St. Andrews by the Sea
A Bit of a Vacay
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!!!
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!!!
More Signs, More Fun
06/04/10 12:35 Filed in: Garden
The beautiful weather is finally running out but I'm
glad to say I took full advantage while it lasted.
With rain in the forecast for the next four days here
in Nota Bene, the gardens and lawns will thrive while
the walks with the dog will only get messier and
muddier.
Monday was a holiday for government and
quasi-government employees here in Nota Bene so two
friends and I took advantage by travelling an hour
south to St. Andrew's on the Sea, a resort town on
the Bay of Fundy famous for its whaling and its golf.
It's too early in the season for the former so we
took the Algonquin Golf Resort up on its offer for
lower greens fees for early-season players.
The course was in decent shape for the first of April (well, the greens were a bit of a disaster but the rest was not too bad) and the back nine of Algonquin is as pretty as any I've seen. Most holes between 11 and 16 run along the shores of the Bay and the views are spectacular. The view from the first tee is gorgeous (see top picture) but the first nine holes are, in fact, merely average. They are made quite challenging by the fact that most greens are
hidden when you're standing on the tee, meaning
first-time golfers like me were at a distinct
disadvantage. It's also a long course but the beauty
of that back nine makes all the challenges worth
overcoming.
The back nine, as I said, is amazing. We're told that the 12th hole, a short par three where you feel like you are actually driving the ball into the Bay, is the club's signature hole. It really is a glorious location and, I have to admit, that view (see second picture) makes the tee shot all the more difficult. I am pleased to say that I dropped my drive right on the edge of the green and, if my memory serves, made a par by two putting from about 18 feet. Not at all bad, if I do say so myself.
The fact that I didn't play too badly in my first effort of the year made it all the more fun!
On the garden front, my indoor seeding
experiment is working well. I've planted seeds for
tomatoes (beef stake and grape), zucchini, cucumbers
and beans in the small plastic trays and placed them
on the desk in our spare office. After a week's
carefully moistening of the soil, the results are
amazing. I've got growth from all five of my veggie
varieties, with only the beef stake tomatoes and the
beans lagging behind. I'm very impressed but, since
they all seem to be growing so well (especially the
zucchini: see the third photo), will I have to repot
them in something larger as an interim step until the
risk of outdoor frost ends?
It's a nice problem to have. After last summer's debacle where my tomatoes and cukes emerged on the vine just in time to freeze and rot in November's cold, I am hopeful that I'll have something more like a bumper crop this year.
The course was in decent shape for the first of April (well, the greens were a bit of a disaster but the rest was not too bad) and the back nine of Algonquin is as pretty as any I've seen. Most holes between 11 and 16 run along the shores of the Bay and the views are spectacular. The view from the first tee is gorgeous (see top picture) but the first nine holes are, in fact, merely average. They are made quite challenging by the fact that most greens are
The back nine, as I said, is amazing. We're told that the 12th hole, a short par three where you feel like you are actually driving the ball into the Bay, is the club's signature hole. It really is a glorious location and, I have to admit, that view (see second picture) makes the tee shot all the more difficult. I am pleased to say that I dropped my drive right on the edge of the green and, if my memory serves, made a par by two putting from about 18 feet. Not at all bad, if I do say so myself.
The fact that I didn't play too badly in my first effort of the year made it all the more fun!
It's a nice problem to have. After last summer's debacle where my tomatoes and cukes emerged on the vine just in time to freeze and rot in November's cold, I am hopeful that I'll have something more like a bumper crop this year.