The Halifax House, The boats

For 3 summers when I was in my late teens I lived with my Aunt and Uncle in Halifax and helped to build their house which my uncle designed.  It is a very interesting and unique place and visiting brings back lots of good memories of my time with them.

The rooms in the house have six sides.  There is lots of light and inviting spaces and natural materials. Here is a link to a short video tour of the house:

House tour link

My grandfather worked on great lakes freighters all his life.  I was lucky to have the chance to sail with him for a week when I was 9 and he was captain.  My uncle worked on great lakes ships yo put himself through university.  He has built scale models of many great lakes ships.  

Acadia

His replica of the Keewatin, one of the great lakes passenger steamers, is 8 ft long and is on display at the municipal offices in Victoria Harbour. Below are links to a video of his model and of the real Keewatin, which has been out of service since the 60's, being returned to Port McNicoll.

Uncle Jims Model of the Keewatin

The return of the Keewatin video

Some of the ships are remote controlled models.  The Wilfred Sykes, below, is over 11 ft long.

A camera mounted on the ship captured an accidental collision with another model, the Abitibi,  The short video of it has great sound effects.

Wilfred Sykes and Abitibi collision

My uncle is a great story teller.  I had a little fun at his expense with the video below.

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story