It's a small town, Halifax. Saturday, I walked across town with the baby in the stroller to hang pictures and photos at the home of the friend of a friend. My friend had been asked to help, but couldn't, due to illness in the family and the need to care for an infant. She was distraught at having to say no, so I offered. I mean, after 16 years of working in art museums, I can at the very least hang pictures.

The baby fell asleep in the stroller as we walked to the house. She continued to sleep despite the occasional barking of the 2 Westies and the pounding of the hammer. The friend of a friend showed me the photos and nails and hammer and left to run errands. I stayed and hung 9 photographs and 4 paintings. The baby slept. I finished and said good-bye to the husband and left.

That evening, friends came for dinner and we chatted about this and that. They told us of a cottage they had rented for spring break and it turns out that the owners were the friend of a friend and her husband. Today, I dropped in on an old friend I haven't seen in years and on her fridge was an invitation to the party of the friend of a friend.

We're all so interconnected here in so many ways and on so many levels. It's nice and at the same time, it makes you watch your Ps and Qs.

Well, here it is, January 7th and I just saw the first robin of spring. He looked a bit harried, likely because of all the snow. It's a bit early for Robins around here. Perhaps he's the last Robin of autumn.

And no, I don't intend to make this into a birdwatching blog, but yesterday I saw a bald eagle flying right over my kid's school after I dropped him off. The bird was low enough that I could see his talons tucked in tight against his body. He was huge. Lots of parents were walking away from the school yard, but nobody looked up, no one saw him. I pointed him out to the person closest to me, and she turned just in time to get a glimpse of what by then looked like a big crow flying over towards the Northwest Arm.

Still, it was pretty neat.