Sailor's Life

I have a fun evening to look forward to tomorrow - a cruise on the Tall Ship Silva! This is something I've always wanted to try out so I can't wait to get out on that water.

You would think growing up on the ocean and being able to take boats everywhere one could possibly want at almost any time, one would get sick and tired of hearing about boats and water. But not me! I love the water and I love riding on it. Whether it's a grand tall ship with sails billowing, or a slow, leisurely coast on the Halifax/Dartmouth ferry, I love 'em all.
I've been on a fair number of boat rides in my time, but in honour of my upcoming sea excursion, I thought it would be fun to list a few of my favourites to date:

1. Prince Edward Island Ferry
We have been visiting "Anne's Island" almost every summer for almost every year of my life. And before this big beauty was built, the only way to reach the island was by taking the ferry. I remember (not so fondly) sitting in our car, for what seemed like hours, waiting to board and thinking what a wonder it was riding on a ferry that holds cars (we would drive our car onto a boat! on the water!). I'd be lying if I said that I miss the waiting and the length of the trip, but I do miss the peaceful nostalgia; the sense of setting off on an adventure to a far-off place. One of these days, maybe I'll take the long way to PEI again and relive the olden days pre-Confederation Bridge.

Source

 

2. Brig Unicorn, St. Lucia

Photo by Me

I am lucky enough to have a mother who has a lifelong friend that lives on a tropical island. No seriously - her friend lives on the beautiful West Indies isle of St. Lucia and we paid her a visit for a week back in 2007. Visiting an island with such a major history of pirates, it would seem practically sacriligeous not to take a trip on a tall ship - hence our day-long excursion on the Brig Unicorn. You could almost smell the sweat and rum, and hear the 'argh's' of the seamen as we bounced along the crystal blue waves, view of the Pitons in the background. Alas, I did not come across any chests full of gold dubloons while snorkeling (and trust me, in that water? You'd see it a mile away), but I still had a lovely time.

Nautical stripes - natch *photo by me

3. Canal boat, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Photo by me

Staying in England on a study-abroad trip back in (again) 2007, I had the perfect base from which to travel to several European cities, quickly and cheaply. One such visit we made was to Amsterdam, and you simply cannot visit Amsterdam without a) taking a photo like the one above and b) taking a ride on a canal boat. The canals are basically the heart of the city here and provide not only beautiful scenery, but a convenient travel route. I could definitely see myself living in a houseboat not unlike the one in the foreground of the above photo - whenever you get bored of the view, untie yourself and find another spot! How perfect is that?

View of Amsterdam's famous row houses from our boat

4. Mar II, Halifax Harbour


Check out that sky *photo by me

As a promotion through Teambuy and this blog, I had the opportunity to go whale watching in my home harbour last summer. I have to be honest - the actual whale watching left much to be desired, with only a few, very far-off fins and some hungry seagulls to be seen, however this boat trip stands out in my memory because it was one of the most beautiful sunny days I have ever seen. The sunshine warmed our faces and made the waves sparkle so much that it (almost) made up for not seeing any fish. I was also struck by how different - in a good way - my home city looks from the harbour! Seeing the sites and buildings from a whole new perspective was really fascinating. And hey, checking out the oceanfront mansions wasn't boring either!

photo by me

Speaking of boat rides, I just started reading a great book about a pretty epic one. It's called Rowed Trip: From Scotland to Syria by Oar, by Colin and Julie Angus and if you like travel, sailing, boating, kayaking, water, and/or biking - you should read it! Perhaps inspiration for my NEXT boat trip? Only time will tell...(bc Lord knows it won't be anything like this).

Do you like boats? Have you ever taken a memorable boat trip? Any trips on your 'boat trip bucket list'?

Hidden Gems: Halifax Urban Greenway

Check out my past Hidden Gems posts here and here.  
*All photos in this post by me*

Since the weather has become sunnier and warmer, I have been making an effort to get outside on my lunch break to go for a walk, or even just sit and read a book. The shot of fresh air and sunshine is a great midday pick-me-up (essential for good mental health, imho)!

However, working in the middle of a busy section of the city, on a busy University campus can make it tough to find a quiet, peaceful and green area to take my break in. The good news is I recently discovered such a spot just around the corner from the building I work in.

The Halifax Urban Greenway is a roadside, multi-use trail bordered completely on one side by big, beautiful green trees. It closely follows the Canadian National Railway line that circumvents the city, serving as a reminder of past industry. (Note: I didn't take any photos of the actual walkway because they were doing construction on the road at the time and I didn't want ugly, dirty trucks and orange neon vests ruining the beautiful scenery of the photos! But you can view photos of the walkway in various seasons and stages here).

There is only a one-km section currently completed, but this is only Phase 1. The long-term vision is for the greenway to extend from the Fairview cemetery in the West End all the way to Point Pleasant Park in the far south end. I couldn't find any information regarding when the next Phase is expected to begin construction, but I am looking forward to it.

I hope they add more spots, such as the one featured in my photos (on the corner of South Street and Beaufort Avenue), for people to sit and read or have a snack along the way - it's a great place for people to go for a peaceful and scenic break.

The trees provide a wonderfully shady canopy

The idea behind the Greenway appears to be to provide a green space and a place for citizens to get outside and get some exercise in the centre of the city. It is also a way to naturally and scenically connect various major destinations, such as Universities, main driving routes, parks and water access points. The Halifax Urban Greenway Association (HUGA) was set up to work with HRM to plan and develop this slice of nature. You can 'like' the HUG (aww) on Facebook here.

One of my fav Halifax features - the big, beautiful trees

  Work in the area? Come down and check out this Hidden Gem on YOUR lunch break sometime.

Where do YOU take your lunch breaks? Any hidden gems you would like to share?

Blueberry Fields Forever

One of the great things about living in Nova Scotia in the summer is the abundance of delicious and fresh local food being grown only an hour from the city. So when the boy and I were looking for something fun (as we are often wont to do) one sunny afternoon post-swim, we thought:

"We should go blueberry-picking!" (ok, so maybe we have a weird idea of what is fun, but what can I say, we're dorks at heart)

This is how we ended up at Blueberry Acres.

Blueberry Acres is a U-Pick blueberry farm in Centreville, NS. We arrived on Natal Day, late afternoon, unsure if they would even be open, but luckily we arrived to find the fields open for business!

The "Blueberry Express", aka an air-conditioned bus, picks you up at the main building and drops you off out in the field where a worker will choose an good area for you to pick from. This place is HUGE, so the bus makes it so much more convenient. We arrived early in the season so there were still quite a few bunches that were not quite ripe, but there were still enough blue, fat ones to fill our box.

I could not believe the SIZE of these babies! HUGE, just the way I like them (read into that what you may). I am surprised we even filled our box we ate so many in between picking (teehee). It was a super hot and sunny day, and it was actually nice to be there early in the season because it was not crowded at all. There were only a few other couples picking so it was very quiet and peaceful. Apparently if we had gone a couple of weeks later, there would have been 10 times the people!

When we got back and weighed our haul, it came to about 8 pints, which cost us $16. For those of you not good at math (I feel your pain) , that's approximately $2 a pint. For those of you who don't buy bb's in the grocery store (at least around where I live), a pint of bb's there will easily cost you twice that, so I think we got an amazing deal. 8 pints is a TON for two people to share, even if you eat a cup every day!

In fact, the week after we picked them all, I made TWO BLUEBERRY PIES. That's right. TWO. I have never made a pie in my life so I was concerned they would turn out disgusting, but I have to say they taste pretty darn good! I cheated and bought pre-packaged Pillsbury crust, which I am not proud of but it saved me so much time. I looked up a random, basic BB pie recipe online and used that as a guideline and the filling is quite tasty. I think for my next venture, I may try a more ambitious recipe, but for my first time I just wanted to keep it simple. 

Here is the recipe I used for the filling, in case you are interested:

For each pie

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 cups fresh blueberries
• Teaspoon (approx) of maple syrup
• Few drops of lemon juice

Basically you just toss everything together in a bowl, pour it in the crust in the pan, making sure the layers are even (as I mentioned, I used Pillsbury pie crust - each box comes with 2 crusts, 1 for the top, 1 for the bottom). At 425 degrees, mine took about 35 minutes to bake, even though the recipe I referenced called for 50 minutes (!). The syrup and lemon juice were not in the recipe, but I just threw those in to see how it would taste - not sure it made a difference but I like to think it added a bit of flavour (the berries we picked were pretty flavourful on their own, though, so I wouldn't recommend adding too much and messing with that).

YUM!

Know what the best part is? After I baked, I divided the remaining berries up so that the boy could take some home and I could freeze some, and they filled 2 margarine container-sized tubs. and two large tupperware containers! I gave the boy half, and I have been eating them on my cereal every morning now for about 2 weeks and I have barely made a dent. If I freeze one of my two containers, I would say I will still have enough to last me until Winter rears it's ugly-ass head.

Maybe they will be getting low just in time to go apple-picking! Mmm apple pie...

Glow in the Art

The highlight of my weekend was something I've been looking forward to for a while - Saturday night was Nocturne night in Halifax! The subtitle for Nocturne is "art at night", but it was so much more - specifically over 100 art installations happening ALL OVER the city from 6pm to midnight, with everything completely free! There are versions of Nocturne in lots of other cities - Toronto, Paris - but I'm willing to bet ours could stand up to any of them.

A lot of people are ignorant and think Halifax is full of fishermen and naval officers, but there is a HUGE creative contingent here. There are actually a ton of artists, designers, musicians and other artistic types choosing to make a living (and their art) here. Um, hello we are home to one of the best art colleges in the country! It was nice to see these people (who, frankly, I think are often overlooked by the government at many levels in many ways) come out of the woodwork, so to speak, and come out loud and proud with extremely fun, thought-provoking, sometimes wierd art pieces and with the complete sanction and support of the city for a change.

I've always been into art - both making it and viewing it - and I don't think I could live without art in its many forms. Seriously, how do people go through life without ever going out there and absorbing art?! It's like water and air for me - it feeds my mind and my soul. My high expectations for the event were definitely met - we saw a lot and had a lot of fun.

I went with my bff Kim (yes, her name is Kim too...well actually Kim #2), her sister and her friend. We started out with a walking tour, which was honestly a tad boring because it was the first one of the night and a lot of the artists hadn't actually set up yet, plus there weren't many spectators yet either. However, we stuck with it down Barrington Street and up Spring Garden, ending at the YMCA on South Park Street where Kardio-Karaoke was taking place. I had read about this but considering anything with "karaoke" in the title generally makes me want to run and hide, I wasn't keen on doing it. However, my friend's-sister's-friend wanted to go in so we did and am I ever glad!





In case you couldn't figure it out by the name, Kardio-Karaoke involved participants singing karaoke while working out. This is one of those concepts that I thought was completely wierd and totally awesome all at the same time. I mean, it's just so ridiculous you can't help but smile and laugh at the concept and want to give it a try. So, yours truly, who is too chicken-shit to get up in front of a group and do ANYTHING let alone sing AND exercise, got on a stationary bike and sang "Don't Go Breaking my Heart" with her bff. Yes, that's right. Mind you, there was only about 6 other people in the room at the time so it was a lot less intimidating, but I'm still shocked I even went through with it. I have to say, I was quite proud of my bold sillyness. I would recommend singing karaoke while on a stationary bike to anyone! Unfortunately, the photographic evidence is on my friend's camera so I can't show it to you, but I'm sure you can use your imagination! (it really did happen, I swear!)



From there we went to the Public Gardens, which is normally closed to the public at night and I believe this is the first time an installation of this kind has been allowed in there, so we were really excited to see it. Highlights included the screen above which showed close-ups of various native Nova Scotian creatures (bugs, frogs, etc), a local "art rock band" playing in the gazebo, speakers tied to trees throughout the Gardens broadcasting nature sounds such as gurgling water, crickets, lit-up mini-watercrafts floating in the pond and changing colour/direction with the weather, etc. It was really neat to just wander around looking and listening - it felt like being in a wierd alternate universe like Wonderland or something!




Excuse the crappy photography - it was tough to get good shots in the dark and far back!

 Other highlights of the night included: Film-e-oke at the CBC building (we watched two people reenact the "Luke, I am your father" scene from Star Wars including foam "light sabres" by reading the lines off the screen. HILARIOUS!), a fun photo session with costumes (and fake moustaches!) at a local boutique (again, don't have the photo yet but will share when I do), the site of our new city library covered with lit-up pylons marking where the important interior spaces will be located, Halifax Circus performing aerial, juggling and fire tricks, and an extremely interesting exhibit of Nova Scotian film stills and photos from 1917-1957 at the Nova Scotia Archives (an exhibit that my buddy @laurenoostveen did an amazing job curating!).

All in all it was an exhilirating, titillating, strange, eye-opening, colourful, and crowded night! Can't wait until Nocturne 2011!

How was your weekend?

Our House (is a very very very Fine House)

The street is named after a city in Ireland (Dublin). The vertical streets running north are all named after European cities, in fact - Vienna, Berlin, Edinburgh, London, Liverpool - and are full of old homes between 60-100 years old. When the Halifax Explosion occurred, almost this entire end of the city was flattened. Entire neighbourhoods had to be rebuilt, and many of these homes sprung up as part of that movement.

The streets are not only filled with beautiful homes, but with quaint coffee shops, book shops, and small restaurants. This "North End" was always the "slummy" part of town but it's really come a loooong way in the past few years and it now has a young, hip, artsy, granola sensibility to it, which is awesome. There are constantly people walking dogs and pushing strollers, yet there's hardly any traffic noise most days and it's quiet enough to hear a pin drop at night. Despite this tranquility, it's within a 30 minute walk to many of the main attractions and thoroughfares in town.

There is a huge, lovely church across the street, which (even if you don't visit it) is nice to look at.


View outside my living room window - Winter 2009

  The streets are lined on either side with huge, old, majestic trees that envelope the cars, homes and people below in a comforting avenue and remind them of just how long they have been around.

Fall 2009

This is where I live and I love it.

What do you love about where you live?

This entry is brought to you by Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.