A Few Quick Notes 334

-Well, we seem to be back to the gray and rainy weather of June. I guess I am glad that we had a least a few days of sun, but it would have been nice if it had lasted at least a few more days.

-Neil and I have another Ultimate game tomorrow. I am really hoping that the rain doesn't make the field too wet and unpleasant. Though I haven't yet discussed it with her, I wouldn't be surprised if Kirsten came along with us to see us play (assuming our game isn't rained out).

-Though I haven't purchased them yet, I am thinking that we might have burgers for dinner tonight. I hope this is alright with everyone else.

-Last night Kirsten and I, along with a friend of mine, made our way down to the waterfront to check out some of the tall ships that are in town for the Tall Ships Nova Scotia Festival 2009. We timed our visit so that we could see some of the ships during and then hang around for the nightly fireworks show, which Kirsten was particularly interested in seeing.



The show started with a literal bang, though the figurative bang seemed to be missing. For about the first five minutes they kept sending up lone fireworks, all of the same variety, about every 45 seconds. This was less than enthralling, certainly when you have been hanging around just to see the fireworks show. Eventually things really picked up and the show turned out to be one of the best fireworks displays that I have seen. They did some neat things so that there were roman candle type things that went up to just below where the shells were exploding, which was a very nice effect. The other neat thing they did was have multiple shells explode in quick succession so that it seems smaller explosions were filling the ball created by a larger explosion. (It seems that tonight's show has been pushed to tomorrow because of the poor weather.)

After the show we met up with my friend's sister. As Kirsten wouldn't have been able to join us at a bar we all made our way back to our apartment where we had a few drinks, talked, and consumed a few pounds of turnip sticks. I like to think a good time was had by all, minimally, I exposed three people to the pleasure of raw turnip sticks.

-This morning Kirsten and I made our way to the Halifax Farmers' Market for a brief visit. Before heading to the waterfront to check out a few more of the tall ships we stopped for breakfast a local coffee and donut shop. We each had a beverage and I ordered a half-dozen donuts for us to split. It seems Kirsten was only willing to eat one of the donuts, which meant that there were five for me to eat. While I was able to cruise through the first four pretty quickly, I simply couldn't make it through the fifth. So while I am disgusted with myself for not being able to finish, I am pretty sure it wasn't worth powering through just so that I could say that I had completed the task. If you are interested, this is what was left of the final donut.



(Edit: Last night we spotted Newfoundland cabinet minister Tom Hedderson along the waterfront, and this morning we spotted our local MLA, and former political science prof, Leonard Preyra.)

-After 'breakfast' we made our way back to the waterfront, where quite a bit of fog had rolled in since the night before. I was quite impressed with the fog effect, it made things look a little more piratical, even the Coast Guard ships.



Unfortunately, the fog and moisture didn't really do much for the bouncy apparatuses. I really can't imagine that these could be any fun in such conditions.



-Last week we had the Paul McCartney concert, this week we have a KISS concert. While the Paul McCartney concert was fortunate enough to have near perfect weather, the Kiss crowd won't be so lucky. It is presently raining and there is a chance that there might be a thunderstorm this evening. I am also wondering who, and how many, will be attending this show. I just can't imagine that many people have much of their ticket budget left given the number of large shows that have already taken place (Paul McCartney, Bon Jovi, and the country thing in PEI), or are about to take place (AC/DC) in the region. Hopefully they make a go of it tonight. Whether it is a success or not, we are likely to all go for a walk by the concert site to see how things are going, and so that we can claim to have heard KISS in concert.

Recent movie viewing

I guess I watch movies from time to time, but it doesn't seem to be a major part of my life, which is presumably why there isn't much discussion of such topics here on Montifax. So, in a break with tradition, I having been thinking that there are two movies that I watched recently that I might like to briefly discuss.

For no reason other than for simplicity's sake, I will go in the order in which the movies were viewed.

On Tuesday evening all four of us attended a Dalhousie Alumni Association organized pre-release screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Given the timeliness of the screening (that it occurred before the movie's official release) made the event rather popular. As we suspected that this would be the case we showed up about an hour before the movie was to start. Amazingly, even as early as we arrived we still had to rush to get four seats together.

After some amazingly bad Dal Trivia and a short promotional video about a Dal program we made our way onto the more traditional pre-movie fare, meaning the previews. Most of the previews weren't particularly enticing, but one stood out from the crowd as particularly ridiculous. The trailer was for the movie Sherlock Holmes. The problem stemmed from the fact that the movie doesn't seem to have much to do with any of the Sherlock Holmes stories, the main connection seems to be the names of the characters. I don't imagine that I will be making an effort to see this film in the theatre when it is eventually released.

Anyway, I guess I might get on to the actual movie. While this installment in the series again sticks to the main plot points, I felt that really skimmed the surface more than the other movies. I guess my overwhelming sense of the film was that they were racing as quickly as possible to the end, which was less of an end than a set-up for the movies based on the final book. Much of the texture and feel of the experience was just abandoned, seemingly without much gain.

If one is into these movies it is likely that they have already seen it, if one isn't into these movies all that much, but expects to eventually see it, I would suggest that you wait for it on DVD (I just don't think that the theatre experience added that much). Anyway, it seems that my assessment, and other like it, aren't really all that important as the movie has already brought in millions of dollars, and we aren't even through the opening weekend. I guess this is just another sign that quality and box-office revenues are not always as tied to one another as one might hope.

On Wednesday, after running a few errands, Kirsten and I stopped by Video Difference to rent a movie. For some reason Kirsten wasn't particularly willing to involve herself in the search, so most of the responsibility for the selection fell to me. After a brief search we settled on Wet Hot American Summer, a movie that has been recommended by Jesse Thorn of The Sound of Young America and Jordan, Jesse, Go! several times.

Almost as soon as we started watching the movie, which pokes fun at summer camp movies (among other things), we found ourselves laughing quite aggressively. The portrayal of hormonally driven teenagers was particularly good (it seems all of the counsellors were making out with, or trying to make out with, their co-workers almost constantly). The intentional continuity issues were also great.

One of the aspects of the movie that I liked was that while there were elements of plot, it seems like a movie that one could just start watching at almost any point and still find it funny.

So in conclusion, high points for Wet Hot American Summer, and not-so-high points for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Balcony Garden Update 6

In a break with past practice, this will be a somewhat abbreviated rundown on the recent balcony plant developments. The main reason for this is that I didn't want to photograph all of the plants as it was raining and doing the job properly would have meant me climbing about in the rain, something I wasn't really interested in doing today.

In general, things seem to be continuing to grow. The sunlight of the past few days doesn't seem to have done any harm. Some of the most impressive growth, at least as far as I am concerned, can be found among the scarlet runner beans. The plants growing around the column are really growing quite quickly, and a number of them are starting to show blooms. In a few days I expect that the scarlet flowers that make the plants so striking will start to appear, and then be followed by the beans.

The beans in the planter are also growing rapidly. Another of the plants is just about to reach the top of the original string set-up, and a few more are just a few inches away. As you can see in this photo, a number of the plants are starting to fill-in and look a little less skimpy. I am really looking forward to the planter beans being productive, as I imagine that they should be able to produce quite a number of beans.



The tomatoes are another of the types of plants that are continuing to grow quite quickly. I am particularly impressed with the tomatoes in the green pot, as they were purchased from the local grocery store not all that long ago, and somehow they seem to have caught up with some of the others.



The most important tomato related development is that one of the pre-blooms has finally turned into a bloom.



All of a sudden a few days ago the oldest yellow bean plant started showing signs of all kinds of potential blooms. Within a few days a number of blooms and beans were visible. I can't wait to start harvesting.



Unfortunately, of the recently planted seeds, only one sugar beet seed seems to have sprouted. I am hoping that in the coming days some of the tobacco, cumin, mint, and flowers will start to show signs of growth.

Balcony Garden Update 5

Given the recent turnaround in the weather, things seem to be really taking off, or at least a few things seem to be taking off and the rest are plugging a way as usual.



The thunbergia has really come into its own these past few days. The largest of the seven plants seems to have developed a lead shoot, kind of like the beans, that is putting on noticeable length each day. I am thinking that in a few days or so it will have started working its way around the ropes holding the pot. I just wish a few more of the plants were at a similar stage.



The runner beans also seem to have really taken of in the past few days, there seem to be shoots going all over the place. Additionally, I think many of them are showing signs of what I hope will eventually be flowers, and then beans. As far as I am concerned these developments are both a little overdue.



As usual, the tomatoes are continuing their upward progress without making much progress towards viable fruit. The only positive sign in the direction of potential fruit is that one or two of the pre-blooms don't seem to be quite as tight as they were a few days ago. I am hoping that this means that in a few days we might have a few actual blooms.



While some of the pea plants seem to have taken advantage of the support poles I have inserted in the pots, other seem to have eschewed them for a more free form growth pattern. Neither way of growing seems to be showing better results as none of the plants seem to have anything that looks like a future pea.



The scarlet runner beans in the planter are stilling changing quite dramatically on a daily basis. The tallest of the plants finally reached the top of the initial string set-up causing me to add an additional string running to front of the balcony. I am hoping to get the beans to then make their way along this string towards the hanging pots. If I am incredibly lucky I may be able to get the scarlet runner beans and the thunbergia to grow along some of the same section of string.



For those of you that are interested, you should be able to see the new string in the photo below.



I should also mention that I have planted a few menthol mint seeds and sugar beet seeds. The pots with the mint are the smaller pots next to the banana plant while the beet seeds are in a pot next to the more recently planted peas, which are next to the scarlet runner beans in the planter.

New seeds

As regular readers will know, several days ago I ordered a few packages of seeds from Richter's in Ontario. After an excruciating wait of about 5 days, they finally arrived. As Kirsten arrived today and we were looking for something to do we decided to try planting a few of the seeds this evening.



Given that both of us were most interested in the tobacco seeds/plants, that is where we started.



I decided to try starting the seeds in small, homemade paper pots that I would then place inside jars (which I hope will act like greenhouses). After making the pots Kirsten and I filled them with soil and started the planting process. As you can see from the image above, the seeds are quite small, much smaller than I expected.



Not surprisingly, the whole process didn't really take all that long.



Any the planted seeds and whatnot have now been moved to the windowsill in my bedroom. I am hoping that a few of the seeds germinate and don't overheat in the homemade greenhouses.

Once the tobacco seed operation wrapped we moved on to the menthol mint and sugar beets. In both cases I am pretty sure that the pots I used are too small and that I put too many seeds in each pot. Anyway, that is what I have been doing all summer, I don't know why I would want to change now.

Balcony Garden Update 4

After a month of rather poor weather, things recently turned to sun, which is presumably good for my plants. Amazingly, the plants continued to grow through our patch of rather poor weather. On the whole, I am really quite impressed with how things are looking. Considering the weather, and the growing conditions, I don't think I could expect much more from these plants (though I did have slightly higher hopes when the seeds were being planted).



As has been my habit, I will start with the top and work my way down and across.

One of the thunbergia seems to have finally taken off and started too look a bit like a vine. The other few plants seem to be growing a little more slowly. I guess I am just pleased that one of these has finally started to giv'er a little. I was starting to think that these were on the dud side of the plant world.



The scarlet runner beans that I planted in late May have finally started to come into their own. Relatively rapidly they are making their way along the guide strings I installed a few weeks ago. I am hoping that blooms appear in the very near future, though I imagine that such a development has been in part delayed because of the location of the plants and the fact that they have been hit with some pretty strong wind these past few weeks.



The banana has really started to take off these past few days. Not only are the recent top leaves much larger than previous leaves, they are growing more quickly. The most impressive/important recent development is the growth of two new shoots at the base of the plants. I imagine that if I knew how to do it, I could separate these from the main plant and start a second and third banana plant, which might be pretty neat. Maybe I will try to look into how I might go about such a split, it could be a worthwhile investigation.



The tomatoes seem to be putting on a few centimeters every few days, which I find quite impressive (especially given the sun shortage of the past month). Sadly, the things that look like the should eventually turn into blooms don't really seem to be making progress towards the bloom stage. I am hoping that the sun of the past few days will help on this front.



The peas are continuing to grow, though I don't seem to be providing them with adequate support. I am hoping that this isn't going to be too much of a problem as I don't really have a means of providing better support at the moment. Sadly, there are still no signs of peas as such, which should be that surprising if the information on the package can be trusted.



The previously spider mite infested pepper plant seems to be doing quite well, particularly with regards to overcoming the pest problem. Given the aforementioned infestation I am just pleased that this plant is alive and growing. Any fruit that it produces is a bonus, and a bonus that I have seen no signs of as yet.



The planter with beans has given me great personal satisfaction so far. I love walking out on the balcony in the morning and seeing that a number of the plants have grown and need to be wrapped around the string, or that their leaves are developing without blemish. Not surprisingly, I am hoping that these plants, both the scarlet runner beans and the yellow beans, are productive when it comes to bean production.



A few days ago I planted a few seeds. I was doing this mainly because I had some savory (I think I previously suggested it was sage) that I wanted to plant and it seemed as good a time as any to kill off the peas and start a few radishes. While the savory has started quite nicely, I have been quite impressed with the pea growth, which seems to be much faster than the first peas that I planted. As you can see, I have planted far too many seeds in most of these pots. One seems to have at least five pea plants. Another of the plants that is visible in this photo is the yellow bean plant that I planted in late May. This plant is showing my first bean flowers of the season. Assuming that these blooms all turn into beans I should have about ten beans in a few days.



As you might have guessed, these plants are giving me quite a bit of enjoyment. I guess not everyone is into them quite as much as I am. Anyway, I assume this deals the developments in the balcony garden in sufficient detail, probably more detail that most people actually need.

A Few Quick Note 333

-Finally, after a month of overcast weather, we have had a few days of nice weather. This change has been quite welcome and seems to have brought out the tourists, though this last part doesn't really make all that much sense. Anyway, if things keep going like this it may be possible for us to salvage summer.

-It seems that (Sir) Paul McCartney is performing/performed in Halifax this evening. Aside from this bringing in all kinds of tourist dollars and whatnot, it also means that the Commons will be out of commission for much of the rest of the summer (as the gear is staying in place for the Kiss show in a few weeks). The show also meant that the portion of the Commons that was supposed to be available for our Ultimate game last night was fenced in and inaccessible. This turn of events was rather frustrating, particularly as Halifax confirmed the field availability just days before.

As much as I was disappointed by the extra fencing, I can't say I was all that surprised, nor was it all bad. The game being cancelled meant that we were able to start our team barbecue a little earlier than expected. It was quite nice to spend a little while getting to know some of our teammates and just relaxing. Unfortunately, my cold seems to still be lingering so it wasn't quite as pleasant an event for me as it could have been.

-As we were returning from the aforementioned barbecue we drove past the aforementioned concert site. As we were passing the stage area we heard what we all thought was a pretty atrocious rendition of a Beatles song. Turns out what we heard was Paul McCartney doing his soundcheck. So I guess I can now claim to have heard at least one of the Beatles live, even if it was just for a few lines of a song (and given the quality, that was more than enough).

-As I just mentioned, I still have this summer cold. While I initially thought I caught it from Neil, I am now somewhat inclined to believe that it might be something different as we had a rather different array of symptoms. On the other hand, if it is the same cold I am in a position to feel pretty macho as I didn't need to make a visit to the doctor.

-Kirsten is set to arrive on Monday and I am getting ever more excited about her arrival. I am really looking forward to get a chance to just hang out with her, and maybe play a few games of something or other.

Halifax Highland Games

A few days ago, though I don't remember how, I learned that the Halifax Highland Games and Scottish Festival would be taking place today on the Dartmouth Commons. Given my ancestry and upbringing I was quite interested in attending this event, even if it was to be in Dartmouth. Ancestry or not, who can really wants to miss an opportunity to see a good caber toss if they have the chance?

It seems that as Neil and Rebecca feel that they have filled their Scottish cultural quota, so they weren't interested in joining me this year. How the caber toss argument didn't win them over I will never know. Fortunately, I mentioned my interest in attending to a friend and she immediately agreed to go with me.

As much as both us are interested in piping and drumming, neither of us was interested in trying to make it for 9:00 AM, which is when the solo competitions started. Instead, we both thought that it might be a little better to try to go a little later so that we could catch the athletic and band type events (and also snag a little of the highland dancing).

If you check out the embedded video I think you will see that we were successful.



[Embedded video]

One of the more intriguing aspects of our visit to the event was the little kid who was particularly intrigued with the process of me putting on sunscreen. It was as though the kid, who seemed to be about four, had never seen such a thing and was both surprised and disgusted with the whole affair. Hopefully I didn't freak him out too much.

A Few Quick Notes 332

-While today was pretty overcast we didn't seem to have any precipitation, which was a nice change. Hopefully our several weeks of largely overcast weather will soon be coming to an end.

-I seem to have picked up Neil's cold, which brings my count for the season to two. I am not sure if there is any particular reason, but I don't think I have ever been sick so frequently as I have been in Halifax. It seems that every month or two since I have been here I have come down with a cold that has been with me for at least a week. Hopefully this isn't the way things go for the rest of my time here.

-Kirsten should be arriving in about a week. I am really looking forward to spending some time with her. I hope she knows what she wants to see as I can't really think of too many fun things to do in Halifax as a tourist.

-Yesterday I took a few more pictures of some of the plants. As you can see, the tomatoes are continuing to grow quite rapidly. I think there is something about removing suckers to encourage fruit growth, unfortunately, I don't know exactly what the suckers are, or when to remove them. I guess until I figure this out I will just let things go and continue to grow freely.



The beans, which have all grown since this photo was taken, are still some of the best performing of the plants. Though not visible in this photo, I am very pleased to report that the yellow bean plant to the right of the planter is finally showing some bloom, which I hope will lead to blooms.



None of the other plants, aside from the thyme, seem to be close to producing anything edible. I was really hoping that by mid-July we would have some production, but it looks as though that is not likely to happen (aside from some thyme and a few yellow beans).

-We had another Ultimate game yesterday. We managed to pull out a win, though I can't say that I contributed all that much. Unfortunately, the field, which was the same one we have played all of our games on, was still rather wet and muddy. I think the moisture lead to a increased number of dropped passes. It seems that we are trying to schedule a make-up game for Friday, though I don't know if this has yet been confirmed.

The Paris Police Gymnastics Team

Yesterday Neil and I went to see the Paris Police Gymnastics team perform at a free Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo show on Doyle Street. While the performance wasn't really what we expected, we were nonetheless quite impressed.

The routine consisted of two guys balancing a ladder on a trapeze and then performing tricks without allowing the ladder to become unbalanced.

We were planning on recording the performance before we knew what it was to be, but at the last moment we had technical difficulties so we weren't able to use the camera we wanted. Consequently, the quality of the video isn't as high as we would have liked. Anyway, below you should find a slightly abridged (to get us under the YouTube 10 minute maximum) video of the show. While you might not want to watch this from start to finish, it might be worth skimming through to catch a few of the highlights.



[Embedded video]

A Few Quick Notes 331

-While today started off rather overcast and moist, things have gotten a little brighter and drier. Though things are heading in the right direction I am not sure that they will go far enough for me to say that today has been a 'nice' day. This grey stuff is really getting, it seems as though it has been the better part of three weeks, at least.

-The somewhat poor weather caused us to lose another Ultimate game on Sunday. This means that we have lost games due to weather two weeks in a row. Hopefully we get to play our game this Sunday.

-On Saturday Neil and I attended a furniture auction in the local curling club. While neither of us purchased anything, I do think that we both learned a fair bit about the way auctions work. I also think that we would both be willing to go to auction in the future, as there is definitely the potential for the all mighty deal.

-In an earlier post I mentioned that today is Canada Day, what I didn't mention is that today in Memorial Day in Newfoundland. It seems a rather unfortunate coincidence that these two events ended up on the same day.

-My plants haven't been growing at particularly spectacular rates these past few days, but I thought I might include a photo or two to show some of the growth that has taken place.

The continuing upward growth of the tomatoes really surprises me. I assumed that at some point the fact that they are in a relatively small pot would have prevented their continued growth.



The other good news on the tomato front is that at least one plant has something that looks as though it might turn into a bloom in the relatively near future. Most of the other plants have things that look as though they will eventually reach this stage, though the development of these pre-blooms has been slow.



The thunbergia finally seem to be showing some signs of relatively fast growth. I hope that they make to a somewhat substantial size before the summer completely fades away.



The plants whose growth continues to impress me the most are the scarlet runner beans in the planter. One plant in particular seems to be doing quite well, sometimes growing several inches a day. Many of the other plants that are now next to the planter also seem to be doing relatively well, especially considering that they haven't really had much sun in the past few weeks.

The Land of Freedom

A few years ago, because of some great and important slight, there was a movement in the US to re-name all things with the word 'French' in their name. 'French' was replaced with the word 'freedom.' Though on its face, this seems rather petty and childish, in reality it was quite masterful and a very advanced PR technique. The only problem with this plan was that it was lacking creative energy and burned out after changing 'french fries' to 'freedom fries' and 'french toast' to 'freedom toast.' We shouldn't have stopped there when there are so many more phrases that could be modified to really drive home the point about French cowardice (especially after we saved their asses in WWII).

I have come up with a few more terms that I think we should modify so that we can really drive the point home.

'French bread' should become 'freedom bread.'

'French wine' should be come 'freedom wine.'

'French kisses' should be 'freedom kisses.' (I don't know about you, but I know I don't feel free until there is at least a little bit of tongue).

In a similar vein, 'French ticklers' should become 'freedom tickers.'

On maps we should replace 'France' with 'Freedom' and then refer to the country formerly known as 'France' as 'freedom' or 'the land of freedom,' and if I know freedom-mens this will really get under their skin.

One of the most important changes is to turn 'French class' into 'freedom class.' No longer will people speak 'French,' now they will speak 'freedom.' Some might even have a freedom accent, presumably this is likely if freedom is their mother tongue.

A little more controversially, I think we should change 'French-Canadian' to 'Freedom-Canadian.'

Let's not forget that we need to modify the 'French Foreign Legion' so that it is the 'Freedom Foreign Legion.'

Most importantly, 'Frenchy's' should become 'Freedomy's.'

Some of you may think that it is a little odd that we might want to associate our most prized value with everything associated with the group we are trying to slight. Though the logic is not necessarily intuitive, it really does make sense. Through osmosis the French will eventually learn to value 'freedom' and understand that instead of making their own decisions and standing up to a more powerful state that they should actually do what they are told (don't they know what's best for them?). Only by associating 'freedom' to all things 'French' will the residents of France ever come to truly understand what 'freedom' means in our modern world (hopefully people in the US don't make the reverse association and connection all things French with freedom).

Surely we should now redouble our efforts to make up for lost time. Only through vigilance and continued effort will we ever be able to make sufficient progress on this front.

Canada Day fail

This morning, shortly after I awoke, I was checking my email and listening to the CBC radio news. The newsreader suggested that the Canada Day parade was fully assembled on Sackville Street and just about ready to start.

While I am not normally much of a parade or Canada Day person I got the impression that this parade was somehow connected to the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, which suggested to me that there were likely to be a few pipe bands. Given the likely presence of pipe bands I decided to see if I could find the parade route.

Before heading out I thought that I should probably try to find the parade's route so that I wouldn't waste too much time poking around downtown. A quick search brought me to Halifax's official Canada Day celebrations page, which then refered me to the Tattoo website for the parade route. Of course, the Tattoo website is just about useless and doesn't make this information particularly accessible. Even after a quick search of the site I was not able to find the route map. Fortunately, I did manage to find a schedule of the free events, most of which are taking place on or near Spring Garden. I will be sure to check out the Paris Police Gymnastics Team show tomorrow afternoon at 12:30 on Doyle Street (this document has a copy of the parade route, though I didn't see it the first time I looked at the document). For those of you in the Halifax area that are interested, the schedule can be found here.

Getting back to my original goal, the parade, I eventually made my way out without much knowledge of the parade route. Not too long into my journey I started to see a steady stream of parade types making their way out of the downtown core. I decided to head to their source, hoping to catch the last few minutes of the action.

By the time I reached the Metro Centre is was clear that the parade was over and that the parades participants were starting to disperse. The other thing that was clear is that they definitely had a number of pipers and associated performers.

I guess now that I have the schedule of free events, many of which are pipes related, I shouldn't be to upset about missing the parade.

Actually, all of the pipes and kilts reminded me that I really don't like all this state sponsored faux-Scottish stuff that goes on in Nova Scotia. It strikes me as incredibly insincere, a giant put-on, so to speak. I find it strange that for most of the year I see no kilts, but as soon as tourist season rolls around the streets are filled with kilts and pipes. I think what I find most frustrating about this is that I am not sure I have seen an actual Scot participate in any of these events (unlike the Scottish events that take place in St. John's). I guess I just find it strange and frustrating that such much time and effort is spent trying to imitate another country's culture instead of acknowledging Nova Scotia's own culture and achievements.

To get back to the narrative, soon after I realized that I wasn't going to see any of the parade I decided to walk back along the waterfront. As today is remarkably overcast, not too many of the parade observers decided to make the same decision. As I was approaching the harbour front walk I noticed that people seemed to be making their way behind the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, which indicated that a major section of the wharf had been re-opened to the public. Unfortunately, as I made my way along the route towards the Pier 21 end of things I learned that the other section that has been closed for months is still closed. I would have thought that they would have had this section open by now as we are definitely in the midst of tourist season, and this is a key part of the downtown tourism infrastructure. Maybe they will get it open by August or September, in time for dying breaths of this year's tourist season.

Hopefully I have better luck with the free shows I mentioned earlier than I did with the parade.

I guess I should start getting mentally prepared for this afternoon's Math grad student's Canada Day barbacue.

The merging of two dreams?

As I have been writing about for months, it seems that our apartment has a bit of a spider mite problem (though things might be under control at the moment). So far most of the approaches I have tried have failed and meant that I have had to get rid of quite a number of plants. Anyway, the result of this situation that returning to a spider mite free condition is a bit of a dream of mine. Such a condition would allow me to grow all kinds of plants indoors and maybe acquire a few more that seem interesting (coffee tree, hops vines, and a hibiscus). Until the apartment is clean I really can't consider adding any fancy plants to the environment.

At least that is what I thought until a little earlier this evening.

While looking through a Richter's seed catalogue earlier this evening I ended up coming to the tobacco seed section. As I have been interested in growing my own tobacco since at least junior high I thought I would look at the blurbs to see what they said and to see whether or not the seeds would be economically feasible. It turns out that not only are the seeds economically feasible, but that wild tobacco "is a source of nicotine sulfate, an insecticide for the control of aphids, thrips, whiteflies and mites."

It sounds as though this may be one of the few plants that might be of use to me in my battle against the spider mites.

If you are wondering, it seems that growing tobacco in a personal garden is viable but the curing and aging processes are very difficult without the proper facilities. So while I may be able to grow tobacco plants, don't expect me to start trying to sell any on the side.

Balcony Garden Update 3

It has been a few days, so I thought I would throw up a few more photos of our balcony garden. In the interim, I planted a few more seeds. I planted a few more pots worth of peas, one pot with radishes, and a few pots with sage. It is still too early for any signs of growth to be visible, though I expect the radishes to be making themselves known in the very near future.



For a fast growing vine, the thunbergia seems to be rather slow growing, or maybe I have unreasonable expectations. I guess the good news is that these plants are actually making progress after a very slow start.



The scarlet runner beans next to the column are definitely starting to take off. In the past few days a few of the runners have become tall enough to start making their way around the column. Actually, aside from only a few of the plants, most of the plants seem to be working their way along one of the two strings I have wrapped around the column for them to grow along. I guess give the slow start it shouldn't be too surprising that none of them are showing signs of blooms or beans.



The tomatoes are continuing to grow taller with every day. Also, more of them are showing things that I assume will eventually turn into blooms, though no blooms are presently visible. A few days ago a friend reminded me that there is some kind of pruning recommendation when it comes to tomatoes, so that energy is directed towards fruit production rather than stalk production. Unfortunately, I don't exactly know what I am supposed to prune. I guess I will have to head back to one of the books I have from the library about growing vegetable indoors.



The peas are growing slowly, but still growing. I think that at least part of the problem is that the soil in which most of peas are planted is less than ideal. None of the plants in this soil seem to be thriving. I wonder how much larger the pea plants will need to be before they start producing peas.



The beans in the planter seem to be growing more quickly than any of the other plants. One or two of the plants seem to be able to produce 2-3 inches of new growth on a good day. The yellow beans, though not as tall as the scarlet runner beans, are also growing quite nicely. The tall, thin pot to the left of the planter has the recently planted radish seeds. The pots to the right of the planter have the recently planted peas.



The pepper plant seems to be fine. I have seen no evidence of spider mites since I moved it outdoors and gave it a few doses of anti-spider mite treatment.



As a point of information, these photos were taken yesterday. I wasn't able to post them in the hours after they were taken, as I typically would, because we lost phone and internet service for a few hours yesterday. Fortunately, by about 1:00 AM this morning everything was back to normal and we were able to resume our web 2.0 lives.