Camping at Lake Rossignol

It’s a holiday weekend in Nova Scotia (and in many of the other provinces).The holiday is known by a variety of names in different provinces and municipalities, including British Columbia Day in British Columbia, New Brunswick Day in New Brunswick, and Saskatchewan Day in Saskatchewan. In Alberta, Heritage Day is an “optional” civil holiday, having been downgraded from a statutory holiday following the introduction of Family Day in 1990.

The holiday is celebrated as Natal Day in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, but is not an official holiday in either locale.

Unlike most holidays, there is not much of a reason for the Civic Holiday to exist, other than its timing. Between Canada Day and Labour Day there are no recognizable holidays, one of the longest stretches on the Canadian calendar without a holiday. Thus, this contrived holiday was placed roughly halfway between Canada Day and Labour Day.

Cameron and I decided to spend part of the long weekend camping at Lake Rossignol. Lake Rossignol is the largest freshwater lake in Nova Scotia and is located in the south-western area of the province.

The lake was quite choppy in the afternoon so we spent our time setting up the tent and establishing a fire pit. Come evening the wind had died away and the lake was lovely and calm. Our first thought was to jump in for a swim but this is as far as we got…

Although the lake is large and shallow the water wasn’t very warm. We decided to take the canoe out instead. After a paddle we cooked dinner and spent a pleasant evening by the camp fire. We had however managed to set our tent up over some serious tree roots and hence we were awake by 5:30am! It was lovely watching the sun rise whilst being out on the water canoeing.

We decided to have breakfast before heading back to civilization.

The road to civilization:

Oreo Flavored Blizzard

To many an Oreo flavored Blizzard is a yummy ice cream treat from Dairy Queen. It consists of ice cream combined with chunks of oreo cookie.

To us an Oreo Blizzard has a slightly different meaning:

BLIZZARD

Blizzard

OREO

We adopted both kitty’s from SHAID Animal Shelter. We’ve had Oreo a little under a year and Blizzard has now been with us for almost a week. SHAID (Sheltering Helpless Animals In Distress) provides temporary care and shelter to helpless animals in distress, be they abandoned, homeless or relinquished and they try to place as many as possible into responsible and caring homes. They are always happy to accept donations whether it’s cash or food/litter, etc.

Visit their website today – SHAID

Canada Day Celebrations

Frequently referred to as “Canada’s birthday”, the occasion marks the joining of the British North American colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada into a federation of four provinces (the Province of Canada being divided, in the process, into Ontario and Quebec) on July 1, 1867.

Most communities across the country will host organized celebrations for Canada Day, usually outdoor public events, such as parades, carnivals, festivals, barbecues, air and maritime shows, fireworks, and free musical concerts,as well as citizenship ceremonies for new citizens (we’re not quite at that stage yet). In the South Shore region, New Germany is famous for it’s Canada Day celebrations. This year there was a Children’s Parade, which we didn’t see, and then an Ox Pull:

The Ox pull lasted for most of the day, but we skipped out to watch the Parade in between:

Turn over for more….