A Year of Firsts...Firsts for Missing Out!

The Covid-19 pandemic certainly messed up everything for everyone!  Things are slowly starting to get back to normal here on Cape Breton Island but this past summer was a strange one for me.  It was the summer of "missing out" as I call it.  This is because many of the things that I do every didn't happened.

I was celebrating a big Christmas gathering with friends at our community hall when I first heard about the Corona Virus. No one was taking it seriously back than.  In fact, jokes were being mage about it.  We hugged and sat close to one another at the table. We gathered around a letter that arrived in the mail from Louis in Portugal who had found my father's message in a bottle on a beach in the Azores. We gathered closely around the tree as the children opened their presents. Little did I know it would be my last such gathering for a very long time.   

While enjoying all my usual activities in the summer of 2019, there was no indication of what was to come in just a few short months and how it would upend the lives of everyone around the world.  How we take things for granted when the unknown is lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting. I have a lot of catching up to do when this is all over!

My whole life, I've had a strong connection to the Fortress of Louisbourg.  My mother worked there as a guide in the 70s and I have French-Acadian heritage on her side of the family.  Every single year, 39 years straight, I visited the fortress at least once. As a child, I ran around the open grounds of the courtyard, hung out with the farm animals and climbed the fortress walls.  Although I hated the sound of the cannon firings, I looked forward to this part of my visits when I got older.  Sometimes I went to the fortress several times a year but always tried to get there for the Fete de St. Louis Day where they had 18th century military demonstrations and old fashioned fireworks similar to what was used during that period. Recently, I had been attending the Canada Day festivities every year. It's been two years since I've been there. 

The Fortress of Louisbourg, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

 

 

 

 Baddeck is my kind of town and one that I always visit numerous times each summer but I didn't even drive through it this year.  It didn't occur to me until the end of the season that I hadn't been there.  I was working all summer and was always in a hurry to get to the beaches on the west coast so I bypassed the exit to the pretty little town on several occasions. I was only able to travel around the island on weekends and the idea of trying to navigate the large crowds that congregate in Baddeck on summer days kept me away.  The monthly festival that had been taking place for the past few summers didn't take place this year so that was another reason I never went.    

 

 

Every fall since I moved back home in 2011, there's one event I look forward to all year round and that's the Celtic Colours International Festival.  The concerts, the guided hikes, the markets, the galleries, the community meals.....how I miss all of these things!  Sure, I can watch the festival online, but it's just not the same as being there in person.  

Even my trips to the Cape Breton Highlands National Park were scaled back this year.  I usually make a trip up there at least once every two weeks.  I only went once this summer and once just a few weeks ago when the leaves were changing colour. I can't imagine a year without going to the Cape Breton Highlands; of all the places on Cape Breton Island, that's my number one favourite area. Cape Breton weather can be hit or miss and it was a bit of a miss this year with most of the rain and adverse weather happening on weekends, which happened to be the only time I could go anywhere. 

Visits from family who live away, missed events and festivals and two years spent mostly close to home.  Once someone who used to love going on multiple road trips a week, I'm now used to staying close to home and have learned to love the things my own backyard has to offer.  With the price of gas, this's probably best.  My older, high-mileage Hyundai is certainly appreciating the break!  

Despite missing out on some yearly traditions, I found new places to explore around Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, ate at some new places, spent lots of time with family and dreamed of a future free of this virus so I can get back on the road....exploring near and far and not caring about whether or not I'm standing six feet away from a stranger or if I forget my mask in the car.  Well actually, I might hold on to the mask. I haven't had a cold or any sickness since the pandemic began!

The old railbed that passes near a trail in Gardiner Mines, Cape Breton Island.

Since Travel is off the Table for Now.....

It's been a whirlwind two years.  That two-week lockdown that started in March of 2020 turned into two months and than into almost two years.  Two years feels like two weeks while also feeling like 20 years.  Makes no sense, I know but neither does anything else.  

I don't even know what year it is let alone what month it is half the time.  Forget seasons.  In my mind, it's still July even though it's October.  Someone said the Celtic Colors International Festival has started and I was surprised at why it was starting so early until I realized this is the time of year it takes place.  I was swimming in the ocean the other day.  It felt like August.  It's fall.  I was wondering why I was the only person in the water until I realized that summer had already come and gone.  The water is unseasonably warm.  Even the seasons and ocean currents are messed up!

Over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, I've had many ups and downs and goods and bads.  One major down was not being able to travel, which, if you've been to my blog before, you know travel is something I enjoy doing a lot.  

Despite this negative aspect of the pandemic, some positive did come out of it.  Although travel has been my number one passion (tied with writing) for most of my life, I was able to branch out and learn a lot more about myself and discovered that I like to write about other things too.  With the lack of travel came a lack of things to write about on my travel blog.  

In my lockdown boredom and desire to continue writing, I started to branch out into other related and non-related topics.  Self-help, alternative health, mental health, coping with Covid-19 and many other topics caught my attention and I put pen to paper and fingers to keys and came up with a lot of ideas and drafts to keep me busy through the long winter.  Don't worry, I still have plenty of travel stories to write about from previous trips and my adventures around Cape Breton Island will always be something I love to share with my followers!

 Before I first started this blog, I asked myself What is a Blog because so idea what a bog was let alone what a blog post was.  I know a lot more now but it's always a work in progress and I know there's always so much more to learn in the ever-changing world of blogging! Over the next few months, I intend to take some time to really study the art of blogging so I can improve my blog.

I don't know if this switch will be permanent or just temporary until things get back to normal.  That's because I don't know if things will ever be normal again.  

I'm not even sure I will look at travel the same anymore especially if things don't revert back to pre-pandemic. I'm not thrilled with mandated vaccines.  I mean vaccines are great and I don't have a problem with the odd one but will I have to get a Covid vaccine every time I board a train forever? 

And masks are great too but I can't imagine traveling in a hot climate and having to wear one on my face if I'm at the beach or walking a crowded night market.  Having to remain 6 feet away from everyone is also a bummer when trying to mingle with locals and make new friends on the road.  The lineups and extra steps involved in the current travel world make travel seem like more of a hassle than a relaxing vacation. 

And above all, the fear of another pandemic breaking out while abroad and the fear of being exposed to a deadly novel virus so far away from home are also concerns.  But, I'm normally someone who lets fear get in the way of my passions so I'm going to say that my new angle will one day soon simply be an addition to my travel writing. That being said, domestic travel in Covid-19 is always on the table for me.  International travel will have to wait a while longer.  

Another reason for this switch is the need to take some time to deal with the emotional and mental toll the pandemic has had on my overall physical and mental well-being and writing about it, sharing my feelings and thoughts and connecting with others who are also struggling seems to be the one thing that helps me cope most.  

That being said, I hope you're all keeping well and being productive despite the upheaval to our lives these past two years.  Remaining busy is one of the things that has saved me from a complete meltdown!  

Having something to wake up for that takes my mind of the news and Covid this and Covid that is a blessing and I only hope everyone has something they can escape into when things get rough.  Please stay tuned for a mixed bag of posts to come and stay safe out there, whether you're isolating at home or braving this new world on an adventure abroad!

It's a Year Into this S**t Show...How's Everyone Doing?

Since the start of this pandemic, I've been cursing it and everything negative it caused.  The isolation, the not being able to see friends and family due to the travel ban and Canadian Travel restrictions, the loss of work, the loss of money, the not being able to travel due to travel restrictions and the constant bombardment of Covid-19 this and Covid-19 that.

Yes, it's been rough in so many ways, but I'm starting to see the good that has come out of it.  It's been almost a year since the lockdowns, isolation and mass covid travel restrictions became a part of everyday life.  The first few weeks was a constant string of bad news.  First my beloved cat Captain Jack passed away followed by the news that the project I was working on was stopping along with my income.  Than the worse shooting in Canadian history right here in my quiet, peaceful home province of Nova Scotia.  All this combined with the bad news coming from all corners of the world made me anxious and even depressed.  

As the months passed, there were ups and downs, goods and bads and all sorts of emotions and hurdles and new developments.  But it's only recently that I've started to realize that, despite all the bad, some really good things came out of all this. I should have seen it earlier.  I should have embraced those doors that were opening up to me.  I should have appreciated the things that were transpiring.  But my eyes were closed and my brain was focused on the changes, the losses, this new normal that wasn't at all normal...at least not the normal I was used to.  But who defines normal anyway 

I feel like I've been more fortunate than a lot of people on one front.  While many people I know were upset because they couldn't visit restaurants, bars and movie theatres anymore, nothing changed for me.  I don't go to any of those places often anyway.  I am an outdoors person. I will pick a picnic in the woods or a hike along the shore over a restaurant meal or movie theater outing any day! 

I don't know when it hit. I don't it hit all at once. It was a gradual thing.  I started to lighten up a bit, think a little more positively and that's when things started happening.  Or maybe it was me just becoming so comfortable with all the negativity around me that It started feeling normal enough for me to start thinking straight again.  Sounds weird but everything is weird these days.  I still can't make any sense out of anything anymore but at least, I am moving forward in some way and I'm not in the very dark place I was a few months ago. Loss of employment and sense of purpose will do that to a person...but a new-found purpose can do wonders for a person.  

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I'm currently freelancing full-time now.  No, I'm not getting rich of it.  Not even close.  But, I'm doing something I love, I'm filling my time with purposeful work and I'm making enough to get by.  I also must say that I am quite proud of myself for remaining independent and for being resourceful.  Not many people can say that they have a talent outside of their regular work that they can use in a pinch to survive.  I feel very grateful for that.  My writing was once a hobby but now it's a lifeline!  So many new doors have opened up, many new connections have been made and I've learned so many new things!  The best thing is I'm still writing about travel despite the mass travel restrictions.  While I'm not writing about my own travel since I'm under Canadian travel restrictions, I'm writing travel content for other sites.  In my free time, I take courses and work on my social media channels and, from time-to-time, I write a blog filled with updates that will soon turn onto blogs about my own travels. Hoping  we can return to normal soon as I have many trips and adventures planned once the travel ban is lifted!

As for current adventures, we finally got enough snow here so I could get a day of snowshoeing in.  I Don't know how long the snow will last with all the rain and freezing rain we seem to get in the winters now but if I get out once, that's better than nothing since I didn't get out at all last year.  I stay pretty close to home for the most part though.  Every few days, I'll walk at Dominion Beach to see if any new and interesting debris washed up and to visit my friends the foxes, seals and eagles.  I'm itching to go further and do more but until Covid takes a hike, I'm content getting some things done around home! That's one good thing about the travel restrictions - I'm spending time completing some projects around home that I would otherwise not get to!