As VanRamblings composes this post, we are sitting in the front room on the top floor of Corinne’s home listening to Rose Cousins in concert just down the street at The King’s Theatre, her voice and music drifting through the night air to VanRamblings’ most appreciative ears.
Today, although we continued our preparations to leave ‘our Annapolis Royal home’ early on this Monday coming (witness the picture above of our wash on the line), we did in fact make it to the Saturday Market, where we set about to purchase some small, we hope interesting, ‘gifts’ for friends in Vancouver, as we wandered through the many Market paths.
VanRamblings also attended at the Fish Market to locate Digby scallops, fresh off the boat. Anyone who knows VanRamblings appreciates just how much we love Digby county’s awesome scallops, pan-seared in butter and oh so sinfully delicious. Where, in previous visits to the Maritimes, we managed to inhale a pound of scallops each and every day of our visit, on this vacation we’ve thoughtfully restricted our scallop intake to only a quarter pound of plump, large Digby scallops per meal, lunch and dinner.
On this scorcher of a Saturday, VanRamblings thought better of roaming the streets of town in the heat of the early afternoon sun, and took the opportunity to do a wash, allowing our clothes to dry in the reflection of the sun off the Annapolis River, a gentle river breeze aiding the process.
Instead, we wandered over to the Fort Anne Café, had ourselves a coffee and read the Globe and Mail, after which we took a restful afternoon nap.
Upon arising, we ambled down the back streets of Annapolis Royal, at one point wandering past the Queen Anne Inn (see picture above). We continued our walk to the edge of town, after which we meandered down Ritchie Street towards the junction, past Fort Anne, down the boardwalk towards the wharf, past the clothes on the line, through the back door of Corinne’s home, and into the kitchen for some refreshments.
Tonight, we’re just lazing around the house, listening to the music of Rose Cousins drift in through the windows, posting to VanRamblings and organizing photos for Sunday’s SlideFlickr show.
Corinne wishes it to be known that her home is an eco-conscious home.
One of the features of my stay at Corinne’s home in Annapolis Royal revolves around the availability of hot water, for showers (VanRamblings is an ‘upon rising have a shower’ kind of guy), and dishwashing.
All the heating of water in Corinne’s home occurs as a consequence of the solar panels she had installed a couple of years back. Fortunately, it has been sunny each day of our stay; as a consequence, we have had access to our revitalizing daily shower each morning (with enough hot water left over to do the dishes). Of course, Corinne employs low-flow shower heads.
The toilets are also low-flow, 4.8 litres upstairs, and 6 litres on the main floor, and they work just fine. Awhile back, Corinne had soy oil foam insulation installed in her basement (where she checks the water temperature each morning), dramatically reducing her electric bill through the year (Annapolis Valley winters can sometimes be long, and cold).
Corinne’s Kenmore washing machine is front-loading, and employs an ‘eco’ feature that determines the size of one’s wash, supplying the appropriate amount of water for the wash. Front-loading washing machines also consume only 20% – 30% of the water needed for a wash, and in the spin cycle dries the clothing much more efficiently (almost bone-dry) than top-
loaders, thus requiring significantly less drying time, a more eco-conscious process than that provided by a top-loading washing machine.
Off topic, but worth mentioning (given that it’s been a constant, welcoming feature of our stay in the Annapolis Valley): crickets. Whether shopping in the local Foodland (a division of Sobey’s) or the Save Easy (a division of Loblaws), when we find ourselves walking the boardwalk, or down the main street of town, or on a ‘rural’ back street, we hear the welcoming sound of crickets accompanying us wherever might find ourselves. We like this.
VanRamblings continues to enjoy our pastoral Annapolis Valley vacation.
