Keene Valley lupines

Keene Valley lupines, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

I spent a morning in Keene Valley this week, which is always a pleasure. Just outside of town is a field of lupines, which is absolutely beautiful. It reminded me of the lupines my sister, mother and I saw when we took our famous trip to Nova Scotia. It was 1981, the year my father died, and my mother wanted us to take a trip together. Where to go? I'd always wanted to see Nova Scotia, so I suggested that and away we went. We had a great time and saw wonderful sights, ate Digby scallops and looked at the ocean.
One big decision you have to make if you travel the Cabot Trail is which way to go: clockwise or counterclockwise. We opted for clockwise, and came upon a small Honda (like there's another kind) full of tourists at one gas station, only to come upon them later in our trip, going the opposite way.
We spent some nights in b&b's, some nights we camped out. It was the year of Diana and Charles' wedding, and I wanted to watch the festivities on Canadian television so we made sure we were in a motel that night. It was broadcast live, so it was on around 4 a.m. Those were days when it was hard for me to be awake early in the morning, so I missed a lot of the ceremony, but my sister sat, bolt upright in bed and watched the whole thing. Good for her! There are plenty of images of that event, but she watched the whole thing as it happened.