Halifax, Nova Scotia

Of all the ports on our cruise, this is the one I was most looking forward to.  A couple of years ago, we watched the movie Maudie.

Hinton Happenings: Maudie (kenandkayhinton.blogspot.com)  I was fascinated with this little, severely handicapped folk artist from Nova Scotia.  After watching the movie, I read more about her on the Internet and found that the little shack that they lived in and that she had so beautifully decorated had been taken down and put up in the Museum of Art in Halifax.  I wanted to see it!  I don't really have a bucket list but seeing the Maud Lewis Gallery was suddenly a very high priority to me.

The walk up to the museum was a couple of miles and mostly uphill.  It was hard.  It did have some bright spots, including this gorgeous bed of chrysanthemums.

We finally made it and after resting a bit, entered the Maud Lewis Gallery.

Maud had severe rheumatoid arthritis, and yet she painted so beautifully. 

Here is their little shack/ home, reassembled right in the Museum.  I nearly cried I was so happy to see it.

Pictures of inside the shack.  Maud had painted everywhere.  You could not go in, only stand in the doorway and take pictures.

As you can see, she painted most of the surfaces.

Isn't it beautiful?

This is an interior door displayed in the museum.

A picture of the shack out in the country where they lived.

Maud and Everett in front of their home.

This picture shows how they cleaned and restored a dresser, preserving the art.  Each piece in the home was carefully cleaned and restored.

A close up of the beautiful door.

I took pictures of each of the paintings displayed in the museum.  Many of her paintings are not displayed as they were sold.  She put out a sign in front of her shack "paintings for sale."  Many are now in peoples' private collections.

Maud would see a picture in a magazine and then paint it her way.  This is an example of that.

Everett also started painting.  This is one of his paintings.

Some of her most popular pieces included cows and oxen.  They are so cute.

Another of Everett's

After spending a long time in this museum, I then went to the gift shop and spent a lot of time there, trying to decide what I wanted to purchase.  I bought some prints and a few other souvenirs with Maud's beautiful artwork.
These are the prints I chose to bring home:

It was a difficult walk uphill to the museum.  The walk back to the ship was much more pleasant.  We walked down to the seaside boardwalk to go back to the ship. It was a beautiful day.  The boardwalk was gorgeous and there was almost a carnival atmosphere with booths set up along the way.

We were setting up to take a selfie here when a young man asked if he could take our picture.  He took several pictures, instructing us to turn our head, etc.  Ken commented that he must be a professional photographer.  He surprised us when he said he was, that he worked for our ship as a photographer.

We still took our selfie

George Island lighthouse across the bay.

A view of our docked ship.

These ladies were setting up some kind of display out on the pier.

In front of a heart-shaped sculpture.

Enjoying a local favorite on the boardwalk by the sea.  This is called a Beaver Tail.  It came in lots of different flavors.  I chose the classic cinnamon sugar one.

 At the port were some shops I wanted to check out.  Ken wanted to check out a local park- Point Pleasant Park- for birds, so we parted ways. I bought a few souvenirs and used the Internet at the port for quite a while.  We didn't have Internet on the ship, so we made use of the free Internet at the ports when available. Ken was richly rewarded in his bird quest at the beautiful park.

  

This black-capped chickadee let him get so close.  He got some really great pictures.

Map of the beautiful park.  Ken really enjoyed his time there.

For me, this was a big step day.

This was my favorite day of the cruise.  I am so thrilled I got to see the Maud Lewis display.  I think Ken really enjoyed this day as well.