Autumn in Falls Lake

Near Windsor, NS, there is a recreational facility owned and operated by the Department of National Defence. There are 25 cabins, complete with fire pits, barbeques, and many of the comforts of home. If you're lucky enough to have a connection with the DND, you can book one of the cabins and spend a night or a weekend doing whatever you want, including absolutely nothing if that's what you desire. Fortunately, in the fall of 2013, I had just such a connection.

 

  

Back at the cabin, there was no shortage of human interest either! 

A bit of this:

along with some of this:

and a tonne of food that was not only tasty, but perfectly photogenic!

because what would a cabin mission be without a nice, warm piece of pie?

As the sun went down, another walk along the lake; a stunning end to a beautiful day in an absolutely magical place...

 

Nocturne: Art at Night

Art happens often. Art at night happens once a year.
At least, in Halifax.

It's called Nocturne, and it's an annual celebration of all the creativity the city has to offer. The downtown streets fill with people, and art galleries, busker-types, and random doors you never noticed before come alive in a city core open-house. This year was my first visit, and it was pretty darn extraordinary.

There was so much to see that I can really never do it justice. I'll start in the galleries on the south end of Barrington St, and, of course, I make no claim to the art in the photos.

 Up the road a bit, in the basement of a building I'm pretty sure I could never find again...

 At the Page & Strange Gallery, the place was stocked with dots. That's right: just green and pink paper dots. Visitors were invited to stick the dots to the walls, the display stands, the floor, the ceiling, the windows.... anywhere you could reach, and in any shape or style your brain could come up with. 

People were lined up out the door the join in. 

This is just a small section: the place was absolutely COVERED. Even the negative dots from the cutouts in the original paper were being used. It was pretty surreal actually.

 In a small back room of the gallery, there were 'perspective' paintings, and this one was hands down my favourite. Mind = blown.

Next door:

All the art wasn't graphic media. All of it wasn't even indoors.

The man in the moon was available to read anything you wanted to write down and send up on his little bucket pulley. Some of it was bizarre, some of it was motivational, and more than once there was a wedding proposal!

 The window display at the belly dance studio was strangely mesmerizing.

and this, though not my best photography work by any stretch, was really fun to read:

It was about eleven o'clock when I decided I had taken in all I could. It was then that I realized I was downtown, at night, with my camera, and this wasn't going to happen again any time soon.

Parade Square:

Dartmouth:

The boardwalk:

and these streetlights, which were actually an art exhibit called "Got Drunk and Fell Down." 

I'm not joking. 

The one in back there occasionally 'relieves itself" into the harbour.

Thinking I had done all the shooting I was going to do for the night, I headed to the bus stop. Then I kept going.
There was one more thing that needed taking care of and this opportunity didn't knock often enough.

This is the MacDonald Bridge, one of two such spans that connect Halifax and it's sister city Dartmouth.

At approximately midnight, after chatting with a security officer...

("Were you aware that you were on property owned by the Department of National Defence?" 

"Oh, really? Well, I suppose that makes sense. Do I have to leave?" 

"No, just wanted to make sure you were aware.")

I walked across this darn thing.

And yes, it was scarey, and shaky... and worth it.

Downtown Halifax at night:

The dockyard:

Probably some kind of national security breach:

and from somewhere just after the middle. 

I made it!

Matt Mays and Adam Baldwin: Mermaid Theatre

October 16, 2013 found me in Windsor, Nova Scotia, at the Mermaid Theatre. My bestie had scored three tickets to Matt Mays's accoustic show promoting his album 'Coyote' and I was down for a Wednesday night road trip with a couple of lovely ladies any night of the week!

The venue was small and welcoming, and Matt was at his best: calling out to the audience for requests and living up to every single expectation.

As promised here, the lovely Adam Baldwin also made an appearance, opening with some of his solo work, and joining Matt on stage for some magic.

It turned out another of their band members was in the audience and got called up on stage for some impromptu keyboarding. The music was outstanding and the audience participation helped to make the show well worth a night out of the big city.

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

On the front of the Canadian ten-cent coin, there is a sailboat. It is none other than the Bluenose, built and sailed right here in Nova Scotia, specifically, in the small fishing town of Lunenburg. It is in Lunenburg that we decided to spend one magnificent mid-October day.

First, a walk along the waterfront, of course!

 

 

Then up the hill into town. 

 

 Lunenburg Academy, currently a UNESCO World Heritage Site:

The surrounding grounds:

and the nearby Hillcrest Cemetery.

 Lastly, an exploratory drive on the way home, where we ended up a bit lost along the shore on a random but strikingly beautiful dead-end road.

“To know ahead of time what you’re looking for means you’re then only photographing your own preconceptions, which is very limiting, and often false.” - Dorthea Lange