a little getaway

A grey Tuesday here, but at least it has cut the heat so much that the windows are open.
It's been a pleasant summer so far, though tourism has inundated Wally's office and workload, leaving him rather undone at times.

At home there is work to be done too, but like last year, Wally couldn't complete the hedge trimming in one go so it gets a temporary Mohawk while he puts in a garden on the south end of the Forget-Me-Not Cabin.

In the course of his coming and going, Wally called me over to see this curious visitor.

The green and yellow made an exquisite combination on these orange Echinacea stamen

I began to realize that the yellow was, in fact, pollen collected on the bee's legs

It moved constantly, hence this blurry shot but my best side view.

I particularly like this shot, an enlargement of the first one.

That was Saturday.

We were a little undone, Wally by his nonstop life, and me by too much time alone. When we went out for a bit of shopping, I asked Wally to take the long way to change up our routine. 

I was surprised when he took me literally and didn't turn where I thought he would

but carried on deeper into the countryside

passing lovely rural scenes like this with these two curious bulls

til we came past an abandoned pasture that was clearly an old car dump filling in with nature's sweet cover, here an old school bus and a blue truck.

Of course I was wearing my good white sandals as I creeped around, trying to get closer for the "money shot". The logo says "Canadian Pacific Express"

 There was metal debris to maneuver through and

thorny wild roses

and blackberry canes.

Even among these snaggy canes there were goodies like this fabulous metal wheel

The meadow was growing in at a steady rate making it harder to see this sloppy museum of auto and farm machinery parts in amongst the plants like this bunchberry.

more bunchberries

a pretty weed with a burr-like seedhead

We carried on into the Gaspereau Valley, along a road into White Rock and back in a jig to our shopping. A sweet little side trip that we needed.

sweet july dreams

last saturday in april

Good Morning! It's a cool rainy morning and the world has gone Emerald! Are we in Ireland?

No, but it sure is good to see again. Top of the Marnin' to ye!

Wally and I set off on Saturday afternoon for Greenwood, land of my favourite health food store and found ourselves in search of the mythical chainsaw blade file.

The skies were unusually creepy

I don't know what it is about living so close to the ocean

Maybe it's just normal to have multiple cloud layers going every which way

but it always unnerves and fascinates me

The farmland was greening up

crops were coming up

a succession of barns and out buildings

the three siloed farm I've shown you before

a fabulous brush heap from clearing the fields that looks very much like a hobbit house

Most of my shots were blurry on this low light day from a moving car, but I particularly liked this one of a rolling country road

Just before we got off the highway at Kingston, the land turned to scrub,

with a wild beauty all its own

Little houses like this are not unusual out here

When we got to Canadian Tire, one of Canada's oldest hardware and automotive suppliers,

I left Wally to go search for his chainsaw file

while I enjoyed myself photographing this chocolate and caramel wonder

I've always been attracted to this vintage of automobile

which appears to be from 1947 from my research

The Grill of these cars are definitely animation fodder

the nameplate and the figure of Mercury are better than jewellery to me

Even the locking mechanism, key in, is a deco delight

I went in to search for Wally.  He couldn't find his file until we realized the place for it was empty so we carried on to Canada's other hardware store, Home Hardware, where Wally found the long slender "round not triangular" file he needed. We picked up our order at Valley Natural Foods and headed off down the slow road home.

It was a beautiful evening but it wasn't til we got to the top of Prospect Avenue in a quiet cul de sac of newer houses that we came into this magnificent evening light. Look carefully and you can see the robin that I didn't know was there until it sang as I took a picture of these trees.

Wonderful warbling

but it got shy as I approached

I turned and immediately behind me was this glorious view

With this lovely elm holding the highlighted clouds like a mantle. Spectacular!

Deeper into the quiet neighbourhood, the hill began to descend giving a view to the south I couldn't quite capture

As we came down the hill into the older neighbourhood we came upon this 1940's sweetheart

I had to capture this view of  Cape Blomidon, the headland that caps off the North Mountain, and marks the turn into the Minas Basin from the Bay of Fundy. You can see what a steep slope this Prospect Avenue takes as the end of it takes us almost down to sea level.  These are the kind of hills that have turned us off from bike riding.

We take the next street over to a familiar mid century modern house we've always admired.

and then it's home to the SSE view beyond Forget-Me-Not Cabin dressed in her new roof.

The amazingly strong garbage collectors took away our heavy bags of old shingles on Monday morning that Wally says will be used for repaving roads- amazing. Amazing that they took them and amazing that they can be recycled. I'm so grateful.

I've been neglecting my artwork so I'll try to have something to share next time.

til then

peace in our hearts

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.