Soon...

Soon I’ll be posting more stories to this blog. Soon. I’ve been busy/distracted with the book that my writing group is publishing together. Sometimes it feels like it is moving ahead through shear force of will and not really writing at all. I’ll get back to real writing, soon. 

Soon the book, One Word, will be published. Its with the printer now. We’re going to unveil it at a library conference October 19, with an official book launch at LaHave River Books the following week. How exciting! All profits from One Word ($20 + shipping) will go to support the local bookmobile, which is well travelled and indispensable, and needs an upgrade, soon. It is a lifeline to far flung and remote communities across the South Shore. 

Meanwhile, the South Shore – all of Nova Scotia – is preparing for Hurricane Dorian, whose arrival is imminent. Wind gusts of up to 150 kmph, storm surges on the coast, and heavy downpours bringing 70 to 100 mm of rain to hard packed earth that has had less than 5 mm of moisture since May. If we don’t tie down our lawn furniture it will float off in the back yard, where the brown and crunchy grass will soon turn into a roiling lake. 

People here are stoic and resilient. When hurricane Juan devastated this province in 2003, they pulled together to help each other deal with the massive flooding, power outages and property damage. We bought our home in 2004 and, 15 years later, the damage from Juan is still visible in Point Pleasant Park – a gem in Nova Scotia’s capital city, Halifax.

We live in a small village called Pleasantville where, in just a few days, people will pull together and help each other cope with the damage from Dorian. 

Soon I’ll say goodbye to these wonderful folks and the dear friends I’ve made. Nova Scotia is stunningly beautiful, many of its inhabitants are magnificent, and the seafood is delicious and plentiful. But I can’t live here anymore. I can’t live in a province where there is no medical care to speak of, no dependable roads, mental health support or internet, and no hope of the services and supports that many Canadians take for granted. People here are so adept at buckling down and dealing with hurricanes and droughts and snowstorms that the unrelenting ineptitude of all levels and political stripes of government is just one more catastrophe to be borne.  

Soon I’ll move to a province governed by a dim and dictatorial bully and to a region that’s seen its share of floods, snowstorms, and power outages. Posturing politicians and bumbling bureaucrats too! Health care won’t be perfect, but I’ll have a hope of finding a doctor there, and I won’t have to wait for 12 hours, spread over two days to get a simple prescription filled. I won’t watch good friends die or try to at their own hand because they didn’t have a doctor, didn’t have a doctor who followed up and monitored their care, or had a dedicated doctor who was so busy and overbooked that by the time they got an appointment it was too late.  

I’ll make new friends and live closer to my oldest and dearest ones – my family too.

Big changes are coming in my life. 

Soon.