02.07.10
Nova Scotia Cranberries
Look at this…Fresh-picked cranberries from the Nova Scotia Atlantic seacoast!
To my loyal friends following this blog, I apologize for not updating it recently. I’m in Chicago working on a special textbook publishing project as part of my life outside soaping. The good thing is the time I’ve been able to spend with my family, but I’ve also been working long hours and hanging on by my fingernails. Life should return to normal soon, however, as I head home in a few days.
In the meantime, I wanted to share with you a brief note about one of the best parts of soapmaking, and that’s the interesting, literally fascinating, people you meet along the way. Recently I got an inquiry from one of those bright and shining stars, a woman named Jessie who lives in Shallop Cove, Newfoundland—an island 90 miles from the mainland in the Atlantic. She was trying to hunt down a body butter someone had sent her as a gift, and came across my Web site, http://www.annas-soaps.com. We corresponded a bit, and she sent me these photos of cranberries they’d picked along the seacoast because she noticed I make a cranberry soap. I thought my readers would enjoy seeing them as well. Imagine picking fresh, wild cranberries…along the Atlantic seacoast!
With her permission, I hoped you might enjoy a few comments about Newfoundland Jessie sent to me in the following e-mail.
“Sharon, Holy smoke what a wonderful e-mail. Our island sounds like a horrible place, but it is one of the world’s best kept secrets. Yes we take the good with the bad when it comes to winter and wind, but I can tell you that the people here are like no other crowd under the sun. Sharon, the people of Newfoundland are like no others. People come here and never want to leave. We have a wonderful university here called Memorial that is known far and wide for it’s oceanography programs and it’s science programs and students come from all over the world to study and many don’t want to leave because of the culture here.
“When our tourist booklets come out I will sent you one. One day this month it was warmer here than in Florida!
“Newfoundlanders are warm, caring, give-the-shirt-off-their-backs kind of folks. The Newfoundlanders are known for their hard working ethic, and splashed in there is their humor and their music and their rum. The only great ruckus that they can cause would be over their dart games—man, do they take darts seriously.
It takes 13 hours to drive from one end of here to the other (as they say here), with a population of only 500,000 souls. There are many artists here, but we are very spread out. I left a larger art community in Nova Scotia, which has turned out to be a good thing because with our rural community I am much more artistic.”
Well, that’s just a taste of the kind of correspondence I get and I thought Anna’s blog readers would appreciate the images it contains, as well as those beautiful cranberries. Thanks, Jessie!
Sharon
Shari Sunday said,
February 9, 2010 at 6:13 am
Great Post. I wonder if Jessie has a blog. Her life sounds fascinating. Living on an island 90 miles out into the North Atlantic sounds like being on a tiny rowboat in the middle of nowhere. I’m glad to hear you are doing OK and still with your family with all this snow and bad weather. Love, Shari
Shari Sunday said,
February 9, 2010 at 6:14 am
btw, the cranberries are beautiful. I love the color and the taste.
jessie nova brewer said,
February 13, 2010 at 7:56 pm
Hello Shari Sunday, greetings from the mid -Atlantic ! The cranberries are not from Nova Scotia , but from the province (like your states) of Newfoundland. The province of Nova Scotia is where I was born but always wanted to live on this island, because of the culture, music, and the freedom ! My husband and I ripped up our deep roots in Nova Scotia and moved here without knowing a soul. We bought two acres here on the ocean with a small house, which we have moved, turned around and built a piece on . So here we are for the last 9 years, with cat and dog, happy as clams. Our daughter who is a teacher in Nova Scotia almost suffered a stroke !!! at the news we were moving.
Shari, this is a very large island, it takes 13 hours of fast driving to reach the most easterly end of her !
If you would like, and send me your mailing address I will have our tourist booklet and map sent to you. If you would like to see some of my photo’s I would be happy to send them to you in an e-mail. My very right brained so I know nothing about this blog business. Sounds like fun but I have no knowledge of it as.
My passion is jewelry making, none of this bead stuff. Also spruce root basket making, and I have a little neat wood working studio……lucky me, my husband is a carpenter by trade.
Anyway my dear ( as the Newfoundlanders say) look forward to hearing from you if you would like
cheers jessie b.
Shari Sunday said,
February 27, 2010 at 11:09 am
So sorry I didn’t see this reply sooner. I would love to see pictures and correspond with you. Sharon was my inspiration about blogging. If you go to www.blogspot.com (I think) it is very easy to start one for free. Thank you so much for your response. Sorry it took me so long to reply.
Anne-Marie said,
March 16, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Oh how awesome! I love that you get such kind and friendly notes. Isn’t it nice to connect with people in a whole new way through technology?
I second the comment that Blogger is an awesome blog type to have (it’s what I use too!) =)