Foggy mornings

Ahhh...spring, when an islander’s thoughts turn to fog. That’s what I was thinking during our 9 a.m. walks on the boardwalk this past week. We don’t have a lot of fog on Prince Edward Island but we had some every day last week.

Fog is a genteel visitor, faintly covering the harbour on occasion, adding an element of beauty to the familiar Front Range Light. She adds a sense of mystery to the landscape on a beautiful sunny day, when she creeps onshore.

Other times, fog is ostentatious, blocking our view of familiar landmarks, as she asserts her presence. 

The same scene can look dramatically different if she changes her approach.

Either way, she is a curiosity of nature.

Her long finger stretches forth in this photo from Saturday. Fog sits at the surface of the harbour, slowly stretching over the land she encounters.

The Indian Head Lighthouse at the entrance of the harbour knows all about fog. 

It has endured all of her moves and moods for 140 years. Fog nor her sister ice are no match for this seasoned sentinel.

Fog adds another element of beauty to nature.

Heeling

It was a beautiful September morning with a breeze and temperature in the high teens Celsius. The boardwalk was busy as families took advantage of a holiday to take the kids out to see the animals. The shoreline, busy with migrating birds for the last month, was quiet except for the gulls.

Out in the Summerside Harbour, a number of sailboats were headed out past the lighthouse and breakwater for the Northumberland Strait. 

My husband’s reaction to the sailboats was predictable. “This is close enough for me,” he said as he looked out at the boats while I took photos.

My husband had a close call in a fishing boat or rather out of a fishing boat when it capsized. He was lucky they were close to shore. The next year when he visited his uncle in Ontario, while out in his uncle’s sailboat, a freak storm caused anxious moments. Needless to say, he doesn’t go on anything smaller than the Titanic now, and we know how that ended. I concur. While I’ve never been in a sail boat, heeling looks frightening to me. Regardless, the sailboats were a lovely sight for these two seniors as long as others were in them.

Some of the boats looked small from the shoreline, barely visible but for their white sails. How many such boats or tall ships have passed beside the Indian Head Lighthouse since 1881 when it went into service?

 

During the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation in 2017, tall ships came into the Summerside Harbour. We watched as some of the vessels left port. I love this photo of one ship beyond the breakwater as the other approaches it. 

The distant vessel looks like a ghost from the past. Back here in the present day however, the boats are smaller, the voyages much shorter and the sailing for enjoyment.

One of the boats, the Sunrise, catches the southerly breeze as she clears the lighthouse/breakwater and heads towards Confederation Bridge. 

The southerly wind causes her to heel to port. She was a beautiful sight as were the others when they joined her there.

Along the shoreline a Ring-billed Gull looks out to sea as if watching the sailboats.

No canvas sails required here.

Answer to a question:

Anita from beautiful Norway at https://lastreasures.blogspot.com asked what kind of camera and lenses I use. 

My camera is a Nikon P900. The camera is 16 megapixel, user friendly, with excellent optical and digital zoom and allows automatic settings for various conditions. It is sufficient for my needs. I have no interest in anything beyond this point and shoot camera.

In the harbour

The harbour at Summerside hasn’t been dredged for a number of years and the process began this past November. There isn’t much boat traffic before the harbour freezes every year, so the dredge boat was an unusual sight. The dredger worked at different locations and when my husband and I photographed it one day, it was positioned near the Indian Head Lighthouse.

We took the first photos in the harbour looking out towards the lighthouse. The sun on the structure highlighted the repair work done over this past summer. 

From the inner harbour, you could see the dredge work on the channel wasn’t far from the lighthouse. 

Zooming in on the activity off-shore in the Northumberland Strait revealed what I thought to be a tug boat with a barge.

One of my favourite images of the two has a crow or raven in the shot as well.

I learned later a barge is pushed into place by a tow boat not a tug. The bow of the tow boat is constructed to allow it to make contact with the barge to manoeuvre it. Below you can see the tow boat pushing the barge.

The barge works in tandem with the dredger. Once the barge is manoeuvred in place, the crane on the dredge boat lifts the soil into the barge. Later it is towed off shore to be dumped.

The harbour will be able to accommodate small cruise ships following this work.

Sunset 2019

What is there to say today 

As another year slips away?

A decade gone as well you see,

Brought lots of change for you and me.

Loved ones gone and friends gone too.

Time to reflect is a gift to you.

But with sunset, do not despair,

Tomorrow is another year,

A day with promise as a decade starts,

With mem’ries and hopes in every heart.

I wish you good health, the love of family and friends and the joy of nature for 2020 and many years to come.

Around sunset

The sun drew me down to the harbour in the evening. It was low in the western sky, shining on the wharf and buildings to the east.

Out at the harbour entrance, the sun illuminated one of the octagonal sides of Indian Head Lighthouse.

Within half an hour, as the sun touched the horizon, the east side of the harbour glowed. 

Out at the lighthouse, the light began its sentinel duty into the approaching darkness. 

Birds resting on the ice, lifted silently and headed inland for the night.

I watched as the blue deepened. Out of the south, a jet, probably out of Halifax, followed its great circle path as it rose above the tranquility.

What did the passengers see of this scene?

An occasional passing car broke the chilled silence as the temperature dropped. The glow was gone and the sky darkened across to the western horizon. Night had fallen.

A walk at low tide

It was a glorious spring morning as my husband and I headed for a walk along the boardwalk by the bay in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. While it was cold, the air was still, as confirmed by the reflection on the water.

 

Off shore, two boats headed out the bay, the first boats we've seen this year since the harbour thawed. 

 

They were a welcome sight. Looking out the bay towards Indian Head Lighthouse, the sea and sky blended into one.

 

The gulls were noisy, that gull sound which signals salt water, a familiar sound of home. 

 

Geese swam nearby and one commanded the attention of the others as she landed.

 

Two American black ducks swam around one of the streams which empties into the harbour. 

 

The hen and drake have large bills and round heads and stayed close together in their little stream.

Further along the boardwalk, an osprey sat on a nest atop a pole. He was scanning the area, watching the cars and walkers pass below him. 

 

This bird, a fish eater, nests in an ideal location, by the harbour and the streams which feed into it. This was the first time we had ever seen a bird in this nest which has been in place for years.

The city is repairing the boardwalk and area this week. Along the boardwalk itself, any boards which need to be replaced are marked with fluorescent paint to alert walkers and mark them for replacement.

 

The trees and limbs which were damaged are being cut and residents are free to take the wood.

Seedlings are being planted. 

From the bridge where we usually stop, only a mallard drake is swimming today. 

 

Where is the hen? Will we see ducklings soon? 

As many times as we have seen the squirrels, they always manage to charm us. This little one looked to be smiling at us!

 

We saw the beaver but could only get one photo before he dived again. However, he looks like a log in the water. 

 

We fear we will not get a good photo of him before the city moves him out of the area because of the flooding he causes.

On our return, we saw artwork on a lawn across the street from the boardwalk.

 

When you have scraps, why not use them in a creative way? It is a great addition to the area and a great place to finish to our walk.