Taiko Drums!

Here's a short clip of an AMAZING performance by Shozuidaiko, the Japanese Training Mission's Taiko and Brass band, on their recent visit to the Port of Halifax.

Spring is coming...slowly!

Over at my parents house with Casey today - the crocuses are in bloom! Bees are out pollinating, the sun is shining - it's a nice day!

Sunset Tonight

Gorgeous night.  Had to edit out the power lines, but we do get a great view otherwise at the top of our hill... :)

Kotatsu for world peace?

Mainichi has a wonderful opinion piece on how the world might be a better place if the use of the kotatsu was more widespread.  Personally, we can't imagine why on earth use of the kotatsu hasn't caught on more in Canada, and other northern areas. They are just the best!  In brief, it's the way the Japanese stay warm in the winter, with limited central heating. Its a special, small electric heater screwed to the bottom of a square or coffee table, with a large duvet sort of blanket over-top, and a piece of board the same size as the surface of the table put on top.  Its super warm and cozy, there's nothing like the feeling of having your lower half tucked in and warm while watching TV or playing games, reading, surfing on the laptop, etc.

I've written about our family kotatsu before, its become an indispensable part of our winter-time life. We all gather around it come evening, the cats jostling for position on top, little Lila jostling for position underneath, with our legs in there too.  Our old table was quite old and it broke, and the new one we have is smaller, so we all have to squeeze in a little tighter!

We joke about the "peace of the kotatsu" often at our house.  But it really is true, it calms and soothes tempers, even amongst the cats! Cats that normally want to smack at each other, once they get settled down on top, will sleep close together, happy as can be.

For instance, Baby and Peepers:

And Peepers and Kuroi:


No clawing, no fighting, just everyone enjoying the warm cuddly nature of the kotatsu. So maybe that gentleman from Mainichi wasn't too far off after all! :)

Horses!

About 10 minutes ago THIS happened outside. This has NEVER happened before. At least not since I've lived here!  Not something you see every day in the suburbs of Dartmouth, and as the cop said to me, not usually when it's this cold out either! But I guess the horses must get their exercise no matter the weather, so dutifully the police bundle up and go!

Edit: Coincidence?  The force is looking to disband the horse unit, along with some others (the horse and rider on the left are pictured on the CBC page too!) http://www.cbc.ca/ns/insidethenews/2012/01/horse-sense.html. Hope they get to stay around!  Its a nice touch of tradition, and a great way to get kids involved with the police in a positive way.

Meanwhile, in Nova Scotia...

Well, they said it might be "rain along the coast" but I guess we're not "coast" enough! :)  Crazy weather out today, yesterday was bright and sunny and only a little cool, but today we have been hammered with the first big snowstorm of the season.

It was very fun to let the girls out for the first time into snow this year, telling them "you'll be so surprised!" and they just stand at the door, confused for a second, then take off into the puffy snow and have such a great time! (This snow is very wet, perfect for snowmen btw!)

Glad to be snuggling under the kotatsu right now, and really glad I didn't have to work today, wouldn't want to be on the roads right now!

Photo Diary: Eastern Passage

As promised, here's some more photos from my lovely trip to Eastern Passage the other day!

Here's a wildflower that had a small stand, but wasn't really widespread. Don't know what it was called, but it was lovely.

As I've mentioned before, these gorgeous roses grow wild all over the province, right up to the water's edge! The smell of the roses mixed with the sea air was heavenly!

There's a little shore bird in this pic, can you make him out? His camouflage is remarkable!

Here's a close up so you can find him better:

I believe he's a Spotted Sandpiper, but the beak is dark...don't know what to make of that, perhaps he's a juvenile? He was so cute, he flew down next to me, and we walked the shore together for a distance.

There were some sort of predatory birds in the area as well; I couldn't get a good look at their markings to identify them, but there is a nest of ospreys (our provincial bird) nearby, so that's likely what they are.

There are lots of signs of old wharfs in the area, but I have no idea how long ago they were abandoned. Posts here and there are all that's left. Nearby this one, is a high current area where land narrows and the ocean speeds up towards the harbour. No swimming is allowed, but people fish there all the time - and that day was the first day I saw someone actually catch something! When this gentleman reeled in another fish, one of his companions, a young boy, said disappointedly "...Again?". I don't think the little guy had the good spot that day.

This is a backwards looking shot towards downtown Halifax; so close and yet worlds away!

There was a very calm bit of water between the ocean and the shore, divided by a stand of sea grasses - and there was a HUGE school of tiny fish there! You can see where they broke the surface of the water looking for nibblies here and there. Every time I even took a single step close to them, they'd move farther out en masse, so it was hard to get a close shot of them! Safety first, little guys!

All in all, such a lovely day, so glad I was able to get out and enjoy one of our few sunny days this summer!

Eastern Passage....always beautiful

Went to have lunch and a walk for the first time this summer out Eastern Passage way. Lovely day for it, just a few clouds in the sky, and the warmth of the sun offset perfectly by the refreshing ocean breezes. I really love that whole area, several local restaurants are right next to this delightful park, so you can walk off some of those extra calories. :) More pictures to come...

Summertime Wildlife Roundup

This summer, with the majority of days being rainy or darkly cloudy, we had a different mix of wildlife in the backyard than we have had previous years. Bees, as I have mentioned several times, were non-existent the first half of the summer, and even now, I have not seen more than two bees in the lawn at any given time (the lack of bees and the bad weather is why I believe our backlawn has a mass of thistles and not clover as it has in previous years. Not that the thistles aren't lovely and purple too, but you really miss the lovely scent of the clover on the wind).

Our dragonfly population came out very early this year (in June), in time to take care of the blackflies and the early beginnings of the mosquito population, but were missing for much of the latter half of July, when mosquitoes were at their peak. Fortunately, they have returned now in the latter half of August, so I'm getting much needed relief out there. They are amazing bug predators - I love to see them flitting about the yard on 'guard duty', occasionally getting into aerial battles over bugs with fellow 'sentries'.

Its been said that a healthy frog population is a sign the local environment is healthy, and if that is the case (check out why under morphology on Wiki), then our local area is doing REALLY well! From about the end of June till last week, we had a minimum of one frog a day outside in our back lawn. We saw maybe 3 the whole year last year, but this year was crazy! At one point I had a frog in each hand, trying to move them to the cool of the forest (and in the direction of a lake), and out of the path of my dogs playing. All different sizes, too, it was quite extraordinary!

We had one little green grass snake this year, and that was the first one I've seen since we moved here three years ago.

So, aside from the lack of bees, we've been doing quite well in the backyard wildlife department! Its been fun observing them!

Summer....

The weather was not what we were promised. They said it was going to be uncharacteristically hot this summer, but instead we were hit with one cloud bank after another after another. Aside from a brief period of sun in July, it's just been a sad continuation of the awful weather we had all spring.

Today, mercifully, was a beautifully sunny break from all that rain. Got some bedsheets out on the line, enjoyed the sun with my girls, and took a few snaps to boot.

We have seen a few more bees this last month, but it's been nothing like the amount we had last year. At least *some* flowers and plants are getting pollinated!

I'm still so deeply impressed/interested with the true Queen Anne's Lace, the wild carrot, daucus carota. They're just so lovely, and their seedheads provide even more interest come fall and winter! (More on that another time!) :)

Here's hoping for more sunshine, soon!

Spring?

Possibly, might, be here...

Yesterday, while in the back with the girls, the male ring-necked pheasant made an appearance, and I heard him "gobble gobble"-ing throughout the afternoon.

And today, just after I brought the girls in, I saw a crow in our backyard, picking around at the dead grass and weeds. Didn't know exactly what he was looking for, it was strange to see him hanging around there. Then another crow came, and showed the first one how it was done - they gathered large beakfulls of the longer straw-like remains of the grass - and you know why!! I was so excited! If crows are starting to build and pad-out nests, SPRING really might be here! Hurray!

That's why it's nice to leave a little bit of wilderness in your backyard if you can - a close-mowed all-grass lawn can't provide the variety of food and nesting materials that "weeds" like clover and long wheat-like grasses can.

Forgive the quality, it was taken through our triple-glazed window. :)

Moonlight

Driving snow yesterday, just blowing all day, sideways. Windchill in the -20s (Celsius) We have had a CRAZY amount of snow this season - it's been a little hard to take, some days. :)

But tonight, a beautiful moon and a little clear sky was a welcome sight.

During and After

During the storm...

After the storm...

The sun was only spotty afterwards, but I was glad to see it!

Snowpocalypse

I don't like to throw big snow storm terms like that around, because we do (or did) get a lot of snow in these parts in the winter. But this storm is over 3,200 km wide, which is crazy huge, so I think we can safely use that term. :)

It is NUTS out there! This morning, after the result of the mini-storm that hit us last night:

And now, taken about four hours after the first photo:

Casey LOVES the snow, this is totally her favorite season. But even she wanted to come in, when she couldn't see too far through the flakes anymore. :) She got covered in a matter of moments.

Oh well, time to sit tight and wait for this to blow over - and then the shoveling, oh the shoveling!

Ice...

I love the patterns that ice makes throughout winter, some are really amazing.

This one was the result of overflow of our gutter, followed by a slight thaw, then freezing. I've never seen crystals grow out like that before.

This was an area near our door - you can see the shattered remains of the ice that was there previously through the thin areas of the current ice sheet.

And this was Jack Frost on the windows this morning! The patterns are just so amazing, they remind me of the lovely vining designs of medieval manuscripts.

And closer...

And closer...

Lovely, lovely stuff... it's -15 deg C out there right now, with a windchill of -26 deg C. More ice to come! :)

From all of us here....

Casey...


Lila...


Baby Boy...


Peepers...


And Kuroi...

We hope you had a great Christmas holiday, and a wonderful 2011! Here's to a new year, with new hopes and new opportunities!

Gorgeous Day

Amazing weather, a perfect fall day.  So many leaves were damaged and twisted around during Hurricane Earl, I thought autumn might not turn out so well this year. But, so far, so good!  The colours usually peak around the 18th of October, but it still looks like there's a lot of green out there, so it might last a little longer this year.

Surprise!

Went out with the girls for their playtime a few minutes ago, and saw this in my Miracle-Gro bag garden (well, what's left of it...the peas are all finished for the year, so they're gone. I put an extra potato I had from my crop that needed a few more weeks, in, and there's my two pepper plants, which didn't do so well in the "generic soil", so I moved them over to see if Miracle Gro would help). ;)

So....where did these guys come from??  Mushrooms are strange critters....I flipped up the edge of one of them to see what the gills were like, now I gotta go figure out what kind of mushrooms they are.... :)

So, I didn't go...

Once I got up in the morning on Saturday, I realized that the long walk to Marginal Road just wasn't worth it to check out the new location of the old Halifax Farmers' Market, when we have a much easier-to-access market right here in Dartmouth that I hadn't been to before. I mean, I like the idea of the new market in Halifax, but honestly, it's just too far out of the way - and no buses! FRED (the free rides everywhere downtown bus) does go by, but only operates for 2 months in the summer, on a 40 minute loop, so I'd have to catch it near the beginning of the loop, after an already 40 minute long trip to get to the downtown. Or have a 15+ minute hike from my nearest bus stop. Or wait, transfer and *still* have to walk a distance. Loaded down with produce? I don't think so. It's really unfortunate, I wonder how many elderly and encumbered people won't be able to get to the new market - the eco-friendly building is great, but if you need a car to get there, what's the point? AND, after looking at their new website, I noticed something. It says "Free parking the month of August". That implies you'll have to *pay* for parking afterwards. What?! This new location looks like it has a *lot* of "getting there" issues...at least from my perspective.

And I think I made the right choice, looking at the photos of opening day from The Coast - it looked as packed as the old market was! :) Not my cup of tea, so glad I didn't go. :)

Instead, I took a short walk down my street, caught a bus that took me right to the (admittedly much smaller) Dartmouth Market, located in Alderney Landing (a Dartmouth side ferry terminal). At least 2 farms had large displays, two or three others were much smaller with limited produce. But really, that's more than enough variety, they had just about everything you could want there - if one place had beans, the other had cabbages. There were several baked goods stalls, and one I'm definitely going to try next time is the German Baker (oddly enough, run by an actual German). :) Their breads looked wonderful. There were a large number of crafters there, too.





See? Not too packed - busy, but not crazy.

Once I was done, I had some time to kill before the bus came back (it only runs once an hour) - so I walked over to the boardwalk (the Market is right next to it) and had a lovely sit looking at the harbour - beat the heck out of fighting with crowds and walking all over creation loaded down with veggies!


I looked at Halifax...


I looked at boats tied up on the docks...


...at George's Island in the distance...


...at the adorable Theodore Tugboat...SO funny to see him darting around the harbour...


...at the Angus L. MacDonald bridge...


...at boats under the bridge...


...and the ferry as it went past (it docks right next to the Market).



It was a gorgeous day, not too hot, not too cold. Soon enough, the bus came, and I arrived home with all my goodies. As usual, the animals FREAK when I bring home stuff fresh from a farm. Groceries are "interesting" but they go hog-wild over farm fresh stuff, must be lots of interesting smells in there. Here, Baby Boy tries to fend off the other cats from getting a sniff, but Peepers manages to get in there.



This time around, I went looking for borscht ingredients. Everything's in season for borscht, and I got some gorgeous produce from Noggins Corner Farm (in operation since 1760!). The meat (antibiotic-free!) I got from Meadowbrook Meat Market, a local farm that sells daily at Alderney Landing. They had a great deal on back bacon this week, so I got some of that. I got the free-range eggs from another farmer there, but unfortunately I missed the name.

All in all, time well spent! Glad I went, and will definitely return. :)

Now that it's been a while, I wonder how things are going over at the Halifax Market...? Hmmmm...