oh, the irony

It's not really surprising that after bragging about the weather yesterday, today has just been getting colder and colder. 17 degrees and dropping, then it's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow. Oh well.

Actually, though, this is a good thing. Halifax needs to get some nasty weather out of the way from now until Tuesday.... because.... on Wednesday.... my parents arrive!!! (Six more sleeps! Yippee!) They arrive very bright and early Wednesday morning, and leave the next Tuesday morning, so that gives us 6 full days to do fun stuff. So far, plans include: seafood, fall colours, hopefully Cape Breton over the weekend, and taste tests of the products of Halifax's breweries. Below, see the Garrison Brewery, home of Steve's favourite Nut Brown Ale.

i like this

I saw this house in the south end a couple of weeks ago, and loved their deck. Beautiful afternoon sun, spacious deck, lots of privacy. If it was 31 degrees outside (hypothetically speaking), I'd like to have a beer up there.

(Come on. I've got to rub it in when it's hot here, cause it's going to be foggy and snowing and cold pretty soon...)

hot hot hot

Fall has definitely hit its stride out here... Today's high: 31 degrees. Oh yeah!

Hot, perfectly sunny, calm, and salty smelling. I can't really believe it, in a way. We got fog through July for this now? Too weird!

Steve had the morning off (he started peds emerg this afternoon) so headed off at 7 am for a surf which probably turned out awesome. (I don't know yet though, cause he's on evening shifts, 4 pm to midnight. Will catch up with him on Friday night!)

And, here's a link to a webcam on the harbour boardwalk. I walk by the little snack shack on the right at about 7:55 am and 4:55 pm weekdays. Keep your eyes peeled! ha ha ;-) (That's actually a little creepy now that I think about it: commuter stalking via webcam. Yuck. But you guys can still have the link.)

http://www.halifaxwebcam.ca/live/index.php?CURRENT_CAM=cam5&SET_CAM=cam5

weekend update

It's been a good weekend after a good week. My second two days of work went well, and I think I'm getting the hang of what I need to do. Next week: learn the computer system, and start learning all of the exceptions to the rules (that's where a lot of post-its will come in handy!).

On Friday night, Steve and I met up with my family friend Sandy from Victoria, who was passing through Halifax on a bus tour. We went out for dinner, which was nice, cause I haven't seen Sandy in years. It was also our second 'family' event of the week - on Monday we met up with some other family friends, Dave and Leeann - also from Victoria, also in Nova Scotia at the moment. Same story (i.e. I haven't seen them in years), so also very good to see them. Plus, those were our first experiences 'hosting' in Halifax! We took Dave and Leeann to the Henry House pub, which is a very old Halifax institution, and then we took Sandy to the Economy Shoe Shop, which is a huge, cavernous, mazelike restaurant, despite the name. Not bad choices, I think.

This weekend was pretty lazy and relaxing - no waves, so no beach, but apparently the swell is coming sometime this week. We focused mainly on food: farmers market on Saturday morning, a long run-walk and baking on Saturday afternoon, good dinners both days, and Pete's Frootique this afternoon. Most tasty purchase (so far): fresh apples from the farmers market. Weird purchase of the week: sage-infused Derby cheddar from Pete's. (We haven't tried it yet, but I imagine it'll taste like the Kamloops hills!)

Steve would like to put a disclaimer in about the cheese because otherwise "people will think we're yuppies". The real story is that we get all distracted in the cheese section, cause Pete's has a million kinds, and they all seem so strange and wonderful - how could you not try them? So you see, we're not yuppies, we're just curious, clueless bumpkins.

good news!

And the good news is: I got a job! I am a development technician with the city of Halifax, with a temporary position up to 90 days (which is December 14th, if you're interested).

Cathy, the lawyer I was working for, had recommended me to someone she knew at the city, and a month or so later, this person remembered me while they were looking to quickly fill a temporary position in their department ('temporary' meant there didn't need to be an open competition). It definitely goes to show that it really is who you know (unfortunately), but it certainly worked out for me this time! I interviewed last Thursday, got the word on Monday, and started today.

I think it's going to be quite fun (in a nerdy planning way), and I'll definitely learn a lot about the municipal planning and development process out here (which will help me when I get the boot from the temporary position).

And, to make you guys VERY jealous, I'll put up some pictures of my very first commute today. I walk down to the harbour, then take a 10-minute ferry to Dartmouth, and the office is in the ferry terminal. Isn't that cute? (And so Grey's Anatomy - when McDreamy takes the ferry in Seattle... Anyone? Anyone?)

Looking back towards Halifax

Looking ahead to Dartmouth

On the way home this afternoon - yep, that's a real live pirate ship.

rain and shine

Another good weekend - Saturday was the perfect storm, but we relaxed and got some errands crossed off the list. Look at all of that water! (And it was that dark around 4 pm...)


Today we did the usual - headed out to Martinique. There are lobster boats and traps along the road out there, which is so pretty.

Then, there's Steve surfing, and the cute shorebirds (plovers, I think). It got nice and sunny after I finished my book (Bel Canto, again, by Ann Patchett), so I went for a run along the beach. The rocks behind Steve are just a little point, and the beach continues on the other side for ages - it took 25 minutes to get to the other end.

I also saved a fox's life today. I was wandering around (post-book, pre-run) to see if camping was allowed, and suddenly a fox burned out of the bushes right at me, instantly followed by this (very cute) golden lab (which had been continuously running away from its owners into the woods). I was totally dumbstruck, then turned around to watch them - just as the dog caught the fox by the tail and gave it one quick toss. Luckily, the fox got away, but the dog followed it. The same thing happened again in the next picnic clearing (I was running after them by this point), and it looked to me that the fox was getting more tired than the dog. Since the dog had been running away from its owner, I knew its name was Kaya, so I just yelled "KAYA!" as loud as I could, and it stopped chasing the fox. I yelled "NO", and then the owner whistled and the dog ran back towards the beach. It was an odd experience. The fox was beautiful, about 3 feet long, half body and head, and half big red tail. It surprised me how fast the dog was (or how relatively slow / tired the fox was). I hope the fox is okay.

Afterwards, we needed to fill our tanks, so stopped at Harbour Fish and Fries. Dangerous. But we're getting better at scaling back our orders to a reasonable amount. Then, we headed out to Kannon Beach, the surf shop at Lawrencetown.... And I did it, I finally did it - I got my wetsuit, and booties, and new gloves (for Steve, who's handing his down to me). Below: Hilarious photo of me in my seal suit.

my parents' deck

Here's a couple of shots of my parents' deck in Kamloops. I haven't seen it in person yet, but I love it! It just looks like the epitome of Kamloops summer bbqs to me... Their yard backs onto Kenna Cartwright Park, so it's just them and the hill (and the pine beetles, I guess).

And, you may have noticed from the previous post that my parents are into rock walls - maybe they can get some Nova Scotia tips for their backyard...

I think this is the coolest! The little garden shed (see it on the left?) has a glass mosaic window that my mom made. When you turn the light on in the shed at night, the window glows!

canada's ocean playground

Life is continuing on. This is my last scheduled week at the law office, and I should have an idea of what happens next tomorrow, hopefully. I'll keep you posted! Last weekend was very low-key, so unfortunately I don't have much to report to you all, but I have some pictures left to post. We were productive this evening though; headed over to Access Nova Scotia and turned ourselves and the corolla in Nova Scotians. New licences, new plates, new life in "Canada's Ocean Playground".


One more thing: when any of you visit, we'll go to Pete's Frootique and get some good snacks. It's the yuppie grocery store downtown, and has great food - nice produce, amazing cheeses (we tried gouda with stinging nettles!), good seafood and butcher section, and all sorts of strange and expensive crackers and cereals and whatnot.


Mom - here's one more rock wall to tide you over until you get here. And I do promise blue sky at Thanksgiving, but I don't know what the temperature will be!

This is a typical residential street - they almost all have sidewalks and boulevards with huge trees. It'll be gorgeous when the leaves change colours (they're all still green at the moment).

still kicking

Sorry I haven't updated this in a while - it's been a strange combination of busy and lazy! We had a fun weekend, and then it was back to work. I actually won poker last night, which was pretty exciting. I'm sure Bo would be surprised by my new skillz.... Anyways, here's a picture of the harbour, looking east from the train tracks.

i like this

I saw this front garden on the weekend, and it really appealed to me. It looks like it's mainly small heather plants, plus grasses and the little shrub with the purple flowers. Probably low maintenance and low watering requirements...

i forgot

I forgot to put up these two pictures. They're basically located in the little pink circle on the map in the last post. The first one is where the King of Halifax lives. (So Steve tells me.) The bottom one is an MLAs office, and it's a heritage building. It has the most beautiful foundation made of big granite blocks (even though that is one of the weirdest things I've ever heard!).

working harbour

The Halifax harbour is an actual working harbour, which is interesting from an urban planning perspective. They're beginning to have more pressure for land in the downtown core, and a lot of the peninsula is taken up with land uses that aren't particularly attractive or useful for downtown yuppies (e.g. berths for container ships, shipyards, naval bases, army bases). But, on the other hand, it's all a part of the city's heritage and economy, and they probably pay more taxes than residential buildings. (Although, you don't even want to know what property tax will be for our new condo - they estimate it'll be $2400 annually. For comparison, my parent's brand new house in Kamloops on a 50x180 foot lot has property taxes of about $2900.) Anyways, here's some shots of both the tourist-friendly and not areas...


Pier 21 is located in the blue circle, and has the cruise ship docking area right behind it. All of the tourists head north from that area. The numbered piers continue south from that point, and the working piers are in the red circle. Train tracks run approximately along the grey line. (South of the train tracks is a beautiful residential neighbourhood.)

some typical Halifax homes

Here are some photos of some typical houses in the south end of Halifax. In this area, the homes are fairly nice, although many of them have been converted to rental units for students. (Conversely, towards the middle of the peninsula, there are still lots of these semi-detached places, but they're generally less ornate - more like boxes with oddly placed windows!)

(This last one is taken from our balcony - I like to check out their garden!)

i like this

Every so often I come across stuff that I like, but doesn't really seem worth a full blog entry... But, on the other hand, it could be perfect for a real short entry! So here you go...

I like this house in the south end of Halifax. Why? I like the porch on the side, I like the hedge of wild roses, I like the little brick driveway (instead of a garage), I like the goofy little window on the second floor, I like the sunny exposure (I think it would hit the porch in the afternoon/evening). It's cute.

BCN influence

Two things happened today which reminded me of Barcelona. First, I was out on a walk / run / photo excursion, and came across this shrub.

Doesn't it look like the giant seating tiles made by Escofet? I thought so.

The second thing was a shopping miracle, if such a thing exists. I've been looking for work shoes, and have come up with quite the list of criteria: comfy, yet at least somewhat stylish; must look good with pants or skirts; good value for money, etc. I had looked at the shops here, and nothing was grabbing me. This is where the Barcelona influence comes in: I really wanted a pair of Campers. They'd be 'different' than the shoes from the Halifax shops, better value, more comfortable, and last forever. Today I wandered down to Kickass Shoes on Queen Street, and got incredibly lucky: one pair of Campers, suitable for work, 70% off!! For $67 including HST, I did get some kickass shoes (and now I can stop obsessing about it!).

sad news

Steve's in Regina this weekend for a memorial service for his grandpa. It wasn't a surprise, so that's positive, but still sad overall. Hopefully he'll get to see some cousins that he hasn't seen in a while.

housing, chapter 4: the furniture

The pictures in my previous post reminded me of how happy I am to have furniture! When we moved into the rental apartment, we had nothing - just Clark's airbed and two lawn chairs! We had to furnish the apartment within a tight budget, yet also knowing that we would be furnishing a cool new condo in the next year. It was a strange dilemma / balance.


Anyways, we got the table and chairs off Kijiji (which we plan to resell), the resin shelves from Canadian Tire (which will go in the storage room of the condo), and a nice bed from the Brick (which may be even cozier than our Calgary bed!).


As for the rest of it, it turned out that Ikea was the best bet, even considering we had to order it online, pay a delivery charge and wait for it!!! We got the futon, coffee table, tv stand, desk, and two lamps from Ikea for $750 total, and it's great. Price check: it would have been $650 for just a futon from the store in Halifax, so we got all of that other stuff for $100 (if you believe in that kind of accounting!). Plus, I think it looks better, and it can even go in the condo until we decide what we want / save up.

I like having a couch to sit on. Our sweet tv was handed down to us from July's furnished sublet, which is a bonus. It's nice to be able to watch a dvd, but I'd hate to spend money on a tv right now! Batik fabric curtain courtesy of the market in Bali from earlier this summer.

housing, chapter 3: the apartment

Anyways, to finally finish this saga... Once we had put our offer in on the condo, we needed to find a place to live in the interim, from August to.... well, to whenever they let us move in (January? March? June? who knows?). I went on the hunt for shelter again, which included as many uninspiring places as the other search had. But, the difference between renting and owning reared its head again: renting an uninspiring place = a temporary issue, whereas buying an uninspiring place = an assault on your sense of self. This was definitely an easier search.

Halifax has a huge rental market, because of all of the universities, I assume. Places range from attic suites, to huge old houses converted into many 1-3 bedroom suites, to typical apartment buildings ranging from 3 to 20 storeys. I finally settled on a very average apartment. "Very average" here is a very positive term; it's relatively cheap, has all the space we need, and is in a good location.

The downside is that nearly every rental unit in Halifax comes with a 12 month lease. (I think this is so the landlords guarantee themselves some income in the summer, when most / all of the students disappear.) So we've committed ourselves until the end of next July, which is hopefully much longer than we'll need it. The saving grace is that because of the ubiquitous 1 year leases, sublets are very common, and you can break your lease if you find a new tenant to start their own new lease. That's actually how we got the place: the previous tenant was moving to Edmonton, so she posted the apartment on Kijiji. So it should be okay in the end.

Anyways, here are some (slightly blurry) pictures. No pictures of the bedroom because: a) it's kind of dark and hard to photograph, and b) it's just full of clothes and moving boxes waiting for their time to shine again. (The big poppies on the wall are basically post-it stickers.)