John Payzant was born in Halifax Nova Scotia on Canada’s Atlantic coast. But, like so many Atlantic Canadians, he spent most of his working life in Toronto Ontario as an investment dealer on Bay Street, considered to be Canada’s version of Wall Street.

In 2004, he decided to trade in city life and move to the small town of Lunenburg near his birth city. Lunenburg’s historic waterfront is also on the Atlantic.

Since his city friends thought Read the rest of this entry »

Two time Emmy winning newscaster Deborah Norville is a successful author of several books including her latest Knit with Deborah Norville, as well as Back on Track: How to Straighten Out Your Life When It Throws You a Curve, and two children’s pop-up books: I Don’t Want to Sleep Tonight and I Can Fly!

The May issue of Success magazine contained an interview with Norville about her recent book Thank You Power: Making the Science of Gratitude Work for You.
Read the rest of this entry »

For the rest of my week, see my blog at the Grace in Small Things site.

1. Fresh lobster close at hand.

2. A new (used) stove

3. Running errands with my husband

4. The best pancakes I think I’ve ever eaten- at the Tatamagouche Farmers’ Market

5. A LARGE glass of orange juice for only a dollar – also at the market

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace in Small Things .

[tags]grace in small things, Tatamagouche Farmers’ Market[tags]

Hilary Clinton’s now-famous quote — “I believe in a zone of privacy” — made at a press conference to promote her 2003 memoir, Living History, referred to the media’s exposure of public figures.

But in the country, privacy is about your neighbors. Our nearest visible neighbor is across a field about 150 yards from our house. We lost a couple of trees in Hurricane Juan (2004) and Read the rest of this entry »

Inspired by the delightful movie trailer for this summer’s Julie & Julia I borrowed My Life in France from the library. (My Life in France for Canadian readers)

Julia Child, born Julia McWilliams the daughter of an ultra-right wing Republican, was raised in a “comfortable, WASPy, upper-middle-class family in sunny & non-intellectual Pasadena CA”. Although having served with OSS during WW II in Ceylon & China, she describes herself in her early thirties as “unpolished”. She had seen nothing of the world outside of her native U.S. and her war posting. Read the rest of this entry »

For the rest of my week, see my blog at the Grace in Small Things site.

1. A three day amnesty.

2. Clean sheets.

3. Toothpaste.

4. A free book in the mail.

5. Pre-packaged salad greens.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace in Small Things .

[tags]grace in small things[tags]

Part of rural living, especially in more remote areas, is the simplification of your approach to life. Living so close to the natural world–hanging out clothes on the line, growing your own vegetables, watching the deer in the fields–makes you aware of things that are not real.

Take toys, for example. Read the rest of this entry »

For the rest of my week, see my blog at the Grace in Small Things site.

1. A great musical & drama revue.

2. Featuring local talent.

3. Mounted in the village fire hall.

4. For $10 admission.

5. Plastic bins for sorting.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace in Small Things .

[tags]village fire hall, North Shore Revue[tags]

I missed National Hang Out Day this year (April 19th) because I was sick. No, I wouldn’t have been hanging out with my girlfriends or hanging around the local mall.

National Hang Out Day is an effort supported by Project Laundry List to promote cheap, low-tech, easy to install solar dryers – that is, hanging out laundry to line dry.

You may not like the idea of seeing your neighbors’ undies flapping in the breeze. Read the rest of this entry »

Buy it at Amazon.com

Buy it at Amazon.ca

Before reading A Life’s Design: The Life and Work of Industrial Designer Charles Harrison, I had never really given much thought to the design of everyday utilitarian items such as clock radios, hair dryers & plastic trashcans. From time to time, I may have thought: “That’s so easy to use” or “Oh – that’s a clever feature – I wonder who thought of that” without really giving any credence to the fact that someone had really designed it. Read the rest of this entry »

For the rest of my week, see my blog at the Grace in Small Things site.

1. We can get fresh lobster just a mile down the road.

2. At a great price.

3. And put our money in the fisherman’s pocket and not the middleman’s.

4. A mild, even though cloudy, day – perfect for yard work.

5. The trailer for the movie Julie & Julia.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in Grace in Small Things .

[tags]Grace in Small Things, lobster, Wordcount, blogathon[tags]

One of the bonuses of our rural community is that it is on the Atlantic coast. (In Nova Scotia most of us are not far from the ocean. The province is very nearly an island.)

The government of Nova Scotia limits the fishing seasons and rotates them throughout the various areas of the province. Although lobster is being fished throughout the summer, the fisherman in our area have only May & June to haul them in. So lobster season is here on the North Shore! Read the rest of this entry »

“Heather Summerhayes was six when her four-year-old sister Pam was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis and given only months to live. ‘Sixty-five roses’ was the way Pam pronounced the name of the disease that forever altered the lives of her siblings and parents.”
Sixty-Five Roses: A Sister’s Memoir
For Canadian readers – Sixty-Five Roses: A Sister’s Memoir
When Pam’s mother told the girls that Pam might die, Heather–the older sister, protector and defender–told Pam that she would die with her. From that moment forward, Read the rest of this entry »