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The 2009 Nova Scotia Bed & Breakfast Association Annual General Meeting
This weekend the Annual General Meeting of the Nova Scotia Bed & Breakfast Association was held here in Truro. What a fun weekend!!
www.nsbedandbreakfast.com
We woke up Friday morning to snow & slush, so unfortunately some of the Board of Directors weren’t able to make it to our meeting & potluck lunch. However, we still had enough in attendance that we had a quorum so our meeting took place regardless. After that was over, the B&B’s in town held house tours for anyone who was here from outside the area. So often, we are asked to recommend B&B’s in other parts of the province, so it is helpful to know what different areas have to offer. In the evening, we all went over to Tulips & Thistle B&B for a wine & cheese party. It was such a great opportunity to network with other operators from around the province and share some really funny stories!
Maarten & Nelly from Baker's Chest with hosts Ann & Larry at Tulips & Thistle
Gerry (Suncatcher B&B) and myself
Shelly from Stuart House by the Bay with Jennifer from TIANS
Some of the Truro B&B owners - D'Arcy & myself along with Janice, Ann & Gerry
Bill & Ann Marie Monk of A Seafaring Maiden B&B in Granville Ferry, outside of Annapolis Royal
A fun chance to network together
Donnie & Janice from Eagle's Landing B&B always have a hilarious story or two!!
Jill from bbcanada.com, Jennifer from TIANS, Anne from Belgravia B&B & Ruth from Suncatcher B&B!
Ruth from Suncatcher, Dora from Jonah By the Sea, Connie from A Paradise Found and Mary Pat from Azalea Farmhouse B&B's
The AGM itself took place at First United Church Hall on Saturday and the UCW had prepared lunch for 75 people. Unfortunately, we did have a few members send regrets at the last-minute due to weather conditions and/or illness. Regardless, we were pleased with the turnout. The morning program started off with information sessions by Tom Wilson who spoke about online & social marketing and its importance these days. Next, Jill MacIntosh from www.bbcanada.com spoke to us about maximizing our web presence and taking full advantage of offers made to us through the bbcanada website. Just before lunch, Kieu Lam from TIANS along with Doug Matthews from the Department of Tourism, Culture & Heritage came to speak with us about the new Nova Scotia Approved Program for accommodation operators.
We enjoyed a wonderful lunch provided by the UCW and then got down to the business of our AGM. Our Board of Directors is undergoing a tremendous change with eight new directors this year, including a new President & Vice President. We’re hoping to take the Association in a positive new direction and I’m really looking forward to working with this new group of people.
Tom Wilson, presenting information on Social Media and Marketing
Jill MacIntosh from www.bbcanada.com
Kieu Lam from TIANS, presenting the new "Nova Scotia Approved" program to members
Door prizes of bags filled with "Items a B&B owner might use" (soap, toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, hand sanitizer, etc.) generously donated by MacQuarries Pharmasave in Truro
Jill, presenting a free year's membership to bbcanada.com to Bruce Fulton's B&B
D'Arcy, making sure all the presentations would show up on the screen
Ruth, presenting outgoing NSBBA President John Meehan with a plaque of appreciation
Gerry Mailloux new NSBBA President, drawing raffle prize winners
Jill had suggested that we, along with Ruth & Gerry, Ann & Larry & Jennifer all go out to dinner Saturday night to celebrate the successful weekend. We toasted our successes with some Prost, a sparkling wine made by Jost Vineyards, a local winery. We then all went out for supper at a restaurant close by called “The Lovin Spoonful“. Not only was the company so much fun, but the meal and the service were amazing!! We will all be recommending that restaurant to our guests from now on!! After three hours at the restaurant, laughing & telling stories, we came back here to Belgravia for coffee and ended the weekend on a high note!
TTM, ready to celebrate a successful weekend!
November Special
We are pleased to offer a rate of $88.50 + 13% HST per room per night ($100) for the month of November. This includes full breakfast in the morning. Please call, toll-free: 1-866-877-9900 or email us at: belgravia@ eastlink.ca to make a reservation. We can’t wait to host you!
So much to be Thankful for!
This past weekend was Thanksgiving here in Nova Scotia, and were fortunate enough to be able to host 35 (including us) of the McDonahs, representing four generations, for Dinner! We closed out the B&B for the night so that we could get everything ready. It was a pretty special sight to see that many of us sitting at one table. We went around the table, one-by-one, revealing what we were thankful for. Although the sentiments varied, I know we were all thankful to be part of such a large, fun & loving family!
Preparing to make the dressing...
A photo while setting the table
"Turporken" - a de-boned turkey, stuffed with a pork roast, stuffed with a de-boned chicken which has been stuffed! This one turporken would serve 25 people. We also barbecued an 8lb pork roast.
Some family, chatting before Dinner
The only photo of the day with both D'Arcy & I...
Everyone finding their seats...
D'Arcy's sister, Kathleen, started off the "What I'm Thankful For" Circle
Sarah, presenting her grandfather with an "ear" of corn she'd grown just for him - it was about 5 cm long!
Dinner Time!
"Great" Auntie Anne with the youngest family member, Phinn
What a wonderful day we had – we are truly blessed!
Winding Down
Fall is definitely here and our main “tourist” season is winding down.
The last bouquet of glads for this year
We have bookings though until the end of next weekend, but after that we will switch and get mostly business people throughout the winter and spring. We’ve already started getting calls for Christmas parties.
The garden is mostly harvested, the trees are turning, and it will soon be time to rake.
And rake.
And rake some more…
The driveway was lonely & bare yesterday afternoon since last week was our final Salad Bowl Gardens delivery of the season. What fun it was to be able to serve local, organic produce & eggs all summer! It was also a treat to see all of our neighbours each week as they came to pick up their haul, but getting to play with Oliver was always a highlight! Oliver certainly has a fan club at this house, although we’ll see what happens next year when he’s on the move and can get away from his fans!
Roxanne & Oliver - who could resist those cheeks?!
This week the house is full with the smells of bread and pies and cleaning supplies. We’re having our (D’Arcy’s side) family here for Thanksgiving Dinner on Sunday. We’re expecting to host between 30-40 people, so there’s lots of preparation to do! I’m trying to get as much done ahead as possible so that I can relax and visit when the time comes. The weather is supposed to be beautiful on Sunday, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed.
DRUM!
We had a chance to get to Halifax on Saturday for a performance of DRUM! I am having a hard time putting into words just how much we enjoyed it! The show is explained in the program by the following:
“Before the Tall Ships came, there were the drums of the Mi’Kmaq, the rhythm of the rugged, beautiful lands of Nova Scotia. For thousands of years, their songs and those of the other ancient native peoples were the only music accompanying Nova Scotia’s crashing waves.
Then came the others, displaced people all, carrying their faith and their music as precious reminders of the homes they had left behind.
First the French, who settled and farmed, transforming the ways of the old country into a new culture – the Acadian culture – as vital and rich as the new land they ploughed.
Then the Celts, the Scots and the Irish, who coloured the landscape, so like that of their homeland, with swirling tartan and the airs of the pipes, the harp and fiddle.
And north from the Thirteen Colonies and the Caribbean, the black settlers, twice dispossessed, the weavers of rhythms rooted in their African heritage and fired by hard times.
Each nation born of a timeless culture, dancing to their own rhythm, their own unique beat.
DRUM! is a gathering of all these rhythms. It is the musical heartbeat of Nova Scotia. A spectacle of sounds, styles and traditions, ultimately coming together in a world beat grand finale.
DRUM! communicates a message to the world: we can hold on to who we are and still share a song, a stage, a country, a world.”
The show especially captured the imaginations of our own drummer, performer, and highland dancer.
The show is over for this year, but we highly recommend for anyone planning a trip to Nova Scotia at this time next year that you try to get tickets!! We’ll definitely go again!
Afterwards, we went to the Henry House for dinner. The Henry House was formerly the home of the Granite Brewery, where D’Arcy & I first met while working there together. The menu and the beer remain mainly the same, and we were happy to see Mel, who is still working there on Saturday nights after all these years!
It was a fun night out, as Halifax is such an easy trip from here for the day. We will definitely put up a reminder for guests when DRUM! comes to town next year!
Fall
I’m embarrassed that it’s been so long since I put an updated post on here. I guess that it’s a good thing that we’ve been so busy lately I’m having a hard time keeping up! D’Arcy & the kids are back to school and it is definitely starting to feel like fall – our burning bush has started to “burn” and our Maples have a touch of red; we even have a frost warning again for tonight!
We’ve been harvesting our garden, using the tomatoes for Eggs Florentine and freezing those we can’t keep up with for winter. The other day, I grated 16 cups of zucchini to freeze and use in muffins this winter. I’ve also made pickles & jams, and this weekend I intend to make some salsa.
D’Arcy has been busily working at jobs around the house that need doing before winter, like replacing the basement door including the sill & casing and rebuilding the steps. When he took off one of the boards, we were interested to find the name “Randall” written on the back. It obviously was an original, there since the house was built by Dr. Ambrose Randall in 1904! We love finding these little pieces of history!
We expect to be steadily busy for the next few weeks until the Fall Colours start to peak in late October. It’s the perfect time to be traveling in Nova Scotia, now that our days tend to be sunny & warm(ish) and our nights cool. The air is clear, the bugs are few, and the foliage is beautiful.
Neat Video from the Peggy’s Cove Webcam during Hurricane Bill
I’m glad I was tucked up warm, cozy & safe here at home while this was going on!!
The following is a series of images taken from the Peggy’s Cove Webcam during the height of the storm:
Hurricane Bill
We are currently feeling the effects of Hurricane Bill. Thank goodness, it’s not hitting Truro the way that Hurricane Juan did in 2003, when we ended up with no power and schools closed for a week! (Breakfast on the barbeque lost its novelty very quickly!!) We are safe & cozy inside while the rain & wind do their thing and we look forward to the sun shining again tomorrow!
Nova Scotia Wild Blueberry Harvest Festival
It’s that time of year again – blueberry season!
Tonight is the kick off of the Nova Scotia Wild Blueberry Harvest Festival. Mitch MacDonald, former Canadian Idol runner-up will be playing a free outdoor concert from the roof of the Marigold Centre, just down the street from us from 6-10 p.m. tonight. We’ll be heading down there right after supper.
For a complete list of information and events, click here: NS Wild Blueberry Harvest Festival
Hope to see you here!
Playing Tourist
We handed the B&B over to “The B Team” this weekend (my parents; that’s their term, not ours!) and took a little vacation of our own in Halifax.
Running a B&B means that you don’t often get to vacation in the summer like everyone else. Our nephew was being married in the city, so it seemed the perfect opportunity to take a break and play tourist while still getting some family visiting in.
We stayed downtown at the Delta Barrington. (We had the kids with us, so didn’t B&B; a pool seemed much more important!) Our stay was everything we could have asked for and more. For a 200 room hotel, it was cozy, intimate & elegant. The staff were warm & friendly and recognized us each time we went in & out, while our rooms were clean, comfortable, spacious & quiet. D’Arcy & I had planned to eat at a particular restaurant on Sunday, but as it turned out, they weren’t open – that is something you often have to watch for in Nova Scotia, some restaurants close on Sunday & Monday. We decided to eat at the Lounge in the hotel and were delighted when the food was delicious, and our server was attentive!
It was fun for D’Arcy & me to be able to visit with our family this weekend without feeling like we had to rush home. D’Arcy is the 7th of nine children, so it takes awhile to visit with everyone!! The wedding was beautiful and so much fun! We ended up staying until the dance was over at 1:00 (something we rarely ever do anymore) and we had a blast!
D'Arcy's brother's family
The Bridal Party at Flemming Park in Halifax
D'Arcy with his mom & brother, Kevin, at the reception
D'Arcy's sister-in-law's band played at the dance. As you can see, everyone was having a great time!
At midnight, the bride joined the band on stage to sing "Happy Birthday" to the Best Man!
We got up early on Sunday and ran the 5k Nova Scotia Lung Run, raising money to send kids with asthma to summer camp. D’Arcy’s sister was also participating, so we had a great visit with her. Later, we met up with our nephew, his wife & our great nephew for a trip to the Discovery Centre, then some time along the waterfront to watch some acts participating in the Busker Festival.
Some of the runners, including D'Arcy's sister Erin. She finished the 5k in just over 21 minutes, then ran back to finish with us!
Approaching the finish...
The "McRunners" raised $55.60 by selling lemonade
D'Arcy with our nieces, Alex & great-nephew Phinn!
One of the Buskers
Some of the crowd at the Halifax Waterfront during the Busker Festival
Unfortunately, the weekend went all too quickly and we were back home on Monday in time to help with the cleanup and say goodbye to two of the couples who had stayed here for the weekend.
It was nice to be waited on for the weekend, but I can’t say that we came home refreshed…
