My Childhood years

Thus continues my series on the geographical history of my life. This constitutes my pre-school years, even though I make mention of later years.

My Infant years I know only through hearsay. But geographically I was living in a part of Nova Scotia called the Annapolis Valley. In 1604 Annapolis royal was founded, making it the oldest permanent settlement in Canada. It is still a celebrated historical site.

As for me, I lived the town of Kentville, nestled between the North and South Mountains that lined the valley. I believe that it resides below sea level, but I am not sure. Let me consult google...elevation 31 meters, oh balls. Well none the less, I lived in surrounding towns in this area until I was 9, so let these pictures express my childhood until the age on 9 when I left Nova Scotia.

Below is a map of the province, and Kentville is to the west of Halifax, on the opposite bay. It's an hour's drive across the width of the province, and eight hours across the length. The island of Cape Breton is still home to my Grandmother, and I have many fond summer memories from North Sydney there.


next is a photo of the Apple blossom parade. While the town was only home to about 5000 people, over ten thousand would show up for this day. I remember walking towards the parade with great anticipation and the candy that would be thrown to the kids in the crowd, and I also recall the extreme boredom that I experienced shortly after eating my candy, and wishing we could just go home.



Cape Split is pictured below because of my love for hiking there. I have brought friends from Toronto, Minnesota, and Ottawa there just to hike the 5 mile trail into the woods and camp out for a few nights. But as regards my childhood, this picture represents the water more than the hike. I am told now that my love of the ocean, and water in general comes from my early years when my father was a shift worker at a tire plant. He would get off work and, exhausted, take our family to the beach where he would promptly pass out on the sand, and my sister and I would swim unsupervised for hours.



finally, a photo of Halls Harbour, up on the North Mountain. My parents divorced, and my father remarried, taking my sister and I to live in our new house up on the mountain. It was so far from anyone else that I couldn't walk to the nearest neighbors. The nearest "town" was Halls Harbour, an old fishing community, where I would often fish off the pier. It is to my grandfather that I owe my love of fishing. It has waned in recent years, but as a child I could bait a hook, line a bobber, and reel in a trout, cod, flounder, whatever. I loved to fish, and to this day there is no greater thrill for me than that of reeling in a catch.