This morning

The Arm this morning, while walking to the Chocolate Lake Rec Centre to drop Nate off for his day camp.  Nate and I sat and watched this for awhile, trying to describe it in words.  'It's almost like a giant mirror!' he said.  I think I know what he meant.  We both agreed it was very beautiful.

2012 so far

I realize that is has been awhile since the last post.  Christmas has come and gone and we're now well into 2012.  So I guess it's time for some catching up.   For starters, we celebrated the Lunar New Year in the last week of January and welcomed in the dragon.  Our friend Lauren came to visit and was able to usher in the new year with us.  She also happened to bring along her 7-week old baby boy, Alec.  Nate took to him instantly and I think Alec got a big kick out of him too.  

I also started a new job at the end of January.  Two if by Sea Cafe has opened a new location in Halifax, and I'm currently there three days a week.  Of course Metro Transit would go on strike the week after I started, but I've been lucky enough to get a ride downtown with one of my neighbours.  Getting home has been a mixed bag of walking, getting lifts or cabbing it.  Still it's been fun getting settled into a new work-place.  I'm enjoying my new co-workers, meeting new customers, and working on the Mirage.

Nate earned his first black stripe in Tae Kwon Do a few weeks back.  He's been doing this for about a month and really enjoying it.  He's also been taking skating classes, and is now able to skate around the rink without falling (most of the time).  I think it's great considering he's only been at it for 3 weeks.  

Patty was away in Vancouver last week, and was supposed to be in Regina this week, but she hurt her knee while she was in Vancouver and came home early with her legged in a brace and on crutches.  So we get to spend Valentine's day together after all!  


Lastly, I just wanted to give a big shout out to my fabulous neighbours.  I don't think I would have made it through last week without all their help.  To AC for the rides downtown, and for getting Nate to Beavers; to WM for getting Nate after school, getting him to Tae Kwon Do and then getting me from work; to BK for getting Nate back from Beavers; and my in-laws for getting him after school those days I worked.  A big thank you!

Christmas Concert

It's Nate's Christmas Concert today.  Here he is all set to go to school.  Let's hope his outfit makes it to the 1.30pm unscathed.

The mackerel run

I happened to find myself down on the waterfront this afternoon, and saw something quite amazing.  Well, maybe it was only amazing to me, because no one else seemed to be paying any attention to it.  

You can just make them out in the photo above.  At first I thought it was just a school of them, but as I continued down along the waterfront, I realized that they were everywhere along the waterfront.  Mackerel, lots of mackerel.

The water was boiling with fish, and no one else seemed to notice or care.  I of course have only seen things like this on TV, usually on some BBC documentary hosted by David Attenborough.  I've seen schools of fish while scuba diving, but never anything on this scale!  And in the Halifax Harbour of all places!  The very same harbour where raw sewage was still routinely being discharged into as recently as 2000.  There's actually life in there?! Real fish even!  Not horribly mutated fish-like creatures with two heads and three eyes, but actual real fish!

It's almost enough to make this pessimist think that there might just be a little hope left in this world yet. 

The first day of school

Stinky Nervous Chuck

A baby bird, sitting by the side of the street.  It didn't look hurt, but it didn't look like it was capable of doing much else besides sitting either.  That was the situation Friday morning, when I went to get Nate back from Kiddy Capers.  Nate had gone off to play with some friends in the park, so I went back inside and found a small plastic tub, stuck some holes in the top of it, and put the little thing inside.   Nate carried the bird all the way home.

When we got back, we called Hope for Wildlife and they told us that this time of the year it was very common to find young birds on the ground.  They suggested we take it back to where we found it and it wouldn't be long before it's parent showed up.  So we transferred the little bird into a cardboard box, and packed some snacks and walked back to Larry O'Connell.  We set the box down right where we had found the bird, took the top off and crossed the street and waited.  There were lots of birds about, but not one came close to investigate.  After almost 2 hours, we packed it up and walked home.  In all that time, the little bird had just sat in the box, calling every once in awhile.  

Another call to Hope for Wildlife to see if someone could come and pick up the bird, and we got some cat food to feed the little guy in the meantime.  I was all set to go find it some worms, but I was damned if I was going to chew one up for it first!  The cat food option sounded much more appealing.  Apparently baby birds get fed by their parents every 20 minutes.  So we started to feed the little fella as best as we could.  After a few hours he seemed to perk up and was even happy to perch on my finger while I fed him.  Didn't seem to mind being handled at all.   Patty had already dubbed him Stinky.  Nate decided he should be called Nervous because he was probably nervous when we first brought him home.  I called him Chuck, cause that was what his little call sounded like to me.  

Later that evening, a volunteer from Hope for Wildlife stopped by to pick up Stinky Nervous Chuck, who turned out to be a baby robin.  She seemed to think that he was in good shape and would probably do well.  I hope so, he was a sweet little bird and I think we all kinda miss him now that he's gone.

It tastes suspiciously like...

...beer!


It's been three weeks since I bottled the home brew, and while it hasn't felt extraordinarily long, that time didn't fly by either.  I had intended to wait four weeks before cracking one open, but today seemed like as good a day as any.


I am happy to say bottle #1 went down very nicely.  A nice pale ale, fruity up front with a nice hoppy finish.  I doubt if it'll win any medals, but I won't be pouring it down the drain either.  Only sixty-six bottles more to go.


Cheers!