Baby, Be Prepared to Be Surprised

Do you love this road sign? I see them all over Nova Scotia, and they make me smile. They remind me of the “Chance” cards in Monopoly. 1 kilometer to “?” To what? Surprise me. Some of my favorite unexpected moments:

Ceilidh (sounds like kay-lee, it’s basically Gaelic for “dance party in the kitchen, yo”) and lunch at the Celtic Music Interpretive Center in Judique. (B.—we actually have had stellar soups everywhere we’ve gone.) The fiddler and pianist played for an hour without missing a beat—seamless, irresistible jigs and reels and waltzes and hornpipes. The biggest surprise? I managed to stay in my seat and not dance around the small dining room. Barely.

Where are the owners of those bikes? Hmmm.



Riding bicycles for 26 kilometers on the Mabou River Trail without seeing another living soul. We rode up a thickly wooded ridge where the Fall colors look even more startling against the backdrop of dark green firs. The trail crosses over a dozen creeks and little rivers on weathered wooden bridges. My “?” moment was coming across an apple tree in the middle of pristine forest, no doubt planted thirty years ago by some unwitting bird. Bright apples burned crimson on every branch. They will never see the inside of an applesauce can or a pie crust. I could almost hear them singing a song of simply being-- of bearing beautiful fruit whether or not anyone is watching or expecting it. I’ve been humming ever since.



Aha!

Driving over a small rise on the Cabot Trail Loop to find a huge moose walking nonchalantly across the highway. Fifteen hundred pounds of animal, and a rack of antlers so enormous that we couldn’t imagine how he even held his head up. We pulled over and watched him until he disappeared into the woods.

So, in the words of Sondre Lerche, “Better be prepared to be surprised, that’s all I know.”