Part 7: Beach Time, Business, Construction... all on the up!

Since July 2nd, the weather has been stellar. Blue skies, a warm breeze off the cove... just lovely. And it's been good for our build that's for sure. On the morning of July 8, the forms came off and our foundation walls were revealed.

The forms come off and await inspection

On the same day, we had an important meeting. We met with the team for the "Energize Bridgewater Program". It went really well – we wanted to introduce ourselves and offer to help. This is a long-term project and we have volunteered to be part of the Technical Advisory Board; believing that our experience and skills in graphic design/3D design and animations will be very useful when it's time to clearly communicate and inform residents and investors alike. While we were there, they mentioned the video company that they had been working with and suggested we give them a call. Which we promptly did!

We met with Tim & Justin of Picnic Studios – they have office space below the Mug & Anchor in Mahone Bay – quite a sweet spot to work from, I'll say! So, we had a beer together on the back deck overlooking the bay (this is how we have business meetings now) and just got to know each other; talked about collaboration possibilities... ideas of how we could merge our talents. It was awesome. The next day, Tim called to say they have a project they would like us to help them pitch, so... wow! Pretty exciting. That's the thing about being entrepreneurs and being in a new location. The possibilities are endless and unknown for us right now. How could we even think about retiring? The best thing we can do, is follow up on leads, get to know the businesses in our area... collaborations are exciting and can lead to all kinds of new challenges.

I also met with the team at the Chamber to further discuss their newsletter. The first issue is planned for September and they were really appreciative to hear that we were volunteering to do this. Well, a quarterly newsletter is a nice little project for me and I offered to do interviews and photographs of events or member profiles. It will be fun and honestly, what better way to get our name and our expertise known to the members? I'm happy to do it. In return, we will have a banner on every newsletter and an opportunity to have a Lunch & Learn and present ourselves to the business community.

There is so much happening in this area! It's much more vibrant than we expected. Oh sure, we knew that Lunenburg is a tourist destination, but there seems to be a fresh energy and a desire to see the South Shore as a whole, thrive. Another lesson learned when researching to relocate: there might be a misconception about a region that is long-established as 'fact'... but when we dug deeper and got to know people who actually live here or who have 'come from away' to build a life here, we found that the truth is very different. We're seeing a lot of positive energy, forward-thinking and entrepreneurial spirit – it's exciting!

July happened and everything burst into life! It's super lush, green and in bloom; we've seen foxes, deer and snapping turtles along the road. Lots of osprey and we sometimes hear the loons call. LOVE. All of the boats are out – beautiful sailboats up and down the river... and there is always that nice breeze. Good thing, since we don't have air conditioning and it's getting warmer by the day!

There are many festivals, live music in the bandstands and outdoor venues, and of course Lobster Suppers! I discovered a weekly yoga class on the Lunenburg wharf every Wednesday morning at 8 am – early, so not many tourists around... only $10 and I just love it.

Weekly yoga class on the Lunenburg wharf looking out at the harbour - pretty sweet!

Speaking of live music, we discovered an amazingly talented group at Petite Rivière Vineyard. Wow! Best live music we have seen since we moved here: Donald MacLennan, an incredible violinist with Duane Andrews an amazing guitarist, as well as 3 young musicians; in the style of Django Reinhardt - really terrific.

Amazing music, food and wine at Petite Rivière Winery. A beautiful evening!

This is the level of talent we are hoping to attract to our space! And the winery did such a lovely job of hosting – they featured a local chef, had lovely appetizers and wine to complete the event.

We've been inspired musically because we suddenly have more time to sing and play our instruments. And... I discovered a women's a cappella group that practices right around the corner! I've been to two practices so far and I've been slotted into the Tenor section (high... sometime really high; my singing teacher in Calgary, Johanna, would be so proud - she was always encouraging me to sing in my head voice LOL) ... so I'm thinking of joining. It's excellent experience for me and 4-part harmony is so lovely. New challenges! It never ends.

The weather has been so lovely and we have been to the beach a lot... we discovered that it's much warmer than we had read (perhaps yet another East Coast secret?) and we've been in swimming. After watching some kids one day, we purchased some boogie boards (I think that's what you call them) and we've been playing in the waves and feeling like we are 12 again. SO. MUCH. FUN! We had exceptional waves last Sunday at Hirtle Beach and Alan put together this little video. I'm not an old lady yet!

We're getting in the habit of finishing work and heading off to the beach for an evening swim and walk. Alan says it's the best summer he's had since he was a kid, and I quite agree – even though we are working full-time, the rest of the time it feels like we are on vacation. Sometimes we get a twinge for the mountains, which I suppose is natural, since that was our 'go-to' for all the years living in Alberta... but the ocean, ah the ocean... for us, it is so soothing, calming and we are just loving it.

Back to the build! The forms are removed and insulation is added to the inside walls. When the inspector showed, he had no concerns and said 'everything looks really good!' Yahoo! We can continue on.

Another gorgeous blue sky day and another back hoe arrives, this time with Mike at the controls and the foundation is filled in over the next 2 days. The 100+ year old foundation stones are covered over and underground once again... maybe for another 100 years? Who knows...

This guy is soooo good... I am so impressed at how carefully he took all the fill from around my little garden plot, not disturbing a thing! The next day was simply amazing to me... and we can't say enough good things about Barrett and Melissa Risser and their excellent coordination of the project.

We started talking with Barrett & Melissa almost a year ago - we knew right from the start that we had made a good choice. Thanks to a referral from our real estate agent, Pat Price!

Mike was back at 6:30 am ('cause you can do that when there are no close neighbours) to finish up a few bits and smooth everything nicely... no sooner had he left than Barrett arrived to inspect the site and be there to receive the lumber and supplies for framing.

Same day, the gravel spewer is back, with a team of guys to spread the gravel and level off the entire bed of the foundation. We are so impressed with the coordination of everyone and how quickly things are getting done. It's great to live on-site and not miss a thing. No one has been camera-shy either! Maybe they're used to the home owner 'paparazzi' like us snapping pictures of absolutely everything they do.

And just like that, we are suddenly above ground! The next morning, Barrett is back to put the sole plates on in preparation for the framing.

Barrett spends the day 'solo' adding the 'sole' plates. (LOL)

That night, we walked all over the build, visualizing where the walls will be, getting a sense of the dimensions. I can tell that Alan feels an extra sense of pride – something he designed while we were back in the condo, coming to life... it's really thrilling. The very next morning framing began. I don't think we can express how exciting this was, to see the walls coming into view and the space really beginning to take shape.

Today, the guys are here, working away on more framing. They took the shingles off the back wall where the laundry room will attach to our house, and we had a look at the 12" wide original boards from 1916. Pretty cool.

Love these old boards from the original construction. I sure hope the floors inside are original too...

And that's where we are at. It's another gorgeous summer day. Construction continues outside and we're planning a dinner picnic and beach time for this evening. Happiness.

(To continue the story, click here for part 8)

Part 6: Birthdays and Building... these are a few of our favourite things!

It was finally a sunny, beautiful day on June 24th, and as the dig started, we felt a bit reluctant to leave... but Alan's birthday had to be celebrated in style!

Calm as can be... and cool to see the harbour from the water for the first time.

The Lunenburg harbour was completely calm and peaceful as we boarded the fishing boat and headed out to sea, past the lighthouse. Lunenburg has quite a history, if you're interested. The Acadians settled in the area around the 1620s and lived peacefully with the Mi'kmaq until the fight for control of Canada began in the 1700's. You can understand why this amazing, natural harbour was fought over.

Some good-sized cod, a pretty mackerel and a couple of ugly/pretty bottom feeders called sculpin... and quite a few pollock - Alan caught a few of those. We came right over a big school of squid and a few were caught and kept for lunch – pretty exciting, even for our seasoned captain, Bill Flowers! A nice added service by this outfit: they will clean and filet any fish you want to keep – which Bill's daughter expertly did on the boat ride back to shore... so best to bring a little cooler along.

We took the time to have lunch at our favourite spot in town, The Salt Shaker, such a sweet little restaurant overlooking the harbour... and then headed home to see the progress on the build. Wow, these guys move fast.

Our house was built on these huge granite boulders - these stones haven't seen the sun in 103 years!

By the end of the next day, the dig was finished. I watched Alan watching Brian in the excavator work, and commented, "it's every little boy's dream to operate one of those things isn't it?" He just nodded wistfully. LOL Later we watched Brian go down our drive and gently fix where the treads had lifted up soil with the bucket on the front. He could probably pick up a baby with that thing. With all the equipment gone, we could finally visualize the size and position of the new addition.

The yellow lines brought the whole thing to life for me. I could finally get a sense of the space.

The next day the forms for the footings were laid out and later this monster truck arrived, and filled the forms with cement. It's great to be living on-site. We don't miss a thing and Alan is available to answer (and ask) questions – it's super exciting not knowing whats going to show up next!

Look at the size of this beast! Impressive, and controlled remotely.

Two guys were managing the flow, scraping and levelling, and then creating a keyline on top with the trowel and... they were done and gone before noon. These guys are fast!

The last stage of the footings process happened the next morning. We're so impressed with the site management, as each machine arrives to do its part... this time, a gravel-spewer! Who knew that was a thing. Maybe lots of people, but I did not. The footing forms were removed and the gravel was blown in. Quick, efficient – basically shot gravel in and around all the footings and up the back wall.

And that's where things sat for a few days. We had more rain but apparently, the footings are fine to take moisture at this point. Well, makes sense... they will be underground soon.

The July long weekend was upon us. It was rainy and cool... but that didn't stop us. Off we went on another day of exploring! This time we took the LaHave ferry across the LaHave river – its about 15 minutes away and crosses just before the river opens up to the ocean; a sweet little cable ferry, $7/car and takes about 10 minutes to get across to the town of .... LaHave. They weren't all that inventive with names around these parts. LOL This little area is bustling this time of year with the LaHave Bakery and a few lovely art shops. We almost always stop at the bakery, but on this day, we were headed to Ploughman's Lunch (curiously not named LaHave Lunch). It's a quirky, hippyish kind of vibe and the food is fantastic. They actually raise water buffalo and sell the meat and cheeses. We bought some sausages and are interested to try them; can't say we've ever had Water Buffalo. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well here, but not well-known. We keep discovering 'well-kept secrets'.

Petite-Rivière Winery. We did not know that Nova Scotia had vineyards until we moved here and the wine is quite lovely too.

After lunch, we headed to Petite-Rivière Winery. So lovely, you immediately feel like you are in Provence as you look out over the vineyards. And here's a little-known fact: The LaHave River Valley Wine Region is recognized as one of the oldest grape growing regions in North America with vineyards dating back to the 1630's.

Wednesday, July 3, and another birthday! Mine! Sadly, Alan was really sick, but it was a gorgeous day and I just had to get out on the water.

So off I went to Blue Rocks – a really sweet little fishing village just outside of Lunenburg, and went on a kayaking tour with Pleasant Paddling – super outfit and great guides; this is a really interesting area. It has fascinating geology with folded sedimentary rocks with contrasting bands of blue, grey, brown, black and green. There were several 'red lion' jellyfish in the water – so beautiful to watch as they pulse through the water.

We stopped for a break on a small island with a wild rose bush. Reminded me of 'Wild Rose Alberta'.

A wonderful thing happened after I got off the water. I stopped to take a few photos of this pretty little fish shack out to sea on this perfect summer day... and this old couple who owned it came out to say hello.

Blue Rocks is such a pretty area - a favourite spot for photographers and artists.

Their accent was so thick I could barely understand them – real traditional Nova Scotians. They were so sweet and friendly and just wanted to visit and ask where I was from... when I drove off, they were standing there waving at me like I was a long lost relative. It made me feel so happy. That's what it's like here. Really warm people. All these tourists are milling about on their land taking photos and no one seems to mind at all; I don't see 'no trespassing' signs hardly ever.

When I got home, more progress on the build!

The forms for the foundation walls were already built. I guess the footings inspection went well. Inside the forms you can see steel bands and rebar. I wonder how many times these forms have been used to build other homes??

Two days later, the forms were filled. Again, the super cool cement pumper truck arrived (probably NOT the proper name), its huge arm reaching over and around our trees to swing over to the forms; managed by remote control by a guy that we have affectionately been calling "ZZ Top" :) And I guess that's a back-up cement truck at the end of our drive (look how beautiful the cove is on this morning ... super calm).

So here we are on July 5th, and our foundation walls are now curing. You might think that watching the build, blogging and traipsing across the countryside is all that we've been doing. But business must go on! We joined the Lunenburg Board of Trade and are looking forward to getting involved. There is an initiative to promote "Lobster Season" to boost tourism in this area over the winter since lobster season on the South Shore is from late November to end of May... and we'd like to be onboard with that. We've also been making some headway with the Chamber of Bridgewater - volunteering to create their quarterly newsletter AND we have a meeting with the Town about how we can help with the new 'Energize Bridgewater Plan'. Bridgewater just won a $5 million prize from Infrastructure Canada for this plan, and we'd like to be a part of it. One of the best ways to meet other business owners, network and build your credibility, especially when you are new to an area, is to get involved in the local chambers and boards of trade. They are always looking for people who are willing to volunteer.

Festivals and events are in full-swing here. We've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out where the best 'live music' might be and sadly, we have only found mediocre performances (apart from LAMP which has been awesome)... but we are certain that talented musicians are not just in Halifax! We suspect this might be another 'well-kept Nova Scotia secret!" ... not to be daunted, we have been perculating an idea of a central source to find 'live music'... but more on that later.

(To continue the story, go to part 7)

Part 5: there will be no retiring anytime soon...

I stated at the opening of this blog that we have no intentions of retiring. Shortly after we arrived, we joined the Bridgewater and Area Chamber. We've already been to 2 meetings, we've met the executive committee, RSVP'd for the upcoming AGM, volunteered to help, and met the mayor. We have also attended an Open House with the Lunenburg Board of Trade. We want to contribute to this community.

Alan's design of our studio space with garage, workshop and laundry room/mud room addition.

This is our dream for the studio: to be multi-faceted. It will be our office, yes, but it will also be a music studio and a space for any type of presentation, workshop or lecture. We believe that the grand piano will be a unique draw for classical, jazz and blues performers in particular, and the space will be appealing for house concerts and 'live-off-the-floor' recordings. Musicians will be able to leave the event with a recording that they can post on YouTube to promote themselves. We also want to make the space available for any interest group, like a camera club, a philosopher's circle or an artist's workshop, to have their event in our space. We will provide AV set-up with large screen TV and great sound for any type of presentation, workshop or lecture.

We were able to get the building permits in place before we even arrived. To see it on one of our trees was thrilling!

Because of the rain, our build was post-poned until June. It was actually kind of nice for us to have time to settle in, explore a bit and get the office running.

The first step was to remove the back porch. Barrett spent the day tearing down the 'very well-built' little porch. It was pretty exciting to see the excavator get delivered on Saturday... in anticipation of the start on June 24th, Alan's birthday (it seems his birthday has been very significant in this story! We signed the papers to buy this place on June 24th 2 years ago!)

"It's pretty satisfying to see something you've drawn come to life" says Alan

Suddenly, we were the owners of a big hole in the ground. Things are zipping along!

Stay tuned for the rest of the story as we go through the build of our studio/garage/workshop/mudroom-laundry room addition to our house and eventually the renovation of our house.

(To continue the story, go to Part 6)