Ever Half-Aware
Eight lost children is the reason why Evergreen House is standing. Escaping from the sickly and crowded conditions of Halifax city life, Harriet Hawthorn (with her husband Alexander James), moved across the water to what was then pure countryside. He was a lawyer then, and later a judge and schoolmaster. The couple had two surviving children when the home was finally completed in 1867 — Charlotte and Harriet, nine and seven. A third was born soon after moving in, named Sarah or "Sadie". That last daughter gave birth to her own first child here, three decades later. After the time of the James family, this was home to the Hills, then the Creightons, until becoming a museum in 1978. In that century, the rolling fields and woods that once surrounded this home grew out into Dartmouth. Albert Street out front was once the tree-lined driveway, now just another residential lane. These back windows look out on an ever-expanding and rising metropolis, and I'm in the shadows as just another blip in the history. There is nothing more timeless than twilight to me, no stretch or passage that makes me feel more part of years flown past. I'm only ever half-aware of what it meant to be alive long before me. But I'm sure it always makes me grateful for the time I'm in.
November 4, 2025
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Year 18, Day 6568 of my daily journal.
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Ever Half-Aware
Eight lost children is the reason why Evergreen House is standing. Escaping from the sickly and crowded conditions of Halifax city life, Harriet Hawthorn (with her husband Alexander James), moved across the water to what was then pure countryside. He was a lawyer then, and later a judge and schoolmaster. The couple had two surviving children when the home was finally completed in 1867 — Charlotte and Harriet, nine and seven. A third was born soon after moving in, named Sarah or "Sadie". That last daughter gave birth to her own first child here, three decades later. After the time of the James family, this was home to the Hills, then the Creightons, until becoming a museum in 1978. In that century, the rolling fields and woods that once surrounded this home grew out into Dartmouth. Albert Street out front was once the tree-lined driveway, now just another residential lane. These back windows look out on an ever-expanding and rising metropolis, and I'm in the shadows as just another blip in the history. There is nothing more timeless than twilight to me, no stretch or passage that makes me feel more part of years flown past. I'm only ever half-aware of what it meant to be alive long before me. But I'm sure it always makes me grateful for the time I'm in.
November 4, 2025
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Year 18, Day 6568 of my daily journal.
bluesky | etsy | facebook | instagram
substack | threads | tumblr | youtube
You can support my work
get things in the mail
and see everything
first on Patreon