Writing brings a few perks – a bit of travel, the ability to work at your own pace and set your own deadlines, the pleasure of being greeted at school doors by students when you arrive to read and talk about writing.
And encountering the hospitality of people like Kathy and Rudy Zinn, at the Tidal Watch Inn, in St. Martins, New Brunswick, where I just paid a third visit to read to a group of Road Scholars (formerly Elderhostel) who came from all over the United States.
The inn was built as a home over a century ago by a prosperous family, the Skillens. In the 1800s it was the social hub of St. Martins, at that time a major shipbuilding centre and one of the richest communities in the British Empire.
Introduction from Kathy … … and the ‘story so far’ before reading #1
Now the house, in the form of the Tidal Watch Inn, is another kind of social hub, one for visitors to the serene and pretty little seaside town with its outrageously picturesque movie-set-unreal harbour, and its long sweep of beach with the famous sandstone cliffs and caves at one end and marshes at the other, and only a few kilometres beyond the stunning Fundy Parkway.
Covered bridges beside the harbour
Thanks to Kathy and everyone at the Tidal Watch Inn for their welcome and kindness, and to the members of the Road Scholar group for their interest and company and ready friendship.
The sweep of beach from marsh to rocks Nancy R. on the bridge in the lush gardens between the covered bridges