and
windspinners danced in the breeze. I pulled into the first available parking spot and as I walked up the driveway toward the workshop, I noticed all the brightly painted, wooden whirlygigs on my left were mostly still while a lawn full of rainbow coloured windspinners were turning furiously.
As a stepped into the workshop where a man in a straw hat and woman were seated behind a workbench covered with pieces of wood and shavings, I joked that they had a problem. "There's no wind on the left side of your driveway and your whirlygigs are not moving," I said.
Without missing a beat, Barry reached into the pile of shavings, picked up a cel phone and pretended to dial. "Hello, God! This is Barry. We've got a problem, there's no wind on the left side of my driveway. Can you do something? You can. That's great. Thanks." As he folded the phone shut he assured me that the problem would be solved right a way. . .
Meet Barry and Kara Coutts, the husband and wife whirlygig duet. They once ran a hardware store in the Annapolis Valley. Kara told me that after they sold the store, Barry bought a whirlygig kit to put together as a hobby, but try as he might, he couldn't figure out how to assemble it, so he decided to design and build his own.
A move to the Southshore followed and the Whirlygig Shop was born. Barry builds them and Kara adds the colourful, painted designs. Aside from the common birds and seagulls with spinning wings, Barry has come up with some eye-catching designs, including one that shows a shark with snapping teeth chasing the flapping legs of a scuba diver.
I asked Barry whether he made the wind spinners too. "No, they're made in China. but I'm the biggest dealer in Atlantic Canada. My supplier couldn't believe I was selling so many. He said he tried to locate me (Western Shore) on the map, but couldn't find me."
If you want to add a lighter moment to your day, you owe it to yourself to visit this fun loving couple and their wildly colourful studio/home. The kids will love it too.
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