July 5, 2008. Western Head, Nova Scotia. Ivan.

Plan a trip to Halifax to see the Tattoo. It is a magnificant spectacle of bands and dance and drill teams and singers, and of course lots and lots of pipers piping. I loved every bit of it. It is held every year, so make your plans for next years show. Of course, we stayed at the Prince George Hotel, definately not the King Albert, which is located in the red light district. Halifax is a busy place. The down town area has lots and lots of condos and apartments and houses, so people live right in town which means that people are always on the street. Lots of restaurants, lots of pubs, lots of people talking and walking makes for an interesting town, and we enjoyed being there. We finally arrived home at five oèclock today. Gill called to invite us for dinner with the Mitchells and the Bonds, to use up the left-over food from their celebration yesterday. But before we went to dinner, we went to Ivans place to get a pump.

Now Ivan is the owner of a Nursery. He and Ken are buddies, as Ken has bought so much stuff from him over the years. Ivan and Ken talk plantings. Ivan and me talk sculpture. During the winter, he makes these most unusual sculptures, which he then sells in his nursery. His brain is quirky, in that his people all seem full of horror, so I have never been inclined to love his stuff. But the year before last, he made a series of ballet dancers, and this winter he has installed his work at the back of his nursery. Now you can not see his work from the street. In order to see them, you must ask to go around the back. Tonight, when Ken needed a new pump, I asked Ivan if he had installed his ballet people, so he took me to see them. They are stunning. The dancers are larger than life, and five are placed in a row on the top of a hill, surrounded by large stones. Each figure is alone with only blue sky behind them. They are spectacular. Then furthur back in the woods in another large hill, and at the top is a grouping of ten dancers, all wrapped up together. I was astonished with their image, back behind his nursery, all by themselves. I asked Ivan how many people have seen there works of art, and he thinks maby one hundred. So, for your next trip to Liverpool, be sure to stop by Cosbys Nursery, and ask Ivan to go out back to see his work. You will be astonished.