Tigris Mar

A little gem of beautiful atmospheric noise for your listening pleasure. 

 Tigris Mar

Birthday Post!

The Green Man celebrated 5 years in business last weekend.  It was amazing to have so many friends stop by or send messages.    There is no way I can individually thank all the people who have helped us make it this far, we really are part of the community here, and without that community we wouldn't exist.  So, to all who have crossed our threshold in the last 5 years thank you.  Many of you have also made your way into our hearts(where you will forever stay, trapped), thank you so much for your support.  Thank you for your encouragement, and thank you for bringing me cookies. All the celebrating has made me a  wee bit sentimental so I've been poring through photos looking back at some of the awesome things we've been involved in over the years.

Here's what we looked like a week before opening back in 2007:

That's the electrician you can see in the shot.  He finally got us hooked up a week AFTER we opened!  We had to run an extension cord from the coffee shop next door(thanks guys) to operate the cash register, and we lit the dressing room with flashlights!
We've organized guerilla  style fashion shows, fashion competitions, video shoots, sets for artists, and had photo shoots aplenty.

A candid shot from a fall shoot with Overman at Woodleigh Replicas.  Sometimes you just can't find a babysitter, so sometimes the kids become part of the shoot.

Some models get a little ... feisty. 

From a fashion fundraiser  for Anderson House.  The beautiful work of designer Kinza Mae Baker photographed by Katelyn Fraser.

Another shoot with photographer Katelyn Fraser.  Make-up by Savannah Belsher, hair by Michael Phillips (if you're in Halifax go find this man at One Block Barbershop and let him do whatever he wants to your hair). 

Shooting a promo video with film maker Jeremy Larter. 

From a shoot with Sketch-22 (NSFW).

Beautiful work by  photographer Mark Yammine.

A candid shot from 'Bricolage' an evening of live art at the Alibi Lounge.

Shot of an installation I did for 'Warming Up' at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery

From a collaboration between local artists and designers.

I can't even begin to describe the evening this was created for.  I collaborated with Marie Fox  to create costumes for an evening titled Iris Mercurial.  It featured art, film, and the poetry of John MacKenzie. A haunting and beautiful evening.

Just two of the costumes I got to work on when Cirque Du Soleil came to town.  A dream come true, and something I never really imagined would happen!

A shot of Kinza and I in dresses we designed by photographer Matt Bowness. 

There are just so many events and happenings we have been asked to be a part of over the years  it's impossible to post pics of everything here.  But I'll leave you with a few pics from this Summer just past.

The North Lakes roof top show!

Super fun balloon creatures Matt Bowness and I created for Art in the Open.   

The Green Man on our birthday!!  Thanks Sheri for all your help with the bunting(bunting!!)!  And thanks for all  the pics along the way too.

And don't be fooled.  This little retrospective(full of huge holes!)  doesn't mean the end, there are many more projects already in the works!  Thank you Nannie and Grammie!! 

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Chocolate

I recently told a friend that if anything bad ever happens in his life he should go to Island Chocolates(also known as The Chocolate Factory) and have a Factory Coffee.  And I meant it.  I would also recommend  it when celebrating or when you need a little break from the everyday, or anytime you happen to be anywhere near the Village of Victoria.  Really what I was trying to express to him is my deep and unfaltering love of all things Island Chocolates has on offer(especially the Factory Coffee -and yes, it does deserve capital letters.  It's just that good).  Victoria is a charmed spot as anyone who has spent anytime there will attest to.  And no matter how unlike you, you will utter the words 'How quaint.' or 'How charming.' at some point during a visit.

This lighthouse and boat vignette is both quaint and charming. See, it even happens to me.

The only decision I struggle with when I visit the village is this: Chocolate Factory first, or Chocolate Factory last?  Usually I try to figure out a way to do both.  'Maybe we should get our Factory Coffee's now before we wander around, and then we can go back and grab a few peppermint creams(my personal favorite) and fresh blueberry clusters later.'

Heaven?

I recently made my way to Main Street Victoria and spent some time poking around The Factory.  Now don't let the word 'factory' fool you.  This is all handmade on location super incredible 100% delicious chocolate.

Emma Gilbert busting out a tray of milk chocolate coconut clusters.

The Gilbert family has been refining their craft at the factory  for 25 delicious years now.  And they have something for just about everyone.  

Chocolate music

Chocolate games. Every year the Gilbert's  host a Chocolate Festival which includes a chocolate chess  tournament. 

Chocolate motorcycles. Yum.

Chocolate money!!

Chocolate birds.

This little guy obviously liked the chocolate fish!

Sigh.  Chocolate cameras!

The pictures speak for themselves really. Lots of deliciousness tempting you at every turn.  And the shop itself is full of vintage chocolate treasures.  Like this old Neilson's display.

The hard part is in the choosing:

Hand made selections. 

At one time the chocolate was 100% Belgium, but in recent years the selection has grown.  The Factory now offers bars made of chocolate from Cuba, Hawaii, Venezuela, Santo Domingo, Ecuador, and France.  Eric Gilbert says he is most proud of the product from Ecuador as he had a hand in every step of the process from harvesting and fermenting right through to drying and roasting the beans, blending the recipe and finally tempering the chocolate.  If you enjoy watching handsome bearded men wielding machetes in the jungle(and who doesn't?) then check out this Youtube  video of Eric opening cacao pods and removing the beans.  It really helps you appreciate chocolate as an art when you see how far the finished product comes from it's humble pod beginnings.
Which brings us to:  The Factory Coffee.  A glass of hot, delicious, drool inducing, coffee and chocolate loveliness.  To begin:

First your glass is coated in your choice of milk or dark chocolate.  Then they add their special blend of dark roast coffee.  Let's pause a moment and regroup.  Lovely melted 100% Belgium chocolate lining your glass, topped with fresh hot dark coffee.  What more do you need?  What more could there possibly be?
Whipped cream anyone?  Chocolate sprinkles anyone? Little cute nautical themed chocolate on top of your whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles anyone? Yes and Yesser!

I would marry one of these bad boys if it was legal(does anyone know the laws around this? Could I in fact marry one of these bad boys?).

You see?  The greatest heart healing, soul reviving, taste bud titillating treat.  Only one question remains: Do you stir your chocolate in to your coffee? Or wait until the end and scrape it out with your spoon?

 I have to be 100% honest here and admit I have a history with the Gilberts and their Chocolate Factory.  Many years back I was lucky enough to be employed by them(as was my sister for many years).  I rolled out fruit creams and listened to talk radio for hours.  I answered the question "How do you work here and stay so skinny?" a bazillion times a day(I counted once).  And it in my mind it remains one of the best Summer jobs I ever had.

Me, admiring a picture of me that still graces the walls. 

So, if you are lucky enough to live on PEI, or happen to be visiting our beautiful little Island, go to Victoria, and plan to go off your diet.  But try not to worry about it, your soul will be refreshed, your taste buds will be happy, and the world looks good through a chocolate haze.

Of particular note - this year's Chocolate Festival is Saturday SEPTEMBER 15th!! Check out the Factory's facebook page and website for details and pics of festivals past.

Get thee to Victoria! And save me a seat in the sun.

Some mornings, while your floating and bobbing around in the tub you tell yourself  'Hurry up Caseley.  You still have to get dressed and (hopefully) brush your hair.' . But instead of listening to that inner dialogue you continue reading Patti Smith's 'Just Kids', because lets face it, what she did in New York in the 60's is infinitely more fascinating than digging through the dirty laundry  closet. And when you eventually manage to put the book down and climb out (wishing while you race by in insufficient toweledge that the front door wasn't wide open, or that at the very least that there weren't two strange men in conversation right outside of it) you are already almost certain to be late.

All will be explained.

This is when the adrenalin kicks in.

Your sensible side says 'Put on the black dress with short puffed sleeves and a belt and go.'.  But the other side, the ...less sensible side(?) says 'Hmmm....let's see...what is at the bottom of the T-shirt drawer? There must be some good stuff down there...'. At this point you have the black dress on and have already tried three belts, but it's just not working.  'Why doesn't this dress work today?' You ask yourself.  But you already know the answer.  You  decided -whilst floating around the circumference of your big pink tub- that today was an arm party kind of day.  So before putting on the easy dress you bangled up the arms.  And then you ringed the fingers.  And now all the bangles and rings are outshining the dress and you just look ridiculous.  And what's a girl to do?    If you remove the bracelets, bangles, and rings the 10 minutes you spent clashing and co-ordinating the right mix of pieces will have been wasted.  And there is no time this morning for wasted moments!!

The dress is off.  We're pretty much starting from scratch here.  Me and the bracelets that is.  The clock is ticking, the baby has just peed on the floor at you feet, and you can not possibly make the walk to work without some music in your ears and where the Hell have the ear buds gone?

And that is how I came to leave the house this morning dressed in a skin tight pencil skirt and obnoxiously printed, polyester, fluorescent pink, tulip shirt.  Arms a bangled, rings a plenty. My 9 year olds back pack on and a satchel that is identical to the one my Mom uses, and lets face it, my Mom is old enough to be my Mom, so you know without even seeing it how awesome the bag is(love you Mommy).  And, because of  'the foot' (you just can't get a foot run over by a car and not have some consequences), an ugly a sensible pair of boots and mismatched socks.
 To all I encountered on the walk to the store this morning, my apologies. And especially to the khaki panted young man eating a sandwich whom I fell into perfect step with for half a block(once I get locked in to those things it's hard to break free)(did I mention I was also eating?)(We were racing!  Racing for the corner!  I was horrified on his behalf). If that damn ear bud hadn't slipped out of my slippery earhole(gross!)I predict we would still be racing through the streets of this town and on and on into the sunset and beyond(or at least to the ocean's edge. That's where I draw the line).

Know what's even more awkward than these pics...

Getting caught by some tourists....

And now I remember why I don't ever use my webcam. It's really crappy. Deal with it.

My bracelets are: two cool resin bangles by Overman, one leather band that was once upon a time meant to be a Christmas present for a friend(yeah, I did it again.  Sorry Kinnie.), and two awesome chunky metal chain things that I took home to 'price'. The rings are a big jumble of stuff including the Alice in Wonderland ring I got for graduating from grade 9(yay me!) and two of the three sterling silver rings that I bought for me with my own money from my first 'real' job when I was 15(and that was probably the last time I had any cash lying around that I could do that sort of thing with).

standing on my desk chair, trying to take these pics.

And the reason for this post?  I think it was intended to be about these shoes:

I designed them on the Converse website, and then when I tried to order them was informed that I can't.  Because I'm in Canada.   So really what I'm trying to say is, Converse, you made me late for work. The black dress, and the arm party, and the custom Chucks would have worked together in a perfectly harmonious cacophony.  The end.