….nature provides an infinite range of possibilities for this theme
….and then there are those that are man-made
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Layers
7
Category Archives: Nature Shots
Day Light Savings
…..moved the clocks back last night
One of the benefits of changing the clocks back one hour is that you get one extra hour of sleep the next morning but the best part for me is that I won’t be driving to work in the dark. This morning the sun cast a beautiful light over the backyard that I just had to capture with the camera. In fact, so that I wouldn’t miss it, I went out wearing only my pyjamas. I forgot how cold it can get in November. 
After ‘quickly’ getting shots of the garden’s remnants and last blooms I ran back into the warmth of our kitchen where my husband lovely made me my morning smoothie.
Life is good!
Autumn and the Morning Light
….after 20 hours of non stop rain the sun finally reappeared
Playing With my Camera
….on the last evening at Mono Cliffs
While the students played some cooperative games after dinner I walked around the grounds and took some interesting shots.
We Have What????????
….black widow spiders on Christian Island
If I hadn’t seen it for myself I wouldn’t have believed it.
Last week my neighbour at the cottage told me that we had to worry about black widow spiders. At first I didn’t believe her but then I saw the sign that was posted at the library in the village. Apparently they are very dangerous and if you get bitten you have to get to the hospital immediately because the venom can be deadly.
I’m not surprised that the spider has made its way to Canada in shipments of fruits and vegetables from the southern states but I am surprised that they can survive our cold and often harsh winters. It is especially cold on Christian Island in January and February and it would have been the last place that I would expect to find them.
Well last week DM came running up to my cottage to tell me that her brother came across one of these spiders while rummaging through one of his computer boxes in the loft of their cottage. He quickly took the box outside and the spider disappeared under their deck.
I can’t remember if it was the same day or the next but DM came running up to the cottage again, this time wrapped in a towel. Apparently there was another one in the outdoor shower. I went to investigate. Of course I took my camera with me.
Sure enough there was a ‘large’ spider crawling up the inside wall of the shower. DM and her brother were unsure what to do with this massive creature and they certainly didn’t want to squash it. I suggested that they find the insect spray or wasp killer while I took some photographs.
What amazed me was how this thing hissed at me when I came close with my camera. Every time I moved in closer with the camera it literally scurried behind a beam and then reappeared seconds later. The bug spray was useless but the wasp killer did the trick. Well at least we think it did. It curled up and fell to the ground between the wooden slats of the shower stall. I felt badly about killing the spider but I certainly didn’t want to be at the receiving end of its bite.
Later on we found out that it’s really only the females that are dangerous and the one I took pictures of was probably a male. We reported the sighting to the band council and they made a note of the location.
What next? First it was confirmed sightings of 3 black bears and now black widow spiders. One more thing to watch out for.
Wildflowers in T.O.
…..back to our morning walks
Today started out as an exceptionally beautiful day.
As hard as I try, I can’t keep up with my husband and the dog on our morning walks. I watched from a distance today and counted K’s steps and discovered that we both take the same amount of steps in the same amount of time but my stride is so much shorter, due to my shorter legs.
Frances runs twice as far as both of us but today she kept running back to me to make sure that I was okay. How sweet! I’m not upset that K walks ahead of me and he doesn’t worry about me. It works for both of us and so when I stop to take photographs I take my time to get that perfect shot and then continue on my way. Sometimes I run to catch up and occasionally K will stop at one of the benches and waits until Frances has one more swim and I come into view. Here are a few of the wildflowers that I observed on our walk this morning.
Back from the Cottage
….3 glorious days with my girls and my husband
Friday of last week I spent four hours waiting to see my doctor. After the last trip to the cottage I came home with a slightly scratchy throat. Over the next three days it got much worse and very sore. I had to keep a bottle of water with me at all times to keep from choking,…..it was that bad.
When I finally saw my doctor he was very apologetic for the long wait and checked out my throat. Apparently it didn’t look that bad but he said that my glands were definitely swollen so he prescribed me with an antibiotic and a special throat rinse that actually numbs the tissue.
When I got home I packed the car for the cottage and picked up my oldest daughter and her partner and headed north. I was worried about leaving so late on a Friday but the traffic wasn’t too bad and we made pretty good time getting to the ferry dock. My husband, our younger daughter and the two dogs had left much earlier in the day and were already well into cottage mode when we arrived.
We had perfect weather all weekend. I avoided the water, except for one day, because of my throat but we all got much needed rest and by Sunday I started to feel a lot better. On Saturday evening, after dark, the four girls headed toward the beach with our blankets and cameras to watch the Perseid meteor showers. The best night is actually tonight but we managed to see some spectacular shooting stars in the first few minutes at the beach. As far a photos go we weren’t very successful capturing the night sky.
We all shared in the preparation of meals and on Sunday night we invited our cottage neighbours over for a pizza fest. A and J really wanted to bake pizza in the BBQ so they bought most of the toppings and I bought the pizza dough from our local Italian bakery.
Doing pizza in the BBQ is a bit tricky but after experimenting with the heat settings and raising the pans off the grill we managed to make 5 delicious pies. One was even made with gluten free dough for two of our neighbours who are gluten intolerant. We also made two huge salads to round out the meal. Of course what would pizza be without a glass or two of good red wine?
All of us were able to spread the weekend over to Monday. My husand, my daughter G and the dogs left on one of the earlier boats and A, J and I stayed a little bit longer. After cleaning up the cottage and packing the car, A and J went for one last walk along the beach. We relaxed for a bit on the deck and tried to get some photos of the hummingbirds.
Like I said we ‘tried’ to get photos of the hummingbirds. This camera is much better than the one I used last year so I think I’ll try it again when I go back up later this week.
The trip back on the ferry treated us to some beautiful cloud formations over the lake. I’m inspired to try painting these beauties.
What a Difference an Hour Makes
Image
The first picture was taken around 8:30 on Sunday morning and the next two were taken today at 7:30.
Getting Back to Normal
….with fitness and eating
We did an incredible amount of walking when we were in Ireland but my eating patterns were out of whack for me. I rarely drink beer so when we went to pubs I would have a pint of cider. I would rarely drink more than one glass and half way into the trip I realized that I could order half pints. With most meals I ordered mineral water but occasionally I enjoyed a glass of wine and one evening my husband and I shared a bottle of wine that came with the meal.
We were hoping we would be able to have a few light meals in our hotel room and only eat out once a day. We quickly discovered, however, that our rooms did not come with bar fridges and we couldn’t keep anything cool. One evening in Westport we went into the local grocery store to buy some vegetables and fruit. We also bought a small bottle of salad dressing and some ham to put into our salad.
Earlier in the evening we stopped at a small cafe and enjoyed a platter of cheese and a few crackers and a glass of wine. After we brought our selection of veggies and fruit back to our room we discovered we weren’t as hungry as we thought we would be. We ate the raw vegetables and hummus.
What were we to do with the salad, ham and dressing that we purchased? I think I’ve mentioned this before but Ireland was going through a heat wave while we were there and the hotels don’t have air conditioning. Well it was a few degrees cooler outside the hotel than in the room so I opened the window on the second story and placed the perishable foods on the window ledge.
The next morning the ham was gone. When I looked down to the street I saw the ’empty’ ham container lying on the sidewalk. We’re not sure what got on the ledge but there were a lot of very large blackbirds in the area. Do they eat meat?
Today, before breakfast, my husband, Frances and I started up our usual 5 k walks again. Frances was in a bit of slump since coming home yesterday. I think she was missing her buddy, Lucy. Going for a walk to the lake was just what the doctor ordered. Frances was in a better mood after she had her swim and K and I were energized for the rest of the day.
The Museum of Natural History
….a zoological museum, opened in 1857, famous for it’s Victorian cabinets and display cases
I’ve been having some problems with the iPad, especially with the text portion of my posts so I’ve decided to keep the writing to a minimum and focus on sharing the photos that I’ve taken.
After dropping off our laundry today we met up with our son and started on 8k walking tour. Our first stop was the National Museum of Ireland Natural History. It is one of the oldest museums in Ireland, housing over 2 million species of wildlife from Ireland and the four corners of the world. Some of the species still exsist today but many are long extinct.
Mama Cormier 