Travel : Our trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia – Autumn 2019 Part 1

Hi. We spent last week having a little vacation on Canada’s east coast, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where we celebrated our 20th anniversary! (Follow up: Part 2 and Part 3)

I'd never been there and Nick had only ever quickly passed through, so it was high on our list of places to visit. It ended up being a great place to go. A couple of aspects which really stand out, were the friendly people and the excellent food. It was a lot of fun.

We flew Porter Air from Toronto's Island Airport on Sunday afternoon and stayed five nights, returning on Friday afternoon.

We stayed at The Cambridge Suites Hotel, in a "Junior Suite" on the top floor, which had a little kitchen, a lounging area and a separate bedroom. A buffet breakfast in their dining room on the main floor was included. It was very comfortable and really quite perfect for our needs. (I'll include photos taken around the room and hotel in another post.)

Here is the story and photos of our first day there ...

Monday was Remembrance Day, and unlike in Ontario, this was a public holiday in Nova Scotia. We hadn't expected that and it meant that the shops were all closed and the streets were very quiet, but the weather was beautiful and it was a great day to take a long walk and look around.

So, after watching the Remembrance Day service which took place right across from our hotel, we headed downhill, toward the waterfront.

Celebrating Friendship at Ascari on King Street West

* UPDATE * : Ascari have closed this location on King Street West however you can find them in Leslieville, Toronto, at 1111 Queen Street East.

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Hello!

My good friend Julie and I celebrated our "Friendiversary" recently, having met 7 years ago.

I love this lady and am so glad that we both decided to go out to a book release event on that Wednesday evening back in 2012. We were in a crowded bar on Ossington Avenue, and after listening to the author read from her book, people began lining up to get their copy signed. Nick was with me and we were tired and ready to head out. I distinctly remember thinking that we could skip the wait and get her to sign ours another time. But then Nick and the bartender began chatting while he settled our bill, so I decided to go for it, wriggling my way through the crowd and joining the line-up. Moments later, the cheerful and friendly person who is Julie, turned around and said "hi".

We began talking in that line-up and continued after our books had been signed. We quickly discovered things in common, mainly that we each had a blog and both had a passion for making things with yarn, she knitting it and I crocheting.

But, of course, sharing common interests is not all that’s necessary to keep a friendship strong over the years. You also have to really like the person and to feel comfortable and able to be your natural true self when you're with them. And, that I do with this loving, courageous, smart and fun friend!

I could easily go on about how great I think Julie is, but I'll let you discover her many talents through her blog "Knitted Bliss", her published books of poetry, and her charming Instagram account.

And, now about our dinner together ... We tried out a new (four months old) place on King Street West, called Ascari. In short, the restaurant ended up being a very good choice!

The Gem of a Gift Shop for “Early Rubens” at the AGO

It's always fun to see what gifts they choose to offer in the gift shops designed specifically to go with the special exhibitions at the AGO. Of course, the regular shop on the main floor is always filled with lots of nice art related items, but the small pop-up shops are cleverly and uniquely customized to reflect whatever show is on at the time.

Since the prime gift shopping season is upon us, I thought you'd enjoy a look at the lovely jewel-toned gift shop accompanying the remarkable "Early Rubens" Exhibition, which runs until January 5th, 2020.

A Colourful Evening : Yorkville Mural Festival

While sitting here at my computer, trying to come up with a good title to describe a recent evening out with my friend Isabel, I absentmindedly gazed at the thumb-nails of the photos I was going to include in the post. You could say that the title popped right out at me, because everything was just so colourful!

We were in Yorkville, with the main goal of seeing the newly painted murals that resulted from the first annual Mural Festival held there in September.

In a nutshell, what happened was that nine world renowned street artists painted murals within a courtyard, which were revealed during a three day arts festival.

While it sounded really cool, I couldn't make it to the festival, but not all was lost because the murals are still there, and will be until the festival takes place again next year, when (I think) they'll be painted over with new pieces.

So, the site of the Yorkville Mural Festival at 99 Yorkville Avenue, was our first stop ...

Halloween At Home : Dinner and a Movie – 2019

Hello hello! I hope those of you who celebrate Halloween had a good one.

Our friends Leslie and Niall came over for a casual evening of drinks, dinner and movie watching, but more than anything, we enjoyed each other's company.

Here are some photos (and plenty of chat which you're totally free to ignore!) ...