Art's home!!! It's a relief to finally have him here and have an extended break. Sharing time with him makes things easier and more enjoyable for all. I'm not so cranky! The children are happy and we've been spending our time doing fun things with them. We went on a short camping trip this past weekend which was a lot of work for us for only one night but the kids had fun. Hannah brought a friend along so the girls slept in their own tent and stayed up way too late. We went to Tatamagouche which is on the Gulf Shore between Nova Scotia and PEI. The water is the warmest around these parts and the tides go way out. The girls collected hermit crabs while Josiah played in the surf. We pitched our tents right on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Northumberland Strait. You could just barely see the bridge to PEI off in the distance. After all the work of setting up tents and getting kids ready for bed we lit a fire and roasted marshmallows and watched a glorious sunset while seals played just off the coast, curious about us no doubt.


Depending on who you talk to the weather has had two sides to it this summer. I found the spring lead up to summer cold and long. The fog seemed to take longer to burn off this year but when it did it was hot! And it really seems like it's the sun that is so hot. After spending the summer out west last year I can truly say that although in general the temperatures are warmer out there the sun here has the potential to fry you in much less time. Why is that? Well it seems to me a few years ago I can remember reading something about the ozone layer being much thinner over the Maritimes and I would have to say that is the case. This summer I have found myself spending more time in the sun than I would care to because Josiah is now old enough to enjoy the beach but as he is still young enough to drown himself by carelessly going too deep or just throwing himself into the waves I have spent more time at water's edge. In the last 5 years I've been minimizing my time in the sun trying to protect my delicately ageing, 40 something skin but this year I find myself burning more and more.


The renovations are about to begin as Art makes plans to tear apart the house to put an on extension. It has to be done although I'm not looking forward to the mess. I could possibly be spending a lot more time at the beach this summer than I had planned on. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. There are worse things that I could be doing than spending my days at the beach, right?!


For more information on the Bisphenol A debate, you can go to www.environmentaldefence.ca/toxicnation . There is a petition to urge the federal government to ban the use of this toxic chemical. You can also find links on the Green Party's website also.