This is as far as we've got so far with our furnishings. As you can see we're cableized and have an honest to goodness chair which numb carried home from the consignment antique store yesterday. I had my eye on a lovely wing-backed armchair with a footstool, a Jacobean side table, and a stained glass table lamp but he'd neglected to bring his backstrap harness. That meant I had to put the plum colored Victorian sofa back on the shelf for another day too.
I'd like to tell you we've comfortably settled into this place or this one but that would be telling a fib, something I try hard not to do. They're both houses not too far down the block from where we actually do live in a neighborhood of equally magnificent places interspersed with apartment buildings much like ours.
We've been going for long walks every morning and finding many places and views worthy of photos. We're both thinking Halifax is a very well kept secret among connoisseurs of North American cities. Today we walked all around Point Pleasant Park at the southern tip of the peninsula but it was so early the sunrise killed any attempt at picture taking of the seaside panorama.
This prospect of Victoria Park Gardens is what greets us every day and weekend mornings are especially quiet. Further up the street is the much larger area of the Public Gardens with the lake, bandstand and all the associated things you'd expect. Of course, if you live in many cities you're glad enough to see a patch of dirt and a tree now and then so I shouldn't generalize.
The photo isn't very clear because the building is having facing work done and the balconies repaired so cement dust has accumulated on the windows. Still, you can see we overlook a cool park with a fountain just beyond and below us and an old church across the way.
We were very lucky to find this place and the fact we can easily walk downtown, to the waterfront, to tons of little cafes and odd shops all around us makes it well worth the wait for these guys not to be showing up at our windows first thing on weekday mornings. In a way I'm just as glad our stuff isn't here quite yet because I'll have enough to vacuum once they take their jackhammers away. In the meantime, numb is prepared to hold a towel up at the bedroom window so I can make it safely to the bathroom for a shower and my clothes at 7:30am.
The adventure continues.
a collapsed balcony injured some people in Edmonton recently.... very glad yours is being repaired..... sounds like big-time cleanup afterward though.... so delayed arrival of furniture may be a blessing in disguise.
ReplyDeletebuddhist simplicity.... ommmmmmmm
I love the view! So pretty!
ReplyDeleteBalconies can be very dangerous, glad they are attending to it. I can then see you out on the balcony enjoying that beautiful view.
A lovely view and lovely neighbourhood! You sure lucked out, I'm so happy for you (and makes us Canadians proud).
ReplyDeletewow, it looks like a lovely city and i am enjoying living another life far from my own....dried brown grass, heat and dust...that's us up here in the hills, just us and the snakes, hehehee..anyway, i hope you get your stuff soon or you just might be tempted to go crazy around there with your penchant for antiQ's ... life's hard sometimes...you are going to be in rare shape with all that walking and it's all so pretty, how could you not...don't think, all in all, this was such a bad idea.. :) xo
ReplyDeleteYou're getting around and exploring! That is such a good sign that you're slowly getting settled.
ReplyDeleteNice to hear from you. I've been rather occupied lately. Sorry it's taken me so long to come by.
Gotta go to work now!
gfid - They've taken out whole sections of balconies including the one above ours. Now we have house jacks on our balcony holding up the forms for that one. Normally I wouldn't have been happy to move in but I'm not so picky now :-) I'm learning.
ReplyDeletenancy - I do have a problem with vertigo under certain circumstances and one of them is walking out on high balconies. There's a graphic warning sign on our door indicating someone falling which hasn't served to boost my confidence. One the rails are up I may crawl a little way out with my camera - so long as my husband is holding my belt.
marja-leena - After the very bad experience (and even during it) we met some very nice Canadians. It truly is a pretty city.
linda - It reminds me in a way of an older San Francisco. There's a very interesting mix of old and new architecture and, of course, the sea. I wish we could look at that from our balcony but it's close enough by when we go outside.
All in all it was a good idea but it's impossible to leave a place where you were safe and happy and not miss it. Portland is lovely too.
pagan sphinx - We've been out exploring since the day we arrived but it's so much more fun when it's not a hotel room waiting at the end of a long walk - even the very good ones have disadvantages over your own place. Now we're just looking forward to our belongings coming next week.
My own visits have been pretty sporadic up to now and will be until I have my own couch. I hope the school year goes well for you.
You know, you could have told everyone that you guys were holed up in one of those swanky houses and we never would have known.
ReplyDeleteThough it's hard to beat a quality view.
That looks like a very nice neighborhood. And I can totally see you draped over a plum Victorian divan.
ReplyDeleterandal - Yeah, but truth in moderation is always far more entertaining.
ReplyDeletelisa - It's funny when the horse drawn wagons full of tourists pass by and you see 30 cars at clip-clop speed behind.
Halifax is looking more fetching by each post! This is all very exciting reading.
ReplyDeleteWeather report from the Pacific NW: gray skies, been sprinkling today after rain yesterday. I need to weed, willy I do, but wow I don't want to, so absowootly I won't.
Thanks for the update Susan. It sounds like you're taking to the place. Have you been to the Saturday market yet?
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful neighborhood you are in. I can't wait to see what this new adventure inspires in you.xoxo
ReplyDeletewhat kind of things are you finding in the "odd shops" during your morning walks? plaster-cast feet of tiny birds? peach pits made into pipe-cleaner-and-cotton bears? moon stones?
ReplyDeletei like your chair.
it's good to hear you're wired.
you probably have to talk to each other and stuff, since there isn't much else to do.
maybe you can collect some balcony dust, mix it with paints, paint some seashells from the seashore to look like peach pit bears?
i hear "odd shops" eat that stuff up.
just count your fingers afterwards.
lydia - It's a very cool city and not even winter yet! We've found lots of nice spaces and places but every so often my heart aches for Powell's.
ReplyDeleteWeeding can always be put off til another day :-)
gary - Yes, we are :-) but the Saturday market must wait a little longer. We do know where it is though and that's a good thing.
belette - You would adore this city - at least for a visit if not as a home. I'm thinking about setting up a Halifax picture blog :-)
sera - Wooden sailing ships, old china, clan tartans, tarot cards, glass beads, antique jewelry, and carvings of little birds just to name a few. There are more pubs than I've seen since I lived in England and well attended they are too - they don't even look at us funny when we order ice tea or ginger beer. The gulls have provided lots of shells on the beach and crab legs too. I may have to improvise.
Halifax is famous for its pubs.... at least in Canada..... and for its eclectic collection of citizens... very high per capita writers
ReplyDeletegfid - The interesting thing about them for us is that they're all privately operated; micro-breweries in Oregon are mostly chain. Looks like the city just got a couple more creatives types :-)
ReplyDeleteLooks like a wonderful city. Since I just returned from a Southwestern US trek, Mrs. Spadoman and I had a conversation yesterday about travel. It was about our plans to go East next Summer. Upstate New York via Canada, and then through Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine on our way to the Maritimes. I'm even looking into the ferry to Labrador! I'll expect a walk to a place for coffee or tea, somewhere near that park, or by the lake.
ReplyDeleteWishing you, Numb and Crow all the best.
And oh yes, "Avast ye me hearties, Aurgggggggh!"
Buddhist simplicity is right! Blogger must have swallowed my last comment because I could have sworn I left one but I don't see it now. It sounds as if you have plenty of things to explore and enjoy in your new city. Take care.
ReplyDeleteI hope the rest of your furniture comes quickly. The view looks great!
ReplyDeletespadoman - It sounds like a great trip you have planned and we'll really look forward to meeting you both. I'm interested in taking one of the ferry rides to Newfoundland as well but it turns out it can't be done from Halifax. It appears you have to go 3½ hours north to Cape Breton and take the ferry from there. I'll keep checking. Arrrgh!
ReplyDeleteliberality - I still feel more like a fan of Buddhism rather than a real one and there are some elements of this situation that prove it :-) I do want to go and visit Gampo Abbey but might be too shy to introduce myself even though I will bring a kata.. and my mala just in case there's someone there to empower it. I found a chorten on the beach the other day and added a stone while giving thanks for our safe arrival.
jams - Now we're wondering where we'll have to go at the end of the week to meet it. The view is very nice.
i didn't realize halifax has such a rich scottish heritage.
ReplyDeleteso you've lived in england?
dp you have any suggestions if i wanted to go to England/Scotland/Wales for three (or six) months, to visit and/or go to university?
i've been looking at bath and glasgow. two very different places, assuredly, but seemingly affordable for a long-term stay (compared to, say, london or edinburgh).
sera - The name of the province kind of gives it away :-)
ReplyDeleteI was born in England and raised in Ontario as you know. I was 18 when I went back to England for a few years worth of working, traveling, and attending art schools, but I've never been back since so we're talking ancient history. From what I do know now there'd be benefits to either city. Bath is at least close to London if you wanted access to the museums and galleries, never mind all the rest. Edinburgh really isn't that far either once you consider the entire island is only 900 miles long but Glasgow is the city in Scotland I'd choose. Whichever one you decided on would be a pretty unique experience for you.