What I’ve been up to this summer, bookish and not…
1) Prince Edward Island. We spent a week in PEI at the very beginning of the summer. A few days on our bikes and a few days camping with family. PEI, of course, is the home of Anne Shirley and Emily Byrd Starr (among others). But on this trip I spent the entire week reading On Beauty by Zadie Smith.
Our loaded down bike trailer hooked up to the tandem.
I thought the title suited the setting.
Sometimes life is hard.
Speaking of Anne, my daughter and her friend put on their own Anne of Green Gables musical this summer for a small group of people.
2) Cape Breton. We took a quick trip to Cape Breton in July, where we visited Louisbourg.
Louisbourg Light
We also made this important stop in Port Hastings…
[Upcoming Bookmarks: The Convict Lover by MerilynSimonds in Kingston, Ontario on September 30, 2017. Barometer Rising by High MacLennan in Halifax, Nova Scotia on December 5, 2017. And The Gable Window by Lucy Maud Montgomery in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island on June 24, 2018.]
And this important stop in Sydney…
If you’re ever in Sydney, don’t miss this excellent used book store!
My finds at Ed’s Books.
3) Mabel Murple’s Book Shoppe and Dreamery. Sheree Fitch has opened a wonderful new book shop in River John, Nova Scotia, and I was lucky enough to visit while Melanie Fishbane was there to do a reading from her new YA book, Maud (my review).
I was delighted to see this Thomas Raddall display above the adult fiction shelf!
The “Maud” display.
Melanie Fishbane being introduced by Sheree Fitch.
Sarah Emsley was also there for the event, and we managed to get a picture.
4) Blogging friends. In June of this year, C.J. from ebookclassics (now Popcorn Pages on YouTube) was in Halifax for a couple of days, so we met up for a bite to eat at the Halifax Farmer’s Market. But we didn’t get a picture! TJ and I also forgot to take a picture when we met last summer. I don’t know what we were thinking… But Emily is on the ball. Emily (from The Bookshelf of Emily J.) passed through this summer and stopped in for a visit. We got to hang out, tour the new library, and have some lunch. It was nice to finally meet. Three blogging buddies down, a kazillion to go!
I’m always happy to meet my blogging friends… let me know if you find yourself in Nova Scotia!
5) Keji. It wouldn’t be summer without a visit to Keji. And the reading couldn’t have been better – Hum If You Don’t Know the Words, All Is Beauty Now, and So Much Love.
We also tried a couple of new activities… Paddle boarding…
… and swimming in the falls. (Yes, I made my kids wear life jackets.)
And here is the obligatory sunset picture. (You dont want to know how many sunset pictures we have.)
6) Fundy National Park. My daughters and I went on our first ‘girls only’ camping trip this year. We had all the sticky buns to ourselves and hit the book stores for as long as we wanted.
Yum!
What I bought at the second hand book shop in Alma.
From the used book store in Riverview, NB (Cover to Cover) on our way home from Fundy.
What was the best thing you did this summer, or the best book you read?
(In case you’re interested, here’s summer 2016…)
Consumed by Ink 
Now that looks like a well-spent vacation, Naomi! Best books I read this summer: Carol Bruneau’s Glass Voices and A Bird on Every Tree. Wayne Curtis’ Homecoming. Promises to Keep by Genevieve Graham. There’s a start!
That’s a great start!
And, yes, it was a nice summer. I’m sorry to see it go.
What a wonderful summer! I love the picture of your daughter’s Anne of Green Gables musical.
What a lot of fun she had this summer as Diana Barry. 🙂
Wow, those are some beautiful places! Glad you had a nice summer. 🙂
I got a little carried away with the pictures, but I like to look at them over and over again. ☺️
No, they’re beautiful! I’d want to remind myself of that over and over again, too. 🙂
What an achingly beautiful summer you had, Naomi! Isn’t this part of Canada lovely enough to almost make you weep with joy?
I also visited Mable Murple’s but, alas, not on the day that Melanie Fishbane was there. I love what Sheree’s done there. ❤
I'm not familiar with the BookMarks so I'll have to look into them. And the next time my husband has to do an interview in Sydney, I'm going with him. He can drop me at Ed's for the day. Thanks for the tip!!
Oh, good idea! Then let us know what you find…
You’re even closer to Mabel Murple’s than I am. I was planning to go back for a second visit, but I guess it will have to wait until next year. I’m so glad her shop turned out to be such a hit!
Wonderful photos Naomi! What a gorgeous summer for you all 🙂
It was. 😊
That’s so cool that you got to meet Emily! Sounds like you had a great summer.
It was very cool! Planning a trip to NS any time soon? 😉
No, but I want to go sometime.
Let me know if you ever come our way, to Washington.
I will! 🙂
And a wonderful summer was had by all. Loved the photos! All the best for the fall’s reading.
Thanks! Same to you. 🙂
Such cool photos! And I love that you visited with other book bloggers. I had no idea sheree fitch opened a book store, but it looks so cool! Is hers the purple funky one?
Yes, very purple and very funky! You should make it a destination. 😉
oohhh i love that!
What a lovely summer – the perfect mix of books and sunshine! Love the pictures; perhaps one of these days I will make it back up to eastern Canada. So beautiful.
I hope yours was nice, too! 🙂
It must be wonderful to meet up in person with people you’ve met via the world of blogging. I’m hoping to do a little of thst soon
I love it. You know, the best thing is I feel like I already know them. I hope you get a chance to experience it!
You’ve made me want to do this even more now ….
Your summer sounds wonderful! Mine was — not the best ever? I was doing a whole lot of life changes, which is never a great time for me, so my ego has been in fragments. :p But summer is never my favorite season, so I’m excited for the fall!
Sorry to hear that, Jenny. I hope the fall brings some order and peace in your life!
Argh, I don’t know how I keep missing your blog posts! Thank you for the beautiful pictures, and reminding me of the fabulous time we had in NS last year. And now I have a whole bunch of new books to look up!
I feel like I keep missing posts, too. But I think, in my case, it’s because I haven’t gotten back into my pre-summer blogging rhythm yet. I wonder will I ever?!
We really should have taken a picture… Next time! 🙂
Maybe being part of the Shadow Jury for the Giller Prize will bring back your blogging mojo…
All of those bookstores look amazing! Sounds like you had a great summer, can’t wait to hear about the books once you’ve read them.
Hi Geoff! I just love scoping out the book stores when we’re traveling. There can’t be too many more new-to-me ones around here, but it’s nice to keep going back to my favourites.
I hope you had a great summer!
That sunset picture is absolutely amazing!! Wow!
Great summer Naomi!! Thanks so much for sharing with us.
Thanks, Penny! I was sorry to see it end this year, How was your summer?
Fabulous! and utterly adorable that your dot and friend put on an Anne musical. charming!
It was fun to watch them! Although, for a while, it was hard to get their songs out of our heads!
Hi Naomi — these are gorgeous photos of your summer trips. Wonderful places & times! I like the swimming pic of your kids in the falls. Neat. It’s nice you meet with fellow bloggers / if you ever come to Alberta, feel free to contact me. I think the best trip we had this summer was the week we spent at a cottage along the St. Lawrence River in Ontario in early July. That was sort of a natural blissful time. So pretty & a relaxing time … with reading time on the deck!
That cottage on the river sounds perfect!
What a terrific summary of a grand season for you all! I love all the pictures! Summer is usually my least favourite season because it’s too humid to breathe, but this year was amazing (and many other people were complaining it wasn’t hot enough around here – oh well, they have plenty of hot summers and I loved this one), so I loved it for that. As for a favourite book, maybe Eden Robinson’s Son of a Trickster, which was just such a pleasure to read in June.
The temperatures around here were nice this summer as well – not too hot. (Not that our hot is ever as hot as yours!) I’m glad you had a year off from too much heat. 🙂
Ooo… Eden Robinson. I’ll be reading that one soon!
I realised, after sending my comment, that you’d actually asked about the best thing we DID in the summer. *rolls eyes at self* Well, I guess, I was breathing and that WAS the best thing. Because it meant there was so much more “being outdoors”, often with a book. But I realised it wasn’t quite answering the question. We didn’t have one thing that we did that stood out, but we had several neighbourhood exploring days, just TTC-ing to a section of Toronto that we know less well, looking for cute cafes and baked goods and bookshops and spending an entire day roaming around, people-watching and coffee-sipping. And, because it was so temperate, we did more of that than we ever have done in the summer.
That sounds perfect! 🙂
Hey glad I found your post. Nice job. You were traveling through my territory. I also covered some of the places in your photos on my Cape Breton rediscovered post. cheers Happy Travels
It looks like we were both in Port Hastings on a beautiful day! I’m happy you stopped by, so I could discover your lovely blog. 🙂
Thank You Naomi, I look into your posts often. cheers and Happy blogging