winter evening drive

There's always a heightened sense of anticipation as Christmas nears. Sometimes it takes an extra effort as one gets older to keep the spirit of Christmas intact. It's been a discouraging year in many ways, but there have been wonderful highlights that have rekindled my faith in human nature and reassured me that good prevails.

Wally had a day off on Wednesday and unearthed me to go to Greenwood to top up our health food supplements, most importantly magnesium  which we all, cats included, take. A trip like that would leave us free to enjoy Wally's coming 4 days off.

I really mean it when I say "unearthed" as we left quite late in the afternoon.

I didn't find out til later that evening that the reason I was feeling so sluggish was because I was fighting a low grade cold. Still I enjoyed having some clear weather for this trip - a change, as it always seems to be crummy weather on the Saturdays that we've gone.

Clear weather aside, the light was already getting low and I lost quite a few shots taken from our moving car. This is a little farmhouse scene with a barn in the back that has a roof so low it appears to touch the ground as the property dips downhill also indicated by the addition on the garage in the foreground.

This was a sad little blue house that sat for sale since before we moved here over 5 years ago.

This summer new owners repainted it and put new windows and a driveway in. The wind has clearly played havoc with their Christmas decorations, but it's nice to see the house being cared for again.

This has been a treacherous week for ice with some awful accidents on the highway. I nearly fell a few times myself.  Wally slowed here as he negotiated this icy on-ramp where one is normally obliged to speed up. This is the highway on which he might normally come home on a good day, but he always takes the slow and easy route, knowing what goes on out there.

The early evening light (it was almost 4:30pm) made even this industrial area not so bad. You can see the range of the north mountain (beyond which is the Bay of Fundy) in the background.

Heading northwest here, you may be able to see all the black specks in the sky, a small indication of the thousands of crows that do an evening migration around here.

Dressed in peaches and mauvey violets, the clouds were almost iridescent.

more crows flying over this snowy cornfield.

the sun going down and it's not nearly 5 yet.

Backlit by the sunset, I suspect by the size of it, that that's a raven in the uppermost branches

of that tree to the right.

I was lucky, for all the shots I lost, to have a few decent ones of the sun setting over the farmfields.

the clouds backlit in mauve in a peachy sky

You may remember this wonderful farm scene with the 3 silos from past trips.

Though blurry, the colour is so painterly that I had to share it with you.

So many shots lost in a blur on the highway, I just barely caught this favourite house of mine as we slowly came to the corner in Kingston, Greenwood's sister town.

Looking closer, we can just make out the choirboy on the front porch. 

The eagle emblem over the door makes it look somewhat American.

Like a fuzzy1940's Christmas card, I'll end here, with more to show you over the weekend.

Have a jolly old time of it dear ones.

This festive season takes some careful negotiating sometimes. That's easy to do when we set our expectations aside and remain present to the wonder and glory of what IS.

breathing gently into this moment

remembering that the best present is presence

octobering

Late October Greetings dear viewers. Two and a half weeks away from my blog is something of a record for me.  My dismay over already low view stats ( blog viewing seems to be replaced by Instagram and other less "wordy" social media) has been aggravated by rampant "bot" views (automated views that advertise or can even infect a blog); they have caused some technical glitches over the last 2 years. But that's not why I've been away. Wally and I have gone into overdrive preparing our home for another person, my old friend Connie, who will be coming to stay for a week in November.

It was Connie with whom I went to Costa Rica, our epic trip, in 2012.

Now she will be coming to help us with our messy bookkeeping. (She has an extensive history in banking which will help, both technically and with bedside manner.) We want to treat her to a fabulous Nova Scotia holiday in return. She's looking forward, foremost, to exploring her family's landing in Canada at Pier 21 in Halifax back in the 1950's.  A lobster dinner is also on the books. We've got all kinds of sea experiences lined up for her, from walking the sea bed at Blomidon to exploring the World Heritage town of Lunenburg. But I still think the cherry on top will be Peggy's Cove which will be nothing short of spectacular this time of year. We've never been there in November.

Because we've been so busy (thank goodness for a deadline), I have a few pictures from 2 1/2 weeks ago that I took along the highway on our way to the new IKEA in Dartmouth Crossing (which was surreal; more about that another time.)

We were lucky to have good weather as we headed out with some lovely colour still left on the trees.

Passing the same brown farmhouse, I had mixed luck with my photographs taken from a moving car.

The new highway signage people have seen fit to put a sign at every lovely natural view. It was discouraging to say the least.  I've always enjoyed this rolling cornfield. Now I will never have an excuse to remember that it is outside of Grand Pre.

The Annapolis Valley is famous for its farming. Unfortunately I missed some prime shots of the apple orchards which once fed the world.

Some little farmsteads seem to sprawl into villages.

a little closer 

The country town sprawl of Falmouth

 A newer build , a bit like a Monopoly game house

An exceptionally long factory building from another era that I suspect had something to do with housing animals as it is so near the fairgrounds and the railroad tracks.

The trees are mixed making for some beautiful palettes.

The hills begin to roll again, part of the old Appalachian system of mountains.

another pretty tapestry

We're quite high now having climbed Mt. Uniak yet still higher mountains in the distance as the light fades causing for even poorer exposures.

As we come lower, a strange little road veering away from the highway.

It's been hard to find the time to prep pictures for the blog, so this is all I have for today. One last little squeeze out of October. But there's more. That will have to wait til a little later next month. I'll have plenty of catch up to do if I take my camera on those touristy jaunts to come.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you are cozy in this northern change of season. My friend in Saskatchewan is already experiencing snow. We're in the midst of another wind and rain storm like the 2 day one we had last week. That's late October for you!

love 

old houses and storefronts

This first week of September has been a busy one.
On Sunday, before Labour Day, I suggested we get ourselves off to our favourite cut rate supermarket.

As usual, Wally took the "short cut", the backroad to Wolfville, a lovely scenic route.

Coming into Port Williams, there are many beautiful houses, and many shots I lost due to low light and shooting from a moving car, but this delightful scene of an old man on one of 8 seats on the front porch was a keeper.

As we came to our turn, we come to two storefronts in two very old buildings that probably once had something to do with fishing as we are about to cross the Cornwallis River quite close to the Bay of Fundy.

This is big time farm country. Here we see the back of a big operation, Noggins Corner Farms, in front of which we'll pass on the slower road home. (I'll show you later.)

Nearing the corner we pass by this discreet laneway into the farmland.

Turning towards Wolfville, we are in Greenwich (GREN-ich).

The garage has never been open in the 5 years we've been here and it is after hours at the vet's so it makes for a lonely shot.

Most of the homes are older. This one has a huge rhododendron bush to the right.

This sweetie has a laneway that leads to other houses overlooking the farmfields. 

Another yellow house, twice as big.

This seems to be a humble 1940's interpretation of an Arts & Crafts style house that was most popular between 1910-1925, a favourite style of mine. This go at it has some of the generous proportions for such a little house and is built in the traditional but rare, for here, red brick. 

I can always tell when we're in Wolfville by the grander homes, this one with an extended front porch and extensions out back as well.

This lovely Victorian on a corner lot is enhanced by lots of flowering shrubbery.

The Wolfville Nursing home is grandest by far.

The Wolfville Baptist Church is magnificent even by big city standards. To it's right is the Acadia University Gallery and behind that, classrooms and then the great library which a regular library card will grant us access to.

Kitty-corner to the church is the library pub. Down that side street is the library that I've shown you before, located in the old train station.

Past the library pub and a few more shops including the Harvest Art Gallery is Paddy's Pub that ekes into the street for outdoor seating.

Again with another 2 shops inbetween (you may have noticed that that's how long my camera takes to ready itself for the next shot even at this slow through town pace) is the Acadia theatre, known now as the Al Whittle Theatre, that is devoted to more esoteric films.

This huge building houses Atlantic Lighting on the main floor

with incredible modern lighting choices.

Oh! My little camera is ready for the next building, the Bank of Montreal, or B-Mo as it is known.

Suddenly, in the middle of all this commercialism is a lovely patch

devoted to the Wolfville Post Office.

With its park like setting, its a wonder that there are not more visitors resting there- except that you would have to bring your own blanket.

Across the street is the Naked Crepe. It's amazing how many variations you can make with a crepe.

A few doors down from the post office is another eatery, the Pita House, and next to it Wild Lily.

Located in an old gas station and garage, Wild Lily is a delightful gift and women's clothing shop.

I got my spectacular whale and octopus glass Christmas ornaments there. And they pipe in the most delightful vintage music.

This is the corner we would turn to go into the Gaspereau Valley if we wanted to visit the wool shop.

But we turn instead toward the dykes at this corner of the Bay of Fundy to our destination, Cuts, where sweet potatoes sell for 28 cents a pound and sweet local corn for 15 cents each. I needed carrots which were fresh and bagged at $1.49 for 5 pounds.I always feel like quoting that IKEA commercial where the woman leaves the store wild-eyed, bags in hand, yelling to her husband,

"Start the car! Start the car!!"

Loaded up with fresh local produce, we head out of Wolfville past grand mansions.

Of course I'm getting better tree shots than houses because of the slow readings of my little camera.

Perhaps you remember this wonderful old saltbox house from past posts.

Now we are back in Greenwich passing this unusual pale pink roof with its old red roof.

Just try to find old red roof tiles these days; I couldn't.

This is prime farm market country but one rarely finds the little guys anymore.

More often it's these bigger operations like Noggins Corner Farm that seems to expand each year and hosts huge events like a corn maze that attracts thousands each fall.

I'm always delighted by this discreet country home each time we pass.

And this simple house comes alive with its magnificent landscape and red door and matching roof.

Doesn't the blue wheelbarrow set it all off!

Even this quaint sweetie has its charm.

Just beyond is Avery's a local chain that sells much local product.

We are coming into the land of subdivisions that is New Minas.

This is very typical of the kind of house I grew up in.

While our local Michaels gets much of Wally's hard-earned cash as it continues to provide us with much of the product you've seen me show in past posts, we're equally delighted with the vast sunsets we see from its parking lot. The treed hill will give you an idea of the abundance of fresh air we're privileged to have as well.

It is after hours at Canadian Tire that sits next door to the supermarket that we just dropped into to grab some pre Labour Day sales.

I still find some nostalgic charm to the old A&W design. Wally and I recalled how they used to bring a tray out to hang on your car window though neither of us recall the roller skating waitresses who once did, possibly before our time. Sounds dangerous anyway.

I really ought to show you some of the artwork I've been doing lately, but I'll have to save that for another day. In the meantime, I hope the weather has been kind to you in your part of the world. We're having some much needed rain.

peace dear people

peace