On Friday May 12 the Lake Echo and Area Lions Club will be holding a Fiona Relief Bingo for Glace Bay and surrounding area (Dominion, Donkin, Reserve and Port Morien). We are working with the Glace Bay Lions Club which serves the above-mentioned area to help those still affected by the devastation caused by Hurricane Fiona last fall. These communities have suffered devastation to homes and other buildings that is beyond that suffered by other communities across Nova Scotia. 

By John English 

                         “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” 

                                          Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace. 

Taking on the reading of War and Peace is a project. This nineteenth century Russian novel runs over 1000 pages. (Full disclosure – I haven’t read it, but it’s definitely on my list.)   

By Richard Bell 

Residents along the Causeway in Three Fathom Harbour are raising questions about their recent discovery that the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture has issued a “special experimental licence” for a clam project literally in their backyards. 

Walking Timmy Jenning's lobster boat downhill through the trees to the launch ramp on East Petpeswick Road.

Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard (right in photo) paid a visit with Lisa-Marie Wilson to the Opus Café located in Kinney Place (the former Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children, completely renovated as a business and community hub.) The all-day breakfasts are delicious, along with first-rate meals and other tasty choices. Friendly staff make this a go-to-place for breakfast or lunch.

The Cafe is located in Westphal on the south side of Highway 7 on a small hill behind the Henry G. Bauld Centre and  across the road from the Black Cultural Centre. There is a large community garden in front of the building. Phone 902-818-2940 for hours.  

Porters Lake Pub was full for a late March benefit auction for West Chezzetcook fisherman Perry Crowell. 

On May 28, Mike Coady and his family will be leading a 33 km walk in Sheet Harbour to raise funds for research on curing Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).

Martinique Desserterie got off to a roaring start on its opening day on April 8. At times there was a half-hour line outside, and the shelves were empty by 1:30 pm. And they’ve sold out every day they been open since.  

By Jeddore John 

Wanna know what bugs me this month?….KardiaMobile. If you watch TV, you have probably seen ads for this little device that will show you your heartbeat on your cell phone.

By Kelly Corkery  

I approach this topic with extreme sensitivity and caution, there is a lot of misinformation and lack of understanding regarding hoarding. Reality shows, such as A&E’s Hoarders, don’t necessarily represent the healthiest methods for handling a complex mental disorder.  

By John English 

I have been thinking a lot lately about relationships and how they reveal who we are. Having dipped a toe into the writings of Carl Jung (1875-1961), a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst considered to be one of the most influential thinkers and writers on human psychology, I feel that I have a clearer view into how, in my many different kinds of relationships, I strive to express the completeness of my individual self. 

Transportation, Gardening, Information, and Food  

Since the Old School Community Gathering Place opened in 2011, we have developed more and more programs to improve the lives of everyone living on the Eastern Shore. Our current programs include the Wellbeing HUBS, Youth Employment Skills, Eastern Shore Mental Health, affordable housing, the food pantry, Enhance through Dance, Pride, Tai Chi, and Fibre Friends. We have also learned how participating in these programs provides people with a place to access skills, knowledge, and community resources.

By Cynthia Parr 

There are many ways to remember and preserve bits of history: through the usual reading and writing or visiting museums, but also through conversation and the crafting of traditional objects. If you drive down the West Jeddore Road, you may notice a garage with around 40 painted buoys hung above the doors. Quentin Brown, a skilled woodworker and local historian, has created these buoys over the last 10 or 15 years. 

By Dee Dwyer 

“My grandmother used to do that !” or “that’s a lost art”--these are two comments that Karen Negus of Tatting for Spirit often hears when customer browse her unique and intricate tatting work. It is time-consuming--“It takes 25 minutes to make something the size of a quarter,” says Karen--but entirely appreciated by those who love her work. Imagine her tatting in a tranquil moment with her 18-year old African gray parrot, Ruby, perched on her knee.  

By Mary Elizabeth O’Toole 

Collette Robertson’s photography reflects her love of being in and on the ocean, both in her professional life as a marine biologist and as an avid all-season surfer based in the Lawrencetown surfing community. Robertson works primarily with analog techniques (film) and is always exploring different photographic processes. She has tried dry plate, paper negatives, cyanotype, and Polaroid, and more recently started combining digital and analog processes.  

By Savayda Jarone, Herbalist 

Wild food foraging is a fast-growing hobby and lifestyle here in Nova Scotia and throughout North America. Foragers are driven by a desire to connect with nature’s offerings, to cultivate self-sufficiency, to reduce food costs, and to supplement their diets with nutrient-dense and natural foods.

By Robert Rutherford 

The only firewood we had when we moved to West Petpeswick were the tops of red spruce the lumber barons didn't want.  They left them where they lay among the younger trees that were too thin. 

In last month’s article “The First Keepers of Jeddore Light,” Cynthia Parr laid out what she had learned from digging into local archives about the first three people who had served as lighthouse keepers  (the expanded version of the article can be found on The Cooperator's website, in the Community & Culture tab). 

The Eastern Shore Cooperator has two positions through the Canada Summer Jobs program. The pay rate is $14.50/hr for a 30-hour work week, starting at the end of May.

If you would like to apply for one of these two positions, please send a resume and three samples of your work to [email protected] so that we can start interviewing as soon as we hear from CSJ.

By Richard Bell 

Jessie Greenough already has a well-deserved reputation as a serial non-profit entrepreneur, having guided MusGo River to become one of the province’s most successful rural transportation provider. The provincial government recognized this success, asking Greenough to set up another non-profit offering the same service out of Sheet Harbour and the Musquodoboit Valley.