More pictures - Canadian style

Hello dear ones,

Happy August! I'm very unready for the semester to start again, but since that always seems to be the case, why panic? I'll be teaching two beginning Spanish classes (one accelerated) and a course on Love and Marriage in Golden Age Spanish literature.

We had a great time in Nova Scotia - the cottage we rented for the week was Pacific Grovish, both in its couldn't-be-better ocean views as well as its wonderfully kitsch (bordering on tacky) humble decor. Lots of reading and Scrabble-playing. Highlights:

• The Bay of Fundy's tides. They have the biggest tides in the world, so much so that in narrow inlets, there is a phenomenon called the "tidal bore", which is basically a wave produced by the incoming tide. Here is a picture of the mud left behind at low tide (as well as someone's foot, also left behind by the tide?).
• Whale watching. We were able to see three humpback whales, several porpoises, and a bunch of seals. The whales were playing in the seaweed on the surface of the ocean, rolling around, occasionally showing us a fin or a back or a head or a tail. It was hard to time picture-taking, but I finally got a brochure- or poster-worthy shot of the tail. Also, we went on a "zodiac", which is a smaller moter-driven raft, instead of the larger, more imposing (to the whales) boats. The way we were dressed though, you'd think we had signed up for a space shuttle launch by mistake:
• Sea kayaking.
• The harbor towns, especially Lunenberg (a World Heritage site) and Blue Rocks. Pictures below. (Followed by a few pictures of Frank in Wilmot, Nova Scotia, which we can only imagine was named after him.)

What else? How were the Utah visits? What's going on?
Frank and I are toying with the idea of starting some kind of business (after we move from Indiana), perhaps a bed and breakfast or a bookstore. I really want to take a stab at writing, too. All pipe dreams at this point, but Frank has the business background and savvy (which I definitely don't have, but I'm a willing student). We've raided the libraries and used bookstores and now have an knee-high pile of books on both industries.
Speaking of which, have you all seen the book about "The King's English" (independent bookstore in Salt Lake)? It's a great memoir about the passion for books, the struggles of staying alive in the shadow of Barnes and Noble/Borders, and every chapter ends with lists of recommended books.
Speaking of which (part II), here is what I've read / am reading lately:

• Books about writing
• Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird; I'd give anything to be able to write like her.
• Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones; Have any of you read this? Really beautiful.

• Novels about Henry James (I don't know why I stumbled upon this genre within a genre within a genre, but there were at least three that came out in the last year or two)
• Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty; About a young graduate student studying Henry James in the Margaret Thatcher era in London. Won the Booker Prize, but I was underwhelmed by it.
• Colm Toibin, The Master; a historical/biographical novel about Henry James in his last writing years. Toibin really gets into Henry James as a deeply observant, conflicted individual. Very good.

• Really popular, arcane mysteries
• Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code
• Matthew Pearl, The Dante Club; I preferred this one much more than the Da Vinci Code, partly because I just read the Divine Comedy in Italy.
  

Well, I should get my day started. Love you all - keep in touch.

Matt