what $25 will get you at the farmers' market

• A dozen eggs
• One pint of raspberries
• Two pints of cherries
• Snow peas
• Green beans
• Baby carrots
• Potatoes
• Baby turnips
• A head of romaine

And it's all from Nova Scotia!

happy canada day!

We drove out to the beach at Martinique today, and I saw fifteen roadkill:

• 1 chipmunk.


• 1 black and white animal.


• 13 porcupines.

I think it must be hard to be a porcupine in the modern world.

recovered from our vacation

We both had a great time on our trips to BC, but returning home did require a bit of recovery... The jet lag seems to be harder coming east (or maybe it's just that you're going back to work?) and I definitely had a virus in my carry-on which Steve and I have both since defeated. The strangest fallout from the trip has been the after-effects of talking so much to everyone for a week solid: I have nothing more to say! The positive part of that is that I feel re-connected to all of my friends (thanks guys!) so my batteries are full for the summer.

And what a summer am I hoping for! I've been working on a list of fun things to do and see, and hopefully we'll get some of them done and you guys can see the photos. In the short term, here's what we're looking forward to:

• The end of PGY1, aka the end of this ridiculous general surgery rotation*, aka the beginning of all-anesthesia, (almost-)all-the-time.


• BBQ to celebrate the end of PGY1 on Monday (with Steve's co-residents)


• BBQ to celebrate the beginning of the next year next Saturday (with the whole anesthesia department)


• Waves on Tuesday for a Canada Day surf (which is a very traditional way of celebrating Canada Day, as my dad points out...)

* This surgery rotation has been ridiculous (from my non-surgical point of view). They start at 6:30 am, and Steve is never home before me. It's usually after 6 or closer to 7. And if he's on call, he works from 6:30 am until about noon the next day, so his post-call day is basically shot... But there's only one more (long) day of Sunday call.

nothing to say...

I haven't had a lot to say lately, so you haven't had a lot to look at. I'm sure things will get more exciting when it's officially summer. (That'll happen on June 16th in my mind, when Steve and I are both back in Halifax!)

Steve's mom visited for a week from the 17th to the 24th, and these are photos from her visit. We've got: Peggy's Cove, Mahone Bay, Lunenburg, and the Eastern Shore.

Steve's in BC right now, surfing on the island, visiting in Kamloops, and shopping in Vancouver. I'm heading out on the 6th, and I'll be doing the exact same, except substitute surfing for a wedding on the island. Definitely looking forward to it!

filming a movie

Last week, the harbour boardwalk outside the Maritime Museum was turned into an old-time working harbour as a movie set. Judging mainly from the menu items available at the 'cafes' and the available 'destinations' on the shipping posters, I think it was San Francisco. Another clue is that the Acadia had a big American flag on the back. (The Acadia is an old navy ship that is permanently moored along the boardwalk, and can be visited as part of the Maritime Museum. My parents checked it out last fall, and got an exceptional tour from someone who had actually served on the ship during the Second World War, I believe.)

Construction began around last Monday, and the first photos were taken on Wednesday.

On Friday morning, the "Ghost" had arrived. The Acadia is to the left.

The "Macedonia" was also arriving on Friday morning (and was docked like this in the afternoon).

The storefronts were completed and the cargo was ready for shipping on Friday morning.

And on Friday afternoon - it was chaos! There were hundreds of extras, including a team of two horses. The wind was blowing the American flag straight out from the stern of the Acadia, people were getting ready to load things on and off of the ship, and a bunch of guys were rowing around in dinghys.

The movie is a remake of Seawolf, which I understand is a novel by Jack London and has been made into a film previously. Of course there are some stars in it, but I didn't see them....

And of course there were green screens to block out the skyline!

spring!

Things are starting to green-up around here, and I have faith that there will be official leaves on the trees by the time Steve's mom arrives next weekend. (Jan - better bring a variety of clothes: something warm, something waterproof, something summery!)

(I took these photos with my phone. Not awesome,

but I'm happy enough with the quality.)

canada 5 vs usa 4

Yesterday, Steve and I stopped by the Metro Centre to see if there were any tickets available to the IIHF games. Although the game had been advertised as sold out, we got two seats in the upper bowl for today's game of Canada vs USA! The game was very exciting: a little too close perhaps, with Canada winning by one goal scored in the last minute, but very, very fun!

(Cute super-fan in front of us. He had a Huet t-shirt on under his Canada jersey.)

(Cam Ward was our MVP, and he definitely earned it.)

the buy and sell

If you ever come across a couple of hours to completely waste, I recommend Kijiji, which is one version of online classifieds. (In Halifax, no one uses Craigslist, but there's over 7000 entries in the furniture section for Kijiji. Actually, we found this current apartment on Kijiji last summer.) Unfortunately, the result of looking at hundreds of old and ugly and overpriced items is that sometimes you see something that is old and ugly-in-a-way-you-like and pretty cheap. Then you really want it... So now I have two new pieces of furniture!

The first one is a fiberglass Eames shell chair, which is a classic made by Herman Miller. (Note to parents: yes, this looks just like a boring plastic chair, but it is designer, so it is cool. Was that a flashback to 1992 and me wanting an Espirit t-shirt? Yep, I think so.) Price: $30, delivered.


Yesterday, I made Steve go on a drive out to East Uniacke (outside of Mount Uniacke, which is outside of Sackville, which is outside of Halifax) to get the second piece. This older couple was selling their place (and extra stuff) at the end of a gravel road on a little lake because it was getting too busy, and moving to cottage country, up by Windsor. (I don't know where Windsor is, or if it is cottage-y up there, but I guess I'll find out eventually. Our impression of their current place wasn't really one of busy-ness...)

It's a room divider / sideboard that they got from Eaton's back in the day (60s? 70s?). It's solid wood (pine?), covered in veneer (walnut?) that's in perfect shape. It's about 5 feet long, a foot deep and table height. The cool thing is that it's finished on both sides; the cupboard at the end has a door on either side! (The doors have magnetic latches.) Price: $60.

It would be perfect for one of those post-war bungalows where the front door goes right into the dining and living room (like Jean's place in Regina). I think you could buy those houses from Eaton's too, in kit form. Oh, and the other cool thing about the sideboard is that it is a perfect match for my mom's hope chest (which I think may have also come from Eaton's). So it's sort of like having a piece of home out here! (Finally, just to reassure you about our decorating tastes, the key will be to match this with some modern pieces when we get to the condo. Somehow I don't think the brand-new condo would be at its best if filled with semi-vintage stuff from the 70s....)

science experiment

It turns out that you can grow an onion in a cup of water (to a certain point).

We found an onion that was sprouting in the cupboard, and I poked it with toothpicks and suspended it in some water. It grew for a couple of weeks (using its own nutrients?), and then ran out of steam when the green shoots were about 10 inches tall. Nature!

it's bbq season

It was a great weekend. Reasons why it was so great:

• Sushi for dinner on Friday.
• Bought a BBQ at Rona on Saturday! (Then we lined up with everyone else who was in love with the warm weather to get our brand-spanking new propane tank filled up!)
• Went out with Ian for beers and dinner on Saturday. (Earlier on Saturday, Steve and Ian went for a dawn patrol surf, which got good reviews from both of them. I went for a run and did spring cleaning instead. It may sound less glamourous, but the results were worht it. The whole world got brighter after I washed the sliding door!)
• Went to the flea market on Sunday and bought a vase for $1. What a deal!
• Hosted our first barbeque on Sunday. Steve did salmon two ways: with dijon and herbs, and with wasabi and soy sauce. Both were incredible, and everyone was impressed. (I received a compliment on my roasted potatoes from a real PEIslander, and they have high standards for potatoes.) We had six people over, which is our maximum capacity. One of them was Darcy, who will be starting his residency in anesthesia here in July - new friend!

I think that's pretty much it. Next time we grill something, I'll take a photo of Steve for his fans...

a great start to the day

Good morning! First - I can't believe I haven't posted since April 5th... I guess there just has not been a lot going on (which may be an understatement!). The good news is that the weather is getting better, so we'll be able to start getting out and about on the weekends. Then I can post some more activities-oriented stuff (rather than sewing-related stuff, which is losing readership, I hear!).

Anyways, here are my tips on a great way to start your day:

• First, walk to the ferry terminal in the sunshine.
• Hop on the ferry, and look out the window at the calm harbour.
• Last, but definitely not least, keep looking out the window in case you see something interesting.

What would be interesting? Watching a whale swim out of the harbour!!!! Isn't that cool?!? Apparently they sometimes follow schools of fish into the harbour. Whatever the reason, it totally made my Thursday.

someone else's condo unit

Last weekend we toured the condo again. There was no appreciable progress on our unit, but the ones on the first and second floors are coming along nicely: drywalled, mudded, light switches and fixtures, some with underlay on the floor, some glass bricks and glass walls done, doors in.

The photos are from the unit on the first floor with the same floor plan as us.

When we went in January, these units looked kind of 'meh', and now they look pretty good. I'm using that improvement to calculate that our unit will go from looking pretty good to hot awesome. When it's finished (in 2012?), we'll see how that works out... ;-) (We haven't got an updated move-in date, but I am clinging to the hope that they'll get it wrapped up by the end of July!)

As far as fixtures go, I don't mind the round ceiling lights (they're practically invisible), but the others... The track lighting reminds me of the track lighting in our Holt Street house that was impossible to change the lightbulbs, so whenever the bulbs burnt out, my dad had to get a new fixture that would hopefully be better and work longer! And the 'chandelier' will be swapped out: Bo, you're coming to Halifax.

why is the ocean salty?

I can't remember the real answer to this question, but the following may be part of the reason why the Halifax Harbour is salty! These are some fairly typical examples of sidewalk-salting technique out here (all taken Friday morning on my way to work). I'm not sure if this is how its done in climates like this everywhere, or if this is unique to Halifax... It does add grip though.

(It also reminds me of my thesis, which was on stormwater management. At least in Alberta, stormwater management focused on sediment and stuff suspended in the water; salt and whatever else was dissolved in the water wasn't even on the radar. Imagine these kilometres of salt draining into some salmon stream, a couple of times a week throughout the winter? Yikes.)

fourth-last day of march

On Friday, the fourth-last day of March (seventh day of spring?), this is what my walk home along the harbour looked like:

It had snowed continuously all day, yet it was so calm (and the water so cold) that the snow simply collected on the surface of the harbour! Needless to say, if spring won't arrive outdoors, we will force it indoors. Last week, we had tulips; this week, pink hyacinths.

strathcona baby!

The top-secret project I was working on a couple of weeks ago has been successfully delivered to its new family, so I can immortalize it on the web without ruining any surprises!

I ordered the patchwork fabric from CheapThreads via Etsy, knowing exactly what it would be used for: a baby blanket for Evan and Katrina's soon-to-arrive kidlet. I don't know if the baby is a boy or a girl, but the fabric isn't too pink or too blue (or too 'babyish' for grown-up or big-kid tastes!).

This was the first quilt or blanket I've ever made, and it was a super-fun project. I love how it turned out, and Steve, Evan and Katrina all backed me up with positive feedback (phewf!).

spring has sprung

Just not in Halifax! March has not been a good month for weather. Today snowflakes are floating around, but they're not amounting to anything. Yesterday was freezing rain. I skated along the sidewalk to work, and Steve saw four ladies in emerg who had slipped and broken their wrists (plus however many the rest of the staff saw). The beginning of last week was super windy, with gusts up to 100 kmh creating waves in the harbour larger than some I've surfed. Last weekend, we got about six inches of snow, which is when the photo was taken. And it all started off with more freezing rain and snow and snow and snow. April showers is beginning to look good to me! But I've got four days off, plus Steve has Saturday, Sunday and Monday afternoon off, so the possibilities are endless...

a little bit of decorating

I got these wall decals from my sister as a birthday present in January. They come from Blik, and are made of re-stickable vinyl. Super easy to apply, won't leave a mark, and apparently will live to stick again in the new place. I think they totally add class to the fake wood panelling on the closet door. Totally.

If you're interested, check out Blik's website at http://www.whatisblik.com/. They have a (really, really ridiculously) huge selection.

PS. I have finished another project, which I'll show you once we give it to the recipient. Ooh, the anticipation!

more condo news!

I got the latest edition of the "Spice" newsletter and there's some good news in there, such as:

• "You will be moving to your new homes at Spice within the next few months." (We are still suspicious this may be more like June or July, but either way, we're getting closer and that's fine with us!)
• "Drywall is nearly completed on the second floor." (This is definitely good progress.)
• "You will be happily surprised to see how the values on your units have appreciated over the past year." (Phewf. Looking at what's for sale lately in Halifax, I still think we've got a great deal, and hopefully it will continue to appreciate until we sell! I guess higher values mean higher taxes though.)

Plus, we get to go have another look in two weeks, on March 29th!

condo siding

Here it is!

Pea soup green, as Steve calls it. I think the building is going to be a bunch of different colours. This is a good start though. (That's what I say now... Hopefully that green isn't the 'harvest gold' of whenever we want to sell the place!)

quick update

You may suspect from my blogging absence that we are either a) dead or otherwise unavailable or b) doing too much fun stuff to have time to blog. Neither would be true! We are still kicking, just passing the weeks by. What is relatively new and relatively interesting?

Well, the condo is still under construction, but a couple of new developments have been spotted. First, beams have been put across some of the 'indents', which will support concrete for the decks. (Phewf. We thought they may have forgotten the decks.) Second, sheets of drywall can be spotted on the first, second and third floors. Third, they have actually started putting up a bit of siding! This is quite exciting, because it's good eye candy work. I've got a photo on my phone which I'll download after work.

In the work department, not much new to report at Halifax Regional Municipality. Steve is finishing up a rotation in gyne onc this week, and begins four weeks of emergency on Thursday. Since emerg is shift work, he will have lots of time to do various chores he's been saving up (e.g. dentist, passport renewal, etc). I think he's really looking forward to that... (At this point, it's four more months of emerg, ICU and surgery until it's all anesthesia all the time.)

In the weather department, well, it's still winter. -9 C this morning, which has been pretty typical for March so far. I am looking forward to it getting a little warmer, but in the meantime, I definitely appreciate having a little more daylight!

Finally, there are a couple more sewing projects in the works, but they either need to be delivered or finished before they get immortalized on the web.

winter again? or winter still?

Steve's away at Martock Mountain for the annual anesthesia residents' retreat. Martock is the ski hill close to Halifax, and according to the ski report, the conditions are "awesome - all seven runs are open!" But I'm sure they're having fun.

I am also having fun, enjoying the very blustery weather and trying to wear out the sewing machine. Unfortunately.... I can't show you what I was working on, because it's a gift.

But here are some snowflakes to tide you over!

second project

We had such a relaxing weekend, and I still managed to make a bunch of baby shoes in my little sweatshop! There's a lot of babies out there waiting to be born to potential-parent friends of ours, so I thought I should get a jump on things. Plus I like to do things in multiples - remember the Christmas decorations?

Liz: I'm sorry I didn't discover this 'pattern' until now - these will be too small for Sooz.... :-(

Most of the rest of the weekend revolved around food. We stocked up at the farmers' market and Costco, and had a GREAT dinner with Clark and Steph at Jane's on the Commons (such good food, such good service, such good value!), not to mention DQ ice cream cake afterwards. Finally, I have another post in mind about food, but I'll wait until next time for that.