Mini Vacation: Day 3

Another productive day! Here's what I did:

1. Get new glasses. Check.
It took me the better part of an hour trying on many, many pairs of glasses, but I finally settled on 2 pairs that I hope suit me. It's a difficult process (picking out new frames), and I'm having a tinge of buyer's regret on my 2nd pair but, in the end, I'm sure I'll be happy with what I chose. If you're wondering, I got them at Pearle Vision (which used to be Shoppers Optical, which used to be Shorney's Optical) because they have a great BOGO promotion on now.

2. Start Kimono Shawl. Check.
This is going to take me a long time to finish....but it'll be worth it, right?

I've also discovered a limit to my perfectionism. Am I willing to rip out 3 rows (of 117 stitches each) to correct a missed ssk? Nope. I just don't have the heart to start ripping at this stage in the game. I'm going to consider this my purposeful mistake or my "humility block" and keep on going. Of course, this also means I have to be vigilant about keeping to the pattern and catching any mistakes as soon as they're made. It would not do to have any more mistakes!

3. Run Errands. Check.
Things pile up fast, and having a business day to run errands (like banking) is invaluable. It's hard not to pack in a full day of errands on EDO Mondays but I am determined to save time for a little bit o' fun.

4. Sightsee. Check.
This is on my 2009 To Do List (see the sidebar on my front page). Basically, I want to use my EDO Mondays to see more of the city and the surrounding areas. Today I visited St. Paul's Church. It's the oldest Protestant church in North America, built in 1750 and has a whole lot of history I'm not going to get into tonight.

Instead I'll show you some pictures and share with you the bits of the church I found the most interesting.

I love stained glass windows. Someday, when I have a house of my own, I will have a stained glass window. Someday. Well, let me tell you, there were plenty of stained glass windows at St. Paul's! I took a picture of this one (below) because it depicts (I think) the story from Mark that our sermon on Sunday was based on.And this window (below) really shows the intricate detail of the stained glass work. And there is another window that tells an entirely different story at St. Paul's. The "explosion window" below was shattered during the Halifax Explosion in 1917 and some say that the void left by the shattered glass resembles the likeness of a one of the early church assistants. Whether you believe the story or not, the window is interesting and has been left "in tact" (or should that be "broken"?) since the Explosion.
Oh, and I also love the intricate detail of this pulpit, especially as it appears to frame one of the original 19th century stained glass windows in the chancel behind the pulpit. I'm quite pleased with this shot, actually. And here's more detail (I like floor grates too!): And I leave you with this last thought to consider:Now, off to bed! I need energy for Day 4. There's lots still to accomplish.

(Looking forward to my "other" vacation this summer that will be the antithesis of this one - ie. go to the cottage and plan to accomplish nothing!)

Mini Vacation: Day 1

I have a 5 day weekend and ambitious plans to make the most of every moment of those 5 days! It's rare to have this much time to do anything at home. Ususally if I have this much time, I'll go to the Valley, or to the cottage. This time, however, I'm determined to tick off a bunch of things on my To Do List.

So far I'm off to a good start. 1. Spend day with Little. Check.

Once a month we get together for an extended visit. This usually gives us time to something a bit more involved that our weekly visits won't allow. Today we went to the Multicultural Festival at Alderney Landing. It was my first time going and, from what I could tell, it was very well attended! We were there for about 2 hours wandering around, checking out the Kids Pavilion, the exhibits and the performances. Sensing we were on the verge of a melt-down, it became necessary to distract a slightly disinterested 9 year-old with food.`So after all that, we went to the food tent to see what was to be had. We sampled a spring roll and a shrimp skewer (on sugar cane) from the Vietnamese vendor; then had BBQ'ed chicken wraps from the Turkish vendor, and finished off with a blueberry bubble tea (this was a first for the Little).

Ironically, the best part of the day was after we left the Multicultural Festival. We spent a couple hours on the grass along the Dartmouth Waterfront, playing tag, playing clapping games, and climbing anything that could be climbed; then took the ferry back to the Halifax waterfront and enjoyed a relatively quiet meander along the boardwalk. It struck me today just how fantastic Halifax is, and especially how wonderful our boardwalk is for kids (with a fantastic play ground, the giant wave to climb, and all the performance spaces for buskers). It's a fun space to hang out.

A panorama of the Halifax Waterfront, taken from the Dartmouth waterfront.
Far left is Georges Island and the far right is the MacDonald Bridge.

So I'm home now, and the end of the day is nigh, but there's one last thing to tick off my To Do List : 2. Start the Kimono shawl. This is a knitting project I've wanted to start for awhile, and I now have all the tools:

The yarn, the needles and the book!

I'm going to start this Kimono Shawl by Cheryl Oberle, as soon as I click save on this post. I'll be using this gorgeous Fleece Artist wool (I forget what it is - cashmere + mohair, perhaps) that I picked up on sale at the Gaspereau Valley Fibres yard sale a month ago. This should make a good cottage vacation project.....and will undoubtedly be a WIP (Work in Progress) for quite awhile!

Now, on to Day 2 ...

Plan B

A forecast of rain showers put a damper on plans to camp this weekend (Plan A). And while the other 2 ladies may have been a titch disappointed, I wasn't. I was relieved. I've been spoiled by the luxuries of cottage life, and as a result I'm not much of a camper. I don't relish the thought of the close quarters of a tent, outdoor toilets, and creepy crawlies. I like to think I'm pretty down-to-earth, and many people are surprised to learn that I'm not a camper (nor have I been), but at the end of the day I'm very happy to be able to sleep in a bed and know that should I need it, the bathroom is just down the hall without having to go outdoors.

Okay, so instead of camping we came up with Plan B: dinner + a movie...Annapolis Valley-style.

Dinner was at The Port in Port Williams, NS. It's such a beautiful spot, overlooking the Cornwallis River where you can see the tides come in and go out, with this gorgeous panorama to enjoy on the patio with your meal.

Another panorama photo created using Canon Photostitch.
Click on the image to make it bigger.

The Port is a gastropub, which is a term that was new to me. I'm not entirely sure what the difference is between a gastropub and a nice restaurant. The food is gourmet quality, using local ingredients (for the most part) and with live local entertainment. It's a lot like the Union Street Cafe in Berwick. The menu had a wide selection with some of the traditional 'pub' fare. I ordered the Valley Shepherd's Pie and enjoyed it very much! I guess one difference might be the prices. The price of my meal was very reasonable - only $12.95, which is fairly typical of most pub fare.

After we finished dinner, we were off to see a double feature at the Valley Drive-In. A lot of people outside of the Valley don't know about this gem, which is really too bad because going to the drive-in is a lot of fun....depending on the movies playing, of course. Unfortunately for us, the movies playing this weekend were so, so, sooooooo bad! The Land of the Lost and Fighting. Ugh. But we made the best of it - either by sleeping or by popcorn or by simply enjoying the experience of going to a drive-in (minus any canoodling, of course). The thing I really like about the drive-in is that it does feel like you're stepping back in time for some unexplainable reason, and you get to enjoy a movie out-of-doors! ...See, I can rough it afterall! ;)

Welcome to Georges Island

A couple months ago I visited York Redoubt and thoroughly enjoyed it. Well, this Saturday I got the rare opporunity to visit another National Historic Site - Georges Island. Though the site has a fascinating history and really cool fortifications/architecture that includes a series of tunnels, it's only open to the public one weekend a year. So, when an opportunity comes up to get there - grab it!

Georges Island from the ferry. It was an overcast morning, but that didn't matter or didn't put a damper on our visit.

As I said, the fortifications on Georges Island are really cool. It's really not much different than that at the Citadel, but there are tunnels! which are kind of like secret passageways, right? and there are all sorts of theories (conspiracy and otherwise) about where the tunnels go. What's not to get excited about that?!! So here are some pictures of the tunnels:The entrance to one series of tunnels. Apparently the other series of tunnels are a mirror image so we didn't bother to go through them (perhaps next time). Where does this trap door go? Our tourguide couldn't tell us, though he suspected it was something mundane like an access to electrical wiring. OR maybe! it's a door to the secret tunnels to the Citadel????A canon aimed at the harbour. Georges Island never did see any battle, but that doesn't matter. What really mattered was that we were prepared! More cool stonework and military architecture. Our tourguide was a member of the Halifax Citadel Regimental Association, and did a very good job explaining the fortifications and answering questions.Some of the museum folk got into the spirit (and into costume) and put on demonstration of flag raising to return a signal from the Citadel (see below).Oh, and here's a view across the harbour towards York Redoubt. (I should also tell you that I drove past the fort the other day and there seems to be minimal damage to the exterior. The fire appears to have only licked the exterior walls and consumed only a part of the woodland surrounding the Fort.) A very pretty lighthouse on Georges Island. Paint job looks good on this one.

And now for two shots I couldn't resist:

DON'T DO ANYTHING! No nothing. No eating, no walking on the grass, no falling off cliffs, and especially no whitespace! If you're thinking about something...anything....don't do it here!
Look! They're giant binoculars! Okay, okay. It's actually just two large cannons, but c'mon, you see it too, right?

So there's another National Historic Site checked off the list. There are really quite a few in Nova Scotia (26 in total) and I've still not seen a lot of them. I've got lots of sightseeing to do!

Shearing day in Gaspereau Valley

I spent part of my EDO weekend in the Annapolis Valley, enjoying a little taste of the countryside for a change. I always feel refreshed after being home for a night. And this time of year is especially pleasant - with the lush greenery, newly ploughed and seeded fields, and the faint smell of manure in the air.

Today I did something a little diffferent though. My mother and I went to Gaspereau Valley Fibres to check out the shearing demonstrations and the International Back to Back Challenge.

We saw the cutest lambs (black and white!)...And then we watched Sarah Nettleton shear a Cotswold sheep...Sheep in a pen waiting to be sheared (or just sheared).

Sarah Nettleton demonstrating how to shear a sheep.

The newly shorn Cotswold wool.

After the shearing we checked in with the Nova Scotia team in the Back to Back Challenge. So, what's the Challenge, you ask?? It's a competition to produce a sweater straight from the sheep. A team of spinners and knitters get together and spin wool freshly shorn from the sheep and then knit the wool into a sweater. Last year the Toronto team won. Here's hoping the Nova Scotian team won this year!

Nova Scotian team hard at work spinning & knitting.

And how could I forget....a sight that made me giggle out loud. We caught a glimpse of Caprice, the Llama, after her turning being sheared.

Before (November 29, 2008):

After (June 6, 2009) :

Oh the indignity!
Poor Caprice!

Keeping my fingers crossed that I won a prize from their raffle today...but as I've not received a phone call, I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up too much. Though I was really hoping to win a MacAusland Woven Wool Blanket from PEI.

No worries, though, I didn't leave Gaspereau Valley Fibres empty-handed. I found a knitting book I've been wanting for a little while:

Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle

There are shawl patterns from around the world in this book, but the one I really have my eye on is the Kimono shawl. I picked up some lovely wool from Gaspereau Valley Fibre's spring yardsale that I hope will do the trick!

Okay, well that's all from me right now. It's been a lovely and productive day (I managed to squeeze in enough time to wash my car + AmourAll the bumpers so it looks brand new again!). I must get to bed if I'm going to get to church in the morning. The weekend's not through for me yet, however, and I hope to take some time on Monday to do a bit more sightseeing in the HRM.

My patio garden at dusk

So my patio garden is started. And I was ambitious! Here's what I planted this year:
Kale! (on the right), and romaine lettuce (on the left)...
Scotia tomatoes and basil in the black planter, and sweet green peppers in the white...
Trailing petunias in the hanging baskets...

...and a few others that still need to be potted.

I also learned another gardening lesson this year: sometimes it's not worth trying to start plants from seed. You can get cell-packs of vegetables for super-cheap at Kent or Home Depot or Farmer Clem's and when you're only buying enough for a patio garden, the expense is minimal. So next year, I'm not bothering with seeds, unless they're scarlet runners which are just plain fun to start from seed.