Carbon Neutral

I was listening to CBC the other day (surprise surprise) and they were talking about how an entire village somewhere in England is going carbon neutral. http://www.goingcarbonneutral.co.uk/

What was really neat was when they talked to the pub owner (it's only a town of a thousand and there is only 1 pub) he talked about how had saved 25% on his energy bill right off the bat by changing out lights and turning off the beer fridges at night.

But what was truly interesting was that while he had started out as really skeptical, he had now come over to a place where he was doing it not only for the money but also for the environment. When the interviewer asked him why he had been skeptical in the first place - he said it was a lack of knowledge, he did not know that he would see concete savings by just making a few changes. I think it also has to do with the fact that he felt empowered, he saw that he could make changes and it did really help. The interesting thing is that once the community got involved and started seeing differences others got involved too. The pub owner mentioned how one of the local football teams wanted to be the first carbon neutral team in England - they went from all individually driving up in dozens of cars to carpooling with 4 in each.

It was so refreshing to hear people who had shaken off the ties of complacency and were trying to do something compared to that wench Margaret Wente who seemed to relish her role as a crass SUV driving, environment be damned consumer who firmly believed that people won't change their lifestyles.

All this to say that we are looking to get a new car. We are not Liz and Paul - those amazing folk who can live without one. But I checked the NRCan website and one of the best cars in recent years has been the Volkswagen TDI and the Toyota Matrix. It helped also to narrow on what we are looking for too - there is soooo many options out there that it makes it nice and easy to just say I want one of the ones off the environmentally friendly car list and I'm not looking at anything else.

Craig next door is a fabulous guy who works for Toyota - he brought one home for us to try and gave us the 45 minute spiel on every aspect of this car, and he is not even the salesman.
So its between a new red (the kids like red) base model matrix (don't really have the cash for the fancy schmancy XR) or a used 2005 gold automatic VW TDI wagon with some more bells and whistles - car seat warmers (very nice in the winter), AC (bad for the environment), and a moonroof (I love those moonroofs) - but with a bigger price tag.

yeesh - but hey whatever it is in the end it will be a drive in the right direction eh?

Time and space, Loons and tall ships

I find it fascinating that CBC online has the Sunday morning choral concert playing here in the Atlantic while our Pacific coast is still listening to late nightstream music channel. It is a warm but wet 8 a.m. here while B.C. is fast asleep at 4 a.m.

The neighbours have been gone a week today and C seems non the worse for wear. In fact he has taken to playing soccer with the other boys after school. It helps that his new good buddy is an exuberant guy who gets into all sorts of trouble but has no problem giving his fellow guy friends big hugs when he sees them - exactly what C needed to feel welcome.

M was excited for the last couple of weeks because her teacher cleverly bought in eggs to hatch. Every day for the entire gestation time M would jump out of bed and scramble to get ready just in case today was the day they hatched. The chicks never did actually hatch - the poor teacher had to dash out last weekend and get a couple of already hatched chicks and surreptitiously replace the eggs. So Monday morning the kids were greeted to two cute fluffy chicks. The chicks have gone back to the farm, literally not figuratively, and I can't wait until they bring in the caterpillars next.

When we dropped off the neighbours last weekend at the airport, the kids were playing with these stuffed birds at the nature store. Each type of bird would play its song when you squeezed it and I found that I missed the call of the loon. Funny what makes you miss home. Well lo and behold we get home later that day and from out of nowhere C and I can hear a loon flying overhead singing its head off. Loons in Halifax?? who knew. I must have known I missed it.

I forgot to mention that at the spring fair last week we had bought raffle tickets for their fundraiser. Everyone wanted the IPod but the other prizes were pretty good too - a $300 mountain bike, a ride on a tall ship, and some memberships to local museums.

We got home after volunteering at the fair and it turns out that the neighbour's grandmother had won the bike! She said it was the only thing she has ever won and of course it was something she could not take to Australia with her. And then we found out that we won the tallship ride! So sometime this summer we are going on the Silva which will also be at the Tallship event in Halifax too http://www.tallshipsnovascotia.com/.

Goodbye to the Australians

Having kids has made time speed up faster than it ever was when I was a kid and time, particularly in the summer, seemed to stand still.

But this year has flown and today we had to say goodbye to our friends and neighbours for the past 8 months. It has been so lovely having built in new friends from the moment we got here, and way back in September May seemed a long long way off. There were rarely two kids around the place this year, it would range from none (they were all next door) to 5 on any given day.

Henry in particular became a fixture around our kitchen table, showing up each weekend morning at promptly at 8 a.m. (because his folks wouldn't allow him to come earlier) to play Dungeons and Dragons with C. They could get lost for hours in their make believe sessions, once the weather turned warmer - their games took them to the neighbours backyard and the forest beyond, slaying creatures with sticks, or spying.

And sometimes they would spend ages just rocking gently in the hammock - talking about who knows what.

M misses Henry too and though his parents gave us all three boys' ug slippers, M won't take Henry's off.

Lunenburg

After sitting in the house reading a terrible report from a consultant located at the other end of this country, I decided I needed to get out and see the ocean again. Funny how I can feel landlocked while staring at our little lake, with the full knowledge that the ocean is only metres away.

So I grabbed the kids and Mike from work and we drove off to Lunenburg. I realize that it has now been 8 whole months since we were there with Liz and Paul. One thing about this year in Halifax - it sure goes by damn quickly!

Given that it is still early May Lunenburg is empty, even storefronts are empty. There are signs in windows saying "closed for the season" which when you think of it is a mighty long season. I was reading how smaller stores in Westboro back home were closing due to the incredible rent hikes - Can you imagine the Landlords there giving their tenants an 8 month break on rent?

There is a quick little synopsis of Lunenburg's history here - originally populated by Germans it is not surprising the site is from the german canadian association http://www.germancanadianassociation.ca/lunen2.html (scroll down past the kaffeeklatsch schedule). Apparently the town name was originally known as "Merligash" which is not nearly as good for tourism as Lunenburg - smart marketing even in the 18th Century. It was named for King George II of Britain, the Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg. Thank God they didn't rename it "Braunschweig" which according to Babelfish literally means "brown - be silent" hmmm - another marketing coup.

This of course is the birthplace of the Bluenose - which like Elvis and Marilyn Munroe - seems to be larger now than in life.

Its story is proudly told on the government of Nova Scotia's website including the bit about the Duke who was too drunk to actually hit the boat with the bottle to christen it properly. http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/bluenose/ch3.asp?SearchList1=3&Language=English

While we were in Lunenburg the Bluenose II was being worked on - the huge masts were being sanded and revarnished by the kids who will sail it this summer. And they are kids - they were all in their 20's what a great way to spend your youth. That's the photo up top - you can see the masts on the dock.

After a fine meal of crab cakes, calamari, and seafood medly topped off with Nova Scotian ale - we explored the town some more and came to a used bookstore called Elizabeth's. A cluttered place with bags of books at the door, there were three people sitting at the front desk and immediately you could tell that this was a regular occurence. They were sitting there chatting about politics and only long term comrades can get away with that sort of thing. I thought - that is a neat job. Holding court in your own bookstore everynight, talking about the world, sports, maybe even thrown in religion just to spice things up who knows. The only things missing were a fire place with a roaring fire, some really comfy couches, and a pot of tea for the regulars.

Mike got lost in a conversation with one of the gents about hockey - and I talked to Chris the owner, who shyly but proudly showed me an article about himself and the bookstore from the local paper. Apparently it used to be called Attic Owl bookstore but when its owner, Elizabeth, became ill Chris looked after the store and when she passed away her family gave it to him, so he renamed it after her.

We were probably there for almost an hour when Chris pulled out his notebook, like the ones from gradeschool, and showed me his handwritten list of all the ships he had worked on over the years. Originally from England Chris had sailed around the world many times in the 60's and 70's before he stopped in Newfoundland. He was supposed to fly home but somehow never did - that was back in 1974. He was a marine engineer and found good work in Newfoundland . As I scanned the book I noticed the last entry was on a harbour tour boat in Lunenburg and suddenly I realized where I had seen him before! He had given us a tour around the Lunenburg harbour back in 2000 when C was a mere 18 months old! I even have a picture of him back at home.

Princesses

So Kerry, the other Australian mother, invited M and me to go see Beauty and the Beast with her daughter L. A girls night out sounded like a great idea - a little mother daughter bonding would be neat after two terms of "go ask your father, I'm studying".

L also has a huge assortment of disney outfits so my little cinderella was treated by her australian "fairy godmother" not only a hugely expensive Disney gown for the evening (complete with "clip clop" shoes and tiara) but also to getting her hair done at the local salon!

Being an engineer and a former jock who looks like a complete ass in anything frilly, it never occured to me to get all dressed up princess like for the evening. Not only that but there have been numerous articles on how this princess thing is likely very bad for our little girls who no doubt will grow up to be Britney Spears rehab victims, getting cosmetic surgery as frequently as women get their hair done these days.

But ok - i figured what is one night going to hurt anyone?

It was hard for the girls to actually stay calm before the show - they kept taking off outside only to get harassed by the boys. The twins next door told them they looked "ugly" in typical 5 year old twin fashion. And M's brother was nice to her but finally couldn't handle it anymore and had to chase her around the house. The girls looked like princesses but never really got the handle of acting like princesses which is ok by me.

So we get downtown to Neptune theatre, we don't even make it out of the car before three nice older men give the girls a standing ovation. They giggle the whole walk to the theatre.

I have to admit they did make quite an entrance - every head turned in the theatre, you should have seen when they walked to their seats - literally everyone watched. And, in true Nova Scotia fashion, everyone was so very nice! These girls got more compliments than their mothers have had in years. M's music teacher was there and today she brought in Beaty and the Beast music and had M tell everyone about the play. They did look quite amazing - it reminded me of something out of a period movie or the french court in 17th century. Under the theatre lights the M's dress literally sparkled. It was almost magical. I also got M to stop hiding her head and look people in the eye and say thank you. she was quite good at it in the end.

So I don't really know what to say on the princess front. So much positive energy was thrown their way last night that they just glowed with pride. I wondered what it must have been like to be at the royal court with adults all dressed like this - it must be a pretty neat feeling - who knows, except I'd still look like an ass in frills.

This morning, before we had to return the outfit, M put on her clip clop shoes and went out for her "daily routine" once around the house one last time.

But except for some residual hair spray and bobby pins she seems back to her old jeans and T shirt self - well except she's wearing those wine glass trinkets on her ears as earrings.

Ok have to go - have to deal with a scraped finger.

Meat Pies

Being of a Ukranian/polish + mystery pedigree I never grew up with meat pies. We never sat down to a an english deep dish crusty steak and kidney pie nor a french tourtiere (not counting those frozen whosits from la belle fermiere dad used to eat before he found vegetarianism).

But somewhere along the line I started buying Acadian pie from the pie lady at the market each weekend. I don't even know why, maybe because it was "Acadian" and here we are on the east coast. Which of course doesn't explain why I also get the veggie patties from the nice Indian couple a couple stalls away.

Anyways.

So the pie lady - otherwise known as Heppy's - just opened her store literally down our street. I can walk there anytime its 5:00 and I've forgotten to take something out of the fridge for dinner or I don't want to do anything more culinary that throw something into the oven. And because it smells good and is filled with meat and veggies I still feel like a decent mother.

But Heppy once again embodies all things nice about Nova Scotia - the other day her interac was down and there I was with a pie in my hand hoping to pay. So Heppy, who doesn't know me from a hole in the head or however you say that, says just take it and come back and pay me later. People here are sooo trusting!

http://www.heppys.com/
her website could do with better photos but her pies are super!