Wednesday, February 11, 2026

The Front Steps


Watch the video The Front Steps

L'Ardoise, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Generations of the Samson family sat and stood on the front steps to pose for a picture, all in the hope to keep that moment in time, a memory to cherish for years to come.

    Once we moved in and settled in the old homestead, we got busy making this old house into a home for ourselves and our young family. The years have gone by and plenty of wonderful memories were made. In that time, I came across many items of the past, some of those things being photos stashed in boxes and envelopes. These were snapshots of the years before I moved in many years ago. As I was going through these old photos, one thing I noticed was how often the front steps of the house made the perfect backdrop. For whatever reason this being, it still holds true today.  

Sunday, March 31, 2024

 

Easter Sunday March 31, 2024

These rabbits come with a story with a happy ending, read their story, written June 24, 1997...

These rabbits lost their way a few years ago on April 1st, 1994.
It was Good Friday and also April Fool's Day, but it was not a joke.

It was Thursday night , on my way home I stopped at the gas station to fill up the car with gas. The trunk of the car was full of Easter goodies. Everything I got for the kids was hidden safely in the trunk, a place where they wouldn't find their presents. When I arrived home I pulled the car in our small business garage, where my husband was to change the four winter tires the next day, on his day off. Michelle (9 years old)  got up at dawn to get a glass of water, when she heard a crash outside. Half asleep, she never gave it a second thought about the sound she heard and went back to bed. When my husband woke up, he looked outside toward the garage and saw the bay door wide open. Afraid of what he might encounter, he walked down to the garage to see that the car was gone and the office door window was broken with a rock. Later we looked around to see what was missing. They took the car and a computer to analyze cars. We think someone must have scared them off, and that's why they didn't take more tools or supplies with them.

So we went through the routine of reporting a stolen car and the RCMP did their investigating. It was two days before Easter and found myself with no gifts or chocolates for the kids. In the trunk of the car was some chocolates and Easter eggs, clothes, and little figurines (rabbits) for their gifts. Now it was all gone. Some good neighbours put some chocolates and candies together and offered it to us to give the kids. I couldn't thank them enough for their act of generosity. We made it through Easter, feeling grateful for our friends and at the same time feeling sad as a part of us was robbed.

Three years went by, without any clues of the whereabouts of the car. Finally on April 12, 1997 divers found a car at the bottom of a canal which matched the description of our car. It was indeed ours. They pulled it out of the canal and towed it to the local wreck yard. After three years, we can now stop wondering where the car is, but we will never know who did it. The next day we stopped in to check out the car. It was full of kelp, seaweed and starfish. We had permission to look in the trunk. The kids were dying to see if the figurines that I talked so much about, were still in there. To our amazement they were all together, in one bag, which was tied tightly. We managed to put them in another bag and took them home to clean and disinfect them. They now sit on a shelf where we can look at them and feel like a little part of what we lost 3 years ago is now with us again. I guess we had given up on the idea of ever finding the car.

Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Cape Breton Living webcams are no longer live updating. The webcam system that was going for 20+ years is down. For now, there will only be a new image uploaded at irregular intervals. We’ll see how that goes.








Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Fog

If you can’t get out of the fog, get into it.
That’s just what I did this morning as I set out for my daily walk. Living on the east side of Cape Breton Island, fog is something that we must just accept as it comes in from the cool Atlantic Ocean and usually hangs around for days or even weeks.  So as I head out, instead of snapping pictures of shimmering white seagulls in the blue sky or the awesome scenic view that we are blessed with, I’m out there looking around and appreciating the closer surroundings blending into a soft background.
As I’m writing this post, the sun is now trying to break through the dissipating fog…. Come on sun!