A Hat Junkie Hat and Nova Scotia License Plates

Funny title, eh? There really is a connection, though. This is Janis Campbell.  I met her a week ago at the Lunenburg Farmers market.  She picked up this hat and fell in love. Then she looked at the price.  She was totally sweet about it and I never take offense when someone can’t afford one of my hats.  I can’t afford them either…that’s why I make them.

But love is love and when a head wants a hat and a hat wants a head, mere money cannot come between them.  A couple of days later, Janis showed up at my studio and the two were reunited.  The hat would go home with her to Manitoba. But before she left, Janis shared a little piece of her life with me.  This is, by far, the thing I love best about my work.  In the most random of ways I get to connect with so many people.  I love hearing their stories.

Janis grew up in Lunenburg.  She was raised in the Boscawen Inn.

This is the Boscawen Inn. It is currently owned by wonderful people and has the best deck in town. Janis’ grandfather was AJ Campbell and he began what is now Tourism Nova Scotia.  So, you know how Nova Scotia license plates have “Canada’s Ocean Playground” written on them?  Well, Janis’ grandfather wrote that slogan. I think that’s an awesome claim to fame.  And now I get to tell everyone that the grand daughter of the man who came up with “Canada’s Ocean Playground” has one of my hats!

And if that doesn’t impress you then it’s also true that Mikhail Baryshnikov once asked me if I was using a payphone….and Martha Graham once told me that I was back on my heels….and I told Cyndi Lauper that she had to wait 45 minutes for a table….and I had a twenty minute conversation with Dan Aykroyd without ever knowing that I was talking to Dan Aykroyd…and of all people, Courtney Love has two of my hats and when I asked for her head size, she responded, 22.5 fat inches.   

 If none of these things impress you, that’s O.K.  They don’t impress me either.  I have really never had the proper reverence for fame.  I do, however, have tons of reverence for people and the stories they hold and I’m pretty lucky that I get to hear them through hatting.

This here is Sara Bonnyman. Another great face. She bought my green canvas hat yesterday at The Lunenburg Farmers Market. Turns out that Sara is a potter in Tatamagouche, NS.  Pottery happens to be one of my greatest weaknesses.  When I got home I immediately checked out her website .  I see there’s a trip to Tatamagouche in my near future. 

There will also be many more canvas hats.  I’m currently  obsessed.

This is Brenda.  She bought this hat from me a couple of weeks ago. Brenda is a doppelganger for one of my dearest friends, Sally (who this hat is named after).  I couldn’t stop staring at her.  I told her that it was really hard to not hug her because she just reminded me so much of a dear friend and she responded by giving me a big hug. Turns out they also have similar personalities.

I suppose I have exceeded my sappy quotient for this blog.  My husband will be mocking me mercilessly.  Not sure that the beauty from last week’s bike ride is any less sickly sweet, but, too bad….I love my life.
This photo was taken near the beginning of my ride, when I felt able bodied and optimistic. 

I was still feeling pretty good about myself when I reached this house which I never noticed before.  It was the Second Peninsula School.

I paused around the bend because my bike met this tractor and they were quite taken with each other.

I reached the end of Second Peninsula and sat by the ocean for a few minutes and wished that I had packed some food to help me face the 11 km ride back to town. Yeah, from here on in, I was pretty happy that I didn’t have any company to watch me get off my bike and walk on a perfectly flat stretch of road.  What is it about life that deludes us into believing we are perpetual spring chickens?  By the time I got back to town I was the picture of despair. 

I stopped into The Fisherman’s Picnic General Store and Justine and Kenton were very kind to me.  They pretended to be impressed that I biked all the way to Bachman’s beach and they let me inhale most of the Brownie samples that they had out on the counter.

I think this weekend I’ll ride to Blue Rocks.  At least I know that when I get to my destination there will be food waiting for me at The Point General, which is now open for the season.  Wish me luck. (photo by Heidi Jirotka Photography)