July of 2016 has been a busy endeavour! Music, rest & relaxation, great food and lots of time exercising outdoors. Even better, it’s all been done without charges for flights, fixed roof accommodation, or meals beyond trips to the grocery store/market/craft beer locations. Yep… We’ve been enjoying summer in the relevant comfort of the maritimes with family and friends.
Kicked off with moving from the throes of year end / graduation in our respective schools to Stanfest! The 2016 edition of the festival proved excellent, with solid crowds, favourable weather, and a tremendous entertainment line-up. Our entire family continues to volunteer for the event leaving expenses minimal, not much beyond the campsites that Janie purchases. We’ve been involved in the festival since its inception, and have shared the experiential opportunities it fosters with our children over the past several years. We need not drive further than an hour to partake in the best music festival the East Coast of Canada offers (no bias intended).
Weekend number two of July saw a reunion of sorts. Off to the heart of New Brunswick with several friends (instruments in hand) to visit Mt A Alumni and reconnect. Music, drink and food were ambitiously unfolded over the entire three days. We visited the Rexton area, and found our excellent host Andrew up to the task welcoming our particular brand of “foolishness” with open arms. We ate like kings, sampling delicacies like bottled lobster, bar clam dip, young carrots and BBQ’d pork/beef done to perfection. Music in the evenings, fostered by drink, closed out each day with favorites from a wide range of artists. Walking through fields of hay and skirting the river provided excellent contrast to the “salty” nature of Stanfest!
Monday saw full on Smelt Lake! In a driving rain (much needed I might add) I sailed the lake and opened up the cottage for a week’s stay in Guysborough County. We find the coastal location an excellent reprieve in July/August from the heat of the inland and from Tuesday through Sunday we experienced temps an average of 6 degrees less than Antigonish. We used kayak, paddle board, floating dock, fire pit and kitchen table to host several visitors. Simply put, a very relaxing 7 days. Even the couple of jobs I took on were more like fun than work. Can’t say enough about how fortunate we are to be entrusted with such an isolated and beautiful location. After a short stint in Antigonish, July saw a second, 7 day excursion to the cottage with excellent weather and several more projects completed. The whole month may have been sponsored by Rare Bird IPA and Hanham’s XTR!