just a note...

I will no longer be writing on this blog but you can keep track of everything on my other blog...www.farmlass.blogspot.com. Cheers for having a look!

Night away...

Yesterday I took a trip, north, up island to visit Irma and Griffin's brother Frank....it was a wet and blustery day and quite windy on the beach. Of course the dogs didn't mind a bit and as you can see are rumbling about and happy to play in the sand...While we were walking, we were quite excited to find a message in a bottle!

 Unfortunately, it had not traveled very far from the ferry it had been dropped off of but still made our walk a tad more exciting...

 

 After the beach we took a walk through the property of this unused house...

Whenever we go there we think it's such a shame that the family which owns it barely uses it (maybe a few times a year) and that it is slowly falling into a state of disrepair...its a lovely old farmhouse on the ocean and would be out of our price range but I would do anything I could to see it revived if it was at all possible..

                                             A piece of a gorgeous old sink sitting out back...
There is an old orchard with the most strange fruit...they are called medlars and are apparently quite rare now but were used in days gone by for jelly...read more about them here..

                              Anyway its a fun place to walk around in and imagine what the grand old house was like in its former glory...
So we headed back to Irmas to dry off and have breakfast but not before saying hello to her sweet little duckies...

                                                         

There is some great stories on her daughter Jenny's blog if you want a good chuckle...these cute little guys and girls have some funny history and have enough antics to write a great little kids story..
here's Jenny's blog ..

Into the woods...

Here was the sky this morning...Remembrance day...luckily the sun stayed out for all who gathered to pay tribute. I have been sick with a cold and have been staying close to home but was happy to be able to take the camera out on my walk today without getting soaked...

So out into the woods we went...

Tree goblins spying on us from the path...

 

I tell the kids that these are fairy wings and that all the young fairies sit flightless all spring and summer until the Vanilla leaves are ready in November...

The Bracken is a lovely brown this time of year...

I might change the color of my studio to something of this tone...

Lots of funny fungi coming up...

And pretty toadstools emerging out of the moss...

Fuzzy, green nests, abandoned for me to see...

Their springtime secrets which were hidden by the leaves...

 

And wooley-bears trundling along in their winter coats...

fog

Yesterday was a foggy day. Everything seems so quiet when its like this, similar to a heavy snowfall overnight. Noise is muffled and things move slower. The kind of day to make a big pot of soup and layer yourself in sweaters and fleece.

I love how the fog adds depth and texture to the landscape...usually, on a dark day, the woods themselves are dark but when you add the element of fog, everything changes, giving it that mystical feel...

There's a pretty horse chestnut at the end of our driveway that turns a golden yellow this time of year. It was a small tree when we first moved here 10 years ago and is now getting to be a good sized shade tree. Usually at this time of year I collect a big bowl of shiny, brown chestnuts but this year the squirrel has discovered the nuts and has taken all but a few and stashed them away...I wonder if its a sign of a cold winter?

 

Across the road, on the nieghbours, property lives a sugar maple that they planted years and years ago and every year I collect a bunch of its leaves to press...such a pretty, delicate maple..

rewarded...

Today was a bit of a phsyco day with our rooster which I will post the story of on my farmlass blog once I recover...lets just say he's headed for the soup pot...anyway I was feeling a bit shaken up and needed my walk desperatley to chill out so Griff and I headed down to the ponds, one of our usual afternoon strolls.

This is a typical picture of Griffin...swimming....which he will do every day of the year if we let him, but we start limiting his dips when the temperatures drops. Luckily today was mild and sunny when we were out...On the way back, cutting up through our path worn by years of travel, I had found this tiny start of a nest in the crotch of some scotch broom a week or so back..

It's only about 2" across but definitley from this season...so I stuck it in my pocket for further investigation once I got home...anyway today while coming up the same path, I thought that maybe whoever started that nest decided to make a whole one close by....lo and behold there it was...in the crotch of another scotch broom shrub about 6 feet away..

I figured either the bird started it but was scared off, or just decided that the other location had a better view and maybe not so noisy or nosey nieghbours...

look at all the tiny bits of fur..

there are lots of wild rabbits around so that explains that...

I love all the tiny bits of dried grass seeds and little dried up flower heads. Birds amaze me how they can make these intricately, engineered structures with nothing but a beak and two little feet..Once I thought I would try to make a nest for fun and didn't even come close. My attempt was flimsy at the most...so up onto my little alter it goes with some other treasures of the moment.

The Castle

This is Royal Roads. It was built for Robert Dunsmuir in the early 19th century read more here. and was home to a military college for 50 years and is now a University for Open Learning. My friend Irma and I go walking there once in a while to get Griffin and his brother Frank together. It is a meeting place somewhere in the middle for us since we both live out of town and in opposite directions...we like to go there because of the history and the beauty of the grounds...you can walk for miles through the property although some is off limits to dogs, there is much of it that makes for a good scramble on the beach or a walk in the woods...

     Here is Irma and the boys in front of one of many giant firs still standing.

There is this amazing aquaduct that flows through part of the property and I haven't researched it yet but I'm sure there's a good story behind the purpose of its zig-zaggy design..
On the edge of the Japanese garden (off limits to dogs) are some beautiful ponds and imported trees with the gorgeous fall colors that we don't have with our native trees..

 

Speaking of leaves and pretty things, you should check out Irma's gorgeous lamps that she makes...if you want some funtional art in your house, check out her website...http://www.geewillowkers.ca You can also see her shop on etsy under the name geewillowkers.

Look who's back...

Well we hadn't seen the bears for a few days and were fearing the worst. Repeat bear sightings in rural residential areas often invite trouble. Conservation officers are called and relocating the bears is not the first option. Bears have very large territories and if you move one to anothers area, chances are one will die a slow death from injuries due to fighting...anyway that's what I've been told and I'm not sure if I agree with it but anyway....last evening Griffin was barking like mad, so we went out to have a look and there were the 2 cubs scrambling up a fir tree...

After a few minutes they realaxed a bit and started to come down...

                                                              The two headed bear..

Such a treat to see these guys...I'm sure mama bear was close by but we couldn't see her..I bet she knew where we were though..