In the Saturday Globe and Mail, the one section I'm sure to look at is Style (nicer paper).  A couple of weeks ago it was exciting to see a beautiful fly swatter on the cover. The story was about slow goods-top quality everyday objects that come with a story: the flap of the fly swatter is English bridle leather and…Read More

Do you have iron bridge experiences? Single lane, shakes when a vehicle crosses, transparent in the landscape. In the mid 70s I learned that the various styles of bridge trusses have names and started taking more notice and occasionally snapping a picture. Last evening I was reminded of these bridges when Small History NS tweeted an 1886 advertisement…Read More

Recently I wrote a blog about the charms of Annapolis Royal.  Some of you would be interested in what brought us to this tiny perfect town because it demonstrates how thoughtfully planned events can help our local economies. We are home gardeners and have been aware that for the past few years the Rare and Unusual Plant Sale has happened in Annapolis…Read More

Imagine my surprise to read in Halifax Examiner that editor Tim Bousquet feels that "any place with a horse fountain is all right by me." He had just discovered the famous horse trough in Milton (Yarmouth).  It felt like Tim had been reading my mail because the Yarmouth horse troughs were on my list of blog…Read More

Do you visit Annapolis Royal? It's one of our favourite towns and we know it quite well. We were there for a couple of days over the weekend  to take in the Rare and Unusual Plant Sale (more of that in another blog, I think).  There really isn't another town like it in the province.  It was…Read More

Thistles are the symbol of Scotland and also have quite a tradition in New Scotland (Nova Scotia to you Latin scholars). Over the years I've noticed a few thistles around the province. This morning some comments on Contrarian and Halifax Examiner sent me looking for my images. First Parker Donham reminded us that lots of our Scottish traditions may be less…Read More

There has been lots of Fire Department talk this season.  Fire Chief Doug Trussler made a bunch of recommendations on how to improve the system but City Council was not very nice, the little scamps. Halifax Examiner had the latest on the issues  (4 Fire, pt 1). I was taught to do what the professional fire fighter…Read More

We have many wonderful festivals in town but a favourite of mine is Open City on Saturday, May 9.  It is a day offering experiences and shopping and food but most of all it reminds us to enjoy our downtowns anytime throughout the year.   Here is the list of over 150 offerings;  start taking notes and strategizing . The uniform for the day should be a…Read More