Wow. What a year!

I started this “letter” last year, and it was a really nice way to reflect on the year, so I’ve decided to keep it up. Feel free to skim and just look at the pictures/videos, no pressure from me! But, if you do want to continue to be on my email list for the holiday letter in the future, please opt in using the form!

2020 in Review

It started off right! We rang in the New Year/Decade with two of our favourite people, Paul & Stacey. It was pretty low key fun with food, games, music and dancing. They’re our Sackville social bubble, so it’s likely we’ll do something similar this year.

In February I got pumped up to perform! I sang and played ukulele at my very first open mic, and I auditioned for and was cast in two plays: a new one-act by a local playwright, and our community theatre’s production of Nöel Coward’s Present Laughter.

Unfortunately, both plays were called off due to COVID before we even started to rehearse. And Thunder + Lightning, the local pub/music venue that held the open mic was an early small-business victim of the pandemic 😢

By mid-March, everything changed.

I remember we played D&D at Paul & Stacey’s house on March 14th, and there was already enough of a pandemic buzz for us to think twice about it (and then decide to go anyway).

We’ve been playing our weekly D&D sessions completely online since then, which actually works quite well and allows us to include friends who live in Halifax and Edmonton!

My birthday was the following week (March 19) and Aldon and I hopped in the car and drove out to Cape Jouriman for a winter walk and to fly my delightful NB-made kite, a gift from a client.

Small Joys

Of course, there were no live events to attend in person this year, but we became even bigger fans of Danny Michel, who performed “Live from Lockdown” over Zoom from his home studio. He’s also done a memorable outdoor show from his backyard fire pit, a Halloween special, and invited us into his kitchen for a couple of cooking/music shows!

Even though the plays I auditioned for were cancelled, I still managed to pull off a bit of acting this year, online via zoom for our local professional company, Live Bait Theatre. First was the “Social Distancing (new works) Short Play Festival” where I was cast in two plays. These were put together from script to screen in under 2 weeks: quite a feat! And in the fall, I participated in a production for the local schools about dealing with Climate Change anxiety.

The “Atlantic Bubble” was established just after the first of July, and we celebrated at my parents’ place that weekend. We tried to get out to the beach as often as possible, but like any summer, this one seemed to go by too quickly. We did feel really lucky that we were able to cross the border and do some maritime sightseeing in the midst of a global pandemic. But summer is just not the same without our annual visit from Ava. Missing her was probably the biggest downside of this entire year.

Local Travel

We took a few day trips: Tatamagouche, Fundy National Park, Kouchibouguac, and we spent the August long weekend in Halifax with Paul & Stacey.

My favourite trip of the year was to Cape Breton for a couple of nights just after Thanksgiving. We hiked the Skyline Trail (which I would normally skip because it’s usually so crowded), drove up to Meat Cove at the very top of the island, visited the Bell museum and stayed in a yurt with a private hot tub outside under the stars! The fall colours were amazing, it poured rain but was really warm, and the whole trip was pretty magical.