We planned quite some time ago to bomb down to Wolfville this weekend, for a little getaway. Unfortunately, on Friday night, Mother Nature decided to spring a freak early snowstorm on us. We got nearly 30 cm of snow by Saturday morning, which put the kibosh on plans to head out early and take in the Wolfville Farmers' Market. After A. spent several hours digging out the car and then cutting a path out to the main road, we got on our way by early afternoon.
On arrival, however, our B&B (the aptly-named Gingerbread House Inn) did look like something off a biscuit tin. The photo above was taken this morning, outside the doors of our suite. It was all very wintery and picturesque. Plus, we had a great meal last night at Tempest Restaurant. The chef has recently returned from a two-week Slow Food conference near Milan, and to mark the occasion was offering a four-course Northern Italian tasting menu last night. Delicious stuff - though a guilty pleasure as one of the courses was tagliatelle served with stewed rabbit sauce. I thought of our evil foster-bun Gnasher while enjoying it...hehe.
I've been hearing on the radio this morning that the Marquee Club is closing its doors for good. (Even the CBC Radio 1 programme Q reported on the news, just a little while ago).
It's a great shame, but probably inevitable. The club's owners announced in early 2005 that they were shuttering the place, due to the high cost of bringing acts to Halifax. Within months, however, they were opening for occasional shows. The last year or two, things seemed as busy as ever - but now the news that they are shutting again. As the Marquee is one of the premier live music venues in this city, it's definitely a loss. But I suspect something will come along and take its place in due course. I just hope that when it does, it's located more centrally downtown - my biggest gripe about the Marquee has always been that it's on Gottingen Street. While I'm sure rents there are cheap, I never felt terribly safe going there at night.
Last time I planned to go to the Marquee, it was to see Bloc Party in September - but I ended up re-selling my tickets cos I couldn't go. Looks like that was my last chance....
In time for Remembrance Day, an unsettling story in Saturday's Globe about efforts that are currently being made in some sectors of Spanish society towards acknowledging the horrors of General Franco's fascist regime. But "truth and reconcilation" comes to some more easily than to others, and with atrocities having been committed within living memory, plenty of Spaniards seem happy to let sleeping dogs lie. While they may have a point, the example of Germany certainly shows that genuine atonement is possible. A very interesting article, on a country we don't often hear much about on this side of the pond.
I marked my 36th birthday on Saturday November 8th. It was the nicest birthday I can remember in a very long time.
It helped that it was a Saturday, as usually I am at work on my birthday and am lucky most years to get in a rushed dinner afterwards. This year, J. flew in from Montreal the night before, and we started the festivities that evening with seeing Feist play a fun show at the Metro Centre. Saturday morning, I breakfasted like a queen on blueberry pancakes and Mimosas, courtesy of A., before heading over the road for a manicure. By the time I got back, J. was ready to go and we had hours of pootling around the shops at the Hydrostone and in some of the antiques emporia on Agricola Street.
By late afternoon, we headed downtown in good time for our appointments at Spirit Spa, where I was scrubbed and slathered in mud before being wrapped in plastic and left to stew for a bit, whilst an aesthetician administered a scalp massage.....aaaaaaahhhhh. By the time I regained consciousness, it was time to head home, get dolled up, and go down to Gio, a fantastic new resto at the Prince George Hotel. The consensus was that it was our best dining experience in Halifax to date. Champagne was sent to our table on arrival by a member of staff, an (apparently very satisfied) client of A.'s. I ate elk for the first time, and for dessert they served up cherries (my favourite fruit) in multiple ways. Oh, and the wine was fabulous, and I tried some scrummy pear cider. Just a great evening all round, and a fitting end to a very indulgent day.
Saw Frost/Nixon by Peter Morgan at Neptune last night. I'd really been looking forward to it as I've heard so much about this play in the press lately (it's also been staged in Toronto and Vancouver recently). It didn't disappoint - it was excellently-written. I did wonder a bit about the two lead actors, though - they were certainly competent, but I wasn't wowed by them. As a result, the final scenes of the play - where Frost elicits Nixon's confession of complicity in the Watergate scandal - weren't quite as compelling and dramatic as I imagined they'd be. It will be interesting to compare this production with the film version that is currently in production; the film stars the original cast members who premiered the show in the West End and on Broadway (Michael Sheen and Frank Langella).
I certainly came away from the play wanting to see some of David Frost's actual interview footage with Nixon for myself. Luckily, YouTube is full of clips, so I'll be checking some of that out very soon.
