AUGUST 16, 2005
SIGN ONE: WELCOME TO NOVA SCOTIA
SIGN TWO: IT IS UNLAWFUL TO IMPORT OR POSSESS HONEYBEES

Traveling to Nova Scotia is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for Lynn. Bound for Windsor, N.S., our destination is the Hants County Exhibition Park, and, listen up, this is the oldest fairground in North America...240 years old this month. Think of that, 1765, before Tim Horton's.Hamming it up with the hot dog lady, Hants County, NS

Many of you may not know Tim Horton. He was already an NHL legend, somewhat arrogant I'm told, who opened a coffee shop in 1967. However, even though he died too young, in a traffic accident in 1974, his legend continues as his chain of stores now numbers in the thousands. In Canada, more ubiquitous than McDonald's, we have yet to find a town without at least one, best described by my editor as a "generic dunkin' donuts". So we've taken a personal vow not to enter a Tim Horton's until our last day in Canada. And like our American truck stops that have an Arby's, Subway, or Wendy's neatly tucked into the interior, I fully expect to find a Tim Horton's so large that it will actually have another Tim Horton's inside.


We elect an unmarked side route through verdant farmland to the small, nondescript village of Springhill, NS, birthplace in 1945 to Morna Murray. Once, before 1970, an insignifigant mining center, Springhill could be any town except that it gave rise to a voice so pure, so natural, that it defined a generation. From the time of her first #1 single in 1969, the young woman exemplified genuine humility, graduated from college, then deftly handled her celebrity for forty years in a business renowned for disgrace. With dignity, without scandal.

Neither glamourous nor beautiful, Anne Murray is still on my short list of the most appealing women alive. Along with Paula Zahn, the British actress Helen Mirren, CNN's Christiana Amanpour, my own Lynn, and well...that's my short list.

The sound of her voice has, within me, stirred a powerful emotion. The Chinese have an expression that means, "being lonesome to death". We might describe it as being homesick. But right now I miss my family and friends in a special way. And the song resonates softly overhead....

...a kid out of school, a fire out of control, just another fool,
You touch me and I'm weak, a feather in the wind,
And I can't wait to feel you touching me again....

Visiting the Anne Murray Centre slips into the priceless category. I was overcome when I could see the tears of the Canadian visitors as they burst with pride as their very own 'daughter' sang their most precious anthem, an icon of style and grace, a talent larger than the dominion.



The next Anne Murray on the
monkey bars in Springhill.



















Lynn and Anne, side by side, but Miss Murray forgot to wear her name badge.















....nobody was assassinated in the whole third world today,
and in the streets of Ireland, all the children had to do was play,
and everybody loves everybody in the good old USA,
we sure could use a little good news today....

Here's hoping,
Dr. C.