Like many folks, I drive by the sign to Deadman's Island Park almost every day but have never made the effort to stop. Public service announcements for the annual Memorial Day ceremonies at the site reminded me of my resolution to visit and I did. The entrance is well marked on Pinehaven Drive, and there are… Read More

Like most folks, when I started using Twitter it wasn't exactly clear what it was supposed to do. After a while I realized that if I amused myself that would handle most of it. So I started tweeting from the small collection of photos I had taken over the last 4+ decades. The Twitter audience tends to be younger… Read More

The last blog looked at examples of the old Halifax coat of arms found outdoors.  My favourite print version is a delightful illustration on the back cover of the official guide book to the Halifax Bicentenary in 1949.  This was four years after the end of the Second World War and the sailor is in a contemporary navy… Read More

Our city has recently been through a branding exercise and among the elements of the brand there is a new wordmark that we will learn to love and to exploit.   All the excitement made me remember examples of earlier city identity programs that have stuck around because they are literally carved in stone and cast in… Read More

What a wonderful moment in the countryside.  The fresh green fields, new chartreuse leaves on trees, all looking manicured for a moment. We were invited to Cumberland County and partook of the visual and culinary richness of the season. First we were excited to find some plants we rarely see in the wild.  Bloodroot has… Read More

Last evening we were in Chapter House, the apartment building beside the Cathedral  on the corner of University and Martello. Noticed in the entrance a big compass rose in ceramic tile with an inlaid  monogram.    Nice to see the extra effort.  So many commercial foyers are so blah. It reminded me of the wonderful design and… Read More

Last evening there were lots of artists and their community at the Craig Gallery to celebrate Lynn Rotin's show  "Then and Now."  Besides admiring her great art we were enchanted with Lynn's  sparkly vintage glasses, worn by her mother  to Bar Mitzvahs in the 1950s.  An extra bonus to our Dartmouth cultural adventure was an endless train… Read More

It's exciting to be test driving a blog.  So to see if I have the hang of it let's take a look at what I was noticing this morning. This will also give you a sense of what to expect in the future. I had some time to kill in the Bayers Road area and decided to… Read More

This blog is about looking around, seeing and acknowledging what you see. There will be a lot of architecture and design; a search for favoured materials like cast iron, concrete and terrazzo.  Sometimes there will be some background and history but often there will just be little bits of evidence. And all of this will… Read More