On May 2 and 3 you have 17 different walk opportunities. SEVENTEEN wonderful tours!  So no need to read any further, go to the Jane's Walk website and plan your weekend. The Jane is Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) an urbanist and activist whose writings championed a fresh, community-based approach to city building.  Don't let the kindly, old…Read More

Usually in this blog I'm noticing things that feel just right.  Over the weekend I was Goldilocks and noticed a  location where it felt like folks were doing a little too much and another situation where it felt like way too little was happening. On Saturday I went to the Seaport Market for the first time in months (Sheila is there every…Read More

On April 30, 2009 we spent a happy day in Lunenburg County visiting friends and gardens. As we returned to the city we noticed what appeared to be a fog bank and thought, Our sunny day is over. Quickly we realized the fog was really a huge and growing cloud of smoke in the direction of our home…Read More

In late April 1966, I walked over to Brunswick Street and took a couple of photos of old houses.  In the photo above,  a boy looks back at the camera (a fixed focus Kodak) suddenly evoking the final shot in Truffaut's touching, drama  400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups). From the beginning that was the miracle of photography;…Read More

There are always lots of interesting experiences to be had in our city, and long days and bright weather make it easier to actually  get out and attend.  Here are some walks and a talk I sampled in the last couple of days. On Thursday there was a presentation on Schmidtville or Schmidt's Ville at a Heritage Trust meeting. William…Read More

Somehow the anniversary of the sinking of Titanic has come around again. What a tragic event but it does not hold any enduring interest for me. Despite that admission,  we have a couple of representations of Titanic, acquired in the late 1970s. I like them a lot. The first is a painting by a Southwest Nova artist…Read More

In the Travel Section of the Saturday Globe and Mail I was intrigued by a piece on visiting the Sable Island National Park Reserve. The isolated Island does hold a special attraction  for lots of people. Made me go looking for the slides I took during a two hour visit back in December 1975. An acquaintance in the Department of Environment  had been doing work on…Read More

It was sad to read the stories about Bridgetown's final moments as an actual town (here is background by John DeMont). I have some history with Bridgetown and this got me looking at old photographs and recalling memories of the town. My parents grew up in Bridgetown (sort of childhood sweethearts). Their parents had moved there…Read More

Last month in Mexico I often noticed  advertisements for Bimbo bread. Then I looked at news from home and learned that cute, little Bimbo owned Ben's Bread and was closing their big bakery on Pepperell Street in Halifax. The closure is not a huge surprise; little manufacturing happens on the peninsula anymore. The fragrance of baking…Read More

For the past month we've been in Mexico and missed the horror that was March weather in Halifax and the rest of Nova Scotia.  We were aware of the serial, extraordinary, snow events and sensed the pain. Give yourselves a hug. I thought of those  giant mounds of snow  and ice when we visited the charming, colonial city of Guanajuato.…Read More