Fall Impressions from the Maritimes

For many, fall is the most photogenic season of the year in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and PEI. The Maritimes usually enjoy a long and colorful autumn season - often until Christmas.

The photos here have been taken mostly on the South Shore of Nova Scotia - in early December!

Usually, during the third week of October, the reds will be at their peak in the Maritimes, and this is probably the most glorious time for visitors. Earlier than this, there will still be a delightful mixture of greens among the reds, oranges, and yellows.

Gathering twigs of winterberries, seagrasses, bearberries, black huckleberries, hawthorne, and elderberries, together with some pine twigs make for lovely winter decoration.

Create a lovely centerpiece for the dining table or place them in pots or window boxes and let the birds nosh on the berries during wintertime.

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Maple Syrup Time in Eastern Canada!

Ancient maple forests will lead you to Canada's sweetest destinations for spring adventure: sugar-bush country in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, PEI and Nova Scotia comes to live again.

There is even a sugar-bush in downtown Ottawa!

As snow retreats from the country side and the day temperatures climb into the positive digits, maple juice flows freely into the buckets, attached to towering maple trees. The air is filled with music and aromas of sweetened pancakes and smoked ham. These yearly festivities are fun for the whole family.

Everone is excited when hot maple syrup is poured into crashed ice or snow, quickly turning into a sweet delicious treat. Huge ovens are filled with fresh maple juice, cooking it slowly down to syrup. Indulge in pan cakes, generously topped with maple syrup and take home some sweet presents or stock up for the rest of the year. Maple Syrup is a healthy sweetener (containing vitamines, manganese and zinc)and adds great flavour to ham or beans. Taste a drink that is called `Caribou`, a unique blend of red wine, whisky and maple sap.

Visiting a sugar shack is a great experience. In fact, there’s probably no better way to get acquainted with early Canadian country culture.

The first colonists of Eastern Canada may have been puzzled when they saw the Natives cutting notches in the maple trees with their tomahawks in order to collect a mysterious liquid. With the expertise born of 300 years of experience, Canadians, especially Quebecers take credit for more than three-quarters of the world’s maple syrup production. There is even a giant Maple Syrup Festival in Quebec.

Read more about Maple Syrup:
http://www.canadianmaplesyrup.com/maplehistory.html

http://www.ontariomaple.com/
http://www.citadelle-camp.coop/maple-syrup/index.aspx
http://maple.infor.ca/?lang=en
http://www.atlanticfarmfocus.ca/index.cfm?sid=333061&sc=593
http://www.novascotiamaplesyrup.com/

http://www.festivaldelerable.com/

The Dunes Gallery, PEI

One of the best spots in Prince Edward Island:
The Dunes Gallery combines outstanding art, delicious food and drinks, a shopping paradise for crafts from Canada and Asia, exciting architecture, beautiful, lush gardens and friendly hosts. It was there where I discovered the works of one of the world’s best jewelry designer and goldsmith, Eve Llyndorah.

I found the Dunes Gallery by chance.
In the middle of nowhere, potato-fields right and left, I dosed along a small country road between Charlottetown and the Prince Edward Island National Park. Suddenly I detected huge, really huge, flags ahead. Curious, I slowed down, wondering what such big flags are announcing. “Dunes Gallery” I read, when pulling into the parking lot. Well, what really caught my eyes and made me stopping were a Martini glass pictogram and the word Bar & Restaurant.

I yearned for a coffee and something good to eat. The coffee was outstanding (and I am really a connoisseur when it comes to Java), but the food was not only delicious, it was comparable to that of a 5-star restaurant!

I gave myself lots of time to wander the gardens, watched pottery crafters working, admired Eve Llyndorah’s magnificent jewelry art (and learned she lives on her own island in southern BC), marvelled at the exotic sculptures and browsed through books and gifts, before I settled on the roof top garden to “smell the roses” and enjoy the sunset colours of the sky.

It’s a heavenly experience and alone worth the drive to PEI. Next time I bring even more time to enjoy this place.