And, here I am again...

Well, it's about time for my yearly missive.  It just occurred to me that I haven't had anything to say here in a long time, but there are several reasons for that.

First off, I'm trying to be a bit more careful about what I say online.  I've pretty much sworn off Facebook (the premiere site for arguing with friends and relatives), and I've occasionally embarrassed myself on Twitter (the premiere site for arguing with strangers), so I now tend to read other people's opinions, write a snarky answer, and delete without posting.

Honestly, there is just too much garbage on Facebook - where people read memes and think they've read a news article.  And although Twitter is a good place to get breaking news, it becomes an echo chamber once you mute or block all the rude/racist/ignorant Twits.

If you ever need proof of the bell-curve of human intelligence, go on social media.  Try a thread from a CBC news post or tweet - it's all there.

Secondly, you can see by what I've written above that it's really hard for me to keep my opinions to myself.  I start typing and they come rushing out of my fingertips.  So simply not writing anything seems the safer way to go.

And lastly, the big reason:  I've been in a semi-funk for the last couple of years.  It's a low-level depression, as far as I can tell.  A couple of things happened in close succession that changed my world significantly, and I haven't recovered; or maybe I have just changed.

Anyway, I have another big change on the horizon, and this one I am looking forward to:  I'm retiring!  In four months - according to days.to, which I link to on my iPad - I have 119 days of full-time employment left, and as much as I like my job and love my co-workers, I'll be glad to be done.

So, I may start posting here more often.  Or not.  We'll see....

Out and about, East

Victoria Park in Truro is lovely place to get a bit of exercise and see some birds and beautiful plants and trees and water...all the things that a park should have.  The stairs to the treetops are daunting, but after a rest halfway up I did enjoy the view.

Just a pretty flowering vine.

One of the pretty views.

 If you are in Truro, definitely stop at The Shillelagh - not a fancy spot, but VERY TASTY!

I love that the paper placemats are made by "The Placemat Guys"

Another wonderful place to dine out east, this time in Prince Edward Island, is The Blue Mussel Café in North Rustico.  Go on a nice day and sit outside and enjoy a great meal.

Lots of local brews.



We were so lucky to be there when they were involved in the "Best of Sea" competition.  The chowder was incredible, and made with mussels that came out of the ocean about 4 hours before we ate it.  You can't get much fresher than that!

I was struck by how very house-proud everyone in PEI seems to be.  Almost everywhere we went, properties were very well kept.

One must mention Cows Creamery. Very good ice cream, and very attractive logo.

I don't really do life lists, but if I did, one item would have been to see where L.M. Montgomery lived.  I was not a big "Anne" girl, though I of course read the books.  My girl was "Pat of Silver Bush".

A beautiful landscape.  I wonder how much like this it was when she was there.

We stopped at Cavendish Beach, so Iain and I could dip our toes in the Atlantic.  It was a bit chilly to do anything more than that!

Joggins

Joggins is a UNESCO site because of the large numbers of fossils found there.  I'm not very scientific, so to me it was mainly a big beach of rocks.

However, I really, really like rocks, so I was very happy to go there!

The views were gorgeous, despite the day being rather cloudy.

We didn't have a guide or any posted information, so my guess is that this orange stain was caused by iron deposits.

 Walking on the rocks wasn't very comfortable.  Not as bad as up in Georgian Bay, but rough.

We found a fossil very easily.  Isn't this cool?

 We had fun picking through the rocks and looking at the view.  Look at this picture below, isn't the rock gorgeous?

So is my sweetie!

East Coast Birding

Dodie, Irene, and I are all birders (to a varying degree), so the guys had to put up with a few hours of walking around Sackville N.B.'s waterfowl park.  It's a really nice place for a walk.

Deb with all her friends!

The boardwalk runs right around and through the park, so you're able to get close to the birds.  We saw a lot of birds, but I was most impressed with the Pied Grebe, which I had never seen before.

They are classified as a duck, I believe, but they are ... different looking.

It was much easier to get a good look at it with binoculars!

The view was pretty, despite the cloudy day.

The view is lovely throughout.

We also spotted a Gadwall, a number of Warblers, and a Redstart.  Also a rather shy Muskrat.  I think if I lived in Sackville, I would be here all the time.

This gives you an idea of the size of the place.  When you leave the boardwalk, there is a trail on land that goes all the way back to the park entrance.

Iain was pleased to see his favourite, the Red Winged Blackbird.

Red shoulders rule!

We saw a lot of birds that I didn't catch on camera.  I watched one Black Duck for about five minutes as it poked among the reeds like it was going to build a nest, and then changed its mind.  I tried to photograph it, but all you can see is a lot of reeds - the duck is just too well camouflaged!

Nova Scotia

So, something we did last year - we went out east!  My first time ever, and hopefully not my last.

We went with the usual crew, Dodie, Myles, Carl, and Irene.  Travelling with this bunch is always easy and fun.  The guys shared the driving, while we ladies did our best with the navigation (not always completely successfully, but what's a tour without a few unintentional side-trips?).

Kind of unnverving, but just a truck being towed ahead of us.

We made an overnight stop in Edmundston on our way, as doing the whole trip in one day was just too taxing. The Quality Inn has a decent room price and a nice little pub/restaurant, with at least one amazing waitress.  Because it was our anniversary, Iain and I got the non-shared room.

 One thing about our group:  we are all likely to get up early and get going, so we have time for intentional side-trips as well.  We stopped in Nackawic to see the World's Largest Axe!

I made Dodie pose for this picture of her trying to grab the world's largest axe!  It didn't come off just right, though.

No stop is complete without a snack - Robin's Donuts provided yummy nourishment.

We finally arrived at the cottage in Bass River, N.S.  The cottage belongs to a family from Renfrew, friends of Dodie, who were kind enough to rent it to us for a week.  It's a lovely spot on the northeast shore of Cobequid Bay, which is inland from the Minas Basin.

The tide is out, which means there is lots of mud!

Here is a nice shot of the cottage.  The deck is perfect for martinis and relaxing!

The cottage is a family retreat, and you can see that some serious rock collecting has gone on over the years.

We actually did have very nice indoor plumbing, so this is just for fun.

Missing Onyx

It's hard to lose our friends.  We didn't have Onyx all that long, in people years; he came to live with us in 2010, when our friend Wendy passed suddenly.  He has been a joy to have here.  The house is empty without him, even though three cats still prowl the place; his personality filled any room he was in.  This picture really captures him in a typical stance, watching for something to happen that he could be involved in.

He was in his twelfth year, but one couldn't think of him as a senior cat - he was simply too lively and playful.  I guess it's not a bad age, but we certainly didn't expect to lose him yet.  So long, dear friend.  Thanks for all the snuggles.

Re: previous post

Yeah, hi there.  I've been m.i.a., and I apologize, but I have at least managed to i.d. the little bird in our backyard:  it's a House Wren! I had been relying on the Merlin app to give a good example of its song, which it doesn't, but online searching helped me find it.

The House Wren is aggressively territorial, and it seemed to find the Merlin app very accurate; when I played its song, the bird came swooping around looking for the intruder.  So, mystery solved.

Back in the Saddle Again

Figuratively, of course – I like horses (most girls do), but I don’t really want to sit on top of one and gallop about.

I’m picking up my blog again.  Someone mentioned yesterday that I hadn’t written anything for a while, and I guess it’s time.  I’ve been in the doldrums since Mom passed away.   Yesterday, we put her body next to Dad’s, and said our last goodbyes on this earth.  So it’s time.

This weekend we noticed that we once again have a backyard visitor that we cannot identify. 

Name That Bird!

The song is exactly like that of an Orange-Crowned Warbler, but the colours don’t look right – I’m hoping someone with birding knowledge will ID it for me.

Well Into The New Year

I go through spasms of blogging, it seems, and I’m not sure why that is, except perhaps that I get caught up in stuff going on in my life:  the beginnings, the endings, and all the toil and turmoil in between them. It’s a New Year, which means it’s winter, and that’s usually a time when I hunker down and read or play a video game.

I am reading the last Ken Follett book in the Century Series, which is mildly entertaining.  I’m also re-reading the last installment we’ve seen (and may ever see) of the A Game of Thrones series, and enjoying it almost as much as the first time through.  When I’m done these, I have a whole raft of books I have to attack, and I’m really looking forward to that.

The other occupation:  Hay Day, a ridiculously addictive app that keeps me endlessly amused, it would seem.  I don’t know whether to thank Karen for getting me into it, or to curse her!

There are serious things going on right now that I need to escape from, and which I don’t really want to talk about, which is why I’ve been avoiding blogging.  My Mom is nearing the end of her life with us, and though it’s hard to complain when she’s 98 and has lived a wonderful life, I’m still very sad.  She’s been there for me for over 60 years, and now I’ll have to learn to get by without her loving support and guidance.  I can’t say enough about how terrific a person she is, and how much we’ll all miss her. You know what’s the best thing about her?  She’s always, unfailingly, kind:  she hasn’t a hateful bone in her body, and I wish I were half the person she is.

 

Yard Sale-ing and Dump Digging

Lot of yard sales this summer, and this was, I think, my favourite find: a wine-and-glasses rack, that I picked up for $2.  It didn’t look like this when I got it, mind you; the whole things was very rusty and somewhat less attractive. The seller didn’t know what it was; she’d found it in her garage and didn’t know where she’d picked it up. She was under the impression that it was perhaps an umbrella stand.

Pretty, yes?

A coat of rust paint later, and voila! It is an item I don’t really need but it was fun to fix it up anyway. We will probably stock it with sherry and other sipping items, next summer.

We made our last dump run of the year out to Brudenell, to dispose of the last of the recycling and also a few bits of wood and some other garbage that was accumulated this summer. When we walked up to the household garbage area, I found this beautiful lamp sitting perched on top of a box. I think the owner couldn’t find a home for it, but hated to throw it out.

Iain contemplated dropping something on top of it, because he KNEW I’d want to take it home. He’s changed his mind about it, though, now that it is hanging in our cottage. After much searching for a lamp that would give us more light above the table (for the last year, at least), we had this one handed to us. Some things are just meant to be!

Lots of light over the table, now.

The light that was over the table was beautiful, but, alas, not bright enough. It is PERFECT, however, in the entryway.

 

 

 

I love this.

So, I guess an explanation is in order.

Here we are, at the beginning of November, and I haven’t written here since July.  Mea culpa.  Also, my computer’s fault, at least partially.

Due to the premature introduction of Windows 10 to my laptop, its hard drive ceased to function, rather suddenly.  It’s only now that I feel confident enough in its inner workings to trust photographs to my laptop again, and consequently am interested in blogging, once more.

Sadly, a whole summer has passed, and you’ve missed out (ha ha ha) on all my comings and goings and truly probably not-very-interesting stuff. But now, I’m BACK, BABY!

Some of my favourite moments from this summer:

Having Craig, Karen, and Kyle visit for a couple of days. It’s so hard to get us all together, and this was so much fun!

So great to have them visit us!

Camping with my buddies. We do eat like royalty.

Everyone patiently waiting for me to take the pic.

Discovering a Cedar Waxwing nest in our backyard. They were hatched and gone by the time we got back from our holidays.  So Cool.


Having Onyx and Jezebel enjoy themselves at the lake.


Finding some Crayfish!

These little guys are hard to spot. They also sort of freak me out, because I imagine they'll pinch me when I'm in the lake, swimming.

Almost (but not, thank God) walking into this spider in the centre of her web, on the way to the upper farm.


Finding a smiley-face in our hydrangea bush.


Day-tripping with my pals to see an old-growth forest.


Enjoying the most incredible sunsets.

The pillar of light is caused by the sun's light shining through a con-trail.

Hanging out with Iain – the best of times!


And that was my summer:  short and sweet, and the weather was beautiful!