When time-lapse isn't quite the right way of capturing an event

A few days ago I paid a visit to Neil and Rebecca in Sackville, NB.  Throughout the visit I saw signs indicating that 2012 was the 250th anniversary of the founding of Sackville.  Not surprisingly, I didn't really pay much attention to these signs as I didn't have any plans to look into the associated events.

That being said, I was pretty impressed that Sackville was so old.  Though I'd been there 4 times previously, I had no idea that the town predated Confederation by 105 years.  (And it's not even on a river of significance).

Anyway, as the sun began to set on Friday evening Rebecca noticed that people began to gather on the lawn across the street.  She suggested that it looked as though people were gathering view something, maybe like a parade.

Of course it being 9:00 PM made it unlikely that people were gathering for a parade.  A little poking around the town's website allowed Rebecca to figure out that people were gathering for anniversary fireworks at 10:00 PM.

Despite the fact that the fireworks were to be set off almost immediately behind our base of operations none of us seemed particularly excited about the prospect of heading outside to see a small town fireworks show.  We didn't hold out much hope for it being much more than rinky-dink affair.

When at about 9:45 PM we heard a quick series of explosions and saw the reflection of these explosions on the building across the street we immediately raced to the building's back porch to check out the excitement.

The quick succession with which the fireworks seemed to be exploding caused us to wonder if we had a San Diego situation on our hands.



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We arrived just as these explosions came to an end and were left wondering if we'd just seen everything that was to be seen or if that first flourish was just some kind of test run.  A city worker we spoke to as the smoke cleared didn't do much to wash away these suspicions when he suggested that this was to be the first fireworks show in the town in about 20 years.

As the next fifteen minutes passed another one or two fireworks were launched, though if these were remnants of a botched show or additional practice runs was not the least bit clear.

Much to our surprise, at 10:00 PM the show proper started.

Almost immediately we knew that we were in for something special.

Not only were we close enough to feel each explosion, the fireworks themselves were quite impressive.

Of course, just before the show started I set up a time-lapse capture to record the event (if there was going to be an event).

While the event was progressing I could see that I was capturing a few of the explosions.  Of course it wasn't until after the event when I could see the full clip that I realized how bad my time-lapse set up was for capturing fireworks.



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Anyway, despite the fact that I didn't get to see a fireworks show where everything was released at once, I did get to see the best fireworks show of my life.  It turns out that our fears that Sackville's fireworks would be rink-dink were completely misplaced.

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.

A Few Quick Notes 65

-Another winter’s day in Montreal. While it was only about -8 today it seemed a bit cooler than that at time. The forecast suggested that we might be in for some flurries though these did not arrive.

-In the distance I can hear what I presume to be fireworks. On several occasions I have heard distant explosions, reminding me of an aerial bombardment, only to find out that it is a fireworks display.

-Tomorrow night is another work night. I am not really sure what to expect, as it is the last night of reading week. Hopefully tomorrow night will be pretty busy, at least significantly busier than Monday and Tuesday.

-Yesterday Neil returned to Halifax. It seems that his trip was without incident and that he is safely back in Halifax.

-On Tuesday evening my cousin Julia drove up from Providence, Rhode Island. I was really pleased that she as able to make the trip. Aside from a wedding this summer I hadn’t seen her since about 1998. She departed this afternoon and should be arriving just about now.

-Reading week is winding down and I certainly did not accomplish as much as I had hoped. Though in some ways I accomplished about as much as I expected.

-An election was called in Quebec yesterday. It seems that the vote will be on March 26. Hopefully I will be able to take some time to go to Thomson House to watch the count.

-My beard is definitely getting longer. I had been thinking about ditching it a few weeks ago but I now realize that I don’t have the energy for such a project at the moment. Something else that has come to mind is that if I shave my beard I will also then have to shave on a regular basis, something that has never been my forte.