Eclectic Tastes

I didn't know that this piece was written by Canadian, Buffy Sainte-Marie.
I continue to admire and respect this woman for her perseverance 
in bringing the indigenous peoples' culture to the forefront.

Have a wonderful Sunday.

Saturday Morning Post

The last week in January 2016.......

Late afternoon at the park...

I like it when clouds cast shadows on the water.

This gazebo has its resident snowman.

The abominable snowman?.....maybe.

To the top and over the edge....

Trail to the Northwest Arm.....

Young gull.....

Looking out to the mouth of Halifax Harbour.....

Looks like a Christmas tree......

Nordic walker at the park.

Water Water Everywhere

Getting to water is always easily done in Nova Scotia.
Since it is almost an island, except for a small strip of land
between it and its neighbouring province, New Brunswick,
in less than an hour you will find the ocean.
And even less if you live near a shore, as we do.

On Tuesday we went to an area that is east of Halifax and Dartmouth,
in a community called Eastern Passage....which has it's own fishing village.

Where there are fish, there are gulls.....and lots of them.

You can see Halifax in the background which is having a construction boom
as the cranes indicate in the downtown area.
In the foreground is the fishing plant in Eastern Passage.

This beautifully rusted-out structure is sitting quietly in the dune grass.

Here is the fishing village in the distance.
It is a thriving tourist attraction in the summertime.

You can see Ron and Sophie up ahead on the boardwalk.
There is a beach to the right which Sophie loves
but the tide was very high and therefore no room to run.

From My Perch

Sunday was a very busy day for surfers.

All day long they were parking their cars

 and heading to the tip of MacDonald Hill

to descend and jump into the north Atlantic.

The surf/waves were perfect and they kept coming.

Contemplative Monday

The following quote is from 'Heart Advice, Weekly Quotes from Pema Chodron :

THIS FLEETING SITUATION

"The way we label things is the way they will appear to us.

When we label a piece of the earth China or Brazil

or the United States, it becomes an entity that carries

strong emotional baggage.

When we label something good, we see it as good.

When we label something bad, we see it as bad.

We get so hung up on like and dislike,

on who's right and who's wrong,

as if these labels were ultimately real.

Yet the human experience is an experience

 of nothing to hang on to, nothing that's set once and for all.

Reality is always falling apart.

In this fleeting situation,

the only thing that makes sense

 is for us to reach out to one another."

Eclectic Tastes

Here's a classic by Stevie Nicks......

Have a wonderful Sunday.

Saturday Morning Post

A week in January......

Sunrise one morning last week....

Waiting for Ron in Halifax......

Sunset on Iris painting last evening.....

Hand-made quilt at shop.....

Looking into the Public Gardens in Halifax.......

Snow bank in front garden......

Snow hole.....

Making tracks at the park.......

Park runner.......

Knit-Picking

Just completed my first 'winter project' yesterday.

This scarf was a good warm-up of sorts to get back in knitting.

It was done in a 'basket-weave' pattern with two different yarns

that were knitted at the same together.

So, feeling all warmed up now,

 I plan on taking on something more challenging.

A blogger friend, Vicki, sent us a pattern for a 'cable afghan'.

It is made up of 20 or so large squares each with a different cable pattern.

THAT ought to do it for me!!

I am fortunate to have Ron nearby to help me out.

He can figure anything out!!

Now to get some yarn together......

I will keep you posted.

No Big Deal........So Far

Had a good walk through the park yesterday with Ron and Sophie.

It was -7C but not really feeling that cold at all.

Maybe being in the woods cut down on the wind-chill.

I think we are adjusting to winter conditions......

snow everywhere, compacted on trails.

I was surprised at the number of people out and about

with their dogs or by themselves.

For those in the Northern Hemisphere,

are you getting used to winter?

Or are you wishing it away and waiting for spring?

I know last year I couldn't wait for warmer weather

because the winter was ridiculous.

Sophie was in heaven at her favourite park.

Feeling Very Fortunate

Today we were in the city doing a few errands,

one of which was to have a 'take-out' lunch

as we don't like to leave Sophie in the car alone.

So I parked at a meter and I walked the block

to our favourite salad/sandwich bar.

It's called Pete's and you basically 'make your own'

by telling them what you want in it from numerous choices.

So there I was with two big salads (with chicken)

heading back to the car.

I saw a homeless person coming up to me

and he was very disheveled and out of sorts.

He asked me if I had any spare change.

There I was feeling very contented with my lunch in a bag

and seeing him and realizing that not everyone is as fortunate as I am.

I told him that I do have some change.

But before I gave it to him, I looked at him and asked how he was.

He said that he didn't drink, smoke or do drugs

and that he was very hungry.

It wasn't a matter of believing what he said,

for me it was seeing a person in dire straits 

and I could make a difference right there and then....

at least for a few hours.

I gave him enough to buy a lunch and wished him well.

Contemplative Monday

"Through the practice of deep looking, 

we can identify the positive seeds that we want to water every day,

and train ourselves not to water the negative ones."

........Thich Nhat Hanh (click to learn more)

Eclectic tastes

I feel I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the death of David Bowie.

He certainly was an icon in the music industry

and left a very recognizable voice and style as his legacy.
I remember him mostly from the '80's
 as I used it in my fitness classes at that time.

RIP David Bowie.

Saturday Morning Post

A little of this, and a little of that this week....

The sun was hitting this English Ivy we have in the kitchen, it seemed to love it.

At the shop last Sunday just before closing time, 

the sunset was reflected through this prism.

This photo is circa 1989 when we lived in Halifax.

We had just gotten our cat, Rita, and here she is snuggling up to Ron.

Rita lived till 2005. She was a wonderful cat. She was so missed.

Taken from atop Fort Needham in Halifax, my childhood neighbourhood.

I took this on Thursday at MacDonald Hill looking west.

From my perch at the shop I noticed this couple at Stony Beach

at the foot of MacDonald Hill.

A playground in Halifax.

Yesterday at the beach.....the lifeguard's station/building peeking over the dune grass.

At the container pier.

When I Grow Up, I Want To Be A........

Remember saying this when you were a kid?

I certainly do.

There were a number of things I wanted to 'be'.

Firstly, a doctor....probably because my mother was not well.

I just realized this as I wrote it. Hm-m-m

Then I wanted to be a baker. I loved being in the kitchen

watching my mother bake all sorts of things when she was feeling better.

I could bake things at a very young age. It all made sense to me.

And still does.

There was a short time in high school I wanted to be a missionary in Africa.

I think because it was far away and life would be quiet....so I thought.

In university I didn't know what I wanted to do.

This was very typical for the time, until one year that 

I took off from university, I was a substitute teacher

at a very tough junior high school.

My eyes were opened up that year.

I wanted to make a difference for these kids.

So, I went to another university, after I got my Arts degree,

and enrolled in the Education program with a focus on

Special/Adapted Education.

I was a teacher for almost thirty years.

I loved working with the students.

I didn't particularly like the system itself for so many reasons.

Another story for another time.

After my Education degree, I needed one more course to obtain

a higher teaching level, so I took a dance movement course.

It was this course that helped me realize that dance would have been

 a very rewarding pursuit for me.

So I took another basic dance course after this

 and when we moved to Vancouver, I took more lessons.

I think what I liked is the ability dance gave me to express myself.

I obviously needed an outlet.

I am not one to have regrets about the past,

but I have wondered on occasion what a life as a dancer would have been like.

How about you?

What did you want to be when you grew up?

*******************

Here are a few photos of me as a 'dancer' in the

Nova Scotia International Tattoo in 1989.

Getting ready for the 'jive' number.

The Charleston....

Yes, that is Ron on the right.

he was in the production that year as well.

Ready for Take-Off

We had a snowfall yesterday with very strong winds......

I mean VERY STRONG WINDS.

It wasn't noticeable at home but when we got to MacDonald Hill....

and got out of the car, we could barely stay on the spot.

But we managed to get up to the top without falling over.

Ron and Sophie went a little further

and at one point Ron was about to take-off.

Speaking Of Roots......

Yesterday I was talking about 'putting down roots'.

And today this post will be a variation of this theme.

Back in the early 1900's, Ron's maternal grandfather, Arthur Regan,

was a working tailor in the town of Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

He had a very good reputation in the province, as he

made suits for very prominent citizens at the time.

He had seven children, so he had to sew-up a lot of garments

in order to support his wife and family.

One of the things he chose for payment on occasion, was a 'trade of goods'.

and this is how the bronze urns came to be a part of the 'Regan/Troke' household.

Since Ron's mother, Tommy, passed in 1998, we have had them here with us.

Tommy used them as umbrella stands in her front hallway.

And at Christmas they were filled with pine boughs,

 red poinsettias, ribbons and clear small lights.

We have done that here as well.

Lately we are trying to determine if these Asian urns are Chinese or Japanese.

I went online to learn a bit more on each language,

and found that they are very similar in structure/symbol.

I figure they were probably made for the 'western' market

and thus arrived in Nova Scotia at some point.

We had these appraised a few years back but the appraiser

wasn't sure of their origin and date.

I will pursue this a little further and send photos 

to a more reputable dealer to see if they want to search/research these.

As you can see, they are covered in flora and fauna. They are very heavy.

The craftsmanship is very well done. They are 16 inches high.

On the bottom of each there is an inscription in either Chinese or Japanese.

This may be a help to a good appraiser.

In any case, we have enjoyed having them here with us.

How about you? Do have any family heirloom that you enjoy?

Putting Down Roots

When I see a tree I see stability, strength, endurance and contentment.

Trees have gotten my attention since Ron made me lie down and look up under one

back in the summer of 1973, 

much like this one below as far as size goes.

If I remember correctly it was an Elm tree back then.

I have never looked at a tree the same way since.

This is a Pine tree I saw at the park yesterday morning.

I got as close as possible to it and looked up.

These are the roots of a much smaller Pine also in the park.

I look at these as the tree's means of survival.

Now if this much smaller tree has this many roots......

I can only imagine the network of roots the one above has.

'Putting down roots' can be a good thing, don't you think?

Thanks Barb B.