Getting crafty.

I'd asked three friends to come over for some crafty fun on Sunday evening   We'd chatted a month previous, about the idea of getting together, and making greeting cards.  It was an airy-fairy sort of plan that amazingly enough sprouted wings and became reality.

The plan was that each person would bring some supplies and we'd make cards.  After that, it got pretty vague.  It's not like I'd ever hosted a let's-do-crafts party before in my life.  

We'd need glue, sparkles, paper, pencils, scissors, paints, paint brushes, markers and of course, a potato.

I provided the potato.  It was the least I could do.

We ended up with many kinds of glittery sparkly things, glue sticks, pine needles, a nifty device that magically cut perfect circles of varying sizes, and of course the potato.

Making potato prints.

We scarfed back munchies while we toiled away, giggling insecurely as we did stuff we hadn't done since childhood..

We drank copious quantities of tea -- peppermint and orange pekoe.   Amy-Lynn brought some delicious, traditional German Christmas cake.  Amy and Mickie brought some wonderful gluten free, fart-free (the bag said so), bean chips, and my favourite edamame hummus, while I had cleverly cut up veggies and arranged them artistically on a plate.

It was delightfully liberating, cutting, spreading, swiping, dabbing, sprinkling. Drawing designs on a piece of paper, and then sliding silver sparkles or pine needles down the page, was something I hadn't done in a very long time.

The results were varied and delightful.

I'm not ready for snow ! (A whiny, stream-of-consciousness post.)

 
It snowed last week.  Tuesday, I think it was.  Wet, thick, sticky, heavy snow.  

It stuck to the power lines, the trees, the satellite dish (rats! *), the car....

Wendy, Buffy and I, slogged up the road, to check out the  park at the end of the street.  The dogs walked in the less-snowy track left by a truck, that had recently slewed its way up the street.

The park did look very pretty.

As it was late in the day, around 4:30, the light was fading.  Arrrgggghhhhh.  I hate that !   4:30 and getting dark.  Pulllleeeeeze.   I can deal with the cold, but does the sun have to set so blankity-blank early ?   Rhetorical question folks.  Anyhoo, my camera flashed as I took pictures, and I rather fancied the effect.  Yeah, it was dark enough for the camera to freakin' flash.  

Clearly I have some winter-darkness issues I need to work through.

Get a grip on yourself Sybil.  It wasn't that bad.   The temperature was just on freezing, or perhaps a degree above.  Hence the stickiness of the snow.

My garden arbour looked pretty.

My car didn't.

Kait and I decided not to shovel our driveway.  The forecast called for it to turn to rain overnight.

"It'll all be gone in the morning", I said.

It wasn't.

It was three days before the damn stuff melted away.

I'm just not ready for winter ... yet.


* Satellite dish covered in snow = no TV tonight.

An honest to gosh mystery.

Saturday I couldn't wait to drive Kait to work.   Once I'd dropped her off, I was going to set off on an adventure.  I love adventures !

I'd just learned about  mysterious stone walls in the Bayers Lake area.  After a lifetime of never having heard about the  Bayers Lake Mystery Walls, I heard about them twice in a 24-hour period.  That seemed like a sign that I was meant to go find them.  And that's exactly what I set out to do.

 I thought the location might be remote.

Remote ?  Hardly !   The site is reached by parking on a cul-de-sac in a massive industrial park.

I thought the walls might be inaccessible and difficult to find.

Instead, after walking about 200 metres down a gravel road, this easy-to-see path, led me into the woods,.

up a pretty path. Quite suddenly we found ourselves standing by one of the Bayers Lake Mysteries -- the ruins of a five-sided building !

I'd brought Trey along for company and safety, as I thought going into the woods on my own might be too much of an adventure !

Many paths criss-crossed the forest floor, and Trey and I explored them all.  It wasn't long before we found a path that  led to the Mystery Walls.

Do you see them down there ?  Click the photo for a better view.

What on earth are they doing here ?   These aren't walls that were built to keep livestock in.

They extend along the edge a rock outcropping for 200 metres and stand over two metres high in places. Surely they are not a fortification.  Approach from the rear is easy and besides, what attacker would be put off by a wall that's barely head height ?

What the heck were these walls built for ?  And who built them ?

Though the area has been designated a Nova Scotia "Special Place",  and is protected from development for now, little archaeological work has been done on the Mystery Walls.  Estimates put their age at 200 years.  Some, rather romantic theories, suggest they pre-date Columbus's discovery of America.

While Bayers Lake is now easily reachable by vehicle, in early days, the site would have been very remote as it's over 25 km from peninsular Halifax.  The walls weren't close to ANYTHING that would provide a reason for their existence.

And yet there they are.
And that's not all that's there.
There are steps.

There are steps that lead to the top of an outcrop of rock, and at its base is what appears to be a fire pit.

And  nearby is a carving on a rock ...

I would have walked right past it, if I hadn't seen it  illustrated in a book, and been on the look out for it.  One more mystery to add to the collection.

So there you have it.    My Bayers Lake Mystery Walls adventure.  

I'm happy to report that I have learned of a site in the Bedford area that has petroglyphs.
I think I feel another adventure coming on.

Hemlock Ravine Park

Monday was Wendy's turn to have some one-on-one time with me.

Kait was working at the groomers on the Bedford Basin.  The "basin" is our natural ice-free harbour, lying north of both Halifax bridges.  After dropping Kait off at work, I took Wendy to explore nearby, Hemlock Ravine Park.

Though it was an overcast day, it was very mild for mid-November.  I unzipped both my sweat top and my jacket, letting them flap open as I walked along.

The park is very lush.  Moss and ferns, still glow green on steep and sometimes rocky hillsides.

In the on-leash sections,  I drilled Wendy on her "heeling".   I reminded her that I wanted her to walk behind me, as that way she'd know when I was stopping to take pictures.

Having your dog walk behind you, shows the dog that you are in charge and she can trust you to keep her safe, thus lessening anxiety or aggression toward other people or pets.

Governor's Trail loop is the only off-leash trail, and there, Wendy gaily loped ahead of me -- but never too far ahead.  She's a good "steady" dog, and very eager to please.

 Sometimes when I'm heading down a slippery slope I worry about my footing.  I call Wendy to me and she lets me hold her collar to steady myself.  She then will hold still until I tell her to take a step, then another, then another, until I'm safely on not-so-slippery ground.

It was a lovely, peaceful walk.

I breathe deeply as I walk, enjoying the scent of the newly fallen leaves, which carpet the forest floor.

I stop often, to look at lichens, fungii and whatever other small wonders of nature, catch my eye.

There is a peaceful magic in the woods.

And for a very brief time, all is right with the world.

Out and about in Halifax.

 
Oh my, today was a lovely day.  Even nicer, considering it's mid-November.

I have a  book about historical buildings in Halifax as of Centennial year -- 1967.  By the time of its reprinting in 1971, four of those buildings no longer existed.  

After driving Kait to work at the groomers, Trey and I set off to explore downtown Halifax, and maybe find some of those buildings.

This marvellous-looking home, across the street from the Public Gardens  and the Citadel,,
 wasn't in the darn book !  Sure looks mega-historical to me !

Located in Royal Artillery Park, the residence of the General Officer Commanding ( below), was constructed in 1805.

The building had undergone many changes since it's 1967 photo.

.

Trey and I spent three, carefree hours roaming the city streets in the autumn sun.

We ended up on Spring Garden Road, which is always a bustling, downtown street, but was even more so today.  Trey was very good on-leash, and walked close to my side as we wove our way through the crowds.

Trey was more problematic, when we cut across the grassy slopes around Citadel hill. He seemed to think that because we were in an open, field-like area, that he should be let off his leash for a run.  After I explained to him that he'd jumped to the wrong conclusion, he agreed to walk nicely beside me.

He's a good dog, and we had a lovely time together.

Can't wait to do it again.

In Flanders Fields ...

November 11 at 11 a.m. we gather at Cenotaphs across Canada or simply pause wherever we are, to remember those who gave their lives in times of war.  We wear poppies over our hearts, to honour their sacrifice.   

IN FLANDERS FIELDS By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place: and in the sky The larks still bravely singing fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the dead: Short days ago, We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved: and now we lie In Flanders fields! Take up our quarrel with the foe To you, from failing hands, we throw The torch: be yours to hold it high If ye break faith with us who die, We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields

A Tamarak by any other name.

Kathy beat me to it.  

The very day that I stopped on a local highway to take pictures of some late fall colour, Kathy beat me to it.

She put up a wonderful, informative post, about larch trees on her Lake Superior Spirit blog.

While I was out taking pictures for a post about tamaracks, Kathy was already sharing the beauty of larches.

Whatever you call them, they are my favourite tree

An evergreen-looking tree, that isn't.  

A coniferous tree, that isn't.

A tree whose needles are really leaves.

A tree that gives us one last glorious blast of fall colour. 

Scott's photo challenge.

Last month I took part in a fellow blogger's idioms in nature photo-challenge.  I found the experience fun and, well, challenging.  I'm hooked.

Scott Thomas over at View Infinitum has presented us with the latest challenge, asking that we post at least three of our best photographs from the past year.

Hmmmmm.   Let's see.  There are 3,634 photos in my picture folder.   Now to eliminate any images older than a year.

Out of the remaining 2,000 odd  pictures I've chosen  my five "best" photographs .  It's one thing to not delete a photograph, or to even like a photograph, but to hold an image up and say, "This is my best", is not as easy as I thought it would be.

The dogs run toward me, on the sandy, wind-blown, beach.

I don't know how good this photo is, but I like the fact that the
reflected sky doesn't match the sky in the other direction.

At the beach, I became fascinated with the patterns the tide had made
in the sand.  There is a strange illusion of speed, although nothing in
the photo is moving.

Not sure about this picture.  It's a curved lead-paned
window from historic Port Royal.

Waiting for the subway at the George Street, subway station in Toronto,
I tried to capture the motion of a passing train.

The more I look at them the less sure I am about their "bestness".

Time to hit "publish post" and stop second-guessing my choices.