When words fail

I was talking with someone at work tonight about vacation spots and favourite places to travel. When I told him that my favourite place in the country is Cape Breton he asked me to describe it, and to be honest I could hardly do it. It's green and foggy and rainy. The air is salty and the landscape is often rocky. It is just exquisitely beautiful. Whenever I think about Cape Breton I always think about boats and rough waters and weather-worn wooden buildings. And, yes, I do realize that not every part of Cape Breton is like that and the weather is not always damp (there were beautifully sunny days while we were out there too), but those are the things I think of and the things that draw me to the island. But there is something about describing places that stumps me. There is a quality to each place, I suppose you could call it an "aura" or an "energy", but that just sounds so hokey, that is completely indescibable. You have to go there to experience it. That's one of the things I love about at and photography. I think visual arts somehow manage to capture bits of the indescribable. Obviously you can't smell or feel the air, but the colours of a place, the shapes of the buildings, the lay of the land are all so important and are often captured so much more effectively in visual mediums. I love words, but sometimes they simply fall short.

The Power of Suggestion

Several days ago I read an article in the Travel section of the newspaper about driving the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island. Ever since then I have been longing to go back there. Every time I look for pictures to post on here I start with the pictures from the last trip we took to Nova Scotia. There is something about Nova Scotia that draws me in. There are very few places that I typically get longings to visit again. Nova Scotia (especially Cape Breton), Toronto, Ireland, and Budapest, that's about it. I've been other places that I loved, but those are the places that I want to visit again and again.

Anyway, I took this picture the last time I was in Nova Scotia. Specifically this is taken in Baddeck which is right on the Bras d'Or. We were there early enough in the summer that it was typical Maritime weather: windy and rainy. It made for some spectacular pictures though. Sigh. I will go back one day.

Not Wanted on the Voyage

I'm currently working on the outline for my literary theory paper, which is on Timothy Findley's novel, Not Wanted on the Voyage and feminist theory. Not the world's most stimulating topic, but also not the most boring topic I've written on, so I'll survive. Anyway. Since the novel is a feminist/postcolonial/ecocritical rewrite of the flood narrative from Genesis, most of it involves a rather large boat. Not nearly as pretty as this one, according to the novel anyway, the Bible doesn't really specify how pretty the ark was, just how to build it. As a result, I have boats on the mind. As I was trolling through my pictures from various trips to places near water I came across this one from my trip to Nova Scotia in 2008. I actually didn't know that I had this picture, but I am definitely a fan of it. I love how the blue of the ship and the red of the flag just pop against the greyish background. I actually posted a picture of this ship's masts and rigging a few weeks ago. Sorry this is such a short post. I keep getting great ideas for posts I could do but they all take some time to put together, so until I have made it through the rest of the semester I'll just have to keep those ideas on the back burner. I should probably write them down somewhere otherwise they are likely to get lost in the upcoming cramming for finals. All right. Back to the outline!

I often thought how proud I'd be in a boat like Gideon Brown*

I mentioned a few days ago that I really love taking pictures of boats despite not having the best working relationship with them when I am actually on them. This is a collection of black and whites that I took the last time I was in Halifax (yes, I am still on my Nova Scotia/maritimes kick...). My mom and I went for a wander around the harbor and naturally I took about a gazillion photos. The day was overcast and so the lighting was actually quite ideal for black and white shots. Plus, boats tend to have good strong contrasting colors. I had never noticed how many little interesting details there are on boats. Personally, I think my favorite shots in this grouping are the one with the ship on an angle in the frame and the close up on the Roman numerals down the front of one of the ships. I have no idea how those numbers function, but they sure look cool!
*The title of this post comes from the lyrics of "A Boat Like Gideon Brown" - Great Big Sea

Sunset on the Harbour

Can it just be summer already? It hasn't been that long since reading week, but I am so ready to be done this semester. It's not even that I'm not interested in my classes...okay, so many days I could pass on lit theory and my Shakespeare class isn't exactly peachy all the time, but in general I'm at least interested in what I'm learning about. I'm just...tired. It's mid-semester burnout is what it is. I would really like it to be summer, and I would really like to be somewhere on vacation. Toronto, Nova Scotia, Victoria...I keep scrolling through past vacation photos and have this ridiculous urge to be on a sunny bench somewhere, reading a book and drinking some iced tea. That would be lovely.

Anyway, on to the picture. I took this one in Victoria this past June. Sorry about the strange faint wavy line in the sky. My camera decided that vacation was a good time to act up. I don't think it's noticable enough to ruin the picture though. I would love to be strolling along the harbour in Victoria at sunset. Despite the fact that I really don't get along with boats I love to take pictures of them. They are just so beautiful. Also, I think my favorite vacations have all involved going to a coast of some kind, although it is never the hot, sandy, sunny "vacation spots". I'm not a beach person, but I am a coast person. Does that make sense?