Day 106 - Parkour

I had a few minutes before hockey tonight and noticed people scaling walls along Citadel Hill. They were practicing Parkour, a physical and mental discipline of French origin where participants use skills such as climbing and jumping to move along a specific route, in the most efficient manner possible, as if escaping in an emergency situation. It is most often practiced outdoors in urban areas and is non-competitive. Think of it as martial arts for flight rather than fight. I was extremely impressed with the participants acute sense of spatial and physical control. They were highly skilled. Check out general information on Parkour here or have a look at their Halifax website.

Day 105 - Kerr

This is Kerr, my friend Darren and Krista's kid. He waves his hands around when he is excited. He is well on his way to becoming a magician. Or a preacher.

Day 104 - Seven

We had one last feed of Black Point Oysters at Seven before it closes its doors for good this weekend. This place first introduced me to the joy of fine dining and the temptation of an extensive wine list when I first came out of University. Some great memories here. You will be missed.

Day 103 - Gaspereau Winery

We had a great day at Gaspereau Winery, which held their annual 'grape stomp.' This boutique winery has a very pretty vineyard, which hugs the hillside overlooking the Gaspereau Valley. During the grape stomp they had a tasting in their upstairs barn. Most, if not all, NS wineries were present. I was happy to check out Gaspereau's Sparkling and their Muscat Chardonnay - a smooth twist to the classic NS Muscat. I could just smell this wine all day.

We also learned of a new winery in Wolfville, Muir Murray Estate Winery. I sampled their L'Acadie Blanc at lunch at Tempest. I really liked their take on this grape. This pale straw coloured wine is light with crisp acidity, and is full of fresh apple, citrus and mineral. We will have to check out Muir Murray winery some other time, apparently they have a tasting room.

Day 102 - Knots

After brunch this afternoon we took a pleasant stroll along the waterfront. It was a nice day with a relatively empty boardwalk.

Day 101 - Dawn, Point Pleasant Park

I took a walk along the water before dawn in Point Pleasant Park. I set up a tripod and fired off a 20 second exposure of a boat motoring past. Light trail ensued.

Day 100 - Boats under pink sky

Pinkish sky after sunset at Fisherman's Cove.

Day 99 - Rock Sandwich

Day 98 - Tire Sandwich

Day 97 - Fence

Day 96 - Mimi

Day 95 - Afternoon at the Triangle

Day 94 - Stripes

Day 93 - Nice pass

Day 92 - Sunflower

Day 91 - Falling Sky

The light at dusk this evening was ominous, the clouds hung over the harbour. Fired off a couple of shots on the Dartmouth waterfront.

Day 90 - Hay hay hay

Day 89 - Shubie Dooby Triathlon

Triathletes emerge from the swim portion of the Shubie Dooby Triathlon, held today at the Shubie Campground.

Day 88 - Taylor Head Provincial Park

Taylor Head Provincial Park offers five hiking trails, ranging in length up to to 6 km. This hiker's gem is a long drive down the 7 from Halifax but worth the trip. The Park is large, scenic, well groomed and free. We hiked the Headland Trail. This is a pleasant 8km coastline walk to Taylor Head Point. An empty beach off the parking lot and a rugged stretch of cool rock formations on the outward trip were highlights for me.

Day 87 - Zen buddhist statue

I dig these statues outside the Buddhist Temple on Windsor Street in Halifax.

Day 86 - Blue eyed dog at Seaview Park

I dropped into Seaview Park this evening. I spotted these blue eyed dogs and couldn't resist getting a couple pics. Dog photography tip - Put a treat or a ball on top of your lens (whatever the dog is playing with) to get an attentive shot. In this case I kidnapped his younger brother's tennis ball.

Day 85- Sunset Peggy's Cove

Took a drive out to Peggy's Cove. Sunset was kinda blah, no clouds. Nice evening though.

Day 84 - Sunset Hartlen Point

Not sure which of these two I will pick for photo of the day.

Day 83 - Duncan's Cove

It was a beautiful September day for a hike so we headed out to Duncan's Cove. What a fantastic day, so glad to have it off. See the rest of the set on Flickr here.

Day 82 - Saint Mary's Basilica from Old Burying Ground

While downtown this afternoon I stopped into the Old Burying Ground, Halifax's first burial ground. The bright sunlight today made for tough photographing conditions so I took the opportunity to practice my daytime HDR technique.

Day 81 - Northwest Arm

Saturday night we had a lovely evening party crawling. Before heading to my friend Kevin's for some fun late night festivities we dropped in to check out my buddy Steve's new pad on the Northwest Arm. We watched a lovely sunset from his front lawn, yelling out cheers to passing ships and boats. This weekend was Venetian night, when various boats do a parade of sail along the Arm and local residents light up bonfires, have fireworks and yell out drunken greetings to local boaters. Apparently Venetian night has a long history on the Northwest Arm. I had never heard of it. Anyone have any knowledge of this celebration? If you do please feel free to share.

Day 80: Search for the perfect espresso - Java Factory

Today I received an espresso suggestion from twitter follower @anne1942. She suggested the Java Factory, 1113 Marginal Road (Pier 21 next to Garrison Brewing). The Java Factory is a gourmet coffee roaster with good quality beans, a nice cafe and a friendly helpful staff. I work close so went down for lunch. Their Mayan Chipotle panini is to die for.

While they made my sandwich I had a great chat with Roaster Louis Zwicker. He showed me their antique Turkish slow roaster (pictured) and told me a few things about the Indian beans they use for their espresso. Of all the bean producing countries India is not top of mind as being an obvious choice of high quality. In fact, India produces exceptionally high quality, unique tasting beans.

For their espresso they use a unique blend of highly-praised Monsooned Malabar and Mysore Gold Nugget beans (gotta love these names). The resulting blend is called Dos Pequenos Indios. The blend is aromatic, medium bodied, rich yet velvety smooth with low acidity. I noted loads of zesty spice and just a hint of damp earth. An excellent blend of two very good beans.

According to Jouis the blend is not only unique but very versatile; it is good both as an espresso or when combining with milk.

Day 79 - Evening at Armdale Yacht Club

I took photos of a coworker's boat at the Armdale Yacht Club for an upcoming sale on Kijiji. I bartered my services in exchange for a harbour cruise, date TBA in September. Gotta love bartering. We relaxed, had some wine and reminisced over the history of the boat. It is sad selling a boat that has been in the family for so many years and has so much history. Did you know the Coast Guard once had a volunteer vessel rescue fleet? In any event it was a lovely evening. On the way home I snapped a shot of the moon over the Armdale Yacht Club. A lovely September evening in Halifax.

Day 78 - Staircase

Day 77 - Notice board