We’re living proof… that while growing older, dreams don’t end.
Today is a red letter day…we’ve shaken hands with our contractor, Donald Bush of South Shore Carpentry to embark on the construction of the building which will be the new home of our studio, gallery and workshop.
Here’s a photo of the current building which includes an old fish hut along with a more recent addition.
How long it’s been here, we don’t know. While the foundation is crumbling, and carpenter ants have moved in, we plan on saving some of the timbers and planks from the upper floors. The ship builders of yesterday chose some mighty good pieces of wood for that hut and we’re planning on recycling it as flooring in part of the studio.
Last week we took a good long look at some of the planks in the upstairs of the fish hut and in among them found a piece with the signature ‘Capt. Arthur Conrad’ scrawled across one of them. We will cut this one out and put it together with some local history on this Maritime Master (as he was known)…no doubt a well-regarded sea captain who sailed the waters around the south shore. Once the gallery is built we will have a special corner for this piece and some history to remind our visitors of the people who have made Nova Scotia what it is today.
Dave has done a great job drawing up the plans and figuring out what space we will need for the wood working shop, gallery and studio space. There will be extra space as well, which we hope to use for special events – for the occasional visiting/teaching artist, musician or story teller to share their talents.
This is a life-long dream slowly coming to reality. We visited Nova Scotia back in 1974 and fell in love with the pristine beauty of this province. In late 2011 we started the search for our new home and just this year it became a reality, the perfect spot in the small fishing village of LaHave which is on the south shore, just seconds from where the mouth of the LaHave River opens to the Atlantic. We are sandwiched between the much loved LaHave Bakery and Westcote Bell Pottery and are so excited about opening up our own gallery in this special community.
So we continue to dare to dream and know that as we dream, we live.