Only in Halifax

Only in Halifax does fish drop from the sky.

I walked home the other night from school - the whole 6 Km - which is just about the distance one needs to cool off from a frustrating day trying to figure out Hydraulics.

And there was this dead fish lying there on the sidewalk beside the busy highway, kinda out of place. I looked around but no one was claiming it.

Oddly enough, when I reached home the kids ran out to tell me that a fish fell from the sky just as they got home. Right out of the sky! They took pictures just to prove it. Mike figures some bird dropped it which makes me believe that the birds that night were having a tough time holding on to their fish.

And today we took a walk down by the harbour and there across the way we could see a big school(?) of dolphins. This is the closest I have ever been to those creatures. This place is pretty cool - if you forget about hydraulics.

What's in a Family Part 2 - Ringette Sundays

One day as we were coming back from the beach we saw a sign at a car repair shop that read "ringette registration tonight at Sobeys!!" It was a sign - it was time to get my kids into ringette.

I don't know how my folks ever found out about ringette registration but I suspect that it wasn't from a mechanic. Maybe its a nova scotia thing.

Anways Sunday was the first day for the Bunnies and it included an equipment exchange and catering by Tim Horton's. Between C and M we had just one set of equipment so I quickly bought out the exchange table and duly sent the kids onto the ice.

Mike and I grabbed our Tim's and watched our two kids play bunnies and I realized that
a)we have been together for a whopping 9 years and
b)that I now have kids who play ringette.

When people talk about "through thick and thin" I think they were talking about thick waists and thinning hair. But here we were in all our thickness and thinness enjoying spending time in a cold arena watching our two wobble around with their new sticks, trying to stay up.

Oh and arguing about who can tie skates the tightest. See Mike's blog http://maritimeyear.blogspot.com/ for C's skills assessment, its funny.


I always liked watching bunnies but never somehow imagined that they'd be mine.

What's in a family part 1 - the dog

I got to thinking about families the other day, maybe from the nice article mom passed along to me about connected families through surrogate parenthood.

I know extended family really well - especially the kooky bits and if you are part of my extended family or have hung around with us for a nanosecond then you probably know what I mean.

But my nuclear family.. well that's different. I guess in some ways I never really felt like I've grown up and cannot imagine that I am a matriarch of a little family in charge of making these two young kids into responsible adults. yeesh.

And then there are the dogs.

I got Molly, my crazy husky shepherd, a couple of months after Mike and I started dating, and literally a month before I became pregnant with C. Mike has told anyone who would listen that he had no say in the matter and did not want this dog. Given my track record with men to that point I figured the dog would outlast him by at least a decade.

Molly is ...special... she barks and growls at doors when the wind pushes them in their hinges. She has a thing with wind. when it is really windy in the middle of the night she has to go out and stare...at something...the mother ship?...the wind gods who whisper to her?...who knows.

She can sit there for an hour in the middle of the night - this coming from a dog who hates night time and won't go for walks in the dark if she can help it.

Other things set her off too - riding in a car, thunder, hockey pucks against a rink wall, skateboards, loud bangs of any kind. All this to say that living with her these past 8 years has been hard, very hard. she takes the stess level to an amber.

So we had left her with my folks for a few weeks while we moved out here. The peacefullness of the house, and minuit - our black poodle - was fantastic. Things were calm and the workers even remarked on how quiet minuit was.

so it was with alot of angst that I went back to ottawa to figure out what to do with Molly. Mom and dad kept telling me how wonderful she was, so quiet so calm, but no they would not keep her for me.

I sat there for 3 days trying to figure out what to do with this dog who had been part of our lives for 8 years. I'm the type who rescues dogs from evil owners who get rid of them and suddenly I had become one of these owners - trying to figure out how to get rid of her.

Mike phoned the friends of abandoned pets and they said they'd take her back and I lost it.

So two days later a very drugged up Molly showed up at the airport for us to pick up and we went home - much poorer and full of trepidation at what would happen.

But that night I was reading the kids a James Herriot story about a farmer who gave up his old cow and then she broke free and came back and he stood there and looked at her and decided to keep her. All ended well in the James Herriot story and hopefully all will end well here too.

For better or worse - the damn dog is part of our family.

you snooze you lose aka an office without a view

I guess that I still don't believe that I am a masters student because my jaw dropped pretty significantly when the Grad secretary asked me if I had picked up the keys to my office yet.

An office? for me? you must be mistaken, no she said that she wasn't mistaken and that she would need a $20 deposit for the key thank you very much.

I still didn't believe her though and had to check with Dr. Walsh just to be sure. Yep I had an office that I would be sharing with Stephanie and Mark. And it was the nice office with the window that Dr. Walsh had when she was a student so this would be good luck.

Ok I went back and paid for my key and went to check out my office.

Inside I found two desks by the wall where the window was. Mark's didn't have much yet but Stephanie had clearly lived by the Ikea rule of design. If you live in it you can make it your own. Already there were photos of friends and weddings, calendars, and a rug hanging... yes a rug hanging. She was still probably working out the paint colours and window treatment.

And so there was only one desk left... the one in the corner... beside the electrical outlet that must have supplied all the offices on the floor. It lookes like the office in Brazil. The natural light from the window does not make it to my desk, instead the lighting has that horrible florescent feel.

Even my chair is broken ( I noticed that Stephanie and Mark had grabbed the two nice black ones whose wheels still worked).

And so I find myself tempted to go to some fancy office furniture store and buy the biggest baddest lazyboy cum office chair the world has to offer, just to spite them and their rug hanging ways. Maybe I will put up large expensive wall screens around my desk and put in an ikea rug, and fantastic artwork over the electrical work. Or maybe I will just inadvertantly drive my broken chair over the wires everyonce in a while so that everyone's cord becomes unplugged at critical moments.

And next time I will get my office key before everybody else.

Scarface - the gecko edition

The smallest and the largest are afraid of Mika's middle sized one named Catie....I trust none of you are laughing.

What this means is that we must take Catie out of their "loft condo" and put her in a pen so that we can feed the other two, who hide in the pretend caves. As I was lifting the cave the other day to feed inky and dinky damned if I didn't let out a blood curdling scream. Inky was covered in some sort of horrible bluish mould (I don't care if I work for CMHC, mould has a U in it).
What the heck had we done? What had gone wrong? here her former owner had taken care of her for 3 years and we had managed to almost kill her in less than 2 weeks.

I felt awful for about 24 hours until Connor remembered that the beggars shed their skin. That was it! she wasn't covered in mould and she wasn't dying from a terrible disease, she was just doing what comes naturally to weird creatures from Africa. I was relieved but slightly weirded out.

The weirded out part did not stop though. First Connor shouted gleefully that her skin had cracked over her head which gave her an odd look out of some horror film. A few days later all of the skin had been shed except the stuff on her head- now the poor thing is stuck with old dried skin on her eyes - which she tries to take off by sticking out her long lizardy tongue. And of course it is now harder for her to catch the wriggling mealworms that we have to hold out for her.

All I can say is Yuck!

Hydraulics

Hydraulics...the course that I have been dreading since I signed up to come here.

Back in Guelph I barely passed Fluid mechanics by sitting down with the smartest guy in the class and having him explain everything to me 3 hours before the final. Thank you Jack wherever you are.

And that was the prerequisite for this course.

I showed up late due to a schedule conflict with another course so I missed the crucial first 15 minutes. The prof, whose name was not the same as on my course list (am I in the right class?) is busily writing on a massive white board that spans the length of the room. He is busily drawing diagrams with his back to us and as he moves over waaaayyy over to the right hand side no one around me is drawing anything. We cannot see and we cannot understand what he is mumbling behind his back. Was this why I hated fluids? Maybe it wasn't me, maybe it was a crazy prof who got caught up in badly drawn diagrams and threw off equation names like a socialite at a party- Blasius, Prandtl, Nikuadse, Chézy, Manning (why didn't anyone named Smith create these? Smith went into accounting and stayed sane no doubt).

Honestly, I like learning about treating wastewater - how to get rid of endocrine disruptors from our water mainly so I don't have to drink them. But who really cares about the momentum principle applied to a non-prismatic channel???? And why don't they make prof's take a full year course in presentation skills???

The book that apparently is the bible of this course is a 1959 text that is out of print. I can theoretically get it used from Amazon ohh... for $300.

My only grad class with Dr. Gagnon went ok.... He wants us to do a paper....on something new...maybe not a lit review... but a lit review is ok too....but a little experiment in the lab on something specific would be great....and could be used for our thesis....but this is not a thesis -just a paper.....one of the students did a little experiment on chromium last year....he got chromium poisoning though....(at this point there is a dead silence in the room). He is bound and determined to make me do a thesis on some lab based work. I am bound and determined to stay as far the hell away from the lab and poisonous materials as possible.

More Halifax oddities - composting, driving, and oatcakes

While Halifax may dump 2 million litres of raw sewage into the harbour each day they also have the most comprehensive (and slightly complex) recycling program I have seen.

There is a green box for the compost stuff, plus cereal boxes and soiled napkins. There is a blue garbage bag for glass, plastics, and metal. You have to put corrugated cardboard in a pile, but not newspapers - which I think go into the compost. Plastic bags get all piled in a larger plastic bag. Aluminum can be recycled but only if cleaned off or else into the main garbage. Mike and I have put the 2 page list of stuff on the cork board in the kitchen and have to check it all the time to figure it all out. I miss my blue and black boxes.

Halifax driving. If I don't have and accident this year then it will be a minor miracle. I cannot cannot cannot figure out the three lane roundabout. If I attack it from the south then the lanes are clearly marked but If I attack it on the way home from the kids school then all bets are off. I almost wiped out one oncoming car while forcing another to veer out of its lane. If this was Ottawa there'd be road rage all over the place - but this is Nova Scotia and they just kinda look at me with a tut tut expression...really!

and the cross walks... I took a deep breath and took my life in my hands the other day. Pressed the button and took a tentative step - its like those Bugs bunny cartoons where the cars are screaming down and then come to a complete stop for the little lady with the tweety bird.
I wish I could say Mike and I return the favour but we are really having a hard time remembering those damn things. Too busy trying to figure out what street we are looking for. It isn't like there is a cross walk every kilometre - there is one practically every block.

But while pedestrians are looked after, there is no place to bike safely. I bike on the sidewalk and avoid looking at the pedestrians' tut tut expressions.

Can anyone tell me why the water is soo blue-green? I feel like I am swimming in tidy bowl cleaner.

On a more culinary side, most places seem to sell chocolate covered oat cakes. For those of you who have never experienced an oat cake. it is like eating day old dried up porridge. The Italians came up with biscottie....the Scots came up with oatcakes...

The only redeeming quality is when it is covered in chocolate and served with a cup of fair trade coffee.. Then it is truly the breakfast of champions.

Biker vs power walker

view on the way in to school

Biked in again today. Passed a power walker armed with her computer bag and ipod today. And then had to get off the bike and drag it up the hill. Power walker passed me on the way, I wanted to blame it on her lack of accessories but we were about evenly matched (except the bike) so I blamed it on her long legs which gave an unfair advantage in the stride. I took solace that I was probably walking twice as fast ... like little kids to do to keep up.

I smiled gleefully when we reached the top and I could pass her on my bike again...only to have my computer fall off on the road a block later. Damn her I don't want her to catch up !! hurry hurry - the chain cover got bent but I refused to take the time to fix it because there's no way I wanted her to pass me again in all my bike wreckage. So everytime I pedaled the pedal would hit the cover and make this creaaak sound. Creaak , creaak creaak, bang! bang! as I tried to kick it back in place - don't let her catch up!!! Finally the banging worked and the poor dented cover went back in place. I looked back furtively but power walker was no where in site, likley completely unaware of the crazy lady on the old bent bike.

Things to do in Halifax

Crystal Beach

I think Mike and I will have to sit down with all the "what to do in Halifax" mags and plan our schedule. Of course the Aussie neighbours have already done it. I recall Jo and John had planned out their itinerary for the year in Canada - and they did all those things I kept saying "we'll do later" to. I swear they saw every attraction available in Ottawa plus managed to visit at least 5 other provinces along the way.


So now I am psyched. I will be Australian and conquer this province and all that it has to offer!!
Well we are off to a pretty good start I think. We went with the neighbours to the Saturday market located at the old Keith's brewery right on the harbour. Quite a collection of fish, meat, organic produce, baked goods, local wines (does NS make wine? who knew?), and even arts and crafts. Apparently the thing closes at 1pm and between noon and 1 the university students can get great deals on whatever is left over if you show your card.

We bought a bag of fish bits - aptly marketed as "chowder" and a honking big bread and I invited everyone over for chowder that night. Which of course meant that I had to run over to the local café and find a recipe online and then go buy everything else that goes into a chowder.
Ok it was fun - I like to set up these personal little soirees but 5 kids under one roof can get...hmm...loud.

We also went to the lake - the beach felt like some UN event - there were Germans, Spaniards, our Australians, and some others who spoke english but with strong eastern european accents.
I forced myself to go for a dip - the water is minus a million already and it took over 1/2 hour to get in. Mike just dove in but has had an earache ever since. I actually had to have a hot bath just to warm up.

Sunday included a walk in the victorian era public gardens and a quick tour of the 1 day annual harvest festival - a total organic/green party/happy hippie event if there ever was one. There is a pretty big organic movement here in Halifax - I don't know why I am surprised, maybe because they still dump into the harbour.

kids looking for the queen bee in the hive at the honey section

And then we headed off to crystal beach - that was really really nice. You could see the ocean for miles, the sand was white and smooth - reminded me of the caribbean actually. The tide was out and we actually found another stranded live star fish which we tossed back into the sea. Have to look up those beggars and learn more about them. If they are still purple does that mean they are alive? what if they don't move very much? is that normal?

Thanks!!!

Thank you big time to all of you who got us out here!!

Thanks Mom, Dad, Deb, Bill for packing and moving everything. and I mean everything!!

Thanks Laura for the boxes and the great packing job on the TV. How's sushi doing? Have the gold fish eaten him yet?

Thanks Carole for washing my bathroom - yuck!! oh and helping to get the paperwork through too!

Thanks Mom and Dad for looking after my crazy dog. glad that she is happy with you.

Thanks Debs for looking after the kids while we angsted over the move.

Thanks Pete for helping with the big stuff and Josh for entertaining the kids.

And of course thanks Paul, Liz and Norah for moving us out here and keeping an air of calm when we started to lose it.

Mom's first day of school

woke up at 5:30 am. So much for worrying about sleeping in and missing class.

got out the 3 speed bike with the lazyboy old lady seat and biked like mad down the hill....

had to walk the bike up the next hill...

and then did allright all the rest of the way to school - only took half an hour. takes me longer to drive the kids back and forth from school.

Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays are my 2-class days starting at 8:30. First class is water and wastewater treatment and second class is Hydraulics - which was cancelled today (yay!).

Class is filled with approx 40 4th and 5th year students - who are required to take the course. Everyone had to introduce themselves and the general comment was "I have to take the course to graduate - but hey I am really interested in water...really..."..... poor prof. Actually there was one guy who is really interested in this course because he wants to micro-brew his own beer, reproducing beer from around the world and apparently water quality is a very big deal in affecting the taste of beer.

But this is what I am here for - we have to analyse our water sample, find out what is in it and then design a water treatment plant to deal with it. Exactly the kinda stuff I need to know.

Think I will check out the CMHC regional office today. Work to support good National office - regional office relations and all that. And use their printer.

Geckoes Geckoes Geckoes

Yep 3 of them.

Picked them up the other night from a very nice engineering student who apparently did not want them anymore (not sure if that was his choice or his nice new girlfriend's...).

anyways these critters came in their very own apartment a 3 foot long by 2 foot wide by 1 foot high structure with little caves, logs, plastic jungle growth and even a calming pond. Minuit could live in that thing its so huge.

C & M are pretty happy about them - C owns the littlest one, M owns the middle sized one (which is the smartest), and apparently no one owns the largest. C loves to hold them and feed them. they eat mealworm bugs (or whatever the adult is called). C catches them with chopsticks and shows them to the gecko who grabs it off the chopstick. who knew chopstick handling ability would come in so handy.

We had to go out and buy more meal worms yesterday to restock the mealworm box - apparently all one needs to do is add rolled oats and pieces of fruit or vegetable and away they go. I think they are called inky, dinky and catie (M didn't like parlez vous) but could be wrong on this one.

photos to come

house renovations and guests

Pic of Paul Liz Mike and Connor at the picnic in NB somewhere on the way here.


We still do not have a bathroom but the nice contractor said that he would hook up the bathtub for us for tonight. for some reason the landlady is renovating the bathroom complete with a huge window by the tub. nice view while you are sitting in there with bubbles up to your neck but hey I think I'd feel kinda weird getting in. the only working toilet downstairs is in a closet like room where you have to sit sideways or your knees hit the green sink. the green sink matches the green toilet which matches the green linoleum in the kitchen and the green tile and rugs downstairs. I firmly believe that 1950's women became depressed not so much from staying at home but from being completely surrounded by horrible green decor.

otherwise the house is great. lots of room - we could sleep at least a dozen folks I think. and I am enjoying the dining room table smack dab in the middle of the kitchen - a cozy family sort of feeling with kids drawing, grownups reading the paper and drinking coffee and someone doing dishes all at the same time.

Paul and Liz could stay for a long time and I would not tire of their company - couldn't ask for more relaxed people. i will miss them when they go home tomorrow, we'd never have made it here without their help. actually wouldnt have made it without the family too. still figuring out where stuff is - funny when you don't pack yourself. where are my shoes anyways???

halifax oddities

still trying to figure out halifax roundabouts, drivers who stop if you so much as look at the road, and a plethora of cross walks. almost killed some poor student last night - honestly did not see him. people mainly drive slowly around here . deep breath deep breath. don't honk. hard to not bring my ontario driver sentiment here.

no one way roads to speak of but many many roads start off with one name and then cheerfully change mid route to something else. directions point to such and such road and then you never see that road name again. everything eventually goes downhill and our street will be a treat to stop at on an icy day in the winter.

Australian neighbours and first day of school

How odd is that? Our neighbours are here on a job swap for 8 months from Australia. M says that Claire looks like Jo - our Aussie neighbour in Ottawa on a job swap from last year. David is the same height as Ivan - our old kiwi neighbour. they even drive a volvo wagon.
Their kids are exactly the same age as ours. Henry was born 8 days after C and the twins were born 7 days before M. They are all in the same classes too. I expect that this year will be great.

School started today - surprise surprise the kids have to go home for 90 minutes at lunch - that means someone has to drive there and back 4 times each day. so much for a full time job.

Mika and the twins got Mrs. Joy - yes Joy. She is truly amazing. everyone else had names scribbled on a list in the gym. Mrs. Joy had pasted butterflies on her poster. the parents got "gifts" from the kids which included: a package of kleenex, a tea bag, and a cotton ball. I will add the quote from the card here later.

Halifax coffee shops/internet cafes

Sitting in a funky little internet café fair trade coffe shop complete with an international magazine store below.

The guys at the next table are from some band that are set to tour the UK next month. The ones from montreal are here performing at the fringe. Did I mention that Halifax is very artsy?

The lake is great but the Atlantic is even cooler outside of the harbour (a wee bit dirty...). We went to lunenberg yesterday with Liz and Paul and Norah - I am still amazed at the coloured houses - purples, greens, curry yellow, pumpkin, you name it.

We tried to stop in at the seafood shanty restaurant that we went to 6 years ago ( i was sick at the time and could not partake of their famous chowder) but it was closing in 5 minutes. We headed back towards lunenberg and grabbed some food at a local seafood joint that turned out to be owned by Germans from Bavaria. They even played eidelweiss on their muzak. schnitzel and sausages were on the menu as well as some great seafood.

kids in lunenberg on an old fashioned fire truck complete with dalmation