If you’ve come here because of a web search on the movie Thor: sorry to disappoint but this is a post about a town in the south of France of the same name. And big apologies to readers who were expecting vacation recap posts last week. Work + cold = not feelin’ it. Anyone living in Halifax can attest to the horrific weather we’ve been experiencing this spring. It’s enough to make me move to the south of France. On that note…

The perfect retreat situated about a 30 minute drive from Avignon.

For one glorious week in April, we rented a gite in Provence. The place was a short drive or bus ride from Avignon. Although we had seen pictures of the interior, we weren’t quite prepared to see this gorgeous villa awaiting us after we opened the property gates. A one week rental was about $1300 which was split between two families (this portion of the trip included Cokebaby’s sister, brother-in-law, and two girls).

A pretty amazing deal considering it included: a swimming pool (which actually isn’t open until May), a large living area on the main floor, laundry room, huge modern kitchen, dining room, games room, and powder room. Upstairs included a shared shower room for three bedrooms and separate powder room and an suite bathroom for the master bedroom with shower and bathtub.

Outside we also had use of a boules court where it was discovered I am the queen of the game. The gite was surrounded by a stucco wall which made the place very private and quite relaxing. The town of Le Thor itself is also really quaint. The people were incredibly friendly and happy to take their time with our varied levels of French language skills.

The central street in Le Thor leads to a square where markets take place a few times a week.

In the city centre there’s the 12th century Lady of the Lake Church. An older gentleman, upon exiting the church, shared some of the history of the site. You can still see the stone-masons signatures on each block of stone.

As with most French towns and cities, there are several types of markets that appear on set days of the week. That, combined with the proximity of the gite to an Intermarché, made this rental ideal. One thing to note when renting a gite is that although the houses can be quite beautiful, you should expect what you’d get when renting a cottage here in Canada: the bare minimum in amenities. Things like dish detergent, toilet paper, etc. are up to you to supply and there is a surcharge for towels.

Later this week: sur la pont d’Avignon, and other historic sites.

Did you notice my absence from the web these past two weeks?

Yeah, so, I was on vacation.

At the old city wall of Avignon

Cokebaby and I spent two weeks in the south of France. It’s by far my fave vacation destination. This time, we took the Chunnel to Paris from London en route to Avignon. We then spent a week at a gite (which must be French for blissful villa) before heading into the city of Nîmes to participate in the Great Roman Games (in costume).

Because we had a car, we were able to visit many small towns and historic sites including some of the locations mentioned in Guy Gavriel Kay’s Ysabel (warning: if you read this book you’ll likely fall in love with Provence and want to travel there frequently and/or possibly move there).

As usual I’ll post trip highlights, including food reviews but this time I’ll dedicate a couple of posts to specific restaurants because they really stood out in comparison to the sandwiches and supermarket food we were preparing at the gite. In the meantime, you can check out the highlight reel from our previous trip to Provence.

In exciting news for a sleepy Sunday afternoon, East Coast By Choice just got nominated for the 2011 Canadian Weblog Awards in the Arts & Culture, Life, and Placeblog categories!

So, I guess it’s game on in terms of bringing you even better content this year, hey?

As always, if you do have suggestions for what you want to see in this space drop us a line. Or feel free to check out our submissions guidelines for East Coast Guest Posts.

A big thanks to everyone who follows the blog and to the peep(s) who nominated us.

[It's a small world. Even though Disney kind of took over that phrase with the saccharine song, the words ring true in this part of the world. As this next guest post shows, a smaller community simply brings with it access of all kinds.]

By Philip Moscovitch

(Photo credit: Philip Moscovitch)

Back in the mid-90s, my partner Sara and I were living in Montreal and thinking about moving to the country. Trouble was, to get to an area rural enough for us, we’d have to drive well over an hour outside the city. If either of us had to commute for work, we’d be in trouble. Plus, available housing seemed to be either unaffordable, or in a state of near collapse. Neither option was all that appealing.

So we moved to Nova Scotia. Thirteen years later we’re still here, living in a 100-year-old home overlooking St. Margaret’s Bay, with about 30 acres of woodland in our name and much more stretching out for miles behind our property.

Part of what we wanted when we came to the Maritimes was easy access to the natural world. But I’ve also really come to appreciate how friendly people and the small scale of this place combine to provide access to all sorts of people and experiences.

Need to talk to your member of the legislature? Mine is a cabinet minister; I have her personal email address (which she encouraged me to use) and whenever I’ve raised a concern, she responds.

Like pomp and vice-regal ceremony? Not my cup of tea, particularly, but I’ve still managed to attend a couple of events at which the Lieutenant-Governor was present, and after she visited our local elementary a few years back, she wrote a personal response to a girl who lived near us. That made a huge impression on her.

Want to go wilderness canoeing? The Tobeatic Wilderness Area provides over a thousand square kilometres of raw nature. I can drive there in a couple of hours.

Interested in star-gazing? There are truly dark skies within an hour or two of driving, and reasonably dark ones right here in our own yard, where we can easily see thousands of stars on a clear night.

And, of course, if country living is not all that far from the city, the reverse is also true. It’s pretty easy to get to town anytime you want. When I have a gig that requires me to work in downtown Halifax, I’m facing a modest, 45-minute commute. That’s how long it used to take me sometimes to get from our Montreal apartment to my job at the National Film Board. And that was bumper-to-bumper, not the relatively pleasant drive from here to the peninsula.

I remember realizing that we really were living in a different culture soon after the birth of our third child (the only one born in Nova Scotia). We’d sent the paperwork to Vital Statistics to register his birth and hadn’t received a birth certificate. Concerned that it may have been held up, I called the department and was immediately transferred to someone in the appropriate department. After I gave her our son’s name she said, “Oh yes dear, I saw that one. It went out today.”

Philip Moscovitch is a freelance writer, editor, broadcaster. You can connect with him through his website, www.moscovitch.com, or follow him on twitter @PhilMoscovitch.

[Wrapping up our pre-Canada Games posts for the week is another guest post from a friend who's been making use of the Oval with his family. Don't forget to check out the cute video capturing the missing skate.]

By Andrew Leitao

Baby steps on the Oval

The Canada Games are coming, and with them comes the Big O. My family and I (2 adults, a 2.5 and .5 year old) were very excited when it first opened to the public. Got our skates and headed over. There were so many people on the Oval, you could barely see the ice. Our 2.5 year old Gabrielle was raring to go and experience her first skate. It lasted 30 seconds. I forgot to tighten the nut on her cheese cutter skates (double blade that fits over the boot). Thankfully, mommy was there to figure it out and get her on her way…until she fell.

Many tears later and with some coaxing, Gabrielle continued and made it a quarter of the way around until she wanted to get off. A bit of a rough start, but fun nonetheless. Since then, we’ve been quite a few more times. Each outing has driven Gabrielle to skate a little further on her quest to complete a loop. She finally acheived it on a beautiful crisp Saturday afternoon. Papa and mommy were very proud.

The Big O is a great space for all types to enjoy some healthy out door physical activity. It’s a place for community. By the look of joy on everyone’s faces, you can feel that this is a facility that needs to stay.

Having said that, I hope it’s done in a fashion that keeps it sustainable. It’s great to be gung ho, but let’s have a plan.

Oh, and there’s plenty of grass on the commons for the people who always complain about the grass…just saying…

One of the standard complaints about living on the East Coast is that comparatively speaking, we don’t make the same amount of money that peers in other bigger cities do. Alison DeLory interviewed a number of professionals around the city of Halifax, including me, to get our opinions on the matter.

In every city you could complain about something, Walsh says. “I want to embrace the positive experiences of living in Halifax.” She includes among her favourite Halifax things: spectacular dining, a dogs-off-leash park and walking trail five minutes from her affordable suburban home and her quick commute. “Everything is so close here.”

Read the full article.

It’s that time of year again when people around the world start thinking about setting goals and trying to alter their lives for the better. I’m not one for new year’s resolutions. That being said, I hope to accomplish some big things in 2010. Why this year? Call me superstitious but it’s my year. No, really, it is. You see, according to the Lunar Calendar, as of February 14 it will be the year of the tiger (which comes every 12 years). That’s my sign. My year. More on that and my superstitious push to make this a year to remember in another post though.

Photo credit: the trial from Flickr

One of the projects I’ve been slowly plugging away at in the past year is: a novel.

There, I said it.

More on that later also. Maybe. I don’t know if I’ll be as brave as @inspiredeggs and post any of it while it’s still in first draft. But do go over to his site and show your support of his creative writing endeavour.

The problem is, I’ve been feeling stretched for time due to other commitments. What that means is there are going to be some changes made to this blog. I’m going to be posting here much less in 2010.

But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let the blog or the soul of it wither away. You see, this is where you come in. Since I started this blog in 2009, I’ve been running a series called East Coast Guest Posts. That’s where people from all around the East Coast write about things that matter to them. I’m going to continue with the series but rather than do a week-long blitz of entries every month or so, they’re going to be spread out along with my weekly posts.

For the next year, I’m sharing my blog with you. Are you East Coast By Choice? Were you at one point but you moved away and wished you hadn’t? What are the things you love about living here? What would you like to change?

This is an open call for submissions. I’m looking for posts of about 400 words in length. If you’ve got pics, great. Otherwise I’ll find Creative Commons licensed images from Flickr. I also need a short bio and will link to your site/blog.

Interested? E-mail me at kimberly.aliasgrace [at] gmail [dot] com and let’s talk.

Has anyone else been having trouble sleeping lately? I don’t know if it’s the weather, the time change or what but I feel like I’ve been on auto-pilot this past week due to lack of z’s. As a result, random thoughts have come to into my head. Sort of like the following:

AliasGrace: I think I’d like to be a philanthropist for a living.

Me: …

AliasGrace: What?

Me: What exactly do you think that entails?

AliasGrace: It’s kind of like a socialite except instead of spending money on yourself you spend it on other people. For charity.

Me: Where do you propose to get all this disposable income from?

AliasGrace: *shrugs*

Me: OK, then. You go on daydreaming while I get back to work. I do have bills to pay and a dog to feed.

AliasGrace: Yeah, you go ahead. I guess you’re just the socialite between us.

Me: ..!

Miss me? Yeah, I know I was supposed to post here a couple more times last week. No, I didn’t think my post about pickled beets was full of so much awesomeness that it would keep you entertained for a week.

So, what’s up?

The long and the short of it: life got busy.

I had a deluge of in-laws descend upon the city all at once from all across the country.

We launched a really cool new books portal at work.

Work is just busy as usual.

I went on a tour of Peggy’s Cove Area with some local bloggers and social media types.

Did I mention the in-laws? (Kidding, love you guys..!)

Will I post about some of this? Maybe. Consider this a post for everything I don’t write more about.

Sorry, but I’m sleepy.

I promise to be prolific very soon. Until then, check out some of the links above. If you’re on Twitter, submit a book review to #cbc140. If you’re on Facebook, consider becoming a fan of the CBC Book Club.

by Charmaine Dymond

Dear Halifax:

You know, I like you. I do. In fact, I *love* you. And honestly, this really is a love letter to you. But before I start getting all mushy and sentimental, I need to get a few things off my chest. Bear with me for a moment, OK?

Photo credit: nyxie from Flickr

I mean, really, is it impossible for people to walk on the grass in your Public Gardens without the world ending or something? Or for your population to support a wider variety of shopping options (and no, more Wal-Marts and Home Depots does not qualify)? Or for your bus system to actually serve more than, what, five communities outside the city centre? (While I am pleased as punch to live on the number 1 bus route, I also realize I am one of the privileged few in the HRM to have access to a decent bus service.) And, bloody hell, what is up with this weather anyhow?

Enough of that. I really do love this place. Even though I feel it has so much potential to be even better and it’s frustrating to think that may never happen. Whoops, sorry – love letter, moving on…

So what do I love about Halifax?

I suppose I could talk about all the awesome things there are to do as a family here, but you can just mosey on over to HRM Parent to see what I mean (yes, shameless plug!). I could talk about how I love that it means I’m closer to my family, how friendly people are (stereotype I know, but so true), how I love not having stupidly long commutes anymore (OK, at the moment my ‘office’ is my couch, but still), how it’s so quick and easy to get out of the city and into the countryside. I love that it’s busy enough to be interesting, but not so busy that I get those angry, violent feelings I did while living in London! I love that it’s a fairly seasonal city, but not as seasonal as places like PEI. (Sorry PEI.) I love that it’s got this thriving, independent, funky scene happening (that I admire from afar – I’m not particularly funky). I love that it has wonderful little places like the ‘cookie store’ (as it was named by a friend of my son’s, also known as Local Jo Cafe).

Photo credit: lumierefl from Flickr

I have made great friends here, and between them and the casual conversations I have with people at places like the bus stop, the playground and in stores, I feel like I live in a real, proper community. I get warm fuzzy feelings when I walk around the city (especially in the spring when the leaves have returned and in the fall when they are turning). I love listening to the fog horns at night and in the early morning. My son is having an awesome childhood growing up here. Though I still crave a home with a porch and wood siding, I’m just *so* happy to have a house bigger than 700 square feet, with a basement. And closets – oh bless the storage options!

But to be honest, it’s hard to put into words exactly why I love it here. The only way I can think to describe it is that it feels like home. I feel happy and content here. I can see us living here for quite a while. I guess this feeling is made up of a whole bunch of little reasons, none spectacular on their own, but put together means that Halifax is a pretty awesome place to call home.

None of my mushy ramblings means that I wouldn’t love it if we could pick Halifax (all of Nova Scotia, actually) up and drop it where, say, Italy is. Better weather, better travel options, better shopping options, but still Halifax. Or would it be, I wonder? Best not to mess with it, I suppose.

Not a Haligonian by birth, but now one by choice, Charmaine Dymond is ‘home’ in Halifax after living in London, England for 8 years. She runs the local parenting website, HRM Parent.