Nova Scotia

I'm in Nova Scotia, staying for a few days with friends in Halifax doing a Shambhala retreat with Rinpoche, then off to New Germany for a solitary retreat at Windhorse Farm.  The city and weather have been very kind and I'm enjoying all the new food establishments since my last visit in 2009 (Ace Burger, Smiling Goat, Saege, Gingerhaus, Ireland 32, etc...)  Halifax also boasts the most pubs per capita of any Canadian city so there's been some of that too.  The last two weeks of July I was in a closed group retreat at Karme Choling in Barnet Vermont, my favorite place and where I expect to land later this year to be on staff.  Hence the lack of updates...no devices during retreat is a great gift.  After the driving schedule of June and July this was a much needed stillness and I was soaking in some very inspiring teaching with 84 fellow retreatants, many old friends.

Morning in Vermont

Foggy morning in the garden at Karme Choling

Later in August I'll be heading up the coast to Ingonish and Gampo Abbey, and touring Cape Breton, a place I've longed to see since a cab driver I met in 1989 at my local Denny's enticed me with descriptions of his homeland.  The camera will be out with me so I'll share when I have internet access.

I drove to Halifax from Vermont over 2 days, going through the White Mountains of New Hampshire and cutting across Maine. I stopped for a quick bite at the Eagle's Nest in Brewer, across the river from Bangor, which has an amazing, huge lobster roll.  Stayed overnight in the New Brunswick town of St John - one of a string of "Saint" towns along the Bay of Fundy coastline of this province.  Established during the American revolutionary war, it became the home for American refugees loyal to the British - "Loyalists" - in the 1770's and had an enormous shipping and shipbuilding economy in the the 19th century.  A fire in the 1870's burned down much of the original wood architecture but several blocks remain - the new buildings are brick and various styles.  The Bay of Fundy is known for it's world-record tides, a variance daily of some 55 feet.  I wasn't around very long so the city is on the list of places to return to.

Tanner's B&B in St John, NB

Today's schedule starts in about an hour and I haven't had breakfast so just a short update for now.

Haligoonians at Steve-o-rino's