Break Time

Hi all.

Time for a little break.

Will be back in a week or so.

Until then have a great start to August!

Ron and I met up with Louise and her family the other night.

Louise is second from the left next to Ron.

She and Ron were school friends in Wolfville, N.S.

They got in touch again a few years now through FB

Louise has a wonderful/intelligent/thought provoking blog called

'Standing Into Danger'. Here's the link: http://selkiegrey4.blogspot.ca/

Check it out.

Boys And Their Toys

We were up on the Hill last evening and came across this fellow and his plane.

It was so quiet and he was steering it all over the hill and down above the water.

It caught all three of our attention.....a very Zen-like activity to watch it soar

above our heads and swoop down to the water below.

I can see why this is a popular activity for some.

A 'Vivian' Moment

I always feel a little like 'Vivian Maier' when I photograph people from afar.

(If you don't know about this very illusive photographer

you can learn about her here: http://www.vivianmaier.com/)

Hers is a very interesting story.

I don't usually take photos of people I don't know.

If I do, I usually 'mask' their face if I can.

However, I have learned that there is nothing illegal

about photographing people when outdoors in public places.

It's common ground and therefore if we decide to be there

then we must accept the fact that this could happen....

along with with a number of other things these days, I'm afraid.

So, I occasionally see people in interesting settings

or wearing bright/interesting clothes and snap away.

I have at times asked for permission and will continue to do so

if it is deemed appropriate at the time.

Case in point was yesterday afternoon......

we were sitting in the car outside our favourite Starbucks.

I glanced across the street and saw this woman wearing

'dying-to-be-photographed' brightly coloured clothing

that matched her hair!

What was I to do!?

The man, the dog and the rear-end of the car just completed the picture,

in my mind anyway.

What are your thoughts about taking photos of strangers

or being photographed by strangers?

Contemplative Monday

The following is from 'The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh'

and published by 'Shambhala Pocket Series'.

Touching The Earth

"With the earth you are safe.

She is always there, in all her wonderful expressions like trees,

flowers, butterflies, and sunshine.

Whenever you are tired or unhappy,

Touching The Earth is a very good practice

to heal you and restore your joy."

Eclectic Tastes

A good song for summertime here in the Northern Hemisphere
by these great Canadian singers and musicians.

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone.

Saturday Morning Post

Sum-sum-sum-sum-sum-sum-summertime......

Down at the boardwalk the other morning...

Wild Rugosa Roses on the trail....

Billboard ad in a mall in Halifax....

'I'm outta here'!

Looking towards MacDonald House (where my shop is) from Lawrencetown Beach.

The sky and clouds were so dramatic at the park in the city

that they enhanced everything around/under them.

Still at the park.....looks like the ocean and a mountain ahead

but it isn't.......it's the sky and clouds.

Summertime theatre outside at the park in Halifax.

Ron and Sophie on the Atlantic View Trail at the beach.

A minute later....

Surfer calling it a day.

Neat and Tidy

Always having my camera nearby, I am, or try to anyway,

on the lookout for some thing/scene/setting/situation to photograph.

Wednesday evening we were on the Hill and as I was walking up

I looked out into the Atlantic and saw a composition I liked.

In the photo below you will notice that it is made up of two rectangles

that stretch over the entire photo.

The top one is of sky and clouds and starts at the horizon line.

The second one goes from the horizon to the bottom of the grassy hillside.

What I like about this particular composition is that the bottom rectangle

is divided into two triangles......right-angled triangles to be precise.

In my mind it all 'fits' so well together and is visually easy to look at.

Outta My Way

These container cranes are so huge and imposing

I couldn't help but photograph them.

They kind of remind me of the battle scene in 'Star Wars'

where these giant mechanical things were obliterating everything

in their path.

Wheels

Yesterday morning we were on our way for breakfast in Halifax,
and as we were walking through the car parkade,
I noticed these bicycles locked to these railings.

It got me thinking about our bike adventures......

In the 70's and all through the 80's we both had bicycles
and used them all the time to get around either Halifax or Vancouver,
the two cities in which we lived during this time.

We did have a car/van, but we used our bikes all the time
 unless we were on an extended road trip (our bikes were either 
on the roof or in the back of the van.

One time when we were car-less for a few months,
 we hopped on a train from Halifax with bikes in tow
and headed to Calgary, Alberta.

Once there we hopped this time on the bikes and headed
through the Canadian Rockies.
Our goal was to get to Edmonton, Alberta a city further north
to visit Ron's brother and family.

It took 14 days! And what a trip it was!
Spectacular views and roads we thought there was no way we could bike up,
but we did.
For three of those days Ron got sick....
picked up something from drinking water from a brook.
I wasn't pretty!!

We also took our bikes on the west coast of the U.S.
We parked our car in Oregon 
and biked down the coast from there to Monterey, California.

When we finally settled back in Halifax we still used the bikes a lot
to get around the city.
All of that came to a stop when we moved outside the city to where we are today
on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia.

The bikes were relegated to the basement
 and remained there for a number of years till we sold them.
We were so busy renovating the house and working in the garden
that there was no time or energy left to bike anywhere.

Recently we were entertaining the thought of getting bicycles again.
Yes, we are older but the new bicycles are lighter than ever!!
Who knows?!

And all of this from passing a few locked bikes yesterday morning........

Finding Your Space

It's own little world.......

Contemplative Monday

The following is from 'The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh'

and published by 'Shambhala Pocket Classics'.

Peace Work

"If a child smiles, if an adult smiles, that is very important.

If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy,

not only we, but everyone will profit from it.

This is the most basic kind of peace work."

This is our friend, Kim. She runs Foodstruck food truck.

Doesn't she have a great smile?!

Eclectic Tastes

This recording of Vivaldi's 'Summer-Presto'
was recorded in 1957.
Summers have come and gone since then,
and this recording still epitomizes this season perfectly.

Have a great Sunday everyone.

Saturday Morning Post

'Soaking up summer' kind of week in the hood......

While Ron was getting a massage at MacDonald House,

Sophie and I headed through the grassy dunes to the beach yesterday.

Our 'Kousa Dogwood' is very prolific this summer with hundreds of blooms.

Here it is next to the Japanese Bloodgood.

Inspector Sophie at your service.

Yesterday this local TV network crew were at the beach interviewing

the fellow (in jeans) about his ordeal on Wednesday.....

he almost drowned. He was literally taken out by the under-current.

On the local news last evening, Sophie and I were in the background

during the interview!!

No, it wasn't planned......I was throwing the ball into the water for her.

Accessing the surf....from my perch at the shop.

Quilt wall now at the shop.

In the air seagulls look so peaceful........Zen-like.

Their favourite spot.

Speaking of Zen-like....I would imagine this is as well.

Through the trees.....

MacDonald House in the summertime.

To the ocean...

Saw this Heron across from the beach on Thursday evening.

Surfin Safari

It's summer on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia.

It was a surfin frenzy down at the beach last evening.

Made me think of this tune....

Taking The Lead

Out on a walk with Sophie around a boardwalk the other day,

she led me around the entire distance.

She is very good on a leash in the busy city, but 'out in the wild'

she just doesn't understand it.

She wants to explore on her own but this particular place had signs

everywhere about dogs on leashes.

So I enjoyed the walk she took me on!!

Once we got to the beach area, I let her free at one end where there were

no sunbathers or swimmers.

She was happy.

C/C Works For Me

Yesterday morning we went to MacCormack's beach which is east of Dartmouth.

The fog was just starting to lift. And the sun was trying its best to shine through.

Thus giving a somewhat hazy and soft feeling to everything.

I was about to take Sophie for a walk around the boardwalk

and I saw this view in front of me.

I liked the composition and the colours.

Can't Be!

Forty-two (42) years ago today, Ron and I met.

It was a very hot July day in the small town of Wolfville,

Nova Scotia which is situated in the Annapolis Valley.

I was going to Acadia University taking my B.Ed degree

and specializing in 'Special Education' or 'Adapted Education'.

Ron had just graduated from Acadia and was working with Canada Post.

And 'luck' would have it that my apartment was situated

directly across the street from the post office!!

Our paths were bond to cross.

I had just come to the realization that I was gay

or should I say that I finally accepted it.

So I ever so carefully stepped 'out of the closet'

into the bright sunlight!

What a relief it was!

Forty-two years sounds like a long time.

But when you both decide from the beginning that 

this was going to be a lifelong commitment,

the years whip by, as some of you know well.

So today, we are celebrating our relationship.....

all the ups and downs, the health issues,

the people we both lost in our families/friends,

and the mere fact that two people who are quite opposite

in so many ways but are exactly the same in all the things that really matter.....

It is my hope that we both will soar through the remainder of our lives

just like the fellow in the photo below soaring quietly through

the wind currents the other evening at the Hill.

Contemplative Monday

The following is from 'The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh'

and published by 'Shambhala Pocket Classics'.

INTERBEING

" If you are a poet, you will see clearly

 that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper.

Without a cloud, there will be no rain, without rain,

the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper.

The cloud is essential for the paper to exist.

If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either.

So we can say that the cloud and the paper 'inter-are'. "

Eclectic Tastes

Sometimes my brain FREEZES and I can't think of a piece of music
for this post if my life depended on it!!

Ron to the rescue!!!

I asked and he said that this was always one of his favourites.

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone.

Saturday Morning Post

Here, there and everywhere kind of week......

Took this in Bedford last Saturday.

Looks very Arizona/New Mexico-ish to me.

Our 'Explorer' Climbing Roses are in full bloom....I think this is 'Henry Hudson'.

Peonies filling our house with their special scent.

Saw this 'Luna Moth' as we were entering a bakery on Thursday 

in Musquodoboit Harbour.

Red alarm on black brick.....

Remember these? The good ole 'push mower'.

When we had grass this is what we used.

Spanish dancers at the shop....

Summer in the city......

Looking around the shop....

I had a great walk at the river yesterday with my niece, Brynn and Ace, her dog.

This is Kim. She used to have a shop in my space at MacDonald House.

Now, she and her partner, Coco Joe, run this really fabulous food truck

called Foodstruck Cantina, in Seaforth, the next community down from ours.

We were there last evening for burgers.

And speaking of MacDonald House, this is it in the background

taken from a beautiful beach meadow below.