First Impressions

This is a blog entry from Shannon’s Mom about my first impressions of her new abode.

The setting is beautiful. As we were driving to the house we were travelling along the coast of St Mary’s Bay. Shannon's house sits on a height of land across the Evangeline Trail from the bay. We could see the bay from several vantage points on her property and I think the visibility of the water will be even greater when the trees lose their leaves.

The property is wonderful. There are many trees - fruit trees, flowering trees, evergreens and deciduous. There is a large central area of meadow. The fire pit is 4’ by 8’ and can host some great fires. We also examined the pond and surrounding marsh. I marvelled at how lovely her property was and then on day 2 she brought out the property map and I realized I had seen less than half of her land. Zoe has luckily found a new passion- driving the riding mower. 

There are three out buildings which they have named the barn, the marketplace and the garage (which is not for parking a vehicle).  None of these buildings are pristine but they all have their own unique aspects. Unfortunately the last owners left great quantities of their stuff behind so Bill and Shan have spent lots of work time just clearing out junk.

The 180 year old house has lots to offer. It is completely livable but every room needs renovations to bring it up to Shannon and Zoe’s standards. When I asked Zoe what great features the house had to offer, she said doorknobs and hinges. There is more than that- lots of space, a lovely newel post and bannister, a nice wood burning stove but there is potential and room for them to express their own ideas.

I hope they are really happy here and that Shannon’s dad and I have lots of visiting opportunities.   

Week One

Wow!! We spent Friday and Saturday cleaning. Unfortunately the house was very dirty. The previous owners also left a lot of "stuff". We have four large spaces to sort through and decide if we are going to yard sale or garbage.

I'm still not quite sure on garbage yet. That's going to be another thing I have to learn about.  It looks like you can put out one bag every other week. But there are also recycling depots to take your tins and glass to in exchange for money. That however does not solve the actual garbage issue! Zoe and I have formed a burn pile and have appreciated the hhuuggee fire pit that sits in the middle of the back yard! It is heaven after five years of using a 24 inch metal pot! This new fire pit takes care of a lot of the garbage.

I got sidetracked...due to the cleaning, and cleaning, we were unable to unpack much yet. Therefore we got creative and used the shower by hanging the travel, plastic, mattress protector as a shower curtain and the towels we had used for cushioning artwork during transport for drying ourselves! We laid a mattress and a futon on the living room floor where the three of us slept during this cleaning process. Zoe did manage to clean and set up the kitchen! However we have no stove, no oven and no microwave! Early Saturday morning Zoe and I drove an hour and a half to a Home Depot where we purchased a washer and dryer and a barbecue. The barbecue was a Mother's Day gift from my children...thank you!! So with no stove, oven or microwave, I have learned that you can cook almost anything on a barbecue. We cooked the typical potatoes, carrots, chicken, peameal bacon (thanks Laura and Martin at Naked Acres Farmstead) and eggs but also ventured into soup, lasagne, and even put a Hungry Man TV dinner on the barbecue for Brandon!

Sunday we drove to Halifax and dropped Brandon off at the train station to send him back to Ontario. It has not gotten any easier saying goodbye to him. Zoe commented it would be different now because with Brandon staying with us it had felt like home. Now we are going to have to figure out our new home with just the two of us.

By Wednesday we were tearing up carpet and ripping out flooring. This was really neat, seeing all the different layers from over the years, and seeing the beautiful original flooring underneath. The main reason we were doing this all at the same time was smell. The previous owners had had many indoor pets and the flooring was very stinky. I was starting to feel overwhelmed. We were working on every room and therefore still had nothing unpacked and no more rooms set up. After living out of a suitcase for nine weeks-I wanted to unpack! So I did. I have found over the past four years, the best way to handle my stress and anxiety is to tackle it. So whether the rooms were ready or not...I have unpacked and feel like I can live in my new home. We even finally got the mattress out of the living room into a bedroom, set the futon up as our couch and put a table up in the dining room. Ready for company! And just in time.
Mom and Dad are coming out for a "workcation" soon!

Moving Week

We left Ontario with me driving a 26' u-haul and with an anxious cat as my passenger. Brandon and Zoe were both in my Colorado leading the way. As per usual - we got a late start but it actually worked out well being the first day of school, we missed all the school bus traffic. I had three big worries with driving this u-haul. Navigating through Toronto and Montreal traffic were the first two stresses that had kept me up at night. We we able to bypass Toronto traffic by taking the 407 as far as we could. And Montreal also proved not to be a problem thanks to some advise from Gayle Redmond who suggested the Autoroute 30 which allowed us to sail right past any traffic. We had a hotel room booked in Riviere Du Loup and pulled in for a few hours of sleep at 11pm.

Day two was equally, gratefully, uneventful. Here we met my third big worry with the truck...hills. The highways in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are very hilly and I was quite concerned about getting the loaded truck up the hills. It turned out to be no problem at all. That u-haul had some guts in it and I never had even one moment of concern. Well, no concern with how it drove. I was disappointed that the truck I was given to drive approximately 2000 kilometres was older than me. Okay maybe not that old, but it did have a compartment to hold cassette tapes!! And I was not very happy when at 2 pm in 28 degree weather, with a cat roaming around, the air conditioning stopped working! So while the truck did get us to Nova Scotia, it was not without a fair amount of sweating and swearing!

We had an Air B'n'B booked in Barton, Nova Scotia for Wednesday and Thursday night. We rolled in late Wednesday to The Dog House and collapsed in exhaustion. I have to add here how proud I am of my 20 year old son, who has never taken a long distance drive, on his success with this long haul. He was very aware of his limits and stopped as needed, but he was so determined and showed the ability to get it done. At 20 years old I took my first road trip and was unable to drive for longer that 2 hours at a stretch! I am very proud and very grateful because not only did it mean that Brandon got to see our new home (both province and house) but it solved a lot of logistical concerns with how to get my truck to Nova Scotia!

Thursday we slept! We did meet with the lawyer who talked more about Zoe starting school, where he also coaches cross country, than actual house lawyering details! Again, super friendly, wonderful experience with people of Nova Scotia.

Friday September 7th 2018- move in day!!! Here we also felt the differences between Nova Scotia and Ontario. We had our final walk through inspection at 10am and signed off on that paperwork. Then when to move in? The realtor said wait for the lawyer, the lawyer said wait for the realtor, but the keys were at the house. So after a bit of confusion and no ceremony - we unlocked the front door and walked into our new home at noon!

There is so much work to be done it is very difficult to know how to move in. We didn't want to set up rooms only to move everything again as we tear up carpet or tear down a ceiling so we chose three rooms and put everything in them. Then we set up a mattress and a futon on the living room floor. After eight weeks - we are no longer living out of a suitcase, and after seven weeks- we are no longer "Two homeless girls". Big, huge, ecstatic smile!!

My parents had arranged to come for a work visit at our two week mark. Next Thursday's blog will be an account by my mom of her first impressions.

Thank you Sandi Risi for making us feel at home!

4 Weeks In Beamsville

August 8th we packed the truck and started the drive back to Beamsville. Zoe wanted to be
back for her birthday on the 10th so she could celebrate with friends and family. We decided to try the power trip and did not rent a hotel room. We chose to nap in service centres as needed and thus arrived at my parents house 25 hours after leaving Paradise, Nova Scotia. (Both a place and a state of mind). It was not as horrible as I had thought, in fact I was very happy to have the drive over with.

We celebrated Zoe's 17th birthday (starting with breakfast in bed and ending with a tour around Niagara Falls), and then settled down to business. I wrote many letters and emails informing friends of our good fortune and new address. I changed our address with all interested companies and set up internet and electricity for our new home. This was fun and eye-opening. If anyone has dealt with Cogeco in the past you will be very envious of my polite, respectful conversation with an internet provider which started with an actual person answering the phone and saying "Hello, how can I help you today honey?". And ending 10 minutes later with "That's everything we need, I hope you enjoy your new home dear." I had been told that when calling in the eastern provinces I would get to speak with a person and not have to go through a multitude of "press 1 for...now press 2 for...now hold...". I have not tried any government agencies yet but are told that experience will be similar and painless. Another great perk to this move!

We spent a week making appointments and getting names of professionals we could transfer to in the Digby area. We visited friends and family. Went to cemetery's to leave flowers on loved ones graves and felt like we were wrapping up the Beamsville portion of our lives.

Naked Acres Farmstead - By Zoe Van Den Hurk

I took advantage of the downtime and did a lot of reading on farming. Both vegetable and animal farming and learned enough to know I need to ask more questions. I was very grateful to be allowed the opportunity to visit Naked Acres Farmstead on Fly Road in Beamsville and sit and talk to Laura and Martin Van Den Hurk. Laura and I went to high school and university together and she made me feel very comfortable asking all and any (code word for stupid) questions that I had. They shared their experiences and passed on some advise. When I left, hours later, I was in love with their animals, ideas, and ideals. Please visit their facebook page or contact them (289) 650-5233 to purchase their grass-fed and pasture raised beef, pork, goat and eggs.

It was wonderful to be able to spend some time visiting (and eating and drinking) with friends during this period of time. One of my favourite people, Sandi Risi, and I had realized that although we have known each other, and supported each other for 13 years, we had rarely spend any time together outside of work. So it was wonderful to enjoy her company in a social setting! To be able to spend so much time with my parents and my son was wonderful and I soaked up every moment I could with them.

Finally our waiting was over. Labour Day Monday Zoe and I picked up a 26' U-Haul truck. With the help of Brandon, we loaded up the truck and at 11am Tuesday morning we were back on the highway driving toward our new future (melodramatic but true!)

People We have Met

One of the things I was told about Nova Scotia was how friendly the people were. That they look up while walking, that they say hello as they pass, and that they enjoy chit chatting (gossiping). I was advised though, that this kindness extended only until they found out someone was from Ontario-so I should not announce where I was from.

I can tell you every single person Zoe and I have met have been wonderful. Kind, helpful, thoughtful, looking us in the eye when they talk to us-even after they found out we were from Ontario. We quickly discovered we were not alone in the grand exodus. Everyone we talked to about our move, mentioned multiple other people from across Canada they had met doing the same thing. From realtors selling property to people from Ontario and British Columbia. To the bank manager, who set up our new account, talking about the people from Alberta who were in the bank the week before. Or even better yet, the bank teller originally from Ajax, or the Walmart cashier from Grimsby, both of whom moved for similar reasons to our own. When I asked, these "imports" if they ever regretted their decision to become Nova Sciotians, the answer was a unanimous "NO! Best decision we ever made!" Gives me hope that I am on the right path!

We visited a furniture store. We were killing time waiting for our clothes to dry at the laundromat and thought we would get some ideas for furniture. The manager of Nothin' Fancy in Yarmouth greeted us as we entered her store.  Heather started talking to us asking about how we were, who we were, and what kind of furniture we were looking for. After being vague and evasive for the first few questions, Zoe and I finally apologized, explained we were not in the market for anything right now we were just browsing - "after all we were homeless." We laughed and explained our situation that we were camping and cottaging while looking for a new house in the area. She in turned laughed and told up to go upstairs where there were full bedroom setups on display and pick a room we would like to stay in! When we came downstairs she had been telling her staff about us. One staff member mentioned he was going away on vacation in a week and we could stay at his house while he was gone! Another gentleman in the store asked if we knew anyone in town. I asked his name. He introduced himself to me as Al. I said "Hi Al, now I know someone." As is natural for talkative people, he started to ask us our story and if my husband would be joining us?
I replied "No husband".
He asked"Boyfriend?".
"No."
"Want one?"
Laughter all around.
I do look forward to returning to Yarmouth's Nothin' Fancy when we have our home and purchasing some furniture from this lovely staff who made us laugh, and feel great about ourselves and our choice to be here.

Another favourite was Lori on our Petit Passage Whale Watching tour. She was very excited to hear of our recent interest in a house in Barton. Especially when she found out Zoe was 17 and going to be attending the same school as her 17 year old son!

So, moral of the story, don't believe everything people tell you - Nova Scotians are very friendly - even when they find out you are originally from Ontario!

"The House"

As I have mentioned previously - I had almost given up on finding the house that would check all of our boxes. Location, size, character, barn, and acreage. Zoe never gave up. She is a determined young lady who knew she was not moving three provinces away from her friends and family to settle. If she was to live here, it would be in a house she LOVED. She confiscated the truck and our last remaining 2 gigabytes of hotspot data and searched. She emerged to tell me to call our realtor because she had found our house. I called to book the appointment but didn't want to read any details about this house. I had gotten my hopes up too many times with perfect sounding write ups only to be sorely disappointed with the real thing. Zoe was so enthusiastic and determined though that this was
the one, that she quickly won me over and had me biting my nails in anticipation.

Only three of the dozens of houses we saw were occupied. Most of the real estate in our price range was not being lived in. This home, of course, was one of three. And...the home owners needed 24 hours notice for any viewings. Ugh... this meant we called on Saturday night and were unable to get a viewing until Monday morning. If you don't know us very well-Zoe and I are not patient people. This was the longest Sunday in recorded history!

Our first glance at the property confirmed it was indeed 25 useable acres - not swamp land. There were three standing outbuildings - needing some tender loving care - but they were there. So far the write up was spot on and our hopefulness was growing. Fingers crossed for the house. Five bedrooms, two bathrooms, with an on-suite opportunity for Zoe. It was part of our deal, if possible, that she could have her own bathroom in exchange for her work when our farm got up and running!  The owners had carpet and stick on flooring on many floors but it was obvious that the original wide floor boards were in tact underneath, there were gorgeous doorknobs and hinges as well at the original stair newel post - yay character!! There are double doors at the front entrance - this was on Zoe's wish list for character. It has a wood burning stove and forced air furnace. The stove was on my must have list and the forced air was something we realized in all our viewings that we wanted. We didn't like the baseboard heaters that took up too much wall space and limited how we could arrange a room. The basement was full and high and beautiful for a 180 year old home. Unfinishable, but dry and usable. We were in love!!

Our real estate agent forced us to go away and think about it. We went antiquing and two hours later were at Exit Realty in Digby with Valerie Barr signing an offer. Real estate in Nova Scotia is very different from Ontario. When selling my Beamsville home, I would get a call at 11:30 at night or 6 in the morning to sign papers or read an offer. We were on such a tight deadline to sign back counter offers or meet conditions. In Nova Scotia it is so relaxed. Our offer was two pages short, the counter offer came back but didn't get signed for 16 hours because our real estate agent wasn't in her office and "that's okay, we'll get it to them tomorrow!". We were told it was typical that conditions must me met within a month - hello Ontario and 5 business days!! One of the main reasons for my move to Nova Scotia was for the calm, slower pace, but unfortunately I was forced into the role of Ontarian as I insisted conditions be met in 7 business days so Zoe could be back in Ontario for her birthday. We got our letter of insurability and spent the long weekend in August twiddling our thumbs waiting for the inspection Tuesday morning. The house is 180 years old and I went in with an understanding that comes from previously owning a century home. Wayne Thurber of Kirwynd Real Estate Services was professional, thorough and made sure I understood everything about the house that he could explain to me. Fantastic gentleman that I will recommend to anyone who asks!

Inspection done and nothing arose to scare me away - so I signed off on that condition and September 7th, 2018 this will be our new home. Now we wait, and wait, and wait.........

House Hunting

Our journey to find the "perfect for us" house began on our second day in Nova Scotia with a tour of the house of horrors! If I believed in signs, if this first house was any indication of what Nova Scotia had to offer, I would have turned around and run back to Ontario. Luckily for us, and everyone else here, it was not! It was a home we had thought of as a cottage investment. It was 4 bedrooms on one acre and with a river running through it. Sounds lovely right? Well...it had a plumbed, working toilet in the middle of the living room floor, there were spiral sticky fly traps EVERYWHERE, there were locks on the outside of every bedroom door and to top it off...there was a dog leash hook screwed into the dining room wall. The only two pieces of furniture left in the house were a piano and a deep freezer. It was very creepy and gave me the feeling that the police should be taking evidence from this house.

So moving along as quickly as we could...we visited an 11 acres homestead. It was fine. That unfortunately was the extent of our emotion for this house. Not for us.



There was a fantastic house I loved. It was in Ragged Island (which bizarrely is not actually an island!). It had 4 bedrooms, three staircases, two wood stoves with stone walls, and all the furnishings included. It had character, beautiful woodwork and doors, but it was 40 minutes from any town, down a dirt road, in an area that had frequent power outages and nor'easters. So, great house, wrong location.

There was a anther great house with over 20 acres. Big kitchen, lots of fun renovations to do. But a few pointed questions led us to understand the 20 acres were mostly swamp land! Not very useful for the vegetables and animals that we want on our farm!

When we were in Ontario we had done an extensive search through realtor.ca and had found a number of homes to look at. Many of them were disappointing. The pictures were so lovely, but in reality the homes went beyond doing some renos and required a complete overhaul. One such home almost made me cry. I felt so sad for this beautiful, old, majestic home that between the real estate photos and our visit had been trashed. Walls had been ripped out, windows had been broken, stoves and dishwashers were thrown outside and burned, broken glass was everywhere. The living room had been "converted" to a workshop and tools were scattered around. And to top it off, cigarette butts had been put out on the century old original floorboards.


Another one we had viewed from Ontario we knew was in very rough shape but we just happened to drive by it one day and Zoe recognized it so...appointment made we went through. It was fantastic. Again some beautiful old character, but totally gutted and it looked like the people who started the reno had no intention of maintaining any of the beauty of the age. The baseboards and doors were missing. Not just removed but no where on site at all. Still remaining was the spectacular (although very shaky) spiral staircase.



We almost settled on one property in Princedale. It had 21 acres and had not been lived in for 10 years by humans. The snakes, however, were making quite a home of the basement. It had such a unique layout that Zoe would have her own wing with four rooms! It was in a great location, great property, but no barn, and a kitchen that was spread out over three rooms - very strange layout! We went back for a second tour and decided it really was not the place for us - so back to the search we went.

The fun progressed through over 20 houses. Some with character, some with land, some with a barn, some with wood stoves, but nothing quite ticked all our boxes. We had found the area we felt a connection to, but not the house. I was starting to panic and began relooking at houses, trying to work out if we could make the changes necessary to "create" our dream home. Zoe was not ready to give up. She said she would not settle for anything less than we wanted. If we were uprooting ourselves and starting fresh, it would be on our terms with our dream house. She spent our precious little data looking at homes on kijiji. Hours later I hear:
"Call Val". (our real estate agent for the Annapolis Valley).
"I found our house".

Camping/Cottaging

My thought had been to stay at campgrounds and cottages for a month while travelling through Nova Scotia. I wanted to get a feel for the different areas and see what clicked for Zoe and I and "felt right".

Before we left Ontario we had almost three weeks booked. Five days at three different campgrounds then a two week stint at a cottage. Deciding to play the rest of our time by ear depending on what areas we liked best and where we wanted to continue our house hunting.

So...our first campground was at Five Islands and although we struggled to find it, it was lovely when we arrived. We had a beautiful site perched on a hill with gorgeous views of the Bay of Fundy where the highest tides occur. We saw stunning sunsets and walked on the mud flats at low tide. We were able to see the red cliffs and lots of shell sea life that the tides had left behind. The staff was wonderful, overall a terrific introduction to Nova Scotia. However, in driving around for the two days we were there, we realized the area did not call to us. I still can't explain it, so call me crazy, I just knew this was not where we were going to live.

After two days at Five Islands, we packed up and drove past Truro around the tip of the Bay of Fundy to Newport and Smileys Provincial Park. The park itself was fine although the glow of camping was already wearing thin for Zoe. We did a lot of off site driving getting to know this area. This was the first time we ventured into Annapolis Valley and went to the Tangled Gardens and the Fair Trade Coffee Museum. I loved the Gardens, Zoe not so much! The Coffee and Chocolate museum was basically just a store, so a little disappointing. Then we decided to venture further down the coast to Aylesford and a visit a farm zoo. Zoe was in love!! It was a very small zoo which did have regular zoo type animals, lions and tigers and bears (oh my) as well as many farm animals. Horses, chickens, pigs, sheep, goats etc. I had hoped to gain some tips on farming and caring for animals but in reality it was just a lovely afternoon seeing Zoe smile and enjoying the animals.

Our third campground was a miserable failure!! It was Risser's Beach Provincial Park about an hour and a half west of Peggy's Cove. First of all we arrived after dark-a mistake on its own. When I had booked the site five days earlier I had booked a walk-in site. In my previous experience this meant it was a site saved for last minute bookings or "walk-in" campers. In this campground however, we were told it meant the campsite we had booked had no vehicle access, it was a walk into only! So we parked the truck, walked to the site with some firewood and chairs, had a lovely relaxing bonfire then walked back to the truck, pulled out our blankets, lowered our seats and slept there for the night!! That would prove to be Zoes last night EVER camping. As we struggled to get comfortable in the truck Zoe emphasized the fact that our blog should not be Two Girls And a Dream but rather, Two Homeless Girls! Although it was a very stressful night, we woke up having had the best sleep in a week LOL!! We were so "done" at this point that we did not even do any house hunting in this area, just a bit of sight seeing then on to the Yarmouth area.  

Finally on to the cottage. It was a lovely, tiny, rustic, one bedroom cottage in Acadia. Zoe had never been so glad to see a shower and a kitchen in all her life! I am very glad we stayed at this cottage because it made us realize a few things. First, while being on the water is lovely, hearing the waves, listening to the birds, seeing the views and sunsets, everything in the cottage is always damp! From our clothes to the swelling doors. While waterfront property is highly sought after, we decided it was not for us. Second, we realized how much we use wifi!! There was no internet at this cottage and we now know that any house we purchase must be able to receive high speed internet! We spent two weeks using this cottage as our home base. After some house hunting and lots of driving, touristing, shopping, we also felt that this area was not for us.

We continued our travels moving south east into Annapolis Valley along the Bay of Fundy coast. We used Homeaway to rent a house in Parker's Cove, fifteen minutes away from Annapolis Royal. We felt a little defeated at this point...while I had made sure to book a place with wifi this time...this cottage had no cell service. So we could do research and iMessage but not call or text anyone! However, we finally felt a connection to the area. We loved Annapolis Valley. Again, I cannot explain why, we just felt a connection and knew this is where we would find "our home".

We had no other lodging booked at this point but we found the house we want to make our home!! So we booked one more place to stay through Air BNB. It was a loft in Paradise which finally had everything we wanted! Air conditioning for Zoe, wifi AND cell service, and a great location! From here we were able to put an offer on our home and meet our conditions.

First Week

It has been one week since we left home. We have driven over 4000 kilometres, seen beautiful countryside, ocean inlets, rivers, and are starting to get a sense of what we like. Its very difficult to pin point any reason why we like one area better than another because everything is beautiful, but it’s just a sense of belonging, of calm, of peace, of being “right”. 

We are trying to make some progress on our house hunting but we are having some difficulty getting realtors to work with us. A number of people that we contacted did not return our calls, were very negative about the homes with were interested in or lacked interest in helping because we could not guarantee we would be purchasing from them. We have had three excellent agents. Peter Swan at Royal LePage Cumberland Realty, Morgan Lunn at Exit Realty Inter Lake. Our third realtor is Val Barr also with Exit Realty but in Digby. We also took breaks from house hunting to be tourists and enjoy some sights and tastes along the way.

We had heard so much about the abundance of seafood in Nova Scotia. How it was such a luxury to have lobster so available. And Zoe was eager to try it. So...we went to Old Lunenburg, found a restaurant that overlooked the boardwalk and ordered a lobster dinner (and a back up fish and chips just in case!) On Zoe's plate was served a complete lobster with sad eyes looking up at her and she blanched! Being the ever helpful mom, I started to crack the shell and remove the meat so she could at least have a taste. But to her horror, the meat comes out of the shell still in the shape of the claw! That was it, she enjoyed the fish and chips. After a very disappointing first adventure into seafood, we walked the wharf, looked at the boats, and admired the beautifully coloured houses. It reminded me of a less gingerbread Grimsby Beach for those familiar with that area.

I wanted to go to Peggy’s Cove. I didn’t realize it would be four hours out of our way but once we got started Zoe encouraged me to continue since I don’t do much for me that I want…awwww! Love that girl! It was beautiful with the cutest little shops in rustic, old wood buildings. It was also my first experience since arriving in Nova Scotia with traffic. We were not the only tourists there!! I felt my Ontario frustrated self rising to the surface and worked hard to squelch her and be patient while finding parking and enjoy what I drove out to see. And I did!! It really is a lighthouse on a rock, but after seeing so much imagery over my lifetime, I am very glad I got to be there in person.