Blooms and critters

This past week was a busy one with activities with our grandchildren and having the golden grand-dog overnight. We did manage a walk most days however, when the weather permitted. We have had cold winds and a great deal of rain.

Along the trails now, Mountain Ash 

and High Bush Cranberry are in bloom. 

Gone are the apple blossoms but people can enjoy a succession of blooms along trails and pathway over the weeks of late spring.

Prince Edward Island is known for its potatoes and planting is well underway now. The fields await the first eruption in the red soil with the potential of another bumper crop of the stem tubers.

One morning this past week, as we readied for the boardwalk, a fox and her two kits played across the street. My husband managed a photo of the mother through the window, but the kits played in the tall grass and were impossible to photograph.

Meanwhile, we walked the Confederation Trail with Daisy, the golden grand-dog, in an area where we could watch for other people. When nobody was around, we let her off the lead to run along the trail. She runs so far ahead and stops to wait for the two seniors behind her. 

Farm animals were out in the fields this past week. A farm with three horses is near the Confederation Trail where we took Daisy. This young pony didn’t mind the barking dog as it grazed in the farmyard.

Cattle were out grazing or relaxing one afternoon in another field. There were a number of additions to this herd this spring.

The same was true for this small herd of sheep another day. Lambs enjoyed grazing along a hill by the farmhouse.

It is lupin time again and the roads and trails are lined with the beauties for a few weeks. The whites, pinks, purples and mixes of colour provide a flash of colour as one drives by. It is so much better to walk past them.

My friend Lucy’s garden is beautiful again this year and I took some photos of some of her blooming beauties last week. My favourite photo was of these irises.

Lucy and I went to a birding class this past weekend along a trail in the National Park at Cavendish. We saw some familiar birds, including Bald Eagles, Osprey, Cedar Waxwings, Great Blue Herons and Song Sparrows. I was also thrilled to see Red-eyed Vireos, 

Chestnut-Sided Warbler

and an Eastern Kingbird.

It is always fun to be around a group of people with the same interests!

We enjoyed lunch with our family yesterday at our house. We have a wall in our utility room where we measure the kids every year and record their heights. We measured their grandfather and me last year too. While the kids each grew appreciably this past year, their grandfather and I shrank, though at a slower rate than the kids grew…at least.

We can rejoice in having lived long enough to experience the life which led to this loss of height and enjoy life at a new altitude!

Have a great week!

Summer heat

On the way to the beach at Belmont Park with the golden grand-dog, we pass Clarks Creek which runs through a cattle pasture. 

Where the creek crosses the road, a shady area is frequented by the cattle. On this particular hot and humid day, the cattle were in the same area on our way home from the beach several hours later.

Several farms in the area have horses as well.

A recent news story on the Prince Edward Island tells of the tails of horses being cut off overnight by thieves while the horses were in a field near a farmer’s barn. Luckily, these two escaped that fate. Such a theft is difficult to understand.

Around 5 a.m. one morning, my husband looked out to see this visitor in our neighbour’s garden at the back of our garden. 

We will have to be careful when the golden grand-dog visits again for a two weeks soon. 

During one of our walks along the boardwalk this past week we saw a Garter Snake along the way. As we watched, it must have sensed us there and headed into the weed and stayed there.

Did it feel hidden like that though its back part was exposed? We can only wonder…

A momma Black Duck is in the stream by the boardwalk with three ducklings these days.

We didn’t see the ducklings when they were smaller this year, until now. Maybe she had them out and about later in the day than we’ve been walking recently.

The area’s Great Blue Heron is back in the marsh again, 

though content to stand silently among the grasses on Sunday morning.

We saw our first Yellowlegs for this year as well. It was well camouflaged among the seaweeds.

Also this week, as we walked to the car from the boardwalk, I spotted this newborn. It was about 30 mm or 1 1/4 inches in length. From what we can determine, it was possibly a newborn mouse. 

It probably was taken from its nest by an opportunistic predator and dropped on the sidewalk. I hope at least momma mouse survived.

Finally, the succession of wildflowers continues this summer and with the rain and heat we’ve had, the blooms are thriving. I especially love the scenes of flowers with the sea behind them.

However, a field of blooms is pretty special too.

Down on the farm

The Confederation Trail on Prince Edward Island travels mainly through the centre of the island, an area which is farmland. Industrial farms and remaining family farms come into view as we ride the Trail. Fields sometimes appear to go on forever as they stretch over the countryside. Now crops are beginning to emerge from the rich red soil.

Horses and cows/cattle are a common sight along the trail. I always stop to watch and admire the beauty of these animals. On a recent visit to the area of Grand Tracadie, these horses looked so peaceful as they grazed on the family farm. In the distance clover fills the field.

In and around Darlington, PEI, there are several farms with horses. Young foals in the fields were curious as we rode by. The older animals had more pressing needs.

Another day, before I saw cattle, I heard a flock of birds, starlings for sure. Then through a break in the trees, I noticed a herd walking through a field. I stopped to watch and listen to the birds and a young calf stopped to watch me.

The animals we encounter are often as curious about us as we are about them.

Further along, the main herd had settled in around their water source and frenzied starlings visited around them. 

In the pond, a female Mallard and her ducklings swam, unconcerned about the cattle nearby. It was an idyllic setting.

On the way back through the same area, what looked like a cattle trailer cut across the trail from a nearby field. 

Some of the cattle may have been headed to market. The reality of farm life for these animals is not idyllic though these cattle are not raised on a factory farm. They looked content in the pasture.

Country life is one of the reasons I love Prince Edward Island.

Dandelion Trail

Our most recent cycling adventure on the Confederation Trail took us to the Pleasant Valley area where we had finished cycling last October. Along the trail, the dandelion blooms greet hikers and cyclists.

What was a scant bloom in a few places the previous week had become a full bloom in many areas.

Wild strawberry blooms look out of place among all the dandelions but the tiny white blooms are visible along the trail..

This section of trail is through the rolling hills of the central portion of the island. Steep banks on either side of the trail keep one focussed on the straight and narrow trail ahead. 

Through the trees we see some fields are being plowed, ready for spring planting. 

However, any time a view of the countryside is exposed, the dominant colour is yellow in the unplowed fields. 

As we approached the community of Hunter River, we could hear elementary school children out for recess on the opposite side of the river, running, shouting and having a great time. We caught glimpses of them through the trees and the sounds brought us back to our days teaching all those years ago. 

A new bridge across the Hunter River gives area residents a great route for a walk. 

An old church in the community has been for sale for years but it looks like someone has purchased the building and is renovating the old place. It is good to see this work rather than demolition.

A few nesting boxes are located adjacent to the trail as well. My poor eyesight thought it was a grackle at one of the boxes. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see a Tree Swallow at the opening of a box when I looked at the photos. I captured a photo of one of the birds on top of the box as well. 

We stopped briefly to observe a mare and foal my husband saw through the trees. The mother was watchful of every move I made as I attempted to get a photo of the two through the trees.

We stopped for lunch at one of the picnic sites along the trail. This one had an old tree nearby with two huge woodpecker holes though no birds were present.

Before we arrived back at the car, we stopped to hydrate on the trail between two fields of yellow. The view on one side was a yellow delight.

The other side showed the burgeoning hills of yellow.

On the short drive to the highway, we passed a cattle farm where the cattle were out grazing among the dandelions, looking quite content.

Soon the blooms will be replaced with fluffy seed heads. It will be interesting to see the countryside when the air is filled with seeds as well. 

Touch of colour

It was a dry summer and many trees are showing the effects of the dry weather. Leaves are withering away on some trees making us wonder if there’ll be much fall colour this year. Regardless, the Rotary Friendship Trail was welcoming as we headed out, drawing us into the forested greens along the trail on a cool but pleasant day.

While some of the deciduous trees look spent, the conifers are vibrant and full. The shortening daylight hasn’t affected them yet, not that we can see.

Many deciduous greens are beautiful although they look muted. As we continued, shocks of autumn maple red dotted the canopy, 

lifting the eyes and us with them. Along the ground, young trees stood out among the ferns which were far from spent.

Sometimes an area looked verdant, with hardly a hint of autumn colour. Other times, around a turn, one arrived at sunlit beauty, teasing us about the weeks to come.

Some wildflowers, such as aster and goldenrod are hanging on to their blooms for another few days. They make a beautiful September garden. 

Behind some goldenrod, the colour of fireweed which has gone to seed makes an autumn scene. 

On the boardwalk by the harbour the next day, the wind was blowing as we looked out over the scene from the gazebo as we always do. 

However, the shoreline had the appearance of autumn which had developed over the previous days.

A few days later, we cycled on the Confederation Trail. We can comfortably do 16 kilometres or 10 miles now. We headed west, driving through a small community with a lovely park and farm country where cattle were our companions 

as potato fields waited for harvest. 

Autumn will continue to sprinkle her magic over the island.