November 2014
Sunday November 23
Halifax Public Gardens
On Thursday evening Ann, James and I went to see Symphony Nova Scotia in a concert featuring the cello. The star of the show was Santiago Cañón Valencia, a 19 year old virtuoso cellist from Columbia who played Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations and Haydn's Cello Concerto No.1 with the symphony, then a Paganini caprice as an encore. He was amazingly good. My favourite was the Haydn concerto but I always was a sucker for truly Classical music. Since the concert was fairly early in the evening, it didn't leave Ann much time to get home and have dinner, so James and I picked her up in Halifax and we went out to a small Chinese restaurant quite close to the concert hall.
Sunday November 16
Remembrance Day at the Dartmouth cenotaph
On Tuesday, Remembrance Day, James and I went to the ceremony at the Dartmouth cenotaph. It was especially well attended this year as it seems they were all across the country. We arrive with a bit of time to spare but still found it difficult to get an unobstructed view of the proceedings. Thankfully, the weather was quite pleasant though no-one would describe it as warm.
Ann arrived back from Sarnia, as planned, very early on Wednesday morning. I picked her up at the airport and we both had to struggle over the next few days to get our clocks reset to enable us to get up easily for work in the morning.
Last night Ann and I went to Neptune to see Billy Bishop Goes to War at the Neptune Studio. We had both seen it before some years ago in a small theatre in the Annapolis Valley and I saw the original with John Gray and Eric Peterson on television some time back in the early 80s. This production compared well. As usual, we went out to dinner beforehand with Jocelyn, Kim and Glen at Turkish Delight, a Turkish restaurant on Spring Garden Road where we all ate lamb in various guises. It was the evening of the annual Parade of Lights (our Santa Claus Parade) which we could see as it passed by the window. However, that meant we had to park a long way away so we had a bit of a hike back to the car after the show was over.
Sunday November 9
James playing his bass at the Cole Harbour Fire Hall
As I mentioned last week, Ann is not here having taken advantage of the almost-long weekend to visit her parents in Sarnia. I drove her to the airport early (before 4 AM: ugghh!) on Friday and will pick her up again late on Tuesday; actually, early on Wednesday morning (2 AM: ugghh!). That leaves James and myself alone at home for the weekend. So far we have been co-existing without any major problems. Katy and Ben are also planning to drive down to Sarnia from Ottawa as well. Emily considered going with them but decided that she couldn't afford to miss classes on Monday and Tuesday.
Yesterday several small ensembles cleaved from the All-City orchestras played Christmas music at a craft show in the Cole Harbor Fire Hall. James played his bass with a string quartet (a violin, two violas and a bass). His segment, like all the others, only lasted for for 15 minutes but they managed to play about five carols. I went along to take pictures. I had a look at the crafts as well but found them uninspiring.
Sunday November 2
Our Jack O'Lantern
We have had a fairly uneventful week, not like the Hallowe'ens of old when we had young kids. James went to help out at the haunted house (see last week) while Ann and I stayed at home to dole out candy. We had about 50 kids this year, about the same as the last few.
Last night Ann and I went to Neptune, a week earlier than normal as Ann will not be here next weekend. We decided to eat at home for a change. The play was Mending Fences by Norm Foster, the fourth by him that we have seen at Neptune. Like the others (Skin Flick, Mrs. Parliament's Night Out and The Love List) it was quite funny, though this one had a fairly serious theme: reconciliation between a father and son. We both enjoyed it.