The Candy Fairy is coming on Halloween!

Halloween ghostIf you ever saw the movie Elf, you know that Santa’s elves live on candy. “We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup,” Buddy the Elf explains.

Don’t you think Santa’s kitchen must run low on supplies before Christmas Eve?

Not if the Candy Fairy can help it. She’s a sister of the Tooth Fairy, and she works for Santa Claus.

If, and only if, your parents are well connected, she will come to your house while you sleep on Halloween night – if you can sleep after eating all that sugar – and in exchange for a BIG pile of candy, she’ll leave you an early Christmas present from Santa’s workshop.

She’ll let you keep your favourites – maybe you want to keep the chips and the chocolate bars. You decide. She’ll take the rest and leave you a cool toy.

Ask your parents if they know the Candy Fairy.

The Foreign Protestants of Lunenburg – Video

Lunenburg is unique in Nova Scotia in its history and personality. Much of that has to do with the people who settled the town in 1753.

My son participated in a youth documentary filmmaking workshop in September 2014. It was part of the (first annual, as it was a great success) Lunenburg Doc Fest.  Here is the result of his work:

“There’s lots of room here to be different”

Talking to people who are drawn to live on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, I find it interesting to learn about what attracts them here.

Living in Nova Scotia is a choice, whether you come from “away” or  have your roots in the province.

I often buy meat from Kevin Veinot at local farmers’ markets. His farm has been in his family for seven generations. Yet he too has made a conscious choice to live here, and to farm sustainably.

As he says in this video, “There’s lots of room here to be different.”

Nova Scotia Sea School Restoring Dorothea

An iconic sight in the waters of Mahone Bay and beyond, Dorothea has taken hundreds of young people on maritime sailing adventures as part of the Nova Scotia Sea School.

It’s the kind of intense, group adventure that teenagers crave and need for their development, and that schools don’t usually provide.

Lives have been changed.

Dorothea needs an overhaul. Compare the $30,000 they’re looking for to the cost of rebuilding Bluenose II! Small projects like this are very satisfying to support as they can have a huge positive impact on individual lives.

 

Click here to visit the Nova Scotia Sea School website.

Mahone Bay Swimming Pool

Mahone Bay Swimming Pool website

Kids in Mahone Bay learn to swim at the Mahone Bay Pool, a gem in the heart of town.

The pool is open in July and August, and welcomes visitors as well as locals.

There are public swim times in the afternoons and evenings.

Mornings are devoted to Red Cross swimming lessons, from beginners to Bronze Medallion and Bronze Cross.

The teachers are mostly young people who have come up through the system. It’s a great summer job.

Classes and public swims are not crowded.

Registration is coming up soon. Find more information on the Mahone Bay Swimming Pool’s new website, created by yours truly.

Summer Day Camps at the South Shore Waldorf School

Children dance with butterfly wings at the South Shore Waldorf School. Click photo to visit camp descriptions.

Looking for activities for your creative kid(s) this summer?  Maybe you’ll be visiting Nova Scotia and would like something special for the children to do while you’re on the South Shore visiting Mahone Bay, Lunenburg, Chester, LaHave, Rissers Beach etc.

Every summer, a group of creative artists, theatre folk and teachers have been hosting Day Camps at the South Shore Waldorf School in Blockhouse, near Mahone Bay.  For little ones aged 3-7 there is the “Morning Glory” program, and for an older age group, variously 4-12, there is “Summer Arts“, including a week for early teens aged 12-15 in August.   You can attend for just a day or for a week at a time.  Programs and teachers change from week to week, so check out the program.

The school is in a beautiful, natural setting with fields, woods, swings and other play structures, and an enclosed play area for little ones.  The school itself is a beautiful old building with lots of character, polished by 100 years of little hands and footsteps.  A new annex has expanded the school’s capacity to provide art and nature based education in the Waldorf tradition.

Tourists are very welcome at the Day Camps.  Some of the teachers speak German or French.

Chester Skate Park Raises the Vibe

The brand new Chester Skate Park. Photo by M. Sepulchre
The brand new Chester Skate Park. Photo by M. Sepulchre

It’s finished.  Spearheaded by students from Chester Middle School, looking for ways to create more cool activities to keep kids out of trouble and promote an active lifestyle, and several years in the making, the concrete Skate Park is now a very impressive reality.

I bet that the successful organizing effort has yielded as many benefits to the community as the park itself. Congratulations to all involved!

More about the Chester Skate Park.