Grandfather, Sweet Peas and Me

I've watched for some years as members of my generation become grandparents. Friends actively embrace the role and their grandkids seem to value the relationship. Most of my grandparents were dead before I was aware, so  I missed out on what treasures they had to offer. Take for example my maternal grandfather, Melbourne Armstrong. As a child I looked… Read More

Pictou County

Have you been invited to a cottage this summer? I hope so. We spent a couple of pleasant days in the heart of cottage country on Caribou Island in Pictou County. The occasion was a meet up of some classmates of Sheila's from her days at Mount A in the mid '60s. Everyone enjoyed the… Read More

Corning, New York

On our trip back from visiting Sheila's family in the southwest corner of Quebec we quickly sampled the Finger Lake district of New York. A specific destination was the community of Corning  to visit the massive Museum of Glass. My generation grew up with Corningware and Pyrex, products of the Corning Glass Company. During my working career in… Read More

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Pretty much every year we drive to Sheila's family farm in the southwest corner of Quebec.  It's a road trip we enjoy because, if you have time to spare, there are many ways to get from here to there.  This year we decided to spend a night in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on the return journey and I'll… Read More

Gable Ends

If you follow this blog you will realize I'm a fan of many things. One of the things I like are gable-ended buildings; where the triangular bit of the wall faces the street. Often there is a reference to classical temple buildings, think the Parthenon in Athens. Or closer to home, think of the Court House in Liverpool, a pretty… Read More

Here Comes the Sun

I hadn't been paying much attention to the absence of the sun until this morning. Scrolling down Twitter I was stopped at some bright stained-glass sunflowers and the question "who needs a little sunshine today?" Then I noticed my Twitter buddy Lewis tweet: And I began to think : Start looking for your sun images. It is… Read More

Shubie Park Exploration

A couple of Sundays ago I decided to leave the cove and take a little walk and ended up going over to Shubie Park in Dartmouth.  I've walked in the park perhaps once before, but not in this century so it was one of those "I'm from Mars, this is all new" experiences. The Fairbanks Centre greeted… Read More

Want to Go for an Ice Cream?

Do people still go for Sunday afternoon drives that include a stop for an ice cream cone? Happened in my childhood and I suspect it is still a summer ritual. Over the years I've taken a couple of photos of places that sell ice cream and wish I'd paid more attention to the painted signs… Read More

Windsor

In Halifax when you drive down Windsor Street you are travelling on one of the oldest roads in the province: the beginning of the old road to Windsor. In the 19th century the elite of Halifax used Windsor as a summer resort but today  it is easy to pass by without stopping to explore. Windsor has always… Read More

Never More

There has been lots of talk about the demolition of St Pat's High School. The building has been empty for some time and the main entrance on Quinpool Road lost its sandstone cladding so long ago I'll bet you can't really remember what it looked like. With this post I just wanted to encourage you to pause and look at… Read More