Last post from Halifax!

Here I am - last full day in Halifax!  These past 2 months have been an incredible gift of no schedules and no agenda.  I have wandered this amazing city and taken a ton of photos (can't wait to see some of them on our big screens for worship!).  I have done my best to be fully present to this place and not to worry too much about what may or may not be happening back in Regina.  I have listened to a couple of the podcasts of the worship services back at Sunset, and have found myself laughing out loud to hear the energy in the room - an energy that I am hugely looking forward to tapping into again in a few weeks.  In the meantime, here are a few random thoughts from the past week or so...

On Sunday, October 23rd, Stairs Memorial Church celebrated their 103rd anniversary.  Sarah did this wonderful children's time about the ways that the spark of God's love inside each one of us holds us together and brings good energy to the world.

The guest preacher for the day was Ross Bartlett.  One of the things he said that really resonated with me was that church communities need to let go of the phrase "we are all tired" - he said if you personally are tired, then you need to own that, but don't assume that everyone else around you is tired.  I told him it is one of the things we speak about often at Sunset - that we each need to find ways to speak about what is vital and lifegiving about the community.  If our only message is that we are tired, it is certainly not going to draw anyone into the circle!  

I have really appreciated the warm welcome I have received from this congregation, and the fact that I have been welcomed as an extra volunteer at their food bank whenever I could find my way there.  My last Wednesday with them I got big hugs from Helen and Frances, the two women who I have gotten to know the best during my time here.  This last time I was introduced to Dulse.  The pictures I took were very blurry - because we were laughing so hard!  Dulse is very much an acquired taste.  Frances told me that when she was a kid, she remembers going out with her dad - they would roll up their pant legs, and walk out to find it once the tide was out.  Then they would lay out their harvest on the rocks to dry in the sun.  The man in the picture below harvested this batch of Dulse in the Bay of Fundy and then brought it to Frances to prepare.  She swears it is the best thing for your health - tons of minerals and vitamins which are very good for you.  But Helen says it is the worst taste you can imagine and she will never ever eat it again!  However, she did say I should at least try it.  Which I did.  And now I can say I tried it!!  

Yesterday I spent most of the day with these 3 women:

They are all ministers - Sarah is on the left as you look at the picture.  We met in her home, which meant we enjoyed time with her dog, Chester!

I am usually a very chatty person, but for much of the time here in Halifax, I have been alone.  That has been good for me - I needed time to just slow down and spend time with my own thoughts.  However, I am getting very ready to enter back into community!  It was great to be with these women as we drank coffee and ate chocolates and talked about many, many aspects of our lives in ministry.  We also spent significant time talking about ideas for entering Advent and the Christmas season.  It is likely a very good thing that I have started to head in that direction since I am back to work for 2 weeks before the start of Advent!!  I appreciated their wise and faithful perspective - nice to be welcomed into their community for a day:

It is likely time to be heading home.  The leaves are definitely dropping:

These are the same trees that I took a picture of when Art was leaving:

One of the things that I have thoroughly enjoyed in the past two months, is the people who have been busking on the streets - especially near the Harbour front.  On Art's last day we enjoyed these two young women - they played a variety of instruments, and their voices were able to harmonize beautifully.  But what really drew us to sit on a bench and listen to them for awhile was how they seemed oblivious to the people around them - they were just thoroughly enjoying creating music together:

Today when I was walking downtown, I saw this man with his harp.  I saw him many times sitting down at the Harbour front.  I loved listening to his music - he was always in shorts, sitting right beside the water.  This is how I saw him today - far away from the Harbour front!

One of the huge gifts of this time in Halifax has been the view from the 10th floor of the Condo building where I have been staying.  There have been some spectacular sunrises, and some amazing photo opportunities for the ships coming into the Fairview Cove Terminal.  Here are some of my favorites:

More and more often, there are clouds and fog moving in.  This was my view the other evening:

The first week I was here the humidity and the heat were like nothing I have ever experienced.  I had to buy some summer clothing so that I could be outside without melting away in the heat.  Hard to imagine that now as the days cool down and the sun is not quite so obvious.  Time to move on...

I hope that wherever you are as you head into this last weekend in October, that you take a moment to reflect on moving from one season to the next.  I know that snow is around the corner - likely on the ground already for some of you reading this!  There was a post on Facebook that talked about how autumn can be an opportunity to watch the leaves falling off the trees and perhaps reflect on the things that you would like to let go of as you head into the winter months.  That may be a little too philosophical for those of us who kind of dread heading into the deep-freeze of Prairie winters.  However, I am going to do my best to carry this blessed gift of the time and space to breathe and to dream and to wander freely, as I move closer to the rather busy season of Advent that lies just around the corner.

Back to wandering a bit as I spend the last few hours in downtown Halifax!

Autumn reflections...

I am well aware that spending these two autumn months in Halifax has been a gift.  I keep hearing about snow and rain on the prairies - making me get out even more often to enjoy these last sunny days here on the East Coast!  

On Sunday, October 16th, our friends Paul and Sarah, took Art and I on a walk after church at the Shubie Park in Dartmouth.  Many years ago, the Shubenacadie River was seen as a possible transportation link between Dartmouth and the Halifax Harbour.  Although that has long since been abandoned, there is a beautiful series of trails along the river today.  Here are a few of the pictures from our Sunday stroll:

There used to be a series of Locks that helped the boats get up the river, and this is one that has been restored to tell a bit of the story of years gone by:

Right near this Lock, there is a building with a concession stand.  At one time the United Church in the neighbourhood actually operated the concession stand both as a fundraiser, and as a way of being involved in the community.  Kind of a unique ministry to offer!

When we left Dartmouth, it was a good to give Art a chance to get out on the water by taking the Dartmouth ferry across to the Halifax water front.

I know that in many ways the Halifax water front is very touristy, but there is something about being down there, beside the water, that I find very relaxing.  So, we sat at a little table and then played around with the timer on our camera to get a picture - felt like a good way to capture the warmth of the sun, and the fun of being by the water.

Once Art had left, it was beginning to feel like I had been everywhere, and done everything - but I did manage to find another trail to walk.  This one was at Hemlock Ravine.  It involved a new bus route, so that was kind of fun as well!  And the fall colors continued to be at their best.  Here is the entrance to the Park:

I set off down the trail - it was lovely to just wind my way down the hill on this very well maintained path.  There were other people on the trail, but plenty of room for all of us.  A beautiful fall day!

As with everything in this City, this park also has quite a history.  In 1789 John Wentworth lived on this property with his wife.  When Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, arrived to command the garrison in 1794, he took over the property and lived there with his mistress, Madame Julie de St. Laurent.  He developed the 200 acres of woodland into quite a magnificent estate, with beautiful gardens and a large oval pond.  Many of the elite from Halifax thoroughly enjoyed the festivities that would happen when Prince Edward would host parties on the Estate.  The Prince left Halifax in 1800, and the property eventually fell into dis-repair.  However, in 1869, Prince Arthur, Edward's grandson, arrived for a visit to Halifax.  He re-shaped the pond into the famous heart-shaped pond that is there today - he wanted to dedicate the pond to the 27 year relationship between Prince Edward and Julie St. Laurent - therefore, it is often seen as a place of romance, and is often called Julie's pond.  I found it a lovely warm spot to sit and watch the ducks for a wee while.

I made my way back down the trail to catch the bus, and passed some more of those stunning red trees along the way:

I was sitting on the bus thinking about how lucky I am to still be here, when this woman and her friend got on the bus.  I missed the moment when it was most striking, but truly - have you ever seen hair her color?!?  It was stunning when the sun shone through it!  Part of what got me is that my guess is this woman was actually a little older than I am - who am I to guess at age?  But she was no spring chicken!

When I first arrived in Halifax, this woman was often sitting down on the Harbour Front.  She plays music on a CD, which she accompanies with her spoons.  It was quite lovely to see her once more, and so I leave you with this picture of a woman enjoying the sun, the music, and the relaxed atmosphere of the Halifax Harbour Front!

Cycles of life...

When we were at the cottage near Carlyle, Nova Scotia, we called our son, Alex.  When he asked what we had done that day we started to tell him about the wonderful old cemetery that we had wandered around in, and his immediate response was: "only old people visit cemeteries"!  We laughed about it at the time.  However, when we were heading home on the city bus in Halifax a few days later, a young girl offered to give up her seat so that we could sit down!  I assured her we were just fine to stand, thank you very much!  Although I felt rather offended at her thinking we were too old to stand, Art assured me that he was sure she only offered to give up her seat because she saw we were holding grocery bags!  

Anyways, I guess it is now official - we are old.  We spent two very pleasant afternoons wandering around another couple of old cemeteries in Halifax!

This is the description printed on Wikipedia:  The Old Burying Ground was founded in 1749, the same year as the settlement, as the town's first burial ground. It was originally non-denominational and for several decades was the only burial place for all Haligonians. (The burial ground was also used by St. Matthew's United Church (Halifax).) In 1793 it was turned over to the Anglican St. Paul's Church. The cemetery was closed in 1844.  

It is difficult to describe what it feels like to stand there beside gravestones from the 1700's.  Art and I were quite of awestruck at standing there beside the headstone, imagining a group of people gathered there 200 years ago to say goodbye to their loved one - most definitely felt like Holy ground.  When we were there, there was one man raking some leaves - he is on the Board of Directors for the cemetery.  He was very happy to speak to us a little more about what we were seeing, and one of the interesting things he pointed out was the footstones that are often in these old cemeteries.

Oftentimes the graves were very close together, and several people would be buried in the same space.  So the footstones were there so that people would know the outside limits.   You may not be able to see it, but on the footstone, they would put the initials of all those who were buried between the headstone and the footstone.  

The other cemetery that we spent some time in was the Titanic cemetery.  There were 3 cemeteries that were used as burial sites for the victims of the Titanic, but the majority of them (about 130) were buried at the Fairview Cemetery - about a 20 minute walk from our apartment building.  It was very touching to be there, having watched the video about the sinking of the Titanic.  

In the video I watched, it spoke of the workers on one of the rescue boats that had gone out to help with the recovery of bodies from the ocean.  I can't imagine what they saw, or the depth of emotion they felt, as they got close to the site of the tragedy.  Many bodies were just floating in the water.  The Mackay-Bennett was one of the recovery ships that rescued about 306 bodies. Some were brought back to Halifax, some were simply buried at sea.  Some were able to be identified, some were not, which is reflected in the gravestones that are there.  Some have just simple inscriptions, some have poetry or hymn quotes chosen by their families.

One of the touching stories in the video was about the crew on the boat who saw the body of this two year old child floating towards them.  He was unable to be identified at the time, although it was assumed that he may possibly have been the child above - Costa Leonard.  In any case, the crew from the ship paid for his casket and his funeral - the unknown child - and a gravestone was erected.  Just a few years ago, through some diligent research, this child was identified and a new stone was added to the first one, along with a picture of the child.

When Art and I were in Europe several years ago, we traveled to Ypres, in Belgium, and toured the cemeteries that were there (yup - we're old!).  It was very touching to see the many, many headstones that said "unknown soldier - known only to God" - or words to that effect (my brain for details is rather poor!).  This reminded me being there.  It also reminded me that when you are close to the actual place of these events, it is hard to step away from the stories and from the ways that those stories have shaped your community.  

One of the fun things that Art and I did while he was here was go to a rather up-scale restaurant for a seafood dinner.  It was one that had been recommended to us as one of the places where we could count on a true "seafood" dinner - and they were right!  It was at the Five Fishermen and the food was spectacular!

Digby Scallops, Salmon, Haddock, Lobster Risotto and Shrimp - way too tasty!  This was the restaurant, including the stairway up into the area where we ate:

When you look at those pictures, my guess is that you wouldn't know you were looking at a haunted house, right?  The waitress told us, and the people at the table next to us, that this house had been beside a funeral home, and right after the Great Explosion, it had been used as a temporary morgue - right in the room beside where we were eating - a room now used primarily for larger groups renting out the space for their party - bodies had been lain out for embalming.  It was very common for many of the businesses near the harbour to have been taken over because the number of bodies was too overwhelming for any of the funeral homes to handle on their own.  However, there were some that believed that this restaurant was now home to many of the "spirits" of those who had lain there.  She said - truly - we have had some staff who walked out right in the middle of their shifts because they just couldn't handle working in a haunted house!  However, she said she feels like it just adds to the mystique of the place and that she doesn't feel it should frighten anyone away.  If anything, it should draw more people there to experience both the fine food and the Nova Scotia character of the place!  The man at the table next to us, returned from the washroom at one point and assured us he had seen nothing out of the ordinary other than a woman with a hatchet wandering the halls!  I tell you this story for a reason.  When we were at the Titanic cemetery the next day, whom should we see but that very same couple who had been at the restaurant the night before!

I didn't want them to feel like I was stalking them, so I took their picture as they walked away from us!  It was too funny to see them there - small world indeed!