The Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
June 15, 2023
By Pat Edwards

The beginning of summer is settling in gently this year following a short spell of unseasonally hot days. I’m enjoying going out in the early mornings and some evenings to water our flowers surrounding the house and around the rest of our property. We are kept busy enough with trips to town for classes and errands, but I’ve added chores such as cleaning out the refrigerators and freezers, shampooing carpets, clearing clutter that always seems to get ahead of me, and freshening bed linens in the guest bedroom. In addition, our suitcases are out and ready to be packed. Passports have been retrieved and clothes that will get us through 12 days of wandering and cruising through Eastern Canada aboard a bus for 5 days and a cruise ship for 7, are waiting to be carefully folded when the time gets closer. Extra medication boxes have been filled and cosmetic bags and travel kits are being added to each day.

Our house-sitter has stopped by to reacquaint herself with our fur babies and patiently listened as I told her the meal and treat schedule that each is on, the flowers that needed watering each day, and where all the food and treats for herself and our babies are located.

We are a bit nervous about what we’ll find when we arrive in Canada. Recently, we became aware that wildfires were burning in the areas we will be traveling through… Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia… many are still uncontained. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) has reported that “As of June 9, there were 127 wildfires burning in Quebec; a decrease over recent days. There have been 444 wildfires to date this year, compared to a 10-year average of just 207. More than 1.6 million acres have burned, compared to the 10-year average of 3,326 acres by this date. Over a million acres are currently on fire or recently burned.” The cause of most was determined to be lightning strikes.

New Brunswick reports that only two small fires are burning right now and both are being held.

Currently, in Nova Scotia, where our Holland America cruise ship will dock in Halifax, of the five active fires burning, four are being held and one is under control.

It makes me wonder what the conditions will be when we get there. Will the air quality be terrible? Or is all of the smoke going south into the U.S. border states? Even if there is no smoke, will we be met by blackened hills and countryside along the St. Lawrence River?

Our travel agent is staying in touch with the tour group and cruise line that booked our trip, but no decisions will be made about whether the trip will be affected by the fires until closer to the time we have to leave.

If it’s a go, I hope to report back on this much-anticipated trip after we return.

Fingers crossed!