Killdeer Plover

Killdeer Plover

So exciting picture first and then the others! Above is a picture of four eggs from a Killdeer plover (Charadrius vociferous) nest. Last night, my brother, sister and I decided to have a campfire and we had let the dogs out for a while to run off some energy before bed. As dusk was settling, they made their way down to the orchard of apple trees and we heard the loud shriek of the killdeer plover. We automatically concluded that there must be a nest down there because the bird would not leave the area and continued to "dive-bomb" the dogs whenever they got close to one of the trees. 

This morning, after all the excitement from last night, I decided to carefully approach the area to make sure we knew where the nest was and to keep the dogs away from the tree that it was under.  

Sure enough, there was a nest and the killdeer that was nesting on it let me approach very cautiously to capture some fantastic pictures! 

One of the techniques that the killdeer use to distract predators away from the nest is known as the "broken-wing" method. The birds get up from the nest and move a safe distance away to draw the attention to them, then they portray that they have broken their wing, so that the predator believes it has come across an easy prey (Wikipedia).

I did observe this, but it was too quick to get a picture, before it flew up in the air and prepared to "dive-bomb" me too. So I cautiously withdrew from the area and allowed it to return to nesting. Pretty soon I hope to have some pictures of baby killdeer!

Fossil Finds

Fossil Finds
It has been unbelievably stormy in Melville for the past couple of days! Beachcombing has been next to impossible with the waves breaking hard and high on the sands and the winds have been so gusty that they are shaking the house!

We did manage to get a calm evening the other night and I got a beautiful shot of the sunset across our backyard, you cannot even tell by the picture just how chilly it was that day!

Fossils tell many stories and can be found in just about every part of the world, including our beach in Melville! The ones pictured here were found out along the point a couple of summers ago and preserve what we believe to be a large fern and a bird of some kind.

If you cannott see the bird, take a look in the top left hand corner of the stone and note the small "eye-like" bulge, we interprets this to have been an eye and then you can trace the rest of the skeleton out, moving diagonally down to the right. It does not photograph well and looks more defined off the camera.

These fossils were named the world's best in 2010 and have some interesting stories to accompany them!

Birthday Cake and a new camera disc

Birthday Cake and a new camera disc
So yesterday I went to take some pictures and found out that my camera discs would not work. My brother attempted to use them in his SLR and they were a no go.

I have always been a fan of Sandisk, but the lock slider was missing on the one above, if this has ever happened to you, try the scotch tape fix (worked for floppy discs back in the day too!). Basically, you take a small piece of scotch tape to cover the slider space to prevent the laser from reading it in your camera/computer, and it should continue to work. Mine unfortunately, was on its last legs. The blue Duracell on the other hand, was just not in the mood to work period. So we took a drive into town and I got a brand new 4G Sandisk to take some new photos!

Today in Melville we are celebrating my brother's 24th birthday! He would not allow my sister and I to make him a chocolate cake - convinced that we could not pull off the same tastebud stimulating goodness as our mother - so a store-bought Chocolate Brownie cake would have to hold him over!

We had a glass of wine to celebrate the occasion and recommend the Ruffino 2008 Chianti if you are looking for some vino tonight with dinner also.

Off to light the candles and sing "Happy Birthday!"

Chai concentrate and a Good Book

Chai concentrate and a Good Book
Today was another drizzly day with periods of absolute downpour! On rainy days in Melville, it is an opportunity to get some housework done, make a run into town or just chill and hangout with a good book, some tea and the most comfortable chair in the world!

My brother and I headed into town this morning to get in a workout and then make a run to the grocery store where I picked up some sweetened condensed milk and cardamom spice to give Sherrie G.'s Chai concentrate recipe a go! It is super easy to throw together, stores easily in the fridge and lasts for 6 months:

1 can of sweetened condensed milk
2 Tsp of ground cinnamon (we were out and I used All-spice, ok, but not the same)
1 Tsp of ground nutmeg
1-2 Tsp of ground cardamom (I used 2, pictured above and smells wonderful!)
Sherrie adds ground cloves too, I chose not to and did not notice a big difference.

The original recipe includes sugar, which I also omitted as the milk is sweet enough. Mix well together, as pictured below, add 1-2 Tbsp to your tea and enjoy!

I first had Chai concentrate at Sherrie's place in a cup of organic black tea and it gave the feeling of just wanting to curl up in a warm blanket on a cozy winter's day! 

So with this worn-in comfortable chair waiting, halfway through another great read and my Chai concentrate sweetening my tea, I'm off to read away this rainy afternoon! 

Tucker & Ziggy

Tucker & Ziggy visit Melville
On Sunday afternoon my brother arrived in Melville with our other brother's two dogs, Ziggy (a mix breed rescue), pictured above and Tucker (yellow lab/husky mix rescue), who's nose is pictured below!

Melville has always been a welcome place for our four-legged canine friends, and why not? There is lots of space for them to run without leashes, a whole beach for them to play on and tons of wildlife to chase, scare or just sneak up on and watch!

This morning we headed out for some running time and made our way down to the beach. Even though the storm was brewing and it was drizzling a bit, the dogs decided it was a good day for a swim! Despite their pleading begs for me to join them, my rain boots and I stayed perfectly dry on the rocks.

There was not much to do at the beach this morning, most of the shore animals/birds were hiding out the storm and the waves were in so far, that most of the sand was covered and the rocks were a little slick for climbing.

Instead we headed back up to the house and visited Maggie and Tj (Our Brittany Spaniel and Bichon Frise, that passed away a few years ago) before finding an old lobster buoy (boo-ee or boy, depending on your preference, we say boo-ee) to toss around and fetch with. Mom made this tombstone for Mags and Tj using a kit from Walmart, the sea glass is of course, our personal touch!

After tongues were hanging out and the mud was flying everywhere, it was time for some water and likely a nap or two!

Earth Day

Earth Day

Well we did not get any thunder and lightning last night, but it did rain and brought out some flowers just in time for Earth Day! These pretty little yellow flowers of mom's Forcythia, bloomed overnight in the front gardens that border the driveways. 

Further up the road I found some Pussy willows budding out for Earth Day also, signs of spring are everywhere!

Each morning I'm awoken by the melodies of many different birds that surround Melville! Robins, Blue Jays, Chickadees, Seagulls, Sparrows, Pheasants, Hawks, Crows and Herons are just a few that I have seen this week alone. My brother has had the opportunity to see Eagles nesting along the banks down by the beach and Hummingbirds tend to make their appearance a little later in the summer. 

Every year we put out seed for the birds and enjoy their company as they share the bounty from the feeders. They tend to love Niger seed, but all we had left from last year was this mixed seed. It did the trick though, as this little guy made a beeline for the feeders not more than twenty minutes after I filled them.

I am not sure what kind of bird it is, very pretty, brown and white with brown stripes across his eyes, below his beak and above the breast line. It was very quick and would not let me get too close at all! At one point I did take a step too soon and he let out a high shriek of a chirp and summoned another bird of the same kind that flew overhead kind of like a swallow. To say the least, he seemed to be enjoying his Earth Day buffet, because as soon as I left he came back for more! 

Lazy Saturday

 Lazy Saturday
Not much happened today, although it was almost a day for the beach at 22 degrees peaking at noon! I went for a run from our place up to Skinner's Cove and back and then headed into town to drop off the recycling at the depot. Unfortunately the depot was closed today and instead picked up some fresh Focaccia (foe-ca-cha or foe-ca-chia) bread and yummy strawberries!

When I got back the storm clouds had blown in and I'm expecting rain and maybe a bit of thunder and lightning to happen at any moment. In the meantime, I have a yummy snack to watch the show if the lightning strikes out on the straight!

Blue Finds and Playtime!

 Blue Finds and Playtime!
I woke up this morning to blue skies, sunshine and about 13 degrees of warmth outside, all the perfect ingredients for a beach walk! I wanted to wait until late afternoon when I knew the tide was out and the sun would be hitting the beach at the perfect angle to find sea glass, hoping for a little blue piece! Sure enough, my trick worked and I saw it a couple of feet in front of me with the help of the sun making it shine off the sand!

As I continued down the beach and headed up toward the point, I heard them in the distance, their distinctive loud, deep honk combined with a lazy bark echoing off the banks; SEALS!

I only saw these two, but I have a feeling there were a couple of others out there because of the way they kept looking around and barking out. I am almost certain that these are Grey seals and while they stir up a lot of controversy in the media, I think they are a pretty amazing sight to see! Albeit, after a while they can get slightly boring, for it seems all they do is sunbath or push each other off rocks for entertainment!

Just as I thought my walk was finished and I was heading back to the house, I came upon two Blue Herons (or Great Blue Herons, depending on your preference) looking for their dinner among the bedrock. Unfortunately, despite my efforts to be quiet, I scared them off, but not before capturing a shot of one in flight over the water!

Lady Bugs

 Lady Bugs
When I first arrived in Melville they were everywhere! Coming out of diapause as the fresh warm spring air entered the house. I was astounded by the numbers that gathered around the skylights and windows for a little sunlight and wondered just how many found their way inside to begin with.

Ladybugs or Ladybirds (as they are more commonly known, and preferred by scientific researchers) are found in a number of countries throughout the world. In Turkey they are known as uğur böceği which literally means "good luck bug" and why having one close or on you entails some good fortune is headed your way.

This one, must have landed on my open laptop at some point over night and was still there when I woke up this morning, hopefully meaning I have a lucky day ahead of me!

I'll leave you with the German nursery rhyme about ladybugs and wish you some good luck today too!

                                  Ladybug!  Ladybug!
                                     Fly away home
                                 Your house is on fire
                             And your children all gone

                                     All except one,
                                 And that's little Anne,
                                 For she crept under
                                      The frying pan. 

Melville Sunsets

 Melville Sunsets
One of the most spectacular shows around Melville is the setting of the sun and a time each day that people in the area take to share a similar moment of awe.

As the summer months move on and the Earth rotates ever slightly each day, the position of the sun moves from the coast out over the water filling the sky with some of the most amazing colours we see all year.

While Canadian sunsets do not usually make the top of the world's famous watch lists, this backyard phenomenon is certainly a unique privilege to experience every evening!

Sea Glass

Sea Glass
Just a small wonder that can be found on our beautiful beach!

I started collecting sea glass when I was seven years old on my grandmother's beach. The story then was that when mermaids in the ocean cried, their tears washed up on shore in little pieces of pure glass, of all different colours, some rarer than others but all a small, special treasure from the sea.

The truth of course is, that many of these pieces are the remnants of discarded glass bottles tossed aside after their initial beverage use and endured the wear and tear of the sea. Being broken, grind and softened, by the waves, rocks and soft sands along the coast. Richard LaMotte has given a detailed account of how sea glass forms naturally in his book "Pure Sea Glass; Discovering Nature's Vanishing Gems", an interesting read for anyone who has had the opportunity to find a piece of their own.

The first picture I uploaded is only a small fraction of our collection from over the years of beach combing. The tiny blue piece is one of our favourites and is always a momentous moment when discovered along the sands. While the common Kelly Greens, Brown and White (or clears) are very common and logic dictates that they come to us from alcoholic bottles, the cobalt blue is one of the rarest to find. Among the pieces we have found, some dating back to the early 1900's (based on dates of the whole bottle bottoms we've collected), we are always curious to know the origins of our little blue finds, wondering how such a rarity has made it to our tiny little beach.
One mystery that keeps us going back for more!