Ok…I’m not sure if I should say that I have manifested this, or just finally decided,  that I was going to get Laura Mulrooney to write a column for Simple Local Life.  Laura writes beautiful and eloquent stories on her personal Facebook page, often on Sunday mornings. I have shared many of them on my personal Facebook through the years, and clearly this was when I began dreaming of the idea of her writing for us.

Laura Mulrooney

Many of you will know Laura from Julien’s Bakery.  Laura and her husband, a few of their children, and their talented staff, have been the people responsible for producing some of the best baked goods on the South Shore. Laura herself  also works at many of the farmers markets, including Lunenburg, Chester and the Privateers Market, where there is often a crowd gathered around the Julien’s table.

Laura observes the world around us and puts it in a way that makes sense. She has a way with words, which is evident by the number of people I have seen, repeatedly ask her when she is going to write a book. Until that time…I am thrilled and honoured to welcome Laura Mulrooney to Simple Local Life as a contributor. I know you will love her stories as much as I do.

Bread is Life

If I had a dime for every time I announced  that someone should build a gas station at Tantallon- exit 5, I’d have been richer than if I had actually built a gas station at exit 5!  When we first came to the South Shore of Nova Scotia nearly thirty years ago, we drove back and forth a lot to Halifax and there were no services at Tantallon.  It took us a while to settle down and call this place home and now going to ‘the City’ is more of a chore  than anything. ( notwithstanding a visit to my Mum’s of course). After you live here a few years anyone wearing a suit or a dress has got to be going to : a) a funeral or b) the City. Anything else will cast some doubt as to your credibility.

We first lived in Bridgewater, right in town and then in the suburbs – Lapland. A mere 10.6 kilometres north of the 103, you soon learned who your real friends were and you never, ever forgot a jug of milk or a bottle of wine. We raised a few pigs up there, one bit me hard on the knee and wasn’t long becoming bacon . They ate well heaven knows, delicious scraps from the restaurant. When we relocated our business to Chester finding somewhere to live  was as challenging as it is today. we slept on the floor of the chocolate room for a good six months. We had a pastry shop & bakery  you see and one of the upstairs rooms was dedicated to making fine Belgian Chocolates – it was imperative that it be far from flour, not a good mix anytime.

Long days, hard work and the aroma of cocoa make for a hypnotic rest even on a hard floor. I’ll never forget one of my customers announcing  that they were leaving their rental house and we could inquire about renting it. Great news I thought , til she announced with a straight face that it was $ 1500 … a week !!!! We were running a French Bakery not smuggling cocaine and though the addiction might be similar – the profit margins are quite different.

 A few weeks later, someone whispered in my ear that a house was coming for rent that very day and I ran right down and snapped it up. That was in 1992 and here I sit, still in the same house and I can only imagine that 1500 a week has now become 5000 .

The house is now ours it has since been home to four children, dogs, cats fish and even a bearded dragon and  thankfully, we don’t sleep on the floor anymore. Though I’ll tell you a secret if the Frenchman doesn’t ease up on his snoring soon, he’ll soon be sleeping in the shed.  Wonder how much I could charge him….?