When we told locals that our next stop was Pugwash, each one would ask "Why?"  The answer, as always, was that surely something interesting would surface.  And, as always, something did.

At the height of the cold war in the 1950's, Pugwash hosted a series of nuclear disarmament talks with top scientists from both sides of the iron curtain.  Fully funded by a wealthy local man, the UN at first thought the offer was a joke because of the name Pugwash.  But gather they did at the "Thinkers Lodge", and the Pugwash Movement was launched that just may have saved our world.

We also got to cosy up in a 400 square foot (plus loft bedroom) cabin, settling back into baking bread, working, and resting after a weekend of celebrating Galen's birthday with his fabulous friends in Sackville NB.  Definitely confirmed that our someday future home can be under 1,000 square feet and still feel abundant.

Long daily walks took us through the salt-water marshes and estuaries that Acadian settlers used to farm using dykes, and around the Windsor Salt mine (Pugwash sits on the largest salt deposit in the Atlantic).  In town we found the Christmas tree made out of buoys, and another made of lobster traps with buoys as decorations (and some as memorials, including one to a young fisherman who was just lost this month - see photos).

We met many of the 236 Pugwashians at cribbage night in the church basement, ugly sweater night at the Legion, a live one-man performance of The Grinch at the historic Peace Hall (somehow I was the only non-parent adult there), and a Christmas parade in the neighbouring town with some distinctively Canadian floats.

Before leaving you with two sets of photos of this beautiful, quirky town, I'll answer the question we all ask: "Pugwash" takes its name from the Mikmaq Pagweak people - it means "shallow water" or "shoal."