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!

Christmas come-and-gone

I really can't believe how fast Christmas comes and goes. It seems there's always a mad-dash to get things done (shopping, baking, cleaning, cards), that I'm exhausted by the time Christmas Day hits.

This year we seemed to do things in record time. Our mountain of gifts were unwrapped by morning coffee (10ish), and we devoured Christmas dinner by 1:30. And before you know it, it's back to work I go. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining. It was fun spending time with family, playing games, eating (because a lot of our traditions seem to be related to food, my favourite being the birthday cake for Jesus - a seven layer white cake with delicious chocolate icing!). I just wish time didn't pass so fast!

I also wish the lead-up to Christmas wasn't so frenetic.

Every year I make a resolution to not wait until the last minute to do my Christmas shopping, and most years this resolution goes out the window as I realise I have most of my shoppings to do a week before Christmas! But here it goes again, since it's nearly New Year's, I will make a resolution to have all my gifts ready/purchased before Advent 2008! That's before the first week of December. And since I'm making resolutions, I'm also going to resolve to make more gifts next year. I think I'm up for it, and my wallet could really use the reprieve.

Shop 'til you drop

'Tis the season, afterall.

This is what I like the least about Christmas. Not the shopping as such, but the mad dash, the line-ups, the impulse buys, the over-the-top Christmas displays (aisles and aisles of Christmas decorations etc.), and all the stuff to buy buy buy.

I actaully enjoy shopping for gifts. It takes a little prodding (maybe a little begging) to find out what people want + a little careful consideration, but in the end, I think I usually hit the mark.

What I don't like are gift certificates for Christmas. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE gift certificates, and there is a right time/place for them and I'm more than happy to give them when their asked for. But Christmas is about the act of gift-giving - it's a celebration of the greatest gift of all! ... And the last thing I want to do AFTER Christmas is to go back to the stores, face the crowds again, and spend more money. What I find about gift certificates is that you never just spend the value of the gift certificate; you almost always put it towards something more expensive and put down your own money for the balance. So -- just like the stores want you to -- you spend even more money after Christmas.

I would be lying if I said I didn't want gifts at Christmas. I do. But only because of the fun of watching people open their gifts, their reactions, and the madness of paper + dogs + people that usually ensues. Not to mention the family time. Someone inevitably will get a movie that'll we'll all watch as a family, or get a game that we'll play, or get a puzzle that'll will become a project to work on, and in the quiet times, we'll all find our own corner and read our new books or play with our new trinkets. You don't often find people sitting in a quiet corner relaxing after a chaotic day with their new giftcard.

So gifts are an important part of our Christmas traditions (in my family anyway), and I think it'd be unrealistic to expect anything different.

Christmas baking!

Cranberry-Orange scones - delicious! But they won't last until Christmas so they can't really count as Christmas baking.


Chocolate-Mint sugar cookies - not so delicious. These look better than they taste. I'm actually disappointed with them, they're too cakey and not very flavourful. And for the amount of effort that goes into them, not really worth it.

Let it snow!

Oh the weather outside is frightful
...thank goodness for Michelin tires to get me home!

But the fire is so delightful
...as is my beautifully decorated mini-tree.

And since I've no place to go!
...because French class has been cancelled.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
...Bring it on!

Have Daypass, Will Travel

It was a lovely day traipsing around downtown with my daypass.

Stop #1 : Queen Street West
I wanted to go back to Romni Wools and look around a bit more. I didn't get a chance to look at the discount bins, or the knitting books on my first trip, and I wanted to pick up a ball (or two) of sock wool with the idea of practicing smaller stitches and possibly making a little pouch for my mp3 player.

To get to Romni, I passed by MissBehav'N where live models were dancing in the windows wearing nothing but pasties and lingerie. Only on Queen Street West. It was a bit shocking to walk by the storefront, look over and see these ladies happily dancing away.
On my way back from Romni, I stopped at Ten Thousand Villages and coveted everything in the store; and Outer Layer, where I sampled dirt scented perfume, and gingerale scented perfume to cover up the very convincing scent of dirt from the first sample. Why oh why would anyone want to smell like dirt?

Stop #2 : Kensington Market
Oh how I love cheese! I indulged in my cheese cravings even though I suspect I will pay for it later. I sampled half a dozen different types of cheeses: Stilton, Appledore (Lancashire w. apples & cinnamon), Oka Classique, and a mild blue cheese. Half these cheeses I probably shouldn't eat, but I really couldn't resist. $9.18 later I had a bag of Oka, Blue Cheese and the Appledore.

Next stop HAD to be My Market Bakery to get some fresh bread to go with the cheese. Fresh bread to go, and tiramisu for the road (again, I gave in to a craving).

Last stop was the South American store where I bought 6 Pupusas. I love that you could miss this little hideaway pupusa place if you didn't know it's there. It's at the back of a tiny little grocery, and two women are busy making pupusas for a good part of the weekend. I've been going there since I first found my way around Kensington 6 years ago. It's quite a little find and the pupusas are really quite lovely tasting. I bought a mix -2 cheese, 2 bean and 2 everything. They'll make good lunches throughout the week at work (and for $2 ea. you really can't go wrong).

Stop #3: Canadian Tire
On sale: 3' Lighted Christmas Tree, $7.99 (reg. $24.99). I've been looking for an artificial Christmas tree. I've tried real trees and although I like them much better, the only trees I can find are potted and can't be left indoors for more than a week (or they come out of dormancy). So off I went to pick up the little guy. It's a bit of a Charlie Brown christmas tree, but it'll do nicely for this year.