We live in Nova Scotia, Canada. Nova Scotia is a peninsula connected by the Isthmus of Chignecto to the province of New Brunswick. No matter where you are in Nova Scotia you are never more than 60km from the ocean. Just shy of a million people live here.

We’ve been very fortunate here with the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve had just shy of 1100 cases, sadly with 65 deaths, but all things being what they are we’ve done really well. All of our current active cases (5) are travel related. Our provincial government has done an excellent job managing this pandemic, learning and adjusting as they become more educated. This is a first time thing for all of us, mistakes are inevitable. As a people we never had to be put through a mandatory lock down or forced quarantine (excluding returning travelers). The government asked us to ‘stay the blazes home’ and for the most part, where they could, people did. I won’t get into it here, but Nova Scotians had a rough few weeks during this time and staying home turned out to be a lot harder than anyone could have anticipated.

I took that time to get to know some of our backyard wildlife.

Because of our many sacrifices Nova Scotia was able to slowly start the journey towards returning to a functional society again in May. Step one was bubble groups.

This small step was such a relief for people. Humans are social beings, we need that contact. It’s essential to our mental well-being.  It was a relief to be able to see someone outside of your own four walls again. It was nice to have new conversations, to laugh and just feel somewhat normal again. It was great to begin our annual horseshoe season, probably the easiest game there is for distancing!

It was nice to go for a drive for reasons beyond getting essentials again.

By early June restaurants and other businesses that had closed or went to takeout only were allowed to reopen. Physical distancing, sanitizing and other protocols were introduced to ensure everyone’s safety. Personally, I prefer the physically distant dining experience. It’s much more relaxed and pleasant.

We did a lot of curbside pick-up before the reopens, we wanted to do our part to support local and it was a bit of a treat to not cook supper after working some very stressful days. I was so happy to be able to get out to a restaurant again. Were we nervous? At first yes, but we got over that pretty quickly. Every place we have been has done an exceptional job. Honestly, if we didn’t trust them we wouldn’t have been customers before all this.

Spring turned out to be pretty OK in Nova Scotia. We celebrated the return of summer with barbecue’s and friends, which is what we would normally do. We had trips booked for our vacation and had our fingers crossed for an ‘Atlantic Bubble’. We didn’t have to wait long for that to happen.

The Atlantic Bubble allowed for travel between Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland without having to self-isolate for 14 days. While our provincial borders have never closed, travel was limited because of the required isolation period. Within the bubble residents can freely move between any of the four provinces. It opened the door for so many families to be able to see each other and so much more.

We’re on the slow journey to a more normal life. We’re taking steps and giving each one time to settle in until we move to the next one. It’s really the only way to safely do this.

Next up Our 2020 Pandemic Summer.