, one where I can wear my vintage wool dresses with scarves, but still go bare-legged and without a jacket. Nick can break out his heavier vintage hats, and his favorite fleece-lined hoodies.

The natural beauty in New Brunswick is truly breathtaking. In a few weeks, the wide variety of color on the tree tops will coax us back to the countryside from the city, to explore the forests and hills that are preparing to sleep for many long cold months.

The landscapes of New Brunswick are what keep me here. My roots grow comfortably and passionately in our lush forests, our acres and acres of farmland, our dusty dirt roads and mountains. A country-girl heart with a city-girl shell, I will always call this province home.

I will surely share more of our Autumn adventures as they unfold.

Xoxo

Lenora

Coastal antiquing adventures

Today Nick and I drove out to the coast- Bouctouche to be exact- and we happened across this amazing antique shop.

The couple who own this place are living my dream. They have a beautiful property with a huge garden, an antique shop, and the ship building is the husband’s wood working shop. Isn’t this just amazing? We became friends instantly, and bonded over our love of vintage hats- she has over 300! I also fell in love with her shop kitty who had his own little wicker throne and basked in the sun.

I picked up these few gems, my favorite being the adorable peach and brown pillbox with the feather. Also, that wicker purse? From 1940s occupied British Japan. For $12 (great deal she gave me because I bought so many hats)

We exchanged business cards, and I will be helping her start up an Etsy shop. She has so many things, at amazing prices, that would sell so fantastically.

Her husband is this funny old hippie who is a local legend, who makes amazing wood art and has story-telling afternoons in the ship. The walls of his workshop are covered floor to ceiling in newspaper articles about him , his wife and their business and adventures over the decades, as well as photos of his inspirations, his wife and children… just their entire amazing life…. I was so in awe.

Long story short, this was a very beautiful experience all around. If you are in the area, check them out.

Parking-Lot-Camaraderie and feeling truly alive.

I feel I must write to you all. I can’t even bring you all up to date on my life before I can share this beautiful memory. That can come later. For now, I want to share this moment.

I’m looking out my hotel suite window, laying here on my newly-claimed-by-chance executive thrown. Unsure of everything yet feeling optimistic...some how I’ve tumbled into an alternate reality.

I’m looking out the window at a little group of men gathered around a big white truck. They are grey-haired, white-bearded and wearing fleurocent overhauls, with their favorite Canadian beer in hand. These men are fellow workers that my new employer has brought in from all over the East-Coast. This hotel is 90% fellow employees , doing a variation of jobs on one giant project. While I hold the operational management position , these vibrant men are the big , strong bones of this operation. The hard-working construction crews, and electricians. These men are how this company gets its money, how it stays afloat. These men are the ones deserving of the respect most management receive- management who’ve done no work the likes of what these men have seen.







The three currently sharing stories of homesickness over bouts of strong laughter drew me to say hello earlier, as I passed them. During the brief skip from my car, to the hotel door - I shared a moment with them. I juggled my Italian-takeout-dinner in my arms and giggled out a “You boy’s have the right idea!, while motioning down at the different six-packs of beer between all of their feet. I ask where they are from ,although their thick accents have already told me. These men call a varying spectrum of Atlantic areas home. Bathurst, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton . These are real, small-town, down-to-earth men.

I could think of nothing else on the elevator ride up to my room but grabbing my camera and stealing a shot of these men through the window. I clicked a few memories, and jumped onto the huge kingsize bed where I’m currently typing away feverishly. Photographs weren’t enough. I had to write. Even now I can hear their laughter floating up through the window…their parking-lot camaraderie is touching and brings a smile to my face.

My dinner has long since gone cold sitting on the table. Reheated spaghetti while listening to the three far-from-home-friends laugh and tell stories? This night is wonderful. I want to remember this , always. This is what I needed this very moment to feel truly alive.

.....

I stepped away to have dinner before I actually posted this entry. I have also turned on the amazingly beautiful movie Dr. Zhivago, only to be sidetracked. I hear more laughter …louder still…I peak down to see the 3-man group has since grown.



I can’t help but sit here and watch the scenes unfold out the window. Now they are playing old Cape-Breton folk music out of one of their trucks. I feel like I’m watching the single most beautiful thing that the majority of the world lacks…..but I can’t quite put into words just what that is.