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Part 17: We're still in this!

Stone Court Studios Inc.

Updated: Jul 20, 2023

My last blog post ended in October 2020 and today it is January 29, 2022. What?! How fast time passes... even when we are stuck in this pandemic and all the anxiety it has created. January 2021 started so well and we were quickly pulled out of a long trough of very little work, especially for me. It seemed like everyone got the same memo: "let's get on with business again." And then an unexpected BIG client came along and saved me from changing careers. Suddenly I was handling an ever-increasing amount of internal communications – consultation, writing, graphic design... work I love!


Thankfully we were nicely busy again and not so stressed about our business. We still couldn't do much with the restrictions , but we could take road trips! On a sunny day in February I took a day to myself with my camera and ventured off to discover Beach Meadows. Big waves crashing on the rocks, an abandoned boat in Meteghan and an interesting old graveyard along the way – of which there are many in this province. We found out that you can have a private graveyard on your land here in Nova Scotia.



For the Chamber newsletter, I was interviewing businesses and writing their stories, and some of them got picked up to run in the local paper – pretty exciting to have my writing in print.




We continue to marvel at the gorgeous skies here... and because of the tide, we always get these sheets of ice at the shoreline - pretty cool.


This one was taken in Blue Rocks – always a great spot for photos... look at the colours in the sky and reflecting on the water!


We were also keeping ourselves entertained with our cooking! Jamie Oliver's 5 Ingredients cookbook is a new fav. Excellent recipes.


And then, a conversation with Alan's dad was about to change our lives. He was coming to live with us. At 92, he really wanted a new adventure and we could give him that! He was living in a nice but small apartment in West Vancouver and had been limited to a few friends in the building as their 'social bubble.' He had been reading this blog and seeing the photos of our property and the ocean really appealed to him. Originally from England, the Atlantic Ocean was in his blood.


We wanted to give him this new adventure and have him in our lives. He was living a good long life, in good health and mind, and had lots of stories and experiences to share. It meant some major rearranging of our house... we would give him our bedroom on the main level and finish the upstairs suite for ourselves. I had already spent months painting and renovating up there, but now the floor needed to be done, curtains made - lots to do. Alan started with the subfloor.


At about the same time, we had been talking to our friend Troy Naugler and he was thinking about getting into the excavation business... would he take a look at our driveway and parking area that we wanted to create and... maybe a pond? First we had to clear the area, get some chipping done and stake out what we wanted.



On a gorgeous day in May, Troy and Sheldon arrived with the excavator... fixing our driveway, creating a huge parking area and digging the pond. Pretty exciting to see our land being transformed.


It only took a few weeks; the pond filled in 2 days with all the Spring runoff. I added some bullrushes and rocks and before long we had a sweet little toad taking his evening swim. There are lots of plans to create a parklike area around the pond. Next year.


At the end of May, the job was finished and looked amazing. Troy was right when he stated that what we had done would definitely increase the value of our property.


And... we were just loving our new pond.


Meanwhile, I received all the fabric I had ordered online for the drapes in the house - 13 windows in all, fully lined. I ordered swatches first to be sure from fabricguru.com - amazing choices, good prices (even with the exchange) and beautiful quality! We ordered the grommets from Amazon and brackets from Ikea. I had everything I needed. Now to sew my heart out. Projects, projects - this was a big one!


We had a gorgeous Spring... and found time to enjoy it as often as we could.


For Alan's birthday on June 24, we went to Halifax. It was a lovely warm day and we spent time strolling along the waterfront – love this city! Our dear friends Bernie & Mark sent a gift certificate to the restaurant we were at, The Bicycle Thief (our fav), for us to enjoy a lovely bottle of wine and dessert. So sweet!


Summer was getting on, the Habs were in the playoffs and we were really far behind with our reno – we were both super busy with work thankfully, but it didn't allow time for much else. The August 29 deadline when Robin would arrive was looming large. Next step was levelling the floor best we could – it's a 1916 house after all – and then laying the new flooring.


We were finally getting the roof on the house done. Oh man, what an ordeal that was - we had stored all the materials back at Wall's over the winter and when Rissers went to collect it, it had been sold/used. They had to reorder and of course, with the supply chain mess it took a while... they could finally schedule us in by July. It was great to see the crew back on site! They fixed a broken dental detail, put in a gorgeous new skylight, beautifully trimmed out, and once again, did amazing work. Risser.ca ... the best!


I had the opportunity to go out for a kayak in Blue Rocks in August and I took it! It was a very beautiful paddle in the heavy mist.



In early Spring, we had scheduled University painters to paint our house. We kind of left it open dependent on the roofing getting done... and finally in the first week of August, we were able to get the painters here. Vincent was the main guy and he had lost his entire crew - they were athletes and had all gone back to school early... so his dad was helping him. It was blazing hot by now... those guys worked so hard... and each day our house became pretty again!


I said, "Make it look like this"... and they did!


The painters were still here in August when my cousin Linda and Harry came for a visit. They were our first overnight visitors because of Covid. I hadn't seen her in 40 years and we had a good visit. It was a bit hectic – we were busy with work, the painters were here, we were doing our best to get ready for Robin's arrival... lots on the go. But we still managed to have some nice dinners and campfires together, go out to dinner, walk on the beach and take a few drives.


Now we were in a mad scramble... we had one week left to get the house ready for Robin to move in... the painters were still here – Vincent managed to get a crew to help him with the back of the house so he could get to school on time - it was frantic, with movers taking stuff up to our suite, all of us walking under ladders with painters above... and putting furniture together into the night...


The storage room we had been using since we got here had to be cleared out to allow for an office/workroom for Robin – a desk for his computer and space to do projects – we know that he loves to do projects and he's a fine painter, and we wanted him to be comfortable.


We were ready as we could be. We set off for Halifax on Saturday, August 28 to go out for dinner downtown at aFrite and have a peaceful sleep at the ALT Hotel because they were coming in on an early flight.


It was not lost on us that our lives were now going to change. As of tomorrow, it was not just the two of us anymore – we were about to share our lives with his dad. We felt that we had lots of room and land to make that quite comfortable and easy. Robin, accompanied by his grand daughter, Mary Jo, arrived very early the next morning after a red eye flight from Vancouver, and we brought him to his new home for the next phase of his life.


The first thing he did was sit at the Steinway – he loves to play piano and flute... Mary Jo stayed on for a few days and we had a nice visit while Robin got settled in. They even went out for a sail on the Tillicum - our neighbours 2-mast schooner that sits in our bay... Robin had never thought he would steer a sailboat again at his age, but there he was... happy as a boy.



We went for dinner at a few of our favourite spots – they were enjoying fresh fish, our home-cooked meals and a road trip to Minas Basin to look out over the red cliffs and lush farm land and orchards... it was a nice visit.



My work for Michelin was building constantly and I was loving it. I was even writing and designing a 24-page magazine for another plant in New Glasgow. So good. We were getting in some good beach walks and going out for dinner a fair bit with Robin – he loves to go out as much as we do!


Life settled in. Robin is constantly busy. He loves to solve problems and must always have a project on the go. He wasn't used to having meals made and things done for him but I think he likes it. He's a voracious reader and goes out for a walk every day. A constant reminder of how to live your life well! Stay busy, keep your mind engaged, stay active.


In that last photo, he's flying Alan's drone.


Now that the house was painted, I put in a small perennial garden - the first of many in my mind!


We outfitted Robin in tick-resistant clothing and showed him the woods. Since then, he treks up there several times a week.


Robin wants to build another boat. I loved watching him and Alan discuss the plans and sketches popped up and then before we knew it, he was building a model scale.


We were having a glorious fall, quite warm. I got out for a few kayaks in the cove, we did some road trips along the coast and on October 7, both Robin and I went in the ocean for a swim at Bayswater Beach! It was beautiful.


The model of the boat was done. Now to plan for the build, probably in the Spring when it can mostly be done outside. He plans to make it for rowing and sailing.



We were all double vaxxed by now and really wanted a change of scenery. Robin and Mary had built a house and studio on Gran Manan – an island in NB out in the Bay of Fundy. I had never been there and Robin and Alan hadn't been there for some 30 years. So, off we went.


We had a nice lunch in St. John, NB and checked out the town a bit – home of Moosehead beer, thus the moose statue – before we had to grab the ferry to Gran Manan.


The ferry ride was long and as we neared Gran Manan I could see Robin becoming very quiet and lost in his memories. It had been a dream to live there – he had built a home and a studio, he was part of the art community, painting and holding workshops for print-making. It was a place that he talked about a lot and had fond memories of with his beloved wife, Mary.


Unfortunately there were no restaurants for dinner, and some of the historic areas were being completely left to rot. It kind of broke his heart. But there were still some very beautiful areas – like the Swallowtail lighthouse and the cliffs of Southern Head looking across to Maine. And I had never seen a weir before.



We stayed at the Compass Rose - very sweet and comfortable Bed & Breakfast, and explored the island – stopping in to see the house and studio they had built. Robin had a photo of when he and Mary lived here – and the current owner let us wander all around. We checked out all the spots that had been dear to Robin and stopped in to visit an old friend Maude, who was actually older than him! So cute... she had a few of his paintings on the walls and was really happy to see him.


Back home again and Robin felt happy to be living in Nova Scotia - he loves the variety of world-class restaurants here and how this province really cares about preserving history.


October and the beach walks were spectacular, the colours beautiful.


November 5th is Guy Fawkes Day. Not many people know about it outside of the UK, but Alan and Robin wanted to celebrate and as it turned out, our neighbour Innis had grown up in Scotland. He and Brenda came over with fireworks to add to ours, our neighbour John came over too – it was a great night and Robin got to meet them. We sat around the campfire and Alan and Innis were like boys, setting off the fireworks down by the water.


My sister Sharla was in Haiti with the Red Cross (I love this photo of her below holding a sweet little baby) and things got a little scary there, so she was getting out. She came for a visit and I picked her up on Nov 12 – the same day I rewrote the Real Estate exam in Dartmouth. We went into Halifax and had a fantastic dinner at The Press Gang, sitting at the bar in this old stone building that had been the stables for 'the King's Man' – we had fresh oysters and seafood and caught up – we hadn't seen each other in person for over 3 years.