Writing has taken a back seat to work in the garden and showing family around this amazing province.

On Saturday, a whole slew of us made the trip to see the Hopewell Rocks, located on the Bay of Fundy just south of Moncton. What an amazing place. With tides of up to 15 metres, you can actually walk on the ocean floor (at low tide, of course) and see what the eroding action of the waves can do to the land over the course of the centuries. We met up with my brother-in-law's aunt and cousin (who live in Moncton) while we were there so it was a really great visit. In the photos below, you can see the difference between the low tide and the water levels just an hour later as the water starts to move back in: in the first photo, people are walking around the rock; in the second, no people, just water.

On the way back to Fredericton, we stopped in at Alma, NB (Patti and I have been there before and there's a video of Marlee at Alma available on the "Video" page of this site) so that my brother-in-law could have a fresh seafood dinner before flying back to Ontario the following day. Alma is a lovely little town just outside Fundy National Park, with a thriving fishing and lobster industry to boot.

Since we had Marlee Marie with us, Patti and I got take out while the rest of the family went in for a sit down meal. They said their dinner was great and we had a really nice time too. Oren and Deborah, their three kids and some friends of their's stopped to talk as we ate our meal on park benches near the wharf. It turns out they are breeders of golden doodles and were interested in Marlee. I have yet to check out their website (www.risingstardoodles.com) but I'm anxious to see what they do. Their doodles are 3/4 poodle to take advantage of the many benefits of the breed so I'm interested to see the differences.

After eating, Patti and I wandered with Marlee down to the wharf and were amazed to find a small crowd staring down at a small beluga whale that had taken up residence in the harbour. We were pleased that the beluga stayed around long enough for the rest of the family to emerge and get a glimpse. And to think we paid $50 each to go on a whale watching expedition: who would have thought the whales would come to us!

On the home front, I've jumped headfirst into the tree-clearing operation. After our friend Rob and I battled the front-lawn cedars into submission, my nieces and nephew have joined me in the war against the trees in the back yard. With Alex climbing and cutting, Katie clipping away and Matthew showing off his muscle on the big trees, we're gotten most of the clearing done.

The most challenging were a pair of mostly dead hawthorn trees, buried behind a stand of other stuff. Their branches had intertwined with every other tree in the area and their sharp little thorns like to grip and scratch anything that comes near. I'm covered from head to toe with scratches and I'm not yet finished with them. I did, however, get about a third of the cedar branches cleaned and bagged, so that's a real plus.

Writing? Hmm. Well, Alex did do some more work on The Final Curtain. That's good.

Tags: New Brunswick, Hopewell, Fundy, Alma, Rising Star Doodles, Beluga