strawberries, then the sea

 

It's July already!! How did that happen? And such a dreary end of June and start to July with rain and humidity and warm temperatures to make you think you were in the tropics. It's great for the plants though. They love it.

a big cabbage patch in the valley

 



Last Thursday, Wally found an organic strawberry farm for us to go picking. At $2.50 a quart, it was worth the effort. We picked 7 quarts so that we could freeze some for later. I forgot to take pictures, but here are a few at the same farm just east of Canning.

 

the twisted branches of an old peach tree

 

The chickens don't like that barking dog

 

the rooster finally goes off to inspect

 

We brought the coolers for the strawberries so we could dawdle on the way home.

Here we have arrived at the beach at Kingsport at low tide where the seagrass grows lush

 

Further down the beach, you can still see that wonderful red house from the photo before.

Fortunately for us there was a sandy, drier side to walk around these rocks.

This giant mushroom of concrete was possibly part of the old pier.

 

Those pesky barnacles attach themselves to everything, even whales I've heard.

Intergalactic Barnacles...up close

 

We found this poor little crab and decided to rescue him

 

 

So off we go to the incoming tide.

 

Along the way we find all sorts of treasures

A fabulous opalescent mollusk shell

 

Wally holds it up for a closer look

 

Speaking of mollusks, a mussel's shell still intact

 

a poor little eel stranded

grossed out like most people, they are, after all, only another kind of fish

 

a gorgeous mussel shell still in the water

 

Number 6 drawn by a welk

Funnily, I have just listened to Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, his #6

and now Jean Sibelius' Symphony is playing on the radio

 

Have you ever seen such a thing as this?

Some kind of primitive plant growing out of the sea bed

 

Welks, barnacles and seaweed cling to a rock waiting for their mother the sea to reclaim them

 

Closer to shore we find the remnants of the old pier

and more old wood sheltering more welks

and good-bye to this deceptively barren beach overlooking the southern end of Minas Basin

 

Passing through Canning we spy one of these ubiquitous wild rose bushes that grow clusters of beautifully scented of white flowers. This one overshadows the hydrangea snowballs that grow behind it.

 



and do you remember this wonderful house I call the Grand Olde Dame of Canning?

I had to take another picture of her from the moving car just so I could have another look

 

Now we are in Port Williams. This darling old shed was probably somebody's home at one time.

 

We had a quick peek in at the great old antique barn on the same property

 and this lovely cat came to greet us

 

Parked in the barn was this fabulous roadster

 

Wally had to be careful not to bump his head,

but it was me who did. Ouch. There's no give in those monstrous barn beams.

 

And as promised, a mermaid, my unlikely centrefold

done on an acrylic background with Prismacolour pencil crayons for her body and paint pens for the lettering and doodles around.  She is the 2nd mermaid I consider to be finished, though I find I keep wanting to come back to finished pieces to bump them up some more.

 

A wish for our happiness, for making choices that are investments in our well-being, like seeking out a local farmer who doesn't spray their strawberries. We bless them and ourselves when we make informed choices.