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

The family has arrived. With four guests in our house for the past five days and two more on the way to join us tomorrow, we've been having a fun, busy time. We had planned to go to the Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy today but the weather has gotten in the way. So it's a quiet day for catching up on sleep and nosing around Fredericton, I guess.

We went whale watching on Tuesday, down in St. Andrews by the Sea. This was my second experience with the whales and trip two was just as fantastic as trip one. Our first visit, we went out on the zodiac, which was very exciting. This time, we went out on the catamaran of Quoddy Link Marine, a more sedate trip but just as great. We saw lots of amazing things, including minke and finback whales close up (within 20 feet of the boat), harbour porpoises, harbour seals, grey seals and black guillemots. Really quite amazing.

Of course taking pictures of whales is not as easy as you might think, given their massive size. Sometimes, all you get is their spray but, at other times, you're lucky enough to get much of the back and the fin. We all had a blast on the trip and it might just happen that some of us go again when the other members of the family arrive.

Other adventures so far include bowling at Kingswood, the place where I play golf. We never did solve the mystery of the candlestick pins but had a lot of fun trying. We've wandered Fredericton and have plans to visit the beach at Mactaquac as well as Kings Landing at some point during the visit.

On a birding note, Patti came across a little fellow nestled in the grass under our dining room window. It would seem he knocked himself loopy by flying into the glass. We scooped him up to keep him safe from predators and then placed him in a box with food, water and some cedar leaves to give him time to recover. We're happy to report that the little guy enjoyed a brief stay in our bird hotel and then, his wits recovered, flew off into the world again. Nice to see a happy ending.

Now if I could only make a definite ID on the kind of bird he is. I know, pathetic that I can't figure it out with such a clear picture! If anyone out there can help me, I'd very much appreciate it. I've taken a quick look through my various books but I'm not getting anywhere. He's got a little yellow patch on his upper back, yellow on his chest and white patches on his wings. Otherwise, he seems to be black/grey/olive all over. And he's tiny, no more than four inches. Help!!!

Tags: Fredericton, birding, Bowling, Kingswood, whale, St. Andrews by the Sea, Fundy, Quoddy Link