Wednesday, June 1, 2011

more walking in Halifax


Yesterday, the last of May, we awoke to clear skies, green grass, trees in new leaf, flowers, and little zephyrs of warm breeze all conspiring to coax us into the great outdoors. Of all our favorite places to walk in Halifax the best by far is the semi-wild and lovely Point Pleasant Park. Here are some highlights from that two hour stroll.

The main entrance is right next to the port so the first thing seen is a wall of huge containers which may or may not be empty. Although it would be fun to cut some windows and doors and move in, the idea of finding ourselves on the back end of a train heading to Medicine Hat is too much of a risk. Winters are already cold enough in the maritimes without venturing to northern Alberta.

As we walked up the first long path I turned around and photographed the previous hundred yards. I don't know why the tree was cut down during the winter but I can tell you the stump carved into a chair is best not sat upon as it's quite juicy with sticky pine sap.





Speaking of pines, this next picture is typical of the very tall ones that grace the hilltop. What seems to happen is the taller they grow the more savaged they are by the winter storms that blow in. There are many completely stripped of boughs and bark that stand silvering in the sun.




These are some of the paths where I planted the sunflowers last month. There wasn't much growing at the time but I have a feeling now my project may have been in vain. Tall flowers, small flowers, flowering bushes, young trees, old trees, all interspersed with happy beach grass means the suns may have a problem. Still, they're pretty strong too so some may survive.



Along paths similar we eventually arrived at the waterside that overlooks the south shore. I have to mention this park is doggie heaven as most of it is leash optional. Over to the left of us when I took this picture a spaniel was out in the water trying to catch an otter while his owners laughed. The photo I took just showed a tiny dot that was the dog's head and an invisible otter. All the rest was water..



This is just to show you how much water. It's a bit like looking over the edge of the world.



There's a huge grassy area where people fly kites, picnic, lie in the sun or sit on benches watching the sea. The WWII gun post is decomposing fast so can't be approached unless you feel like going out for a wade to get a closer look.



Here's one of our seaside home possibilities.





Lastly, I couldn't resist this shot of a grandfather and his grandson watching the crane boats preparing to unload a big ship that was on its way in.

I hope I haven't bored you too much with this one. I promise next time I'll take pictures of the shopping malls the local government keeps far from the view of tourists arriving to explore historic Halifax.

Hope you're enjoying sunny days and your favorite beverages.

12 comments:

  1. I am thank you! :) What lovely walks you take. I love walking around and looking at the scenery. Unfortunately, we live off a state road so if we tried to go for a walk we'd be run over I do believe. Still busy with school but missing you all in the blogosphere!

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  2. I think your seaside home prospect looks rather...urr...quaint! ;-)

    Thanks for taking us along on your walk.

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  3. This is a great post. Thanks for the guided tour. I love places like this along the water. Quite similar to Northern California and Oregon's coast as far as large expanses of just beach, (more so in Cali than Oregon). I love the starkness of it. It's rugged because it's cold and uninviting to the multitudes of heat seeking tourists. The trees live on, but with a fragile existence. I guess I'm trying to explain something that I can't explain. (Talk about boring, that's me!)
    Mrs. Spadoman and I are planning a trip this Fall to celebrate our 40 years of marriage. We will be returning to Niagara Falls via Canada for sure, but we are dreaming of visiting the Maritimes since we have wanted to for many years.
    As far as Alberta? Well, the motorcycle becons and there might be a Summer trip in that direction as well, all the way to Prince Rupert.

    Peace

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  4. ....erm ..... Medicine Hat is in southern AB. temps there are mild.... at least by the standards some of us have to live by. yes, i'm whining. but i wouldn't you to land there in a sea container. i do have dreams of what i could build with enough of those contaniners, though. and, in the right light, your home prospects show promise... perhaps contact your local Habitat for Humanity affiliate and suggest a ReNew It project. i can give
    you some names..... ;0)

    enjoyed the walk..... i could almost smell the sea. let's pass on the malls, K?

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  5. Bored? More pics, please!

    Completely dig that pine, standing watch, pointing, but at who knows what or whom.

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  6. liberality - You're most welcome. We've thought about moving further out of town because it would be cheaper to rent but then we'd be stuck having to use the car just to get to a place where we could walk, never mind shop for groceries. There never seems to be a happy medium.

    pagan sphinx - Maybe some nice curtains would help :-) I wish you really could have accompanied us.

    spadoman - This park is just a taste of a much wilder coastline along the larger part of the province. We're planning to see more of it now the good weather has arrived and I may take more pictures when we go. My camera just can't do justice to large expanses of natural beauty. I hope you and Mrs. Spado actually do get to travel to the Maritimes this year. We'd like to meet you.

    gfid - Ooops! You're right, of course. I just love the name of the place and had completely forgotten my Canadian geography. It sounds like the name of a place in the far north though, doesn't it?

    I've seen some pictures of nice places made from shipping containers but they're mostly in Europe. A few of them stacked together would be most cool. The beach house will take a lot of ReNewing.

    The smell of the sea and the flowering bushes didn't translate on blogger. Okay, no malls.

    ol'buzzard - You're welcome but I hope you don't mind if I don't do another selection for a while.

    randal - I'm glad you liked them. When I take the camera outside I can't see the screen at all so just point, let it auto focus, and click. If I take enough I get lucky with some. That particular tree is at least 60' tall and very stately.

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  7. Lovely photos, Susan!

    While I live in quite a beautiful part of Germany (even if it's not up to Black Forest or Bavarian standards :-)), I still miss the sea and find my instinct sending me off in some coastal direction at least once a year. Luckily, my parents' home in Dublin is only a few minutes walk away from Dublin Bay. So I envy your access to the ocean a little :-) ...

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  8. Great pics, thanks for bringing us along on your stroll. I'm particularly fond of seascapes. My dog would love to walk down that path, but I would have a hard time keeping her out of the water.

    I love it when winter is over and we can see all the new growth. Beautiful!

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  9. It certainly looks like a great place to live Susan

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  10. francis - Like every other place some areas are prettier than others and some are outright ugly but you're right that it's really a treat to live by the sea. Portland had mountains too. I wonder how I could arrange for some of them?

    me/nunly - I'm glad you liked them. It's pretty funny to go walking there on a weekend when people and their dogs are out walking . Much meeting, greeting, sniffing, and tail wagging goes on. Then there's the dogs.

    jams - Ah, we all pick and choose our best shots, don't we? It's nice enough but I've never lived anyplace I hated.

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  11. I was actually looking for Halifax in Yorkshire. Nonetheless I've spent an interesting few minutes on your blog.

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