Friday, August 20, 2010

'splorin' ...

One of the marvellous things about having visitors, is exploring Nova Scotia with them. 

Some of my best discoveries have been after saying to an unsuspecting guest,  "Let's see where this road goes.". 

Recently the road lead my friend Sandy and me, to a lovely, scenic lookoff  near the Bay of Fundy.


From there the road lead us downward to a lovely provincial park with a cliff-rimmed beach.  That it was low tide, was a bonus.


Some young people were digging clams on the beach.  They happily showed us how it is done.  Clams create small holes in the beach sand near the water line.  They have a snout that sticks out of their shell and they use it to clear their breathing hole. After locating a clam hole simply dig down 6-8 inches to reach the clam.


You can see the "snout" in the shot above.  Good grief, it's as long as its body!   BTW I'm very proud of myself for not making a crude joke about the clam and its... ummmm .... errrr ... snout !

  The clams are put into a container of sea water to keep them hydrated while further digging goes on.  When digging is finished, the clams are moved into a container with water with some corn meal mixed in.  The corn meal causes the clams to spit out the sand that is in their shells. 


The final step is to  go to the kid's grandmother's house to have the clams cooked.   Sadly, I neglected to get the grandmother's address.  

We wandered up the beach admiring the cliff's colourful strata layers which became even more beautiful where water dripped down the rock face.
 

You'll notice I use words like, "wandered", "sauntered", and "strolled".  Seldom are beach walks really walks at any kind of a pace.  There's too much to see to be walking quickly.


So wherever you are, don't forget to slow up, or down, when you go for a walk.  

Unless of course ...

 
 the tide is coming in.  In that case, rapid walking is encouraged.













No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by. I really do love to read your comments.