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Jun. 29th, 2002 05:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tvordljIt's a long weekend here in Canada, Monday being the day we celebrate Canada's birth as a nation, July 1, 1867. I also have Tuesday off :) Since everyone kept saying "It's supposed to be sunny all weekend" (Canadians love to talk about the weather) it was a pretty sure bet it's going to be crappy. Thunder and lightening last night and today it's been overcast all day with hissy spits of rain. I had a lovely afternoon anyway, determined not to stay inside and veg in front of the computer. The hoover has waited this long, it can wait some more.
I decided to check out our local Farmer's Market which resides in a very old stone building on the Halifax harbourfront. The building used to be a brewery for Alexander Keith's India Pale Ale, Nova Scotia's most popular beer. I believe the larger brewery that owns it has started brewing in this building again after many years away. For some time now on Saturday mornings there is a good sized market in the building. There are permanent shops and cafes and a good Italian restaurant as well.
Saturdays the brewery really comes alive. There are plants, herbs, fruit, veg, lots of crafts such as leather, glass, jewellry, painting and artwork. There are a couple of deli style counters, local cheese, fresh fish, exotic meat (bison, wild boar, venison) a booth featuring wines from several Nova Scotian wineries, homemade baked goods and preserves. You can get lots of organic produce and other vegetarian delights and there's a few ethnic food kiosks too in case you feel like a felafel, a spinanch and feta wrap, a sausage in a bun or a most amazing slize of pizza with gourmet toppings.
The building has a central courtyard where there is sometimes a string quartet. Today in a side alcove i discovered an older man with a guitar and a small accordion singing in a very tuneful voice. There are loads of little staircases and low arched bricked corridors leading to large and small areas with mixtures of vendors, food and crafts side by each. sometimes you go down a stair case only to find you've been in that spot and had come up another exit. This time of year there isn't a lot of variety available in the fresh veg or fruit department but it *is* strawberry season so i picked up two quart boxes of berries purportedly unsprayed by any pesticides (give them a good wash though, because you will probably find little bugs in the bottoms of the boxes) I got some new potatoes and some leeks to make soup, some grainary bread and some bagels.
I proceeded to the "Clay Cafe" where you can pick out a piece of greenware and paint it yourself. The price includes all the paint and the glazing and firing which they do. You can pick it up a few days later. I did up a couple of coffee mugs for gifts for a get together later this summer with one or two more to do next visit. I haven't been there since last summer but i always enjoy it. You see people there of all ages painting side by side, murmuring to their companions or helping the children, all very well behaved i might add. I've made quite a few creations over the years (Right,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rattler?
Finished up there, washed the paint out from under my fingernails and proceeded happily down to the supermarket for a few things. It took me an hour to get home by bus, though, waiting for connections. I hate that, but for the 10% of the time i could use or would really like to have a car, the extra expense isn't worth it yet. I even resisted taking a cab as i think i'm going to try to put on a push to save a bit of cash, cash that seems to just get wittered away on God knows what. Nothing all that useful
So here i am faffing about with the computer. Might pop over to the corner store and see if they have any videos (this isn't wasting money, it's useful and cheaper than going to the movies, too!) Might attend some of the festivities put on for Canada Day on Monday. There's fireworks in the evening and outdoor concerts around, come even free. The Tragically Hip and Our Lady Peace are playing the outdoor concert on Citadel Hill but they really aren't to my taste. Plus that's a pay-for-a-ticket concert though you could just go to a cafe or sit in the car park nearby and hear them anyway. Looks like rain yet though, so video it will be.
I decided to check out our local Farmer's Market which resides in a very old stone building on the Halifax harbourfront. The building used to be a brewery for Alexander Keith's India Pale Ale, Nova Scotia's most popular beer. I believe the larger brewery that owns it has started brewing in this building again after many years away. For some time now on Saturday mornings there is a good sized market in the building. There are permanent shops and cafes and a good Italian restaurant as well.
Saturdays the brewery really comes alive. There are plants, herbs, fruit, veg, lots of crafts such as leather, glass, jewellry, painting and artwork. There are a couple of deli style counters, local cheese, fresh fish, exotic meat (bison, wild boar, venison) a booth featuring wines from several Nova Scotian wineries, homemade baked goods and preserves. You can get lots of organic produce and other vegetarian delights and there's a few ethnic food kiosks too in case you feel like a felafel, a spinanch and feta wrap, a sausage in a bun or a most amazing slize of pizza with gourmet toppings.
The building has a central courtyard where there is sometimes a string quartet. Today in a side alcove i discovered an older man with a guitar and a small accordion singing in a very tuneful voice. There are loads of little staircases and low arched bricked corridors leading to large and small areas with mixtures of vendors, food and crafts side by each. sometimes you go down a stair case only to find you've been in that spot and had come up another exit. This time of year there isn't a lot of variety available in the fresh veg or fruit department but it *is* strawberry season so i picked up two quart boxes of berries purportedly unsprayed by any pesticides (give them a good wash though, because you will probably find little bugs in the bottoms of the boxes) I got some new potatoes and some leeks to make soup, some grainary bread and some bagels.
I proceeded to the "Clay Cafe" where you can pick out a piece of greenware and paint it yourself. The price includes all the paint and the glazing and firing which they do. You can pick it up a few days later. I did up a couple of coffee mugs for gifts for a get together later this summer with one or two more to do next visit. I haven't been there since last summer but i always enjoy it. You see people there of all ages painting side by side, murmuring to their companions or helping the children, all very well behaved i might add. I've made quite a few creations over the years (Right,
rattler? Finished up there, washed the paint out from under my fingernails and proceeded happily down to the supermarket for a few things. It took me an hour to get home by bus, though, waiting for connections. I hate that, but for the 10% of the time i could use or would really like to have a car, the extra expense isn't worth it yet. I even resisted taking a cab as i think i'm going to try to put on a push to save a bit of cash, cash that seems to just get wittered away on God knows what. Nothing all that useful
So here i am faffing about with the computer. Might pop over to the corner store and see if they have any videos (this isn't wasting money, it's useful and cheaper than going to the movies, too!) Might attend some of the festivities put on for Canada Day on Monday. There's fireworks in the evening and outdoor concerts around, come even free. The Tragically Hip and Our Lady Peace are playing the outdoor concert on Citadel Hill but they really aren't to my taste. Plus that's a pay-for-a-ticket concert though you could just go to a cafe or sit in the car park nearby and hear them anyway. Looks like rain yet though, so video it will be.
