What is that scary, bright light in the sky ?

Spring  has been cool, damp and slow to arrive.  It's almost June and yesterday we had our first lovely warm, sunny day.

In an effort to wring every delightful moment out of this first taste of summer, I took Buffy for a stroll along McCormack's boardwalk around seven in the evening.

The one kilometer path is a popular spot.  Families, dog walkers, joggers, and couples walk the circuit.

Most people walk the circle anti-clockwise.  At this time in the evening, perhaps it's because less time would be spent walking facing the lowering sun.

There were lots of smiles, nods and "Hellos" and "Doesn't it smell lovely?".   It DID smell lovely.   The air was  fresh with the marvellous aroma of salt water.

For Buffy's part there was lots of bum sniffing, ground sniffing, water sniffing ...

The sun was slowly sinking on our second time around when we stepped off the boardwalk to the high-tide reduced beach.

 Fisherman's Cove on the right and McNabs' Island on the left, framed the distant skyline of downtown Halifax.

As the sun sets behind McNab's Island the reds turned to purple.

The city of Halifax in the distance seemed near and far at the same time.

Click to see MacDonald Bridge and downtown Halifax.

 I really should go walking at the boardwalk more often.

A block off the old ship.

  
   
Lookee, lookee.  I have a block of wood. 

It's  not just any old block of wood -- this block of wood came from the hull of the legendary Bluenose, the most famous racing schooner in Canadian history.  

The painted side of the block appears to be part of  the
ship's name or part of the decorative scrollwork.

  

The Bluenose is depicted on the
back of every Canadian dime.

Undefeated for 17 years,  the Bluenose was used as an ordinary fishing vessel when she wasn't racing.  Launched from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in 1921 she was replaced in 1963 by the replica Bluenose II which is currently undergoing a massive refit at the shipyard where she was originally built.


While Stacey and I were in Lunenburg recently we went to see how the restoration was coming along.

There has been some controversy in Nova Scotia over the reported "chipping" of the hull of this iconic Canadian symbol.  In the Visitor Information Office I was surprised to find a box of free pieces of the Bluenose's hull.  Apparently it wasn't all chipped and I could hardly believe that I had reached into a box, chosen a piece and now held it  in my hand.  My very own piece of Canadian history. 

We then donned helmets and safety goggles and were escorted into the area where the refit was taking place.  

Click here for a live wecam showing how things are coming along with the refit.

BTW:  A "Blue Noser" is someone who lives in Nova Scotia.


There are different theories about the origins of the expression.  My favourite describes how fishermen's wives knitted mittens and dyed them using cheap indigo blue dye.  When wet, raw noses were wiped with soggy mitts, it's easy to imagine how the name came about.

Dear Stacey ...

Dear Stacey,  Please come back for another visit soon.  I promise next time it won't be cold, drizzling and foggy -- EVERY DAMN DAY !  Next time,  you'll be able to see the seaside cliffs and the harbour views and not have to listen to me nattering on about what you're missing.

And you'll be able to see the Peggy's Cove Lighthouse from more than twenty feet away
.

Though you may miss the soft, muted sight of the fishing village shrouded in fog.

I'm glad that nothing could dampen your enjoyment of our secret rock beach where you found your lovely, smooth pyrite encrusted rock.

And collected some sand to take back home to the kids.

The air may not smell so vitally fresh once the warm, drier weather arrives, but it will be nice not to wear two layers of fleece and rain jackets for walks at the beach. 

 

 It  was nice when the sun briefly came out while we were in Lunenburg wasn't it ?

Come back soon.  There's so much more to explore.

Love,   Sybil

Pink -- the colour of spring.

 

Traditionally, Nova Scotian springs are late and cool, and autumns are warm and long.

I'm counting on the coming fall to make up for the weeks of endless rain and chilly temperatures we have endured !!!  

Trees and bushes are only just coming into leaf now.

Look closely.  This tree is not green with buds --  it's pink.

I never noticed before how colourful the woods were in spring.

If you'd asked me, I'd have said everything is green in the spring and colour comes later, but look at these pictures !

The Tamarack is an amazing tree.  In the summer it looks like an evergreen, but come fall it turns yellow and drops its needles !

How unusual that in spring it displays these pink buds.

Why am I showing you this little green tree ?

Because of this ...

the new growth at the top of the tree is pink.

Like I said -- pink is the colour of spring.

A simple test for Canadians re-entering the country.

     

Forget the passports.

Forget the drivers licence.

Forget the photo ID.

Here is a quick re-entry test for travellers who have been abroad and are coming back into Canada.

Are you ready ?

Here it is:

What kind of coffee is this ?

Detail.  I want detail.

BTW - this is how I take my coffee.

A rare find ...

In spite of it being monsoon season here in Nova Scotia, with its drenching incessant rain, I went for a walk today at Hartlen Point.

In preparation for my bog slog I togged myself out with my rain slicker, my trusty sou'wester hat and my new "wellie" boots.

Wearing my trusty sou' wester hat.

The rain wasn't all I had to deal with -- the path to the beach had turned into a stream.

Standing on the "path" checking for leaks in my new boots.

What's that I see ?   Look !  Look !  

Up ahead I spy a pair of rare, Nova Scotia Bog Dogs, grazing at the edge of the path.  

I approach quietly so as not to disturb them.  They seem unaware of my presence.

Suddenly one of them detects me, and bolts past me into the underbrush.

Amazed at my find, I followed their tracks to where they disappeared in the flooded cranberry bog.

Still it was an amazing sighting.  I had photographic evidence of not one, but two, Bog Dogs.

You can imagine my astonishment upon returning to my car, to find that the Bog Dogs had sought refuge in it ?

The smell of these soggy bog dwellers permeated the vehicle.  Though I tried to lure them out with handfuls of rotted swamp grass, they would have none of it, and curled up on the blankets in the back of the car.

Bog Dog anyone ?

Buffy climbs a tree ...

 

I took Wendy, Buffy and Trey for a nature walk in my woods today.

Not long after we set out,  Buffy's excited barks rang out.  I tracked her down.

The darn dog was halfway up modest-sized evergreen.

She was climbing the tree.  She was really climbing the tree -- and getting higher,

and higher.

Her quarry, a young porcupine, sat stoically on an upper branch: back turned, tail in "ready-to-whack" position.

Buffy got to within a foot of it.   I imagined a scenario in which she reached the porcupine, got a face full of quills and fell out of the tree.   Or worse still both of them fell out of the tree.  At that point the other dogs would have joined in the act, and it would not have gone well for the dogs.  I can't imagine the porcupine would have enjoyed it either.

Happily, exhausted from jumping, yipping and climbing, and much to the relief of the porcupine AND me, Buffy gave up.

Self-satisfied and tired she resumed our walk.

Bush-whacking with Amy-Lynn ...

 
Amy-Lynn's, Flandrum Hill home backs onto a marvellous wood.

Yesterday she led me on a nature ramble which at times turned into more of a nature scramble, in search of a bog where she once had found salamander eggs. 

Seeing this image, of a jellatinous egg mass being held in the hand of a child, made me want to find amphibian eggs for myself.

We walked and walked.  Sometimes the path became impenetrable and we had to find an alternate route.

Unfortunately, sometimes the path was TOO easy.

Sadly, Amy-Lynn's bog was criss-crossed with the slash of newly-cut survey lines.

To remind us of this ugly intrusion and the damage yet to come, our walk was often serenaded by the whine of chainsaws.

This once-lovely spot with a view down to the ocean, had been denuded in preparation for a new home.

Still we did find this beautiful, magical place with lichen-draped trees.

Though we were not successful in our search for pond life


-- we did find one frog sitting on the path .

We figured a child had dropped him, so we left him there in hopes of a later reunion.




We returned home, tired, refreshed and a little sad about our relationship with mother earth.

For Amy-Lynn's post about our walk, click here.

Two trees ...

  

Cue the banjo music from "Deliverance" coz it's time for duelling blog posts.

Yes boys and girls, Amy-Lynn and I visited the same tree in the woods and are each writing a post about it.

This is mine.

And this is the tree.

Well really it's two trees but they were very close to each other and had probably grown up together, and if we chose just one of them the other might get jealous.

The tree was bigger than many of those around it.  I wondered how many springs its aged trunk had seen.

Green branches could be found only at the top of the tree, where they stuck up above the smaller trees around them, reaching for sunlight.

The trunks and branches were white with Old Man's Beard and various lichens.

My trusty hand lens gave me a closer look.

This is why the tree appears white.  A world of tiny plants came into clear view through my little lens.

This tree no longer seemed like a simple tree.  Instead it was a multi-layered collection of lifeforms living together in harmony -- the canopy, the trunk, the draped branches, and  the moss covered roots   A little city in the woods.

Amy-Lynn's tree post can be found here.