I will be the gladdest thing

Under the sun!

I will touch a hundred flowers

And not pick one.

~Edna St. Vincent Millay

"Afternoon on a Hill"

Sweet

So, I've been getting emails from Kathy, and I think she's reached the end of her cultural sensitivity. Something about the six month point, but she's started to be tempted to hit Taiwanese women over the head with her umbrella (only if provoked). I'm just glad I'm here, everyone is SO polite. I'll be 10 steps behind someone, and they will wait, holding the door open for me to go through. And it's not just one well-mannered person, it's happened three times today!

And last night, I went for a swim after class, then to the library for 2 hours of research before it closed at 9. Then I walked to the Oxford Theatre, which is a movie theatre that was built in 1937. I went to see the last night of Ladies in Lavender, which was recommended by multiple family members. It was a lovely film, on it's own merit, but made even better by the fancy old theatre, and the fact that Freddie Jones was in it. Freddie Jones lived in Charlbury, the villiage we lived in near Oxford. We would pass his old house every day we walked in to classes. And for the Valentine's Day party, he came in his cordorys and turtleneck to read poems to us. His performance was incredible, I remember his deep rolling voice vividly. So I so enjoyed seeing him play the crazy old fisherman in the movie.

PIckle Barrell

This was only 10 days ago, although it seems like so much longer. I was only in Toronto for about a day and a half, but I got the two most important things done - meeting up with Michelle (you saw the picture with the two of us and Chairman the cat), and meeting up with Heidi. Heidi was my Oxford roommate, fellow member of the made-up Beta Phi Gamma sorority, and travelling companion to Venice. We had a wonderful time in Spring of 2004, and I was so excited that she could drive up to Toronto so we could visit. We caught up over breakfast at the Pickle Barrell, and then went on an H&M shopping spree (Heidi loves to shop too). We talked all about her upcoming wedding, (Congrats!) and made elaborate schemes to travel Asia together (it could happen!)

Reading in the Dining Room

Mom wanted Grammie to be able to read my novel, so I brought my one and only printed copy back from Taiwan. It needed to escape the humidity anyway, or the paper cover wouldn't have made it. So, Grammie sat down and started reading. She didn't tell me what she thought of it, but she read the whole thing in two days, I think!

Different Shades!

This picture makes me smile. It's my mom and aunt heading out of Grammie's driveway to walk down the street to the Mapleton United Church. Don't they look like sisters? That will be Kathy and I some day. We were all headed out to the Strawberry Supper.

Party in the Basement

I'm trying not to overlap too much with the photos that are on the Gilroy family site, but I just think this one tells a good story. This is the basement of the church, were the church members hold their famous Strawberry Supper. We were not disappointed. The food was all homemade (including the bread, which I ate at least 4 pieces of!) The dinner choices were baked beans or chop suey (I still don't understand where that name came from), and of course it was finished off with fresh strawberrys on a homemade biscuit with real whipped cream. Yum! Is your mouth watering?

I added the little Nova Scotia Weather Pixie to the sidebar a week ago, so that we could all be shocked by how cold it was in Halifax compared to Taipei. Now, my two little weather pixies have almost the same temperature and are dressed alike. How can this be! Actually, I'm not too upset, this 'heatwave' in Halifax is still a chilly November day in Taipei. I'm still carrying my fleece everywhere just in case. And I know this heat and humidity streak will end, then hopefully we'll get back to the high of 23 temperatures that I was expecting for the summer.

Still going back a week, this is me in Debert, Nova Scotia, walking the rails. Now, there's a reason for this, Debert was where my grandmother lived as a child. Actually, her father ran the Debert railway station, and she lived right at the station. My mom said that her mom told them stories about being a little girl, and having to go to the washroom. She would have to leave her room and walk all the way down the platform to the washroom at the other end. She was so embarrased because she felt all the people who were waiting for the train knew exactly where she was going!

Lesson of the Day

Here's your little Nova Scotia tidbit for today. Did you know that Parrsboro, Nova Scotia has the highest tides in the world (that is the most change between high tide and low tide)? So it's always fun to go walk on the ocean floor when the tide is out. This picture shows how far the tide has gone, and you can see the little person in the foreground, digging for clams in the still damp ground. I actually took this picture to show the rock, it's one of those rocks with a puzzle. If you look at it one way you see an old fisherman and if you look at it the other way you see a young woman with a bonnet. I definately see it. (=

Hay Bales (I thought it looked funny!)

A fun family afternoon

For entertainment in Mapleton, we played games. This is a game called Authors that is a twist on Go Fish. You try to collect 4 "books"/ cards by the same author. It's an old game, I think Mom said she played it when she was a kid? Anyway, every time we visited Nova Scotia, we had to play Authors. Mom eventually bought us our own set for home, but the illustrations were new, so it wasn't quite the same.

Close Up

My theory is that if I hadn't played Authors so much in my developmental years, I probably wouldn't have been an English major. It certainly cultivated a love of literature. Or at least a level of greed to acquire books.

Contact Info

For those of you that asked, my address in Halifax is:

Carole Nickle
Risley Hall
1233 LeMarchant St.
Halifax, NS B3H 3P6

and I believe my direct phone number is (902) 344-1485. But that's from memory, so maybe mom or dad could confirm that in the comments section. Oh, and if you send mail, send it right away, I'm only at that dorm for one month.

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

Well, taking pictures at Peggy's Cove is something of a competition among photographers, I think. Or at least Canadian photographers. It's not that big of a spot, and it's the most photographed spot in Canada. Every subsequent photographer that comes has to try to find something new, or something at least somewhat special to make their lighthouse shot unique from all the other lighthouse shots. Mom and Dad were happy to take a trip out to Peggy's Cove on our first evening in Halifax. First rule of photography, shoot in morning or evening light. Anyway, I don't think I'll be winning any competitions, but I'll share with you some of my favorite shots. I didn't even try to get good photos of the fishing boats, my Aunt Dorie has an incredible Boat at Peggy's Cove shot that is hanging in the living room.

Oh, and I've made myself not take any more pictures, because I have shots from Toronto, Mapleton and Parrsboro still to put on. After I get caught up, then I'll try to show you how beautiful Halifax is.

I have no more time to catch you up on my life. Although this human rights course isn't hard, persay, it's 'intensive' which means you squish a semester's worth of classes into two weeks. This means I have lots of reading to do tonight, as well as working on a group presentation and a research paper proposal due friday!

Top of Lighthouse

Peggy's Cove Lighthouse

Enjoying the Sunset

Dad and Mom, enjoying the view of the sunset from Peggy's Cove.

Peggy's Cove

Fishing Sheds

Sunset at Peggy's Cove