#nova scotia duck tolling retriever

On a whim (and thanks to a skillshare project prompt) I made up a heraldic coat of arms for my paternal grandparents. The shield (which breaks all heraldry color rules, shh) is their sunfish sail stripes. The brown stripes on top represent barrel hoops, one of the best guesses at a translation of our surname. The crest on top is a loon, for my grandfather’s love of birds and their shared love of Nova Scotia. The torse underneath is in red, white, and blue for my grandmother’s political activity. The supporters are Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers, which they had several of over the years. The flowers in the wreath are petunias, Granny Pat’s nickname for her students, and mexican marigolds, for Grampa Bob’s place of birth. Finally the motto is a clumsily google translated Latin rendition of one of Granny Pat’s favorite quips: “And we’re off, like a herd of turtles!” I miss them terribly but it was really nice to reminisce and come up with symbols of the things they loved.

i could come up with the actual blazonry terms for the whole thing but it’d take forever and it would probably only impress one person, ie me