Blog 6 – Ritcey Chronicles Monday, June 20

We were up fairly early as Kevin had to go down to the train station to pick up our rental car. He was back really quickly so we loaded up and were on our way. Had breakfast at Smitty's once again, - why not! Prices to eat out here are pretty high.

Once we were finished our first stop was to go to Windsor St. To see my birth house and the house I lived in until the day I got married. Holy Cow, what a shock that was. Can't believe how our house could have been left to go to pot - literally. After 46 years they hadn’t even changed the light fixture or the number. They did paint the original salmon and green colour, but obviously never looked after that either.

It upset me a lot more than I thought it would. The one thing that remained of my childhood was the fuschia rhododendron bush that we planted in the middle of the yard. After all these years it is still standing. It is pretty big now, but the rest of our beautiful yard looks like a jungle.

The big garage dad had built is nothing but the foundation; the front door has been changed, the house paint is peeling off and the back veranda is awful. A real dump.

We left there are went up to the Fairview Cemetery to visit the grave of our son, Geoffrey Scott. It was

hard to find the grave marker because it was all overgrown. That also upset me. Kevin got out his trusty Swiss Army knife and

cleaned it all up for me. He also did some work on his grandmother and grandfather's markers. It is a shame that these markers are just left to be covered over with dirt and grass clippings.

We then made a quick visit to the gravesites of the Victims. It is always moving to see all the stone markers in the shape of a ship . Quite a memorial to 158 bodies recovered from the disaster. We spent a good 45 mins. at the cemetery, it is a very beautiful and peaceful site. Here is a little history about the Titanic Gravesite located in this beautiful surrounding.

Fairview is best known as the final resting place for over one hundred victims of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Officially known as , the non-denominational cemetery is run by the Parks Department of the Halifax Regional Municipality. One hundred and twenty-one victims of the RMS Titanic sinking are interred at Fairview, more than any other cemetery in the world. Most of them are memorialized with small gray granite markers with the name and date of death. Some families paid for larger markers with more inscriptions. The occupants of a third of the graves, however, have never been identified and their markers contain just the date of death and marker number. Surveyor E. W. Christie laid out three long lines of graves in gentle curves following the contours of the sloping site. By co-incidence, the curved shape suggests the outline of the bow of a ship. One of the better-known Titanic markers is for an unidentified child victim, known for decades as . No one claimed the body, so he was buried with funds provided by sailors of the CS Mackay-Bennett, the cable ship that recovered his body. The marker bears the inscription 'Erected to the memory of an unknown child whose remains were recovered after the disaster of the "Titanic" April 15, 1912'. In November 2002, the child was initially identified as 13-month-old Eino Viljami Panula of Finland. Eino, his mother, and four brothers all died in the Titanic disaster. After additional forensic testing, the unknown child was re-identified as 19- month-old Sidney Leslie Goodwin, an English child who perished with his entire family.[3]

By Chris Meunier - Selfmade - Photo was taken on June 17th, 2006. Fairview Cemetary, Halifax, NS, Canada., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=899327\

A grave marked "J. Dawson" gained fame following the release of the 1997 film Titanic, since the name of Leonardo DiCaprio's character in the film is Jack Dawson. Many filmgoers, moved by the story, left flowers and ticket stubs at Dawson's grave when the film was first released, and flowers continue to be left today. Film director James Cameron has said the character's name was not in fact inspired by the grave. More recent research has revealed that the grave actually belongs to Joseph Dawson, an Irishman who worked in Titanic's boiler room as a coal trimmer.[4] The Fairview Titanic graves also include the burial place and marker of , a heroic steward who died while escorting third class passengers to the lifeboats. Twenty-nine other Titanic victims are buried elsewhere in Halifax; nineteen in the Roman Catholic Mount Olivet Cemetery and ten in the Jewish Baron de Hirsch Cemetery.

After we left here, we were off, heading to Peggy's Cove. We hadn't planned on going there, but really if you're in NS, then you have to go to Peggy’s Cove.

It is one of the most beautiful spots in the world. We spent some time walking out on the rocks enjoying the wind off the water on our faces and the smell of the sea.

The first lighthouse was built in 1868. Originally it was just a large house with a light on top which was the home for the keeper and his family. During WWII it was used by the Royal

Canadian Navy as a radio station. The present lighthouse was completed in 1916 and was

manned until 1958 when it became fully automated.

The Sou’wester Restaurant in Peggy’s Cove was originally established in 1967 by Jack Campbell. Now it is carried on by his children, and the Sou’Wester continues to provide a beautiful restaurant and gift shop. We enjoyed a delicious bowl of seafood chowder at the restaurant and found a couple of nice gifts to bring back with us.

All the property in Peggy’s Cove is privately owned except for the facilities at the deGarthe visitor’s centre and Provincial Parking Lot.

We read that the year round population of Peggy’s Cove is about 35 people.

Peggy’s Cove was the home of the famous marine artist and sculptor William deGarthe. In 1977 he began to sculpt the large granite cliff behind his home to depict the community fishermen and their families as a tribute to their lives and livelihood. Unfortunately, he died in 1983 before he was able to complete this huge project.

We took a lot of photos in this area, and I will make an album and post most of the Halifax trip photos there. If anyone is interested in seeing them, I can send a link.

One last photo. Every year someone is killed because they are washed off the rocks by huge waves. There is a while line on the rocks telling people not to go beyond those point.

Of course, do anyone listen. Well yes, the smart ones do. However, this father is not being responsible with his daughter. She was right up to the edge with him. It took all I had not to go and tell him to smarten up.

We left Peggy's Cove and drove to the site of the Swiss Air Disaster. This is the first time that I have visited the site. A lot of people who lost friends or family on that flight still visit the site

each year. It is a very serene spot overlooking the waters of the Atlantic where the flight crash - Sept. 1998.

Swissair flight 111 crashed into the ocean off the shores of St. Margaret’s Bay near Peggy’s Cove - September 1998. All of the passengers were lost. This is one of two sites that have been created as a memorial to the tragedy.

Trivia: has 4,625 miles of coastline, is 375 miles long and 60-100 miles wide.

This is my favorite photo of that area. I think I might get it blown up and put it on my travel wall at home. If this isn’

From there we continued along the Lighthouse Route/the Coastal Heritage Route and stopped for a moment down memory lane at Queensland Beach.

It looked so small. We both remembered it as being such a long beach and really it is not big at all. How the mind can trip us up. I turned to Kevin and said – well it was big when we were little kids.

We really enjoyed our drive down to the south shore. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Lots of colourful houses, fields of the beautiful Lupins, and of

course the ocean always there. I did suggest we get Lupin seeds and bring them back to Penticton, but they really are a noxious weed that just look pretty. I have always liked them and they come in various shades of purples and pinks.

It really was a total trip down memory lane for both of us as of course we often, as young kids, headed down the south shore with our parents on the week-ends.

We drove through Chester. Now there's a memory. The night we were married we had planned on going for dinner in Chester at King's Landing. As we pulled into the parking lot a couple of teenagers yelled "suckers" at us. I was only 21 and this really hurt me, so Kevin said we wouldn't stay there. This was the restaurant. It is now called Nicki’s Inn.

We stood on the waterfront having another look at this beautiful place where we had planned on having our first meal together as Mr. & Mrs. Ritcey.

The town of Chester and all the surrounding area is mostly owned by American's. It was always the uppity part of NS. I guess the Americans have decided that they want to sell their Canadian assets because every second house is up for sale. We are not talking about little cottages but mansions. We counted 15 houses for sale on one road. Maybe they should take them off the market until after the election - they might want to move back to Chester.

From there we continued on to Mahone Bay where we stopped for a few things at the Independent Grocery Store. They asked me for my President's Choice card - I thought I was back in BC.

Mahone Bay is still the same as it was when we were young. A real tourist spot and a busy, busy place as always. Tourists love going to Mahone Bay, and it really is a pretty place.

Saw this restaurant across the parking lot and we decided that on our day trip to Mahone Bay we would have lunch there. Oh My Cod – what a great name.

From there it was only a very short drive to Lunenburg where we have reservations at the Top Mast Motel. This was a site unseen, Internet booking and I was a little nervous about going there. However, though the place is old there is one section that has been renovated. We are in the new part of the motel and the place is lovely. We are in the cupola part of the house with a million-dollar view of the Lunenburg Harbour.

We are here for three days and plan on doing day trips out and around the area. We enjoyed a scotch on our balcony then went to dinner at The Knot. Kevin had delicious fish and chips, my dinner wasn't great. C'est la vie.

It has been a very full day. Looking forward to another adventure tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a new day.