Is it spring?

The weather has been milder this past week and our usual walking area shows it. This was the scene of the stream through the salt marsh on February 23rd.

This was the area yesterday. 

The ducks, gone since the stream froze, are back and the water is visible again.

The avians walk the salt marsh and swim in the water as the ice melts. Ducks and crows leave footprints in the snow. What do you suppose created the long impression center left in this photo?

At the mouth of the stream, the ice on the bay is beginning to melt. The ice doesn’t look solid any more. Soon it will break up and wind will take it into the Northumberland Strait.

A Downy Woodpecker had its feathers fluffed against the cold one day last week as it drilled into trees along the walkway.

A Mourning Dove was nestled into a cozy position one day, also with its feathers fluffed against the high winds.

We were fortunate to see a Ruffed Grouse again, which eats at the base of a feeder near the end of the boardwalk. It approached us as we stood quietly watching it.

Recently I read of a study at the University of Utah which found that people who spent time in nature showed improvement in their ability to focus on a task. I believe time in nature helps me deal with everyday life in a troubled world.

Meanwhile, in response to the tariffs proposed by the American president on Canadian goods entering the U.S., my husband and I avoided buying U.S. products last week. When we shop in the morning, most shoppers are seniors like us. We had numerous conversations with other seniors about our shared desire to buy Canadian. We also avoided U.S. stores/businesses this past Friday.

Store employees here are seeing the result too. At one store I checked the spinach to see if any was not a U.S. product. A clerk who was stocking the cooler told me all the spinach and lettuce are from the U.S. but people aren’t buying it. Neither did I.

At another store, the cauliflower and broccoli were U.S. products but they were going bad and needed to be removed from the cooler. I hate to see food wasted but sometimes greater principles take precedence.

Finally this week, I am thinking of Ukraine which has endured three years of war at the hands of Putin’s Russia. Ukraine’s leader, Zelenskyy, is a man of great courage and leadership. He is an inspiration to his people. 

May Ukraine prevail!

 

Bear with me

It has been an extremely cold winter and the high winds haven’t helped. This coming week, temperatures will be near normal or above which will be a great respite from the bitter cold of the last few months. Despite the cold however, we are drawn to the stark beauty of the boardwalk.

There is an area along the boardwalk which the birds and squirrels love. They forage for seeds there, under the trees alongside the walkway. On days when the wind is calmer the place comes alive with the animals. The last day we were there, three squirrels chased each other around as numerous Bluejays made their presence known. 

One had mastered the chattering sound of a squirrel which it repeated as it flew among the trees.

Sparrows are common there too. Tree Sparrows hop around 

and Song Sparrows, which fill the boardwalk with song in the spring and summer, are quiet this time of year. 

If you stop along the bridge, you can expect Black-capped Chickadees to come around. They have flown around me as I’ve attempted to photograph them. My husband likens them to mosquitos. 

On our recent visit to Cape Egmont, 

we passed an old house with something in an upper window on the side facing the road. I didn’t know what was in that window since we drove by so quickly but we decided to go back that way to see it.

The front of the house doesn’t give any indication of the resident visible on the side. 

Someone added a bear to one of the upstairs window. 

Despite the condition of the house, we smiled when we saw the bear and wondered about the old house. The old place has a new life.

The last few days of February are upon us. Spring is on its way.

Have a great week!

Under the sugar maple

The past week was a busy one and there’s lots to share. My husband and I only made it to the boardwalk twice last week. The bitter cold and high winds made it too cold for extended time outside so the treadmill and the stationary bike had to suffice. 

We lost the power for 2 1/2 hours on a particularly cold day as I shared last week. There was a problem at the sub-station which serves Summerside and the western portion of Prince Edward Island. The issue is not yet repaired and we have lived with the threat of rolling blackouts if islanders could not conserve power. The blackouts haven’t been necessary as of yet. The hope is the sub-station will be back in service soon. 

One sunny day we drove to Cape Egmont, just west of Summerside in the Evangeline region of the province. It was good to be out and about though the side roads weren’t in great shape. We didn’t have snow shoes with us so we couldn’t visit the sea stack which usually draws us to the area. We could see the lighthouse from the nearby wharf however.

The photo below shows the wharf area as we see it from the lighthouse every summer.

On this occasion however, we were at wharf level where the wharf is heavily laden with pans of ice. 

This ice was thrown up by the high seas before the ice froze solid along the shoreline of the Northumberland Strait.

Some of the pieces are quite big and one can imagine the damage to the wharf under that weight. 

We also noticed undulatus clouds overhead. 

These wave clouds which we haven’t seen in recent memory, are formed when air is forced upwards and cools. 

They added another element to the photos. Nature puts on incredible shows if we but take the time to notice.

Daisy, our daughter’s golden retriever was home on her blanket on the couch one night recently while the television was on. A program about wolves came on and Daisy left the couch for the ottoman in front of the tv and gave it her full attention for the duration of the program. She likes nature programs as much as her humans do.

Finally, there is a movement in this country to buy Canadian rather than imported goods from the U.S. This is in response to the threat of tariffs which are looming early next month. I have done some research and have discovered the difference between Product of Canada and Made in Canada labels on products. We support this movement and are buying local as much as possible. We will buy products from other countries, such as Mexico, too.

Furthermore, there are a number of Canadians who are cancelling their vacations to the U.S. this year. Some who own vacation homes in the U.S. are planning to sell them as well.

Our national anthem says, “True patriot love in all of us command.” In my lifetime, I have never seen such expressions of patriotism from Canadians. Besides, doing something feels better than just waiting for the worst to happen. 

A bridge so near

Having lived almost 60 years on an island without any easy or economical access or egress, moving to Prince Edward Island with its bridge link to mainland Canada was a huge difference. It’s not that we have gone to the mainland via the bridge often since we have lived here. It is the option to be able to do it is a privilege Newfoundlanders do not enjoy on that island.

The bridge, located southeast of Summerside is visible from the boardwalk many days, when the weather permits.

Now, when the Northumberland Strait between the island and the mainland is ice covered, my husband and I headed to Borden Carleton, to take some close-up photos of the bridge. The scene didn’t disappoint.

It was a busy weekday morning on the bridge with transport trucks bringing goods to the island. 

Islanders rely on mainland North America for most of their needs. The sunny day without high winds meant that traffic was flowing freely, unlike days with high winds when the bridge is closed to high-sided vehicles.

The ice offshore moves east with the current, and travels under the bridge as it flows. The bridge at 12.9 km or 8 miles is the longest bridge over ice covered water on the planet. Close to the shoreline, the ice is solid, not as affected by the current as you can see here at the wharf near the bridge 

and in Bedeque Bay in Summerside.

Along the way, we stopped at the Red Bridge to see the open water which flows into the mouth of Bedeque Bay. There were a few Canada Geese, Mallards, Mergansers and Black Ducks in the area, though more of the area was frozen this year than in recent years due to the bitterly cold weather we have had.

It is noteworthy that by this time next month, clocks will have sprung ahead and this is a short month. The increasing daylight lifts my spirits. We hope that more of our walking will be outdoors as the month progresses. Spring is just on the other side of that bridge and moving this way!

P.S.

We have had two major power outages on the western end of the island in the last few weeks, the second of which continues this morning. We have a generator to use so we’ve kept the fireplace on and are warm. It feels like -20 C this morning. We will have lots of company if this continues.

For now

The grip of winter kept us closer to home this past week. We walked the boardwalk a few days but walking the neighbourhood meant we could escape to home easily if we needed too. One day, with windchill of -23 C, cold stung our faces making an escape necessary.

Not only is Bedeque Bay ice covered now, with all the the snow we had last week, it is snow covered too. In places now, one can’t discern the shoreline from the snowy, ice-covered water below. 

We attended two gymnastics competitions which our youngest granddaughter participated in last week. Her enjoyment of the sport and determination to do her best are wonderful to see. There is another competition next weekend which we will attend if weather permits.

Also recently, one of my friends from book club passed away. Another ‘bookie’ and I attended her funeral last week. Katie was an avid reader and a kind, generous, loving person. I find it hard to believe she is gone. She will be missed.

Many in Canada watched the news on Saturday about the 25% tariffs the U.S. will impose on Canadian goods entering that country. In response, Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs on goods entering Canada from the U.S. 

Our daughter sent us this photo of the golden grand-dog, Daisy, early Saturday evening.

I wrote, “Daisy looks worried.”

Our daughter responded, “She’s scared the tariffs are going to affect her number of treats.”

It is good we can chuckle about it. For now…

P.S. Monday evening we learned the tariff threat from the U.S. has been delayed a month.  Daisy can relax for a few weeks.

Winter wonder

Bedeque Bay is frozen now. In places the icy sheen resembles a rink. The temperatures in the early part of last week in the high minus teens Celsius solidified the surface of the bay for this winter. The ducks are gone from the frozen stream to the mouth of the river at the head of the bay. The windchill with those temperatures created conditions for staying home using the treadmill. Our first day out on the boardwalk again was invigorating.

In addition, this past week brought back a flood of memories. My first homeroom class, a group of Grade 9s I had during my first year teaching, is having a reunion next year. I remember them fondly.

At 21, I was working in Buchans, Newfoundland, a community in the wilderness in the island’s centre. The one road to that community was 75 kilometres from the TransCanada Highway. It wasn’t a place you happened upon whilst going elsewhere. 

Buchans was a mining town, where men mined lead, copper, zinc, gold and silver for ASARCO, an America Company. The community was self contained, with great recreation facilities, a hospital, two schools and a teacher’s hostel. The town had company housing and a hostel ensured teachers always had a place to stay.

That first class was challenging because I was new to teaching and just seven years older than they were. However, I loved science and taught it with enthusiasm, including field trips and lab work with the class work. I enjoyed the work, that class and the community.

Those students will turn 65 next year. Good grief! Where did that time go? Some have grandchildren older than mine. Some have died. However, I can still see their faces at 15, with the curiosity and enthusiasm for life nurtured in that community.

After that first year, my fiancé acquired a job teaching there. We married that summer. Housing was hard to secure in the town, so we bought a mobile home and moved it there. Our daughter was born four years later and we lived there for ten years. 

Several years ago, I wrote a blog post about Buchans. I have included it below.

Winter Wonder

It was a calm, cloudless night; the sky was black except for the stars, millions of them. New moon meant the edge of the Milky Way was obvious in the blackness of the setting.

We had taken our snowmobiles across the street from our mobile home to the huge bog surrounding our Buchans home. We were prepared to boil the kettle, or in this case the old juice can, have a cup of switchel, plain black tea, over an open fire in the countryside.

We could see the lights of Buchans in the distance as we stopped to take in the view. Within a few minutes, Rick started a fire and added tea bags to the 'kettle' which by now contained a few twigs. The tea had a taste unique to the setting. The fire added to the beauty as sparks drifted upward, drawing the eye with them. Despite the bitter cold our little spot was cozy. The only things missing were the Northern Lights. However, sitting on the snowmobile seats there, I swear we could hear the earth hum.

We did this periodically, enjoying the time of year when the daylight left so early the night felt endless. When we went snowmobiling though, the nights weren't long enough to take in the beauty of our place in the universe.

Buchans was a place where you could enjoy nature in winter because it was so easy to access. We haven't been snowmobiling in years. Winter just isn't the same.

P. S.

The photos are of Bedeque Bay, PEI, last week.