nova scotia: rural outtakes

At the end of the school year last year I went back to Nova Scotia to visit my sister, brother-in-law, dad, grandma and the rest of my family. I had such a fabulous visit, the details of which will be revealed over at Yuppie Love on Saturday. I thought I'd share some outtakes of my photos here. These are the ones that I didn't include in my post on Kait's blog because her series is more city-oriented. My ninety-two year old grandmother lives on a farm in rural Nova Scotia and these are some of the photos that I took there last summer.

The house above is not the one my grandma lives in. It's one that we've always called "the other house". It was also a chicken coop at one point. My grandma has lived on this same farm for about ninety years. One of the most inspirational stories about her is that she finished high school in her 70s. Perhaps my mother will correct me on this detail, but she had made it all the way to grade eleven as a teenager, which was rare for girls of her generation, and then had to drop out. I think it is absolutely amazing that she went back fifty years later to get her diploma (in Nova Scotia that's pretty much always called your "grade twelve").

She's also been feeding the birds on this property for almost as long as she's lived there. As Jeff found out when we visited together a few years ago, there is a very specific way to go about feeding the birds. For example, he was asked to go clockwise around the circle in the driveway to feed the pigeons, not counterclockwise. They would hate that. This picture of one of the feeders I'm including for Danielle. It's great to visit my grandma's farm, you can birdwatch from the kitchen window. I also had to get a bluejay out of the screened-in porch when I was last there. That was a bit insane!

This is "Kitty". Dreamcat extraordinaire. Its tongue is sticking out because it has no teeth. When it wandered onto the farm a few years ago my grandma (ever the animal lover) took it to the vet to have it checked out and mentioned that it was a nice kitten. Well, though Kitty was small, the vet was quick to point out that this was no kitten. Estimated age of this cat: 78 human years. So cute.

The "new barn" above and the "old barn" below. "New" might be a misnomer. No idea when this barn was built. The old barn has always been off limits due to structural integrity issues. It looks like it conceals some amazing treasures, it may have been a house in a previous life, and I'm pretty sure it was dragged onto the property by members of my family that first moved here. I have dreams of doing something with some of the wood with its beautiful patina.

Below is "the black cat". Does this cat have a real name? I have no idea, though I think it's name may be "the black cat". I love this photo of it and the black cat is way softer than Kitty, though less likely to sit on your lap and drool. I hope you've enjoyed these images of the farm where I spent so much of my childhood. Take a look at some older photos from this little corner of the world here. Where did you spend childhood weekends?