EDO Monday: A day of productivity

I have much to do today and figured the best way to get it all done is to make a list, and tick things off as I get them done.

1. Sweep patio + put up lights & wreath (again!) + move all my balcony furniture back out onto balcony. (Last week my building super replaced my balcony, which meant I had to move my BBQ + planters + bistro set inside, where it's been taking up all the space in my dining room for the better part of a week.) Done! 8:30a.m.
   
2. Chase cathair (ie. clean the floors).
3. Finish Christmas shopping. I have 3 people left to shop for now. And I think I can get at least one done today.
4. Take recycling to depot.
5. Make a quick trip to work to pick up something I left in my office on Friday. Sigh.
   
6. Make a trip into Big Brothers Big Sisters to drop off the child car seat I borrowed and no longer need; drop off a form; and pick up a 2 For 1 Coupon for the Putting Edge for Saturday
7. Set up sewing machine again and finish project#1, pin and cut fabric for project#2.
8. Work on project #3
9. Pack up parcel for friends in TO and mail.
10. Finish remaining Christmas cards and mail.
11. Start Christmas baking.
12. Plan crafts to make for Big/Little Christmas party on Friday. (ie. How to entertain 9 year olds for 3 hours +).

Okay, so that's all the list-making I'm going to do for now. I hope to update as I go along and get things done.

A few thoughts on studying the Bible.

I had an occasion, recently, to enter into a theological discussion about a "hot topic" in some of the more conservative churches. I have no intention in getting into the meat of the matter here, but I did come to some interesting conclusions.

First of all, we make a lot of assumptions. We assume the translations are accurate. We assume that what we are taught is right. And we assume we understand everything. We tend to let things we're taught go without challenging them, or without finding out for ourselves. We get confortable with what we understand and resist being unsettled.

So this discussion I mentioned before, it unsettled me. It challenged a my understanding of the Bible in a way I'd never been challenged before. My reaction? Find out the truth for myself by going back to the source, in it's original form in as much as I can. The problem is, the original form of the New Testament is Ancient Greek, which I've never studied. HOWEVER, I just discovered a fantastic resource available online, that does just that - it takes each and every word from the Bible back to it's original Greek or Hebrew origins. Not only that but each word is linked to its reference in Strong's Concordance; AND it also shows the passage in comparison with the various English translations. In case you're wondering, the website I'm referring to is: bible.cc. If you're the Bible-studying type, you'll want to check it out!

While I realise it's incredibly geeky to confess that I've spent hours doing this kind of study lately, I'm not ashamed to admit that it's been incredibly rewarding. If there's ambiguity in the translation, the original text can provide some clarity. This kind of study is really much richer and deepr than I had ever expected. I've learned so much! For example, in many cases, the gender-neutral pronoun used in the original text is replaced by masculine pronouns by Bible translators. Or, when a pronoun could have more than one meaning (gender-neutral or masculine), masculine becomes the default for translators. Interesting, eh? Ha. Or maybe it's not interesting at all. But it certainly has been enlightening for me.

The resources we have at our disposal in these post-modern times is unfathomable. And it's all at our finger-tips! We should consider ouselves privleged not only to have access to these reources, but also to have the freedom to use them.
...And that will be the final conclusion I leave you with tonight.

It's music monday!

So much for my plans to have a handmade Christmas this year. I have been so busy that I've not spent any time at all on my knitting, and so have nothing to present to family and friends for Christmas. I do have a plan to make something for my Little, but that will be the best I can do this year.

And what has been keeping me so busy? Conference planning. That's what. Phew! It's a big job but I have a great team helping me and it'll all be worth it when it's all said and done.

What else? Well, I had a little fun too.

Last week a friend from work had 2 tickets to the Rose Cousins CD Release in Halifax, and I happened to be the lucky recipient of the the 2nd ticket! We had 2nd row seats and were treated to a fabulous concert. I've listened to Rose Cousins on CBC Radio 3 (and she gets played frequently on CBC Radio 1, too), so I knew I'd enjoy her music. I will say this, the entertainment isn't just in the music; Rose Cousins has a great stage presence and knows how to get the crowd in stitches. She's quite the entertainer. Oh, and of course her new CD is fantastic! Buy it as soon as it becomes available! Afterall singer/songwriters need nice shoes too.


The opening act was also a pleasant surprise for me. I wasn't as familiar with Royal Wood as I was with Rose Cousins, though I know now that I've heard his music on CBC Radio 3 fairly often (I just couldn't put a name to the music). But I came out of the concert with both in my head, and CDs from both artists in hand. You should buy his CD/s too. Now my biggest problem is deciding which to listen to!

In the meantime, while you're waiting to get the CD, go to CBC Radio 3 and add their music to your playlist. They're so delightful!

And since I'm on the topic of music, I thought I'd share this with you:
Yes, yes, I was one of the many who waited in line for a looong time to get Anne Murray to autograph her new book for my grandmother. Now, I'm not much of a fan, though I do appreciate her music and find her quite easy to listen to. Afterall, she is a Canadian music icon who helped to put Canada on the music map. So, all in all, this was an errand I did not mind doing for my grandmother. And, though I was completely unprepared for the signing (no knitting to keep myself occupied during the long wait, and no camera document the occasion), the woman next in line kindly offered to take a photo and email me a copy (turns out she knows folks at my workplace). So here it is, evidence that I'll do just about anything for my grandparents...and came within 2 feet of a Canadian icon. ;)

I've spent far too much money on music lately. Between concerts and CDs (I also picked up another kids CD to mix it up a little in the car with the Little; and in Toronto I found a Taize CD that's alright, but not quite what I was hoping for). I will stop music shopping for now, and instead start compiling a list of CDs for my Christmas wishlist.



Hmmm... In the time that it took for me to write this, I've eaten about 7 clementines. Is that too many? Sigh. I'm fighting something, so perhaps I can hope it's not too late to up my Vitamin C and kick the bug! By the way, Clementines are on sale at Sobeys - $3.97 for a 4lb crate! Go buy some!

Ho hum, I'm in a slump.

I'm in a knitting slump at the moment and don't quite know how to get myself out of it. I've spent the better part of a good 2 hours surfing Ravelry and find all sorts of patterns that are lovely, but none that really jump out at me. Also, I'm determined to use up some of the yarn in my absurdly large stash before buying anymore yarn. Sadly, most of the patterns that catch my eye require more skeins of yarn than what I have already in my stash. What to do, what to do.....

Suggestions?

Cafe Aroma Latino

A couple weeks ago I had dinner at Cafe Aroma Latino for the first time. I had heard it was good, but was pleased to have an opportunity to find out for myself. First of all, I was impressed and more than a little thrilled to find pupusas on the menu. One of my favourite stops in Kensington Market was always the Central American grocery where you can get pupusas freshly made. And now I know where to find the same Salvadoran 'street' treats here in Halifax!

There are all sorts of delicious things on Cafe Aroma's menu from all over Central America. And it's relatively cheap (most menu items are $2-4 ea.). You pick and choose what you'd like to order and end up with a plate of tasty treats. I ordered a bean pupusa (bottom left), a tamale wrapped in a banana leaf (top) and a beef taco (bottom right). The tamale was new to me - I'd never had one. It was okay, but more mild than I was expecting. It would've been nice with something especially spicy. The pupusa was a little different from those I'm used to from Toronto. I don't remember bean pupusas being made of beans like these were (I remember them being filled with refried beans instead), but they tasted the same and were just as delicious. The taco was also delicious and maybe even my favourite of the three; the beef+sauce was especially tasty.

And if you're looking for any Mexican-type groceries, you should check out the little grocery next door that sells all sorts of things from that region of the world. You can find all sorts of things to make your next Mexican theme night more authentic.

So there's my little review of this place. Check it out for yourself. We want to keep this restaurant in business for a long time!

Checking in

It's been awhile and I thought I might just post a note about my progress with my short To Do List. I am pleased to report that there has been progress, so that's a good start.

• 1. Compost more consistently. Check! I've been composting since January. There's not a whole lot of enthusiasm for composting in my building, and up until this Spring, I hadn't ever seen the compost bin emptied. Evidence of this: the lobster shell I put in the bin in Feb. was still there in June. Sigh. I think I single-handedly managed to fill an entire bin with my own food waste. I guess my next "to do" item should be waste less food. Anyway, I managed to convince property management to arrange for regular pickups, and they're starting to encourage other tenants to also compost.
  

• 2. Get new glasses. Check! Not sure what I think of them, but I've got them and that's the most important thing. Here are the glasses - mine are brown and gun-metal grey. I have some lovely photos with my eyes open, however they're almost all photos with my Little and I'm not comfortable posting her picture online without permission. So no photo to show off the new specs.
  

• 3. Invest in a used GPS & go geocaching. Fail. Sadly, GPSs are expensive and this was a low priority for this year. I still love the concept and I think it would be A LOT of fun with the Little. If I didn't have other things to save for, I'd for sure get one. Alas, there ARE other things to save for.
  

• 4. Knit a pair of socks. Fail, for now. I've kind of set aside my knitting over the summer. I've got a scarf on the go, but that's it. My shawl didn't progress very far. I made far too many mistakes and the black was too hard to work with a complicated pattern. BUT I have a lot of sock wool and everyone loves handknit socks, so I still hope to learn before the end of the year. Maybe over Thanksgiving?

• 5. Read at least a book a month. Check! Well, so far anyway....I still have 4 months to go. Most of the reading this year has been non-fiction, but still all good. Of course the highlight of all the books I've read this year (and perhaps ever!) has been Uncle Tom's Cabin. If you haven't read it, I strongly encourage you to pick it up at your library or bookstore and give it a try.
  

• 6. Shop smarter and better: fair trade, handmade, local, and natural. Fail. I'm actually not doing much shopping these days (in an effort to save $$), and when I do, I have to confess that I usually shop for the sales and these are not usually the best option quality-wise. For produce lately I've been doing all my shopping in my mother's garden and I'm committed to buying local produce whenever it's available. I will always choose local over imported, when local is available.
  

• 7. Sitesee more. Visit more museums and galleries in the HRM. Check! I'm getting out more around the city. I finally got to Pier 21 and was blown away by the exhibits. If you haven't been, you should go! And then there was my trip to York Redoubt and several other parks and sites around the city. Oh, and I got a MacPass, so I'm gradually venturing more and more over to the Darkside (ie. Dartmouth).
  

• 8. Stargaze more & learn a handful of constellations. Check! Sort of. I'm gradually learning the constellations, but seem to forget them almost as quickly as I learn them. Being the International Year of Astromomy, I had hoped to attend the Astronomy Nova Scotia events. There's an event on Oct. 1st that I plan to attend with the Little.
  

• 9. Stop using plastic grocery bags. Check! In fact, I've gone through my stash of plastic grocery bags for garbage and now have to consider what to use for garbage. Do I buy or do I just use the pail itself? Afterall, most of my garbage isn't terribly messy after composting and recycling. I'm also saving all the small plastic bags that dry goods come in (pasta bags, bags from frozen peas, rice, etc. I used to throw these bags out because they were too small for garbage, but now I use them for kitty litter bags and they work perfectly.

So I'm considering what to add to my To Do List. I've got a few ideas. I'd like to learn how to kayak and become a member of my church, and organize my photos (which have been piling up for years) in albums and on my harddrive. These are just a few that come to mind.

I don't want my 2010 list to be too long though. I'm committed to a big project for 2009/10 and it's going to take a lot of my time. I don't want to set myself up for failure.

Be still and know that I am God.

You know how there times when you crave to hear certain kinds of music? It could be the season or the mood, the need for energy or relaxation, but whatever the reason there's just the right kind of music for that particular moment in time.

Lately, for me, it's been the songs of Taize.

Taize is actually a very modern ecumenical monastic order in Taize, France (founded in the 1960s). But what is distinctive about this Christian community is its meditative style of worship that combines silence with sacred choral music and short readings that are intended to calm the soul so that you can experience a moment with God. It is prayer without words. And yet it is also not prayer in solitude or isolation. The Taize experience is actually built around the community, a shared experience, even in silence.

My church in Toronto practiced Taize once and awhile, as the part of the worship during our Sunday services. It was incredibly refreshing, albeit often much too short. We'd sing a Taize song, read a prayer, and sit in silence for a while. But then the service would continue on and the busy-ness of life would pick up again.

I guess right now I crave silence and meditation because life has gotten pretty hectic for me and I've had a lot on my mind. While I like being busy and having things to do, checklists to cross off and tasks to accomplish, I also enjoy quiet times. Unfortunately, when life gets busy like this, my quiet times often turn into wasted down time, either in front of the TV or puttering about while listening to the radio or to music. I don't actually take time to be silent. I guess this is why Taize has been on my mind lately. Silence is a very hard discipline to practice. You have to be intentional about it, and set aside time and energy (because sleeping doesn't count) to practice silence. And you have to stop talking.

I really like what the Taize website says about the value of silence:

Sometimes we are apparently silent, and yet we have great discussions within, struggling with imaginary partners or with ourselves. Calming our souls requires a kind of simplicity: "I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvellous for me." Silence means recognising that my worries can’t do much. Silence means leaving to God what is beyond my reach and capacity. A moment of silence, even very short, is like a holy stop, a sabbatical rest, a truce of worries.

Read the whole article here.

I know that a lot of my friends who may follow my blog aren't the churchy type, and that's fine. I still think there is a lot of value in taking time to be silent and for meditation in whatever form you may see fit (introspective, retrospective, or maybe even extrospective).

I close with this last thought, again from the Taize website:
When words and thoughts come to an end, God is praised in silent wonder and admiration.

A weekend in pictures

I went to the Valley this weekend, and enjoyed a 24 hour vacation in the countryside. So much got done in that short period of time: I did a few loads of laundry and hung out on the clothesline, G. replaced my brake pads and rotors, I went to the Wolfville Market with Mom for lunch and got my hair cut (3.5 inches and still most people don't notice it's been cut *sigh*).

I dipped my toes in the brook, which most years has dried up by this point in the summer. As you can see, there's lots of water in it this summer.

I did my produce shopping for the week in Mom's garden: beets, carrots, green beans, waxed beans, kale, Thai basil....did I miss anything?

And then I went up the road and picked 5 pints of raspberries at the U-Pick, and mashed them into this delicious sauce, perfect for my yogurt in the morning!

When I got back to the city, I decided I needed to find my way to Lawrencetown Beach. I've promised a certain 9 year old (The Little) to take her to a beach and I haven't quite decided which one we should go to. Suggestions are welcome. I'm leaning towards Lawrencetown because they waves are just plain fun, but there beach is actually pretty rocky and not conducive to playing in the sand. Queensland or Cleveland Beach might be better for that.

I had fun in the waves while I was there and managed to get soaked. But what would you expect when you stand in the water waiting for waves daring the waves to crash into you! :) I have to say, the water was really cold! It took a little while to get aclimatised (read: numb).

Afterwards I found a spot in the sand and watched the surfers while the feeling came back to my legs.

It was a beautiful weekend. Perfect in almost every way - a good mix of fun and productivity, of exploring new places and visiting the familiar.

Oh, and I'm over my obsession with the "dream house" in Berwick. Having a realtor stand-you-up for a viewing will do that to you. In the end it's probably better this way. The likelihood of loving this house even more after seeing it in person was pretty high, and yet it's still too far away. The message was clear: the house is not for me. I can move on now.

Home is where the heart is. Right?

As many people close to me know, I've been spending far too much time lately obsessing about a particular house on the market. It's a beautiful house, with character and charm, and a spacious but private yard, and it's certainly within my price-range should I want to buy it. In fact, this house is pretty much my dream house. The problem? It's 1.5 hours away from my job, and my job is not really one that would allow me to work from home. And I'm nowhere near being prepared to walk away from my job for something else closer to this house. I won't give up one dream for another.

Still, this makes me a little sad. I'm not uncomfortable where I am right now and quite like my current living space (for the most part). But I'm really looking forward to the day when I will feel finally settled into a home of my own. I realise that renting right now is actually pretty dumb, considering how low the interest rates are for mortgages and I had to be throwing good money away on an investment that's not my own. I also know for a fact that my mother is tired of storing the remaining bits (bits may be an understatement) of my stuff and would happily repatriate it with the rest of my things the first chance she'd get.

But here's the other problem: it's difficult to buy in the HRM on a single-person's salary. Interest rates are low, but housing prices are not. Even most condos are above my price-range. Now this is where I could bemoan my single-ness and wish I were in different circumstances - because there is no doubt that buying would be much easier with two incomes - but this I refuse to do! All told, I'm okay with being single. Sure, it's not quite where I thought I'd be at this stage in my life, but I'm determined to not let it stop me from doing the things in life I'd like to do - the things in life I'm supposed to do. Like own a home, rather than rent for the rest of my life. Afterall, I need to be sure I have a place to live in my retirement, right?

So now comes the fun part. Preparing. I'm still a long ways off from buying. I've got a bit of work to do. I have to carefully evaluate what it is in a home that I'm looking for: location, features, amenities, etc.; and I have to squirrel away more money for a downpayment and for "the inevitable emergency" fund.

In the meantime, I'll try and tear myself away from the idea of living in this picture-perfect house and of the quality of life it inspires. Sigh. Here's hoping for something equally as lovely here in the HRM when it comes time for me to buy.

Answer: 10

You were dying to know, weren't you?? :D
Actually, truth be told, we collected far more than 10 frogs in this container, but by the time I took the picture I think several had already escaped. Wise little frogs!

Feasting in style

Delighting in a good read

This is the view I enjoyed for a long afternoon at the cottage. And these were the sounds - a light breeze and the rippling lake against the wharf:

One of the delights of the cottage is the luxury to sit down with a good book and not have to get up for anything. It's a perfect place to shut out the world and immerse yourself in the world of your book. In my case, the book I was reading took me back to pre-American Civil War times in Kentucky. I finally finished reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, and I have to say this book shot way up to the top of my favourites. First of all I was completely caught off guard by the underlying themes. Yes, I knew the book was an indictment against the injustices of slavery and was very forward-thinking of its female author. In fact, Harriet Beecher Stowe has become a sort of hero to me now. The text, the language, is very pointed to particular social groups and at the time it was written in 1851 it had to have been very shocking to its readers. HBS was very counter-cultural and I dig that! But what I didn't expect was the message of hope and forgiveness in the midst of some of the worst kinds of treatment a human could endure by the hands of another. Uncle Tom's heartfelt desire was not really for his own earthy freedom, because he knew he would receive freedom in Heaven one day. No, his heartfelt desire was for his Master's freedom - freedom from that which has separated him from God, and freedom that comes from being released in forgiveness.

This is a long post, but I have to share these passages from the book with you. I hope they give you as much food for thought as they did for me. AND, if you haven't read Uncle Tom's Cabin - do!

On the abuses of slavery, the author writes to the reader:

"Patience! Patience! ye whose hearts swell indignant at wrongs like these. Not one throb of anguish, not one tear of the oppressed is forgotten by the Man of Sorrows, the Lord of Glory. In his patient, generous bosom he bears the anguish of a world. Bear thou, like him, in patience, and labour in love; for sure is he is God, "the year of his redeemed shall come." (Ch.12)

And when George, a slave who doubts the presence of God, finds refuge in a Quaker home:

"This, indeed, was a home, -- home, -- a word that George had never yet known the meaning for; and a belief in God and trust in His providence, began to encircle his heart, as with a golden cloud of protection and confidence, dark, misanthropic, pining, atheistic doubts and fierce despair melted away before the light of a living Gospel, breathed in living faces, preached by a thousand unconscious acts of love and good-will, which, like a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple shall never lose their reward. (Ch.13)

And from St. Clare, on the hypocrisy of the church's support and justification of slavery:

"Religion! Is that what you hear at church religion? Is that which can bend and turn, and descend and ascend, to fit every crooked phase of selfish, worldly society, religion? Is that religion that is less scrupulous, less generous,less just, less considerate for man, than even my own ungodly, worldly, blinded nature? No! When I look for a religion, I must look for something above me, not for something beneath."

A glorious week at the cottage!

Well, I'm back from another glorious week at the cottage. There was sun, there was rain, there was plenty of reading (I finished Uncle Tom's Cabin, but more about that later...) and relaxing, there quiet times and there were games played and fun times with family.

My week started with a family gathering - all 15 of us - to celebrate the July birthdays (mine included!) and the recent marriage of one of "the granddaughters". Happy times, all of them.

It was a beautiful day, perfect for entertaining a certain 6 year old with a cottage past-time that kept us "granddaughters" busy when we were little girls -- catching the little frogs (or are they toads?) that are so easily found this time of year on the cottage road. We spent hours collecting those little critters, along with all sorts of other critters - caterpillers, ants, etc. -- and building homes for them, terrariums of a sort. We weren't afraid or squeamish by any means.

"How do you find them?" someone asked. "Just stare at the ground long enough!" The ground is hopping with them. You'll have trouble walking along the road afterwards for fear of stepping on the little guys.

There was a whole lot of glee from the 6 year old over her cookie-tin full of frogs - so much, in fact that the tin got passed around to all the adults for inspection and admiration.

Here's the tin in all it's glory (click on the image on the left for a larger image). Any guesses as to how many are in the tin?
(I kind of like the image on the right - mostly because the focus is on the pointed finger. Also I haven't asked permission to use this photo but as it is blurred and the faces aren't shown I hope it's okay. Let me know if it's not.)

You'll be seeing one or two more posts about my week at the cottage. There' s just too much to put in one post.

Going Offline

I need a vacation. So, I'm going to spend a week at the cottage in Digby County. It's been a rough week, so I'm really looking forward to some down time.

So, what do you do with 9 quarts of strawberries?

You make strawberry rhubarb jam!

Here's the recipe:
About 10-12 large stalks of rhubarb (2½ cups when cooked)
Ripe strawberries (1 cup when crushed)
5½ cups of sugar
Juice of ½ lemon (optional)

OR....

...You make cake.

Two layers of white cake with strawberry-rhubarb jam in the middle, cream cheese icing and topped with sliced strawberries. I still have lots of strawberries left, which might mean more experimenting with jam. Fun!
And definitely some strawberry shortcake (made with biscuits, of course) is in order very soon.

Mini Vacation: Days 4 & 5

Yesterday was Mini Vacation Day 4, and among many other things, I got some extra time in with the Little. Thanks to a cousin who happens to be playing in the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo's fanfare, I scored 2 free tickets to the dress rehearsal.

This was my first time seeing the show, and my goodness, I was pleasantly surprised! I was expecting marching bands and lots of great musical performances, but I wasn't expecting the other performances - gymnasts, daredevil stunts, comedic troupes and historical montages. As it turned out, I didn't get to stay for the whole show. Little and I had to leave early as she was falling asleep (even during the 50+ bagpipers performance!) and it was a bit much to expect her to stay up much past 9:30 anyway.

So, here are some highlights from the first half:

The pipers! The marching bands!And the French male gynmasts. :D

Fortunately for me, I'll get to see the whole show this weekend with the family.

Today was Day 5, my last vacation day until my longer vacation later this month where I will unplug and go to the cottage for a "do nothing" vacation. Yay!

Today was anything but "do nothing". I got to visit with a dear friend in the Valley who was game for going strawberry picking in the mist. Did I mention she's a dear friend? ;)

We did quite well! I have 9 quarts of strawberries in my fridge...waiting for me to do something with them. Any/all suggestions are welcome. I'm thinking there HAS to be strawberry shortcake (made with biscuits, NOT cake) in the very near future. And possibly jam, as that's what everyone keeps suggesting. I also have rhubarb, so there may be some strawberry rhubarb jam to be made! Yum!

After strawberry picking we went for lunch at The Port. You may recall I was there just a couple weeks ago with two lovely ladies. Well, this time, instead of the Shepherd's Pie, I tried the gourmet pizza (with pesto, portabello mushrooms, olives, and other delicious things). It was delicious and a bit of a shock when they came out with a 12" pizza. I was expecting something much smaller! There was a lot of value for money from this meal - I left with half the pizza as leftovers.

Then we went for ice cream for dessert here:

And when we got home we chatted for awhile while hulling our haul of strawberries. It was a really good visit!
Tomorrow is Thursday, only 2 days until the weekend....I can't complain.

Whoa! What's this I see:

Sunshine in our forecast! Is that possible?? My part of Nova Scotia has not seen sun in about 2 weeks! What a treat! My patio garden will be very happy.

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!