Middleton got its name because the community is half way between two other places, Halifax and Yarmouth. I made a quick stop when rambling in that part of the Annapolis Valley earlier in the summer. Here's what caught my attention. An old commercial building was being renovated, and siding removal revealed a swell ghost sign. Closer… Read More

It was sad to hear that the Oxford is closing, the last of the stand-alone movie theatres in Halifax. It opened in 1937, and I've been enjoying films there since the 1950s. A couple of years ago, I snapped photos of a few details while standing in line for tickets and waiting for the film… Read More

A monster IKEA is opening in Dartmouth Crossing next month. Here are a few things you need to know: They broke our hearts IKEA opened their first store in North America in Burnside in 1975. They became a big part of our material and aesthetic lives, and then about 12 years later pulled a "it's… Read More

Richmond, Virginia Looking at photos from our trip to Virginia in 2009, I realized we saw a number of statues that have become more interesting in these iconoclastic times. Just a year old, when we visited Richmond, was the Civil Rights Monument, an example of accessible, contemporary sculpture. It is located in a prominent location… Read More

Charlottesville fills the news, another sorry tale involving the statue of a dead white man. The community has special meaning for me, because it is almost the only place I have lived except Halifax. Here are my few memories of this small city, set in a beautiful Virginia landscape. My father did his PhD in… Read More

There are a number of mid-Annapolis Valley villages and towns that we tend to drive by, and if we happen to drive through, they just get a passing glance. Lawrencetown is a good example. Even when we had a summer cottage nearby, Lawrencetown was a destination only for the County Exhibition held every August. So… Read More

We did a road trip earlier in the summer to visit Sheila's family in rural southwest Quebec. Coming and going was not a straight line (it took two days to get out of Nova Scotia, for example). You'll not be surprised to hear that what I notice while away is identical to what I notice around Nova… Read More

One evening last week we left the cove and sampled downtown. It was time. Here are a couple of snapshots of what we saw. A destination was the new, floating Sea Bridge that provides a route around the big Queen's Marque construction site. Think Moses and the Red Sea. It is longer than I imagined… Read More

Here's something that gives me a great deal of joy, I wonder if you will be equally thrilled: willow designs on nineteenth-century gravestones. Weeping willows appear in many variations and often have an elegance and vigour that feels fresh and modern. A couple of great examples to get you started. Weeping willow designs were popular… Read More