Author: betstravelsabout

Mavillette Beach… At Last!

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What is so special about Mavillette Beach one might wonder, especially when Nova Scotia has more than 7,500 km. of shoreline? That’s a lot of beaches! At least 40 or more are popular for their warm waters, their length, and their surf. In fact, our province is reported to have some of the warmest waters north of the Carolinas in the US.

One of my favourite beaches is Mavillette on the Acadian shore in the District of Clare.  This summer, I made a promise to myself that I would pay a long overdue visit. For those readers who read my last post on Exploring Nova Scotia’s District of Clare, * you will know that I was so distracted by  other Acadian sites and things to do on my way down in early July that I never got there. Continue reading →

Exploring Nova Scotia’s District of Clare

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Getting A Headstart on Travel in Nova Scotia

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With the onset of a heat wave in late June and a gradual lift in the lockdown imposed upon us by COVID, many of us were more than ready to tentatively emerge beyond the four walls of our homes. When a dear friend called me to say she had to ‘get out of town’ and was thinking it it would be fun to head to the North Shore of beautiful Nova Scotia, I didn’t hesitate to say, ‘Yes, let’s go!’

After numerous phone calls, we found what looked like a nice place to stay in the Village of Tatamagouche. Tata, as it’s fondly called, has a population of approximately 2,000 people. It’s located on the Sunrise Trail on the shores of the Northumberland Strait separating Nova Scotia from Prince Edward Island.
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Handling Stress in the Midst of a Pandemic

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“Nothing is good or bad for thinking that makes it so” – William Shakespeare

I marvel at how great minds have expressed truisms that have lasted for so long and yet go unnoticed by so many of us these days. I chose this one from Shakespeare’s ” Hamlet ” because it is one we need to keep in mind as we face the challenges facing us now and in the future.

As some of the lockdown restrictions imposed upon us by COVID-19 are lifted, we should be thankful for that, but still remain vigilant because this virus will in all probability hang around to haunt us again. For the present, we  can now go outside and use our parks and trails to get a breath of fresh air and some much needed exercise.  As our days slowly morphed into spring,  we joyfully welcomed this small step forward to some kind of normality which will hopefully relieve some of the stress that many Canadians are feeling during this time.

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Can We Create a New World After COVID-19?

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After recently slogging through a day where there was little news other than the latest statistics indicating that our number of coronavirus cases was still increasing, that we would have to keep washing our hands and carry on with our social distancing at least until the end of June, I couldn’t help feeling that life basically sucked. Fortunately, the next day  I was snapped out of my sombre state with these words written by the Indian author and political activist, Arundhati Roy. I get many emails these days relating to COVID-19. Most of them get deleted because after awhile they become repetitive.  However, this one from Greenpeace  with Roy’s insight on what we could expect in the future, caught my attention. It hit upon something that was bothering me: Have we already forgotten about the climate crisis that faced us  before COVID-19 reared its ugly head? We may be hearing that air pollution has decreased in some parts of the world and certain birds and animals we haven’t seen around for awhile are appearing in the almost deserted streets of New York and Paris, but does this mean our climate is now okay and we won’t have to worry about that any more? I doubt it! However, Roy’s words in the following quotation show us that there is an opportunity being offered to our world by the pandemic which I would like to share with you:

“Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It’s a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcusses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And be ready to fight for it.”

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