Window Views

I usually post photographs I've taken of windows, with a preference for "quaint".  Today's post is a departure, yet I fell in love with the lines and glass of this building in San Francisco.

Window Views and Doors

a weekly photo event on the blogs

Ruby Tuesday: Touches of Nova Scotia Part I

This week's Ruby Tuesday submission is a series of photos I took at a very unique little Nova Scotia museum: The Charles MacDonald Concrete Museum in Centreville, Nova Scotia. While vacationing in beautiful Nova Scotia, we became interested in aspects of its history and people. Charles MacDonald, a deceased folk hero in the area, left a legacy of creativity, adventure and good deeds. Drawn to it, I've tried to preserve our interest through photographs and conversations with people we met along the way.  One such person was Fred MacDonald, Charles' nephew, who with other volunteers has tried to keep the legend of Charlie MacDonald alive. 

In subsequent posts, you may notice the blue cottage, which my daughter Supergirl Two calls "the candy cottage". That is one of four remaining concrete cottage built by MacDonald during the great depression to keep the workers of his concrete business employed. The results are essentially Canadian heritage properties now.

 

A view of the back of the museum. The other three, obviously, are of relics in the interior, which is essentially one room - the parlor.

 Next week's Party II of Touches of Nova Scotia will feature ruby reds of the more nautical type.

 I hope you'll come back!

Have a fantastic week and see you then!

Ruby Tuesday

hosted by Mary at Work of the Poet

Midweek Blues

The Blue Fairy Cottage

Nova Scotia

We visited this crazy little concrete house last summer in Hall's Harbor, Nova Scotia and fell in love with it.  This year, we've staying there for two weeks. There is a little balcony in the back of the house facing west, so we'll see some good sunsets over the ocean. With Winter just ended and spring slow to begin in New England, summer still feels a long way away.

I recently discovered Midweek Blues when I visited Coloring With Light, a wonderful photo blog from Ontario. We're Canadian all over here!  :-) Which is a good thing. I like the system in Canada far more than I like our own American one. I love Montreal - one of my favorite cities. And the Fundy Shore. When I first stepped out of the car and encountered the view, I felt immediately as if this place was a second home. WP has been going to Nova Scotia every summer for at least fifteen years now; for me, 2010 will be my third summer visiting. 

Dig the little sailboat at the top of the chimney. Now that The Blue Cottage is officially booked, WP and I talk about it everyday. I'm not sure if that helps to ease the wait or if it strains it! We're spending the last two weeks of July there. We'll miss blueberry season this year but I understand it's scallop season in Digby.

Thanks for visiting!

Pagan Sphinx

Back From Vacation (With Photos)

Hi everyone! I hope you're all having a great summer.

The Supergirls and I are back from a trip to Barcelona and Lisbon. I'm still a bit tired from the trp and the oppressive humidity of the Northeast is sapping me of energy after the lovely blue skies and hot, dry temperatures of sunny Portugal.

We had a great time. Barcelona was a bit of a whirlwind. I would have liked to have spent another three days there. Lovely city for tourists.

Portugal is more of my heart, as I have no less (and probably more) than twenty wonderful aunts, uncles and cousins who made time to spend with us on this trip. The family fix warmed my heart, as I feel a touch of isolation here in the states where I have virtually no extended family.

Here are a few photos from our trip. I'm hoping to create a slideshow to put on the sidebar with a lot more photos for those of you who would like a glimpse of what we saw.

Meanwhile, I must help Sugergirl One put the final touches on her packing, as I'm taking her to the airport for her one-way flight to Santa Barbara. She's on her way to her Beloved Wife and her new life. More details to follow!

All the love,
Pagan Sphinx

Click on photos for optimum viewing size

Supergirls: a building in the Ciudad Vella
Barcelona

click on photo for best viewing size

The Supergirls in Barcelona with Gaudi's Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia;
(Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family) in the background


Waiting for the bus to Obidos
My mother and me


The fortified wall around the castle at Óbidos Portugal


Praia de Balial
(Balial Beach) Peniche, Portugal

Torre de Belém
(Tower of Belem)
Lisbon, Portugal

The courtyard at the Quinta dos Loridos Vineyards and Winery
Bombarral, Portugal

A Visit to the Montague Book Mill

A great place to idle the time away...

The Montague Bookmill
is a used bookstore housed in an 1842 gristmill, set
on the banks of the Sawmill River, a few miles north of Amherst and
Northampton, Massachusetts

The Bookmill is only a few miles from our house and yet we don't visit often enough. Yesterday it was sunny and crisp; just the type of day to spend some hours in the cozy mill looking at old books

For $19.95 and with an ancient $15 gift certificate I found, how could I resist? The clerk was kind enough to honor it. WP bought a book on deep sea diving; one of his crazy hobbies!

I perused my new book while munching on a delicious brown rice salad from the Lady Killigrew Cafe. It was partially eaten when I decided to photograph it.

A view of the Sawmill River is available from several windows, though I went outside to take this one.