Day Four of the Waiting Art Installation.
Today's entry comes from the Home Depot parking lot in Dartmouth.
Cheers! Love, Gillian
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Storm Chasing!
(yeah, yeah, two posts in one day! excessive?)
Last night a big wind storm blew through King's County, knocking the power out promptly at 8 this morning. We had a truckload of compost delivered at 9:30, and then the lot of us jumped in the car to do a little storm chasing, Maritime-style ;) We didn't have any power until about 2:30pm, so we couldn't do much else, after all!
Out at Hall's Harbour the tide was in, and the waves were huge! Here's a picture of mum and dad, so you can see how high the waves were!
Further past Hall's Harbour was a quieter portion of beach. The tide was going out, and left little tide pools, like this one where the snails chose to hang out!
The sky started to clear after a bit, and the wind calmed down. This driftwood was super-cool.
Belal was NOT sure how he felt about the big waves!
The other cool thing about the storm was that it blew away all of the algae on the pond close to our house! It's been a dull, cloudy green the whole time we've been here, but today it's sparkling blue! So very strange!Gillian
Waiting: The Art Installation
Belal hasn't been ready to be left alone since we arrived in Nova Scotia. He just gets upset, and then we get upset, so to make things easier on everyone we've just been taking him with us wherever we go. However, this often means that someone has to wait in the car with Belal while the other people run errands. Often that ends up being me. Often this means that I sit in the car twiddling my thumbs for 45 minutes. SO the other day I was waiting outside the hardware store, bored out of my tree, so I decided to play with the camera on my new phone. There wasn't anything to take pictures of so I decided to document myself and Belal being bored... waiting... waiting for something, anything to happen! From there I decided that every time Belal and I were stuck waiting in the car that I would take a picture of us "looking bored" to post on my blog. It's my own little Art Installation. I like the grainy, glowy quality of the camera-phone pictures, and it gives me something to do while I wait ;) So here are the first three days of my project. There will be more to come, I'm sure.
Day 1
Day 2 - too dark from the rain to get a clear shot of B :(
Day 3
Heehee!
Gillian
Monday, August 6, 2007
Nova Scotia: A History Lesson and Scenery
We keep driving into New Minas or Wolfville for various things, and every time we do I think "I have to take pictures of these things to post on my blog!" So tonight mum, dad, Belal and I piled into the car and went on a little photo excursion.
Canning is located in the Annapolis Valley... Valley being the key word here. As you drive out of Port Williams into Canning, you come upon this sign:
The sign reads "3,030 acres, privately owned, reclaimed from the sea ca. 1682 - 1812. If the running dyke should break, a normal tide would be up to this line."
At this point we drove up out of the valley, onto The Look Off. Down there you can see all of the lovely corn and orchards and part of the Minas Basin (with dyke fully intact, or that would be under water.)
More of a view of the Minas Basin. This is at High Tide.
Driving down from The Look Off to Scot's Bay/Cape Split, we came across this memorial. It reads "Jess Family Memorial.
This monument commemorates two of Scots Bay’s early pioneer settlers: Lisette (Christened Catherine Louise) Payzant (1756-1819) and her husband George Jess Sr. (c. 1753 – 1824).
Lisette was born in Quebec while her mother and siblings were being held captive by the French following the slaughter of her father (by Malecite raiders) in 1756 on Covey Island in Mahone Bay, N.S. After the fall of Quebec in 1759, the British repatriated her family to Falmouth, N.S. , where Lisette and George married and became the progenitors of the Jess family of Nova Scotia. They both lie buried near this memorial on the site of their original homestead established some time before 1792."
A storm rolling in over the ocean! oooooooooh, dramatic!
Love Love Love,
Gillian
Canning is located in the Annapolis Valley... Valley being the key word here. As you drive out of Port Williams into Canning, you come upon this sign:
The sign reads "3,030 acres, privately owned, reclaimed from the sea ca. 1682 - 1812. If the running dyke should break, a normal tide would be up to this line."What does this mean? It means that in 1682 a bunch of guys built a dyke... that was a long freaking time ago! What else does it mean? Well, that if the dyke broke, Canning and the road OUT of Canning would be under water.... weeeeeeee!!!! I'm buying a boat!!!!! The whole "reclaimed from the sea" thing bothers me. It practically is an invitation for a big "act of God" flood, doncha think?
Moving on...
At this point we drove up out of the valley, onto The Look Off. Down there you can see all of the lovely corn and orchards and part of the Minas Basin (with dyke fully intact, or that would be under water.)
More of a view of the Minas Basin. This is at High Tide.
This is a familiar sight of me being ridiculous....
Driving down from The Look Off to Scot's Bay/Cape Split, we came across this memorial. It reads "Jess Family Memorial.This monument commemorates two of Scots Bay’s early pioneer settlers: Lisette (Christened Catherine Louise) Payzant (1756-1819) and her husband George Jess Sr. (c. 1753 – 1824).
Lisette was born in Quebec while her mother and siblings were being held captive by the French following the slaughter of her father (by Malecite raiders) in 1756 on Covey Island in Mahone Bay, N.S. After the fall of Quebec in 1759, the British repatriated her family to Falmouth, N.S. , where Lisette and George married and became the progenitors of the Jess family of Nova Scotia. They both lie buried near this memorial on the site of their original homestead established some time before 1792."
A storm rolling in over the ocean! oooooooooh, dramatic!Who knew there was so much history out here?
Love Love Love,
Gillian
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Nova Scotia: Evangeline or Deliverance?
Tomorrow marks the two week point in our Nova Scotia Adventure. It feels like we've been here for months already, considering all of my new-found neuroses. Who knew that one could go so crazy in such a short amount of time? At any rate, I figured that it was time for a little overview of Nova Scotia through my eyes.
In 1845 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem called "Evangeline", which begins in the part of Nova Scotia where I am currently residing. For the intellectuals out there, you can download the poem from Project Gutenberg here, but you'll need about an hour if you plan to read it, because this is the very definition of Epic Poetry. If you can only get through the first few stanzas, we're a few minutes away from Grand Pre, and our house is right by the Evangeline Trail. "The Minas Basin: Home of Orchards, Tides and Evangeline" the signs all say. That pretty much sums it up. Oh yes, and corn. Which brings me to the "Deliverance" reference.
The crickets chirp. You're surrounded by corn. The men sit on their porches without shirts, staring at you (and Calvin Klein models they ain't!) I haven't heard any dueling banjos as yet, but give it time. "Haha," you say. "It can't be that bad."
But I bought my cell phone from a place called "Wacky Wheatley's", people. It can and it is.
We've been to Halifax twice now, which is wonderful. It's ridiculous how much of a city girl I am, but my blood pressure and heart rate actually go down when we get into Halifax. The stores, the Starbucks', the fully-dressed people, the streets, the signs, the civilisation!
"Ahhhhh," I sigh, my body relaxing, letting go of the constant "fight or flight" adrenaline. Lovely, comforting city. The concrete jungle, full of sensible things like coffee shops, restaurants, book stores, and 24-hour amenities. I can navigate here. I can handle anything. I get this place. I am CITY GIRL! I can order a Triple Grande Vanilla Non-Fat Latte, while text messaging, all in high heels! This is my comfort zone. As soon as we start driving back home I can feel the anxiety attacks start up again. Oh God, don't make me go back there. Please, I'll do anything. Not back to the place where I jump every time I see movement out of the corner of my eye. PLEASE not that. ANYTHING but THAT!!!
(chirp, chirp, chirp, the crickets respond... was that a banjo I heard?!)
One good thing about Nova Scotia is how friendly the people are. In Wolfville, for example, at the Tim's, all of the men hold the doors open for you with an "after you, my dear." The people are chatty, even in Halifax, and if you tell them where you're from they immediately say "Well if you need ANYTHING, you just let me know." The lady at the fabric store today, the realtor. Heck, our next door neighbour sent his son over to help us clean the yard! My sceptical City Girl mind says "you don't know me from a hole in the ground," but they're just friendly! FRIENDLY!!! Haven't really met anyone my age, though, except for the neighbour across the street, shirt off on the porch, polishing his sword collection... sketchy...
(chirp, chirp, chirp....)
Anyway, that's about it for now. "It's some hot, eh?" to quote the locals. I miss you all TERRIFICALLY!
xoxoxo,
Gillian
In 1845 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem called "Evangeline", which begins in the part of Nova Scotia where I am currently residing. For the intellectuals out there, you can download the poem from Project Gutenberg here, but you'll need about an hour if you plan to read it, because this is the very definition of Epic Poetry. If you can only get through the first few stanzas, we're a few minutes away from Grand Pre, and our house is right by the Evangeline Trail. "The Minas Basin: Home of Orchards, Tides and Evangeline" the signs all say. That pretty much sums it up. Oh yes, and corn. Which brings me to the "Deliverance" reference.
The crickets chirp. You're surrounded by corn. The men sit on their porches without shirts, staring at you (and Calvin Klein models they ain't!) I haven't heard any dueling banjos as yet, but give it time. "Haha," you say. "It can't be that bad."
But I bought my cell phone from a place called "Wacky Wheatley's", people. It can and it is.
We've been to Halifax twice now, which is wonderful. It's ridiculous how much of a city girl I am, but my blood pressure and heart rate actually go down when we get into Halifax. The stores, the Starbucks', the fully-dressed people, the streets, the signs, the civilisation!
"Ahhhhh," I sigh, my body relaxing, letting go of the constant "fight or flight" adrenaline. Lovely, comforting city. The concrete jungle, full of sensible things like coffee shops, restaurants, book stores, and 24-hour amenities. I can navigate here. I can handle anything. I get this place. I am CITY GIRL! I can order a Triple Grande Vanilla Non-Fat Latte, while text messaging, all in high heels! This is my comfort zone. As soon as we start driving back home I can feel the anxiety attacks start up again. Oh God, don't make me go back there. Please, I'll do anything. Not back to the place where I jump every time I see movement out of the corner of my eye. PLEASE not that. ANYTHING but THAT!!!
(chirp, chirp, chirp, the crickets respond... was that a banjo I heard?!)
One good thing about Nova Scotia is how friendly the people are. In Wolfville, for example, at the Tim's, all of the men hold the doors open for you with an "after you, my dear." The people are chatty, even in Halifax, and if you tell them where you're from they immediately say "Well if you need ANYTHING, you just let me know." The lady at the fabric store today, the realtor. Heck, our next door neighbour sent his son over to help us clean the yard! My sceptical City Girl mind says "you don't know me from a hole in the ground," but they're just friendly! FRIENDLY!!! Haven't really met anyone my age, though, except for the neighbour across the street, shirt off on the porch, polishing his sword collection... sketchy...
(chirp, chirp, chirp....)
Anyway, that's about it for now. "It's some hot, eh?" to quote the locals. I miss you all TERRIFICALLY!
xoxoxo,
Gillian
Thursday, August 2, 2007
... hmmm....
... I'm not sure how I feel about this, but it was too strange not to post.
The moral of the story: Never Trust Robots.
Also, we went for dinner at Hall's Harbour tonight. Here are some pics!
Me!
Belal, Mum, Dad!
Love,
The moral of the story: Never Trust Robots.
Also, we went for dinner at Hall's Harbour tonight. Here are some pics!
Me!
Belal, Mum, Dad!Love,
Gillian
The Thing About Bats...
... is that they are a protected species in Nova Scotia, which basically boils down to "you're pretty much screwed."
The bat people finally called us back, and that was the answer. The good news is that the bats leave in the fall, and then the bat people will come in and do clean up. The bad news is that they won't do anything to help our situation before that. The worse news is that bats return to the same house every spring, so we'd better make sure that every possible entrance point is closed before they return.
Last night was the first time I actually saw a bat flying around inside the house, and I was not at all brave about it. I was too scared to even scream. I managed to run into the hall and shut the door and stand there shuddering. BatGirl I ain't. Both mum and I feel a little ridiculous that we're so freaked out by them, but yikes! That was "Bat Incident #6", they're quiet and fast, and the prospect of being so terrified for the next few month is making us both pretty miserable. This place is giving me a nervous breakdown and it hasn't even been two weeks.
*eh-hem* That was happy, wasn't it? Hmmm, what can I tell you that's positive? Hmmm.... Positive... pos-i-tive... Yeah, I've got nothing.
Miss you all,
Gillian
The bat people finally called us back, and that was the answer. The good news is that the bats leave in the fall, and then the bat people will come in and do clean up. The bad news is that they won't do anything to help our situation before that. The worse news is that bats return to the same house every spring, so we'd better make sure that every possible entrance point is closed before they return.
Last night was the first time I actually saw a bat flying around inside the house, and I was not at all brave about it. I was too scared to even scream. I managed to run into the hall and shut the door and stand there shuddering. BatGirl I ain't. Both mum and I feel a little ridiculous that we're so freaked out by them, but yikes! That was "Bat Incident #6", they're quiet and fast, and the prospect of being so terrified for the next few month is making us both pretty miserable. This place is giving me a nervous breakdown and it hasn't even been two weeks.
*eh-hem* That was happy, wasn't it? Hmmm, what can I tell you that's positive? Hmmm.... Positive... pos-i-tive... Yeah, I've got nothing.
Miss you all,
Gillian
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