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September 24, 2009

Colourful Nova Scotia

For this week’s Hooked on Fridays blog party, I’m hooked on colour. But not just any colour—Nova Scotia colour!!

Everywhere we went on our trip to Nova Scotia, we were surrounded by colour – colourful houses, colourful landscape, and colourful people :-) Here’s just a sampling of colourful Nova Scotia – starting with houses and shops in every colour of the rainbow (and more!!) First off  is the B&B we stayed at in Lunenburg, Pelham House Bed & Breakfast

pelham house

And one of their resident orange cats, Ben. He likes to hang out in the room we stayed in :-)

ben

Lots of charming old buildings with amazing architecture and detailing… like Lunenburg Academy:

lunenburg academy

Red…

red store red school

I love this boat builder’s house with the bright red door…

boat builder

Orange…

orange mahone bay orange restaurant

Yellow…

yellow mahone bay hells point yellow

This green building in Lunenburg is my absolute favourite. It’s a kitchen store and cooking school called Cilantro.

cilantro

When I told the store owner that I love the green & blue exterior, she told me that opinion among the residents of Lunenburg is divided — some love it, some hate it. How can anyone hate such a bright and cheerful building?! Even the bags and tissue paper they use to wrap your purchases are blue and bright green :-)

cilantro 3  cilantro sun

Blue…

blue

turquoise 2 turquoise

And my favourite, purple!!

7 10 shop purple trim mahone bay

This one was a drive-by shooting in Halifax, so it’s kinda lopsided…

8 9

This house was just down the street from our B&B in Lunenburg…

mauve 2

Captain Samuel Knickle had it built for his wife in 1890.

mauve sign

I love the detailing around the doors and windows…

1 mauve bay window mauve window 1

mauve window 2

And I love, love, LOVE this turquoise & purple building. It’s the Amos Pewter store and workshop in Mahone Bay. I now officially want a turquoise house with a purple door & window trim :-)

2 4 6 5

This purple building next door is their warehouse:

3

Love the bright yellow & purple chairs and doors on this beautiful house…

blue rocks house 1[3]  blue rocks house 2

Lots of colourful front doors (click on any door to see a larger image)…

baby blue door grey door purple door red door wood 2 door wood 3 red door yellow blue doors yelllow door mahone bay

These three doors are from Fleur de Sel (a restaurant in Lunenburg), a bakery & coffee shop in Mahone Bay, and the wrought iron gate is between Cilantro and the orange building next door:

fleur de sel bakery mahone bay  gate

This is one of the most intriguing doorways I’ve ever seen. It’s the entry to the B&B we stayed at in Halifax called The Pebble.

door pebble

And this is the yellow-green door that opens to the most colourful shop in Luneburg, Out of Hand.

out of hand 2

Inside Out of Hand… love that purple floor!!

purple floor stairs

The yard behind Out of Hand… aren’t the fish Adirondack chairs fun?!

fish bench 2

I had to take a picture of the purple bike :-)

purple bike

Out of Hand sell lots of colourful crafts handmade by Nova Scotia artisans. Like this Memory Bracelet designed by Mary Maureen that I bought:

mary maureen memory bracelet crystal crescent

And the resident dog, Oreo!!

oreo

I hope you can handle a bit more colour, starting with some pretty flowers

flowers mahone bay bakery eating area flowers chester

This is a power box in Halifax. Much better than the typical green box :-)

halifax power box

A blue boat in Blue Rocks and an old blue car in Lunenburg…

blue boatturquoise car

Fantastic fiddler Anna Ludlow playing at the Seafood Festival in Lunenburg…

anna ludlow

And finally, this lovely & colourful lady is Ruth Wells

ruth

We met her at the Picton Castle store in Lunenburg.

picton castle store

Picton Castle is a training tall ship based in Lunenburg. I’m going to write a post about it soon, because it’s an amazing ship with an amazing story.

picton castle

Picton Castle’s most experienced crew member—besides Captain Dan Moreland—is Chibley the cat. In 2004, Ruth toured the Picton Castle during the  Tall Ship Festival in Lunenburg. When she met Chibley, she decided that Chibley had a wonderful story to tell about her life aboard the Picton Castle. But Chibley doesn’t how to type… so Ruth helped her out, and now Chibley has not one but two books:

chibley 1 chibley 2

Ruth can give Chibley a run for her sailing money. Ruth told us that her husband came home from the boat show one year and asked her to go back and look at a boat with him. She was apprehensive, but loved the boat as soon as she stepped on it. And a month or so later, that exact boat belonged to her and her husband.

emeraldsThey sailed together for many years — they were gone for nine years at one point, just the two of them and their bunny :-) They sailed to Colombia, because Ruth’s  husband had heard that the best emeralds come from Colombia, and he wanted to buy her one.

They had their personal spaces on the boat that they would go to if they needed space from each other. Ruth went to the bow, her husband went to the stern.

Now Ruth’s husband has Alzheimers and doesn’t remember the wonderful time they spent together on their boat. But Ruth doesn’t let it get her down — she’s happy and thankful that they sailed when they were able to, and she has wonderful memories of their trips together.

Besides helping Chibley write her two books, Ruth does volunteer work and has helped send books to children around the world — a percentage from the sales of Chibley’s books go to purchase educational supplies for schools in the South Pacific and South Africa. Many of these supplies are delivered by the Picton Castle and her crew—including Chibley—on their voyages around the world.

So are you hooked on colourful Nova Scotia now too?? :-) Sail on back to Hooked on Houses to see what all the other colourful bloggers are hooked on this week…

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28 comments:

Sarah @ In A Dream said...

Wow so many colors! What a happy place! I completely see the appeal of the purple and turquoise color combination. How fun! I used to watch this show called Donna's Day with my mom which had all sorts of fun things to get parents and kids spending time together. I remember her house, at least on the inside, had so many colors. I was in love with it a young age because what kid doesn't love a bunch of colors thrown together? I guess I've always wished that when I have kids they would have a fun colorful place to live. Novia Scotia seems like the perfect place to take kids house-looking that's fun for the adults too! Thanks for sharing!

Maya@Completely Coastal said...

Wow. Some of these buildings are breathtaking..., and you got to love that purple floor. The town just sparks..., I guess that makes up for the cold, right!

Carolyn said...

I love this colorful post!

Thank you for sharing,
Carolyn

Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions said...

What a charming place, Kelly! I love it! Leave it to you to find purple buildings and a purple bike! : )

Arleen @ Seasons for All at Home said...

From charming to whimsy, what wonderful use of colors! Thank you for sharing so many photographs! ~Arleen

Heartfire At Home said...

Wow!! What an unbelievably amazing and colourful place! I've never seen anywhere like it. What a fantastic place to visit. So sad about Ruth's husband, I'm glad she has such wonderful memories. Thanks for sharing these great photographs.

Linda. xx :)

Claudia said...

Ohhh my goodness!! When i opened your blog i really said, "SHUT up!!!" look at these colors!

This would be such a fantastic place to visit.

Thanks so very much for taking us along. I am posting fast so i can go re-read and look more careful.

If you have a moment, stop by and say hi! I would love to have you.

TTFN~~ Claudia ♥ ♥

Maria Killam said...

I loved how you posted like the colour wheel! YOu certainly took a lot of photos, they are so great!

amariaf2000 said...

I want to move there!! LOVE the green store/school although I'm not a fan of cilantro...lol. And what a sweet story at the end about Ruth!

~angela @ peonypatch

Marianne said...

That town looks like Pipi Longstocking land!

Fifi Flowers said...

OH MY GAWD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your whole post I could paint... I am marking this in my favourites!!! I'm soooo INSPIRED to paint these... I NEED a couple more hours in the day!!!
Bon week-end!
Fifi

Diane Schuller said...

yes, you have me hooked. I've always wanted to go there and hope to get there some day. Love their colourful ways. When we lived in the city I painted our front door a deep sea blue with gold trim. EVERYONE had white doors and I thought they were so dull and ordinary. My front door began a trend. First the woman across the street painted hers fuschia, then a couple doors down the lady painted hers a brick red, and from there it just took off. Now there are all kinds of coloured doors in that neighbourhood. Whenever I go back, I always smile because I know it was me who started the trend! ;)

Susan said...

What a fantastic post Kelly. Hubbies gift of the new camera has done its job!

Your post is such a nice reminder of the beautiful colours and creative people that surround us in everyday life when you are looking for it and even when you're not. You absolutely have to come and play on my island, Prince Edward Island. I think tomorrow I will post on my colourful vacation to Jasper.
Susan

Unknown said...

Kelly,

For the love of color, what a happy and informative post. Great to see such cooperation among all who live and work there. It is spirit lifting for sure.

Bette

Outside The Lines said...

What a magical place!

Pam Kersting said...

Oh what a fun trip! Thanks so much for taking us along with you. I'll put that on my list of places I want to visit! I enjoyed the post so much!

Cindy (Applestone Cottage) said...

I was in Nova Scotia about 20 years ago and I will never forget how lovely it was! I so loved Halifax, thanks for the beautiful pics! cindy

Karen The Graphics Fairy said...

These are gorgeous!!! What a great post, I had so much fun looking at these. This post really hit home for me, in more ways than one. My grandmother had a yellow farmhouse in Nova Scotia, right on the Bay of Fundy, where I used to spend my Summers growing up. Here's the wild part, her name was Ruth and I have a brooch of hers that she gave me years ago, that has Columbian emeralds in it! Too funny!

Dumbwit Tellher said...

Fabulous post Kelly ~ between Ben & Oreo, & all the terrific colors, I'm hooked indeed. Always so fun to visit your blog, always!!

Happy weekend to you both ~

Danica said...

I would LOVE to live in the first blue house, it looks like it's right out of a storybook! So adorable!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Love all of the color and you took such great photos. Too many good ones to pick a favorite... :-) Have a good weekend!

Greet Lefèvre said...

Oh my god Kelly, all these different coloured houses in this region!! I have never seen in it before! And even a purple one , your favorite colour!!

I wish you a coloured weekend and thank you so much for the sweet comment on my blogpost!

Greet

Meg said...

Those doors are perfection!! Reminds me of Charleston. Great feature, brightened my rainy day.

Fargerike Dagny said...

Wow, this is such a fantastic post! Some of those color combos are insane! Love all the doors, why on earth do most houses paint them black or white?

Gayle said...

Kelly, you have me thinking maybe Nova Scotia would be a great place for us to vacation next year! But, most likely we'll be looking at colleges in the US next summer for my oldest boy. I love all those colors, even the red!

ImagineCozy said...

I have to say I have never seen color quite like that before! That was one GREEN house! Fantastic photos. It looks like it must have been a wonderful trip.
-Angela

cynthia said...

Hi Chicks!

I'm so glad I found you on twitter and this lead me to your blog. I work for Nova Scotia Tourism and I love all your pics of Lunenburg. We love to hear from our visitors. I was just thinking what an interesting art piece all the pictures of the doors would make if framed! LOVE it!

Glad you enjoyed Lunenburg so much and thanks for sharing it.

Cheers!

Cynthia
aka twitter.com/cynatnovascotia

staging professionals Toronto said...

Hello! Even though I'm from Canada, I have beautiful memories from Nova Scotia where I went to visit my old friend. Beautiful countryside and beautiful houses. As I work as a professional home stager in Canada, I found them very inspiring for me. Therefore, thank you very much for the pictures!
All the best,
Sara

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