I've already begun to tell you about my sweet, slow, inspired romance with the Maritimes. Like falling in love though, completely drunk and high with passion -grand flames bursting and snapping about with enlightened joy, yet a slow glowing smolder beneath, comfortingly reassuring that this love won't die.
Perhaps today, we're all entitled to a little princess-love fantasy, in celebration of the marriage of the lovely Kate Middleton to Prince William, now Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. That stunning wedding gown of creamy lace and satin, those stolen glances, shy smiles, balcony kisses and general merriment... it's our collective little-girl fairytale! And it was beautiful, the sentiment simple and good -to have happiness aired all day long in the news, on the net, in papers, on the radio -just for a moment to share in that dream, and suspend some of the more complicated challenges of our various realities. So in this spirit, I share with you, my love for this East Coast province.
Today was a glowing, glorious day for me in medicine -small joys make it all wonderful: all by myself, I locally anesthetized, excised a skin nevus (or "mole") and sutured lovingly, delicately and with undivided attention a woman's inner thigh. Time flew as I practiced the artful technique of my supervisor, under his supervision, earning his praise, the patient's praise and my own satisfaction. I will be a surgeon. Hopefully an obstetrician, but certainly a surgeon of sorts. Today made it so obvious to me, I had to laugh that I ever thought I could ever be anything else!
Earlier this week, on the afternoon I had off, I was treated to the experience of the stunning, understated beauty of Nova Scotia's South Shore, visiting Bridgewater, Lunenberg and Mahone Bay. Listening to Celtic reels (Nova Scotian though) and other Canadian musical artists to get us into the free, local spirit, driving along a mesmerizing coastline, the sun gradually peeping through the clouds, finally breaking and bathing the Atlantic waters in that infinity sky-blue, brightly coloured little cottages and fishermen's homes (and sometimes mansions -who said fishermen were poor ;), docks, churches, friendly, smiling faces, little shops, golf courses, lighthouses and harbours (including the home of the Bluenose -the large sailboat on the back of the Canadian dime... though it wasn't there yet, so we settled for the Caledonia). 
We passed little brooks and streams, pebbled streets called "Kissing Bridge Rd", smiling faces, and inhaled big wafts of salty sea air filled with the promise of summery days, tourists and ice cream. We had a scrumptuous lunch of homemade fishburgers, chips and Nanaimo bars at Lahave Bakery, amidst old newspaper clippings, wood-cottage-like warmth, British and communist flags, hanging guitars and corners filled with old books. The day ended with a visit to Greenfield -and the most serene cottage on one of the two lakes, cozily nestled in a forest of fragrant pine, birch and soon-to-bud leafy trees. I was recounted stories of community wide feasts of planked salmon over large fires, and starry nights over the lake, family time and love -a little Maritime Eden. 
Then after my final 24-hour call, instead of taking the usual post-call day of rest after a night of 3.5 hours of sleep, I spent the day gallavanting about Halifax. Starting bright and early with the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic -nothing like a healthy dose of history, monuments, anecdotes, tales of sinking ships, treasure hunters, privateers, Canadian naval stories, hundreds of ship and sailboat models, real artifacts from the Titanic, lighthouse magnifying glass, old paintings, film clips and diary entries of the 1917 Halifax Explosion to provide a little context, to this captivating, unique and beautiful province and region. This was followed by a delightful lunch at McKelvie's: seafood chowder, fresh lobster roll, rasberry zinger mocktail and mini-carrot cake dessert, topped with lemon cream, burnt coconut shavings and a chocolate drizzle -at long last, a "very Maritime", seafood experience! 
I really got walking after that, unfazed by the rain, determined to make the most of my one day in the Maritime capital -truly felt like a cross between Ottawa and Quebec city -small city town, lots of character, right on the coast (a harbour town indeed... or as my father used to call it, "a sailor town", though less so now than 20 years ago, probably!), plenty of university students wandering or rushing about, buses and cars milled about in traffic, but only on the few 'main roads', with a downtown core only a few blocks long by a few blocks wide. Still, distinctly a city, albeit not a typical one. Dinner theatre, musical theatre, banks, high rises, restaurants, bars and pubs, a few Starbucks, local cafe franchises, eccentric little shops, parks, statues and monuments, residential streets with those typical, brightly coloured, gabled Maritime homes -prettier areas and less pretty areas. Overall, entirely endearing. Walking along Barrington St and up Spring Garden, I began with a visit to the IWK children's and women's hospital, one of the Dalhousie teaching sites, skirting past the main Dalhousie campus... the same university that graduated many a bright Canadian scientist, lawyer, doctor... including the late CD Howe, the politician responsible for the funding of the Avro Arrow project. 
Then a lovely stroll through the Public Gardens -one of Canada's oldest and probably prettiest Victorian-style gardens, with little man-made ponds, picture-book walking bridges, ducks, Renaissance-style, goddess-like statues, gazebos, gardens-yet-to-be-flower-filled, magnolias already abloom with young blossoms, people young and old, taking rest on the park benches, or jogging along the trails, and a beautiful empty stage, with rows of empty benches below (perhaps for summer performances of opera or theatre or fiddle-playing? I'll bet this is wedding-central in the summer!). I made my way up to the Citadel, full of history and great views of the coast and the city from above, walking along the top of high stone walls, old canons with some kind of army training happening down below. Meandered my way back to where I started, popping into Starbucks to juice up my phone, over a long-craved green tea soy latte, and into strange little shops full of imported Indian jewlery and knick-knacks, or tarot cards, scented candles, rocks and Celtic folk books, or the most fantastic used book store I've seen in a while, where I purchased a second hand copy of Robertson Davies "Tempest Lost" and some other book on the peaceful coexistence of diverse religious groups in medieval Spain. Quickly flitted into the gift shop of the art museum to pick up some stationary (I'm such a sucker for stationary and the most beautiful and interesting ones always come from museum gift shops! would have liked to see the actual museum, but it was closing in 10 minutes!)... and then a lazy drive back. We came home after eating a decadent serving of "garlic fingers" -like pizza, but garlic butter instead of tomato sauce, topped with mozzarella, cheddar, banana peppers, which you then dip generously dip into the side order of "donair sauce" (really like a sweet garlic cream... mmmm), at the local pizzeria in town. Early night to bed (much needed)! Definitely "burned the wick at both ends", but well-worth it!
P.S. all the photos of the food, except for the garlic fingers + donair, are all dishes that I have cooked / baked since being here... various seafood concoctions of salmon, scallops and shrimp, pasta with a hearty sauce, asperagus omelet with canned salmon mixed with dill, lemon and mayo, and of course my "specialty" (after being taught by my college roommate, followed by my own modifications) chocolate chip cookies... yes, be impressed ;)
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