Alexander’s Place

In June of 1991 I flew into the airport at Halifax, Nova Scotia and in a dense fog. At the last second we aborted the landing and climbed back into the sky. We circled for a few moments in that fog and then we went down again, and again we aborted the landing and zoomed back into the sky above. The passenger sitting beside me seemed unconcerned. I asked him what was happening and he said, “Oh, the fog is comin’ in thick and sometimes it takes three or four tries before the pilot can see the ground.” Sure enough we made it on the third try. That was my introduction to Nova Scotia. Folks there don’t seem to get real riled up about things. They take them as they come.

I was working for the Maritime Telegraph and Telephone Company there and I made safety presentations for two days and we created some wonderful videos which were shown all over Nova Scotia to their workers. I had decided to stay over an extra night and my host said I might take a ride over and see the home of Alexander Graham Bell. It wasn’t open to the public but he gave me the name of the grounds keeper and suggested that he might show me around. I can just remember now that I drove for a while and then I found the lake that it was on and by askin’ and driving around I found it. Mr. Bell had his own plane and he used to land it on the lake and pull up near the house. It was a big sprawling home with a long front deck on the lake. I couldn’t find anyone around there and so I just mosied. I like to pretend that I’m walking in someone famous’s shoes sometimes and there was a rocking chair on the porch so I sat there looking at the lake and whoosh! This big eagle landed on the grass just about ten feet from where I sat. Now I love eagles, I collect everything there is about eagles, big brass statues, all sorts of porcelain eagles, eagles carved on whalebone, gold and silver eagles. All sorts. And here was this big, absolutely awesome eagle sitting with me there at Alexander Graham Bell’s old house and well, I was really feeling special being called all the way to Nova Scotia. It was one of those special moments that sometimes comes to a fella and I just thought I’d share it.