If you could read my mind ...

The poster said:

3rd Annual Holistic and Psychic Fair

Join the many wonderful, light minded people

who are coming together

to share their skills and wisdom!

I thought "light minded" was some sort of delightful Freudian slip typo -- like "three bricks short of a load". 

But it's the other kind of light.  The light from within.  

Why do they need to put up direction signs ? Shouldn't folk just know where it is ?

Hmmmm.  The folk at the tea leaf, reading booth were drinking coffee from paper cups.  Am I the only one who finds that amusing ?

There was palm and aura reading, angel guide readers, hypnotists, energy healers, psychic readers, chakra clearing, theta healing and a witch or two.   There was even a trained Abundance and  Perception Coach.   Whaaaaaat  ???   Why not skip the coach and just buy the $2  Abundance tokens ?   I know who's going to have all that "abundance".  The person selling the tokens, that's who !

There were crystals and rocks, and gems and eagle feathers, sage to be smudged and bowls that ring and maybe sing.    There were humming tuning forks, wands, rough stones, tumbled stones, talking runes, spheres, chakra jewellery, totem carvings and magic spells.

Part of me wants to believe in the different and "supernatural". Part of me looks at it all with a jaundiced, mocking eye.  I wonder, is fear at the heart of that mockery ?  Am I afraid of what I don't understand ?

I'll give it more thought tomorrow -- while I'm smudging my house.

a b

 
 

Hamlet    Act 1, scene 5

Horatio: [coming across Hamlet talking to his father's ghost]
               O day and night, but this is wondrous strange!

Hamlet:  And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.
               There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
               than are dreamt of in your philosophy.


A walk worth waiting for.

Janet and I had been talking about getting together for ages.   Today we actually made it.   It's funny how two retirees have to wait a couple of months before locking down a time when their schedules mesh.

A walk at Point Pleasant Park and a coffee sounded like a good plan.  It was a nice morning.  Not sunny but not too cold or windy.   I'd brought Buffy, Sooki and Chandler to join us on our walk.

The trails snaking throughout the park provided us with endless route possibilities. The paths were a bit slippery so we didn't move as fast as we'd like.  I think I'm glad as I suspect my version of  fast wouldn't come close to Janet's.

We encountered many folk walking dogs but none with as many as Steve.  Steve is a professional dog walker and has been known to have as many as 12 dogs with him.  We stopped for a chat and to admire his pack.

Continuing on our way we were surprised to come across a cleverly disguised group of terrorist trainees in the midst of a garrotting class. 

Frightened they might see us clandestinly photographing them, we hid under a picnic table until they all moved off shouting and pumping their fists in the air.

After our close brush with the ladies-for-hire and their fake baby carriages we decided to make good our escape and head for the coffee shop where we had a lovely natter and vowed not to let so much time pass before our next get together.

A walk on the soggy side ...

It's hard to believe that we were enduring bitter temperatures just two days ago when the laundry I was hanging out didn't really need clothes pins, as the wet cloth folded over the line quickly froze in place.

Yet today it's raining.  Travel inland just a few kilometers and you'll encounter freezing, trecherous driving conditions.  But here it is above zero with a steady mist falling;  the "coastal effect" certainly dominates the weather in Eastern Passage.

Once more I heeded the "pull" of the woods at the end of the street.  I hoped it might be more sheltered there than along the wind blown cliffs of Hartlen Point.

But wet is wet and and in short time rain had saturated my coat and I could feel it chilling my shoulders in my shirt beneath.  My feet remained dry as I wore "wellies" rather than my leaky winter boots.

I had the whole pack with me.  As usual, Chandler happily ran wherever his twitching nose led.  Wendy and Trey chased the ball and occassionally Buffy would steal it and romp through the undergrowth, ecstatic that Trey was chasing her.  Sooki couldn't make up her mind so she alternately tagged along after Chandler and the "ball" gang. 

Sometimes our rambles led us onto old paths that meandered around and joined newer ones in unexpected locations.

It was wonderful to explore a rough cut road that I had discovered on a past walk.  It looped along in a "U" shape but we turned back halfway along as we were all soaked and we still had a half hour walk back home. 

Even wet and chilled, I marvelled at the wonders around me:  trees dripping with lichen,  moss still growing green -- and suspended droplets everywhere.

A walk on the COLD side ...

Today was a sunny, breezy, bitter cold day.  It was the kind of day best observed from inside looking out the window, sipping a nice cup of hot tea, and not experienced directly.  So of course I took three of the dogs to Shubie Park for a walk.

I expected to find clear paths after Friday's rain.  Sadly, they were slick and lethal.  The fact I was optomistically wearing running shoes didn't help.  I walked stiffly and slowly on the icy paths, seeking out areas where gravel had been stewn. 

Lake Banook runs along one side of the Shubie trail and its surface was frozen and glass-like.

Not far off, I could see people walking on the ice to explore a normally inaccessible little island. 

More amazingly, in the distance were ice boaters whizzing rapidly across the sheer surface.  

Later, on my way home, I stopped to have a closer look at the ice boaters.  They were travelling at wonderful speeds, criss-crossing each other's paths and clearly having a lot of fun.  But look more closely !   That's open water on the left side of the picture.

The question: "What were they thinking ?" comes to mind.

Feeling sleepy

We're tired. 

Today we went for walks,

and runs,

and played tug 'o war,

and one of us even went to doggy school.

Like I said. 

We're tired.

'night.

Lost and found ...

The boggy wood at the end of my street is like a big magnet for me.  I love exploring the forest.  Today I thought I'd blaze some entirely new trails.  I brought along my BIG clippers that will cut one inch diameter branches.  I also had four dogs in tow.

About three inches of snow blanketed the ground and a light snow was falling.

The going got tough pretty quickly.  Often my way was blocked by trees that had been knocked over in the fall's heavy windstorms forcing me to find new routes and climb over deadfalls.

While I tried to find the path of least resistance the dogs did the opposite, romping through the undergrowth, noses to the ground.

Eventually my wandering stopped being fun .   I didn't want to follow my own tracks back the difficult way I'd come.  There was no easy path back.  Heck, I wasn't even sure which way WAS back.  For a mere moment I felt a slight panic.  Why had I waited till so late in the day for my walk ?

Though it was overcast, I could see the watery sunlight was brighter in one direction.  I knew that was the general direction of my house. I headed that way but was constantly forced to change direction.  Proceeding in a straight line was impossible.

As I walked I kept my eye out for ribbons as my earlier blazed trails are marked with them.  The main path with blue and side paths with silver.

And then I saw it.   Such a small little thing.  A sliver of silver tied to a tree.  And farther along another one.  And another.  I'd always set the ribbons up so that each ribon was visible from the previous one.

Yipeeee !   Now the hike was fun again. 

I could just enjoy the walk.  I even stopped to take pictures of some neat gooey orange fungus on a tree.   

This is one of the reasons I love exploring.  So many amazing things to see.

But in future I'll be staying on my marked trails.

Walkies ...

Yesterday Shubie -- today Point Pleasant Park.  Been for a couple of lovely walks since we had the mini snow dump on Wednesday.

Wendy and Sooki stare out the car windows barely controlling their excitement.  Their eye's clearly asking:  "Are we there yet ?".

It's lovely strolling along and chatting with other dog folk.

  You never know WHO you'll meet at the park !

Buffy and Sooki play endless, joyful games of pant-pant, chase-chase.  It is an exciting, running game that has no written rules (the downside of not having opposable thumbs).

The temperature hovers around zero and away from the ocean there is little wind. 

It's not hard to tell which way the wind was blowing during Wednesday's storm.

Click the above picture to see a view Halifax's cargo port and the oil tanks on the eastern shore of the harbour taken from Point Pleasant Park.

When's our next walk ?

 

A trip back east ... er ... west ...

Just got back from a lovely short holiday with family in Ottawa and Toronto courtesy of my wonderful brother Darrell.  No, you can't have him, he's taken.  No, he can't adopt you, but I fully understand why you'd wish he would.  This is the same brother who took me on a trip to the Greek Islands back in October.  If you're not already jealous enough -- he brought me tea in bed !   Nyahh, nyahh.

Together we made like tourists and saw some sights in Ottawa. We wandered around the parliament buildings.

 

While there, we checked out the feral cat colony that has existed in the shadow of the parliament buildings since the 1970's.  The cats are trapped, neutered and released to live out their "wild" lives in these very nice digs.  Apparently it's not just the cats who enjoy a free lunch.  Click the picture to see who's coming to dinner. 

Later we visited the Royal Canadian Mint. What luck ! It was free sample day !

Did you know Canada has two Mints ?  No, I'm not talking candies.  The Ottawa Mint does not make our circulation coins.  The Winnipeg mint produces all our circulation coins and also coins for many foregin countries who can't produce their own coins.  The Ottawa mint makes commemorative coins.  Heck,  your Canadian Tire commemorative coin was made there !  Canada has developed a technique to mint the purest gold in the world.  To commemorate our really swell gold, in 2007 the Mint made five 100-kg, .99999 pure gold bullion coins with a face value of one million dollars.  They were each the size of a small coffee table top, which is lucky because apparently some rich dude in UAE is using one of them for just that !  

We travelled by train from Ottawa to Toronto where we stayed with Darrell's eldest son and his lovely family. We went to their son's hockey game and to a musical at the Canon Theatre.

My other nephews and my niece dropped in for hugs and some stimulating conversations.  It was really a terrific visit.

And the best thing of all ?

My house was still intact when I got home.

Ducky New Year !

Walker's Feeds on Cole Harbour Road is a regular sort of rural feed store selling seed, hay, straw and assorted livestock supplies  I buy bales of straw there to scatter around my sodden yard. 

The store has a pond beside it.  The pond wasn't always there.  The owners dug it some time ago. And then the Mallard ducks arrived. 

Recently I bought the cheapest birthday present there. It was a $1.25 bag of cracked corn.  

If you only have $1.25 in your pocket go to Walker's Feeds.  Come out the door clutching your bag of corn.  No need to call the ducks.  They know what you're carrying and will run and flap and quack their way up from the pond to circle you.  They will crowd around your feet.  They will stand on your toes and press between your legs.  It becomes hard to walk without stepping on a duck.  At that point, you stop and bend over and timidly drop some corn.  Their strange muttering, chipping cries rise in tone as they push, crowd, climb and flap over each other to reach the seed.  Finally you screw up the courage to bend down with a small load of cracked corn in your open palm, bracing yourself for the pecks.  And they DO peck and peck and peck.  But it's not painful.   More like a funny poke.  And you smile.  You giggle.   The ducks are so focussed on their meal that you can reach out and stroke them.  They're soft and silky feeling. 

 

For me, feeding the ducks at Walker's Feeds ranks right up there with visiting Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg. 

If you come for a visit you can guess that this will be on my list of  "must see" places we visit.

Unless, of course, you're scared of ducks.  In that case, you can sit in the car and watch while I feed them !