Sunday Beach Walk

Sunday Beach Walk
Sunday started off with blue skies and another sunny day shining through Melville! I headed into River John with my grandfather for some breakfast and then went for a Sunday stroll with mom down along the beach.

We picked up two potted baskets and replanted them into these tin planters for the stairs yesterday and below are mom's succulent plants in the front garden along the driveway. The succulent plant, as the name suggest offers succulence in the form of retaining water in the leaves, just as it's famous family member the cactus. Something interesting that I learned, is that photosynthesis (capturing the sun's rays and turning it into an energy source for the plant) of succulent plants occur in the stems of the plants, rather than the leaves! (Wikipedia)

The small brook that divides the beach in Melville is starting to close up for the summer and is getting clearer each week.

One of my favourite things about the beach is the long grass that grows to spectacular heights along the sand dunes! Another arid plant that retains water!

Melville has a quite a bit of sand along the shore this year and despite the wind and chilly temperature today, the warmth from the sand is predicting some great beach days in the near future!

I'll leave you with this sunny blue shot to start off your week!

Sailor's Sunsets

Sailor's Sunsets
I arrived safely in Melville this morning, travelling a total of 4 & 1/2 hours through 8 counties, made only 2 pit stops and unfortunately had one casualty... I came upon a pheasant along the Mountain road guiding her chicks along the side for their breakfast and she dashed out onto the road just as I was turning the corner. I'm feeling terrible about orphaning the chicks, but as my mom said "That is nature for you"

She cheered me up however, with these beautiful shots of the sunsets she captured this week and they reminded me of the Sailor's weather lore used prior to barometers for weather predictions. In North America the lore typically goes:

"Red sky at night, sailor's delight

Red sky at morning, sailor's take warning"

The lore extends to many different countries, each saying slightly different, but all predicting the same weather pattern - that a calm day on the water is preceded by a red coloured sunset the night before and rough seas ahead if the red colours come up with the sun! This link has a few more interesting sailor folklore from around the world. One lore that used to get us as kids was an extension of the Flying Dutchman, as our grandparents used to warn of a burning ghost ship off the shore late at night! 

This picture is cool too, as the sun was able to capture the smoke patterns of two jets that had soared across the skies just as dusk was settling!

Killdeer Chicks

Killdeer Chicks
Yesterday I went for a walk with the camera in tow, as talk was spreading around Melville of killdeer chick sitings! Sure enough as I approached the road to the beach, I heard the distinctive cry of the female shorebird and she landed surprisingly close to me on the gravel - a sign that the little ones must be close by!

It took me a while to see them and get the camera focused on them as they blend in so well with the colours in the ditch, but I managed to capture these cute pictures of the babies exploring Melville!

All four chicks were close to their mama, pecking the ground and scooting around on their little oversized legs. I did a bit of research and found that killdeer chicks, like chickens or ducks are Precocial nestlings. Precocial coming from the Latin derivative of "ripened beforehand" (Wikipedia), means that these types of chicks will spend more time than their counterpart hatchlings (such as robins, blue jays), developing in the embryo and are ready to explore the world on their own as soon as their feathers dry after hatching. They only require their parents for the first couple of weeks after being born for protection from predators, as they will soon learn to fly and spend the summer on their own.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology provides another great source for more reading on the killdeer and their nesting patterns. Because of the long incubation period of the chicks, the eggs are used to their full nutritional value by the young and then carefully discarded by the adults to disguise that a nest had ever been present.

Female and her young

Female

"Broken-wing" technique

Of course as I approached the young to capture some pictures, mama tried to steer me away, allowing me to capture the classic shot of her "broken-wing" distraction method!

Male

Papa was close by as well, keeping a distant watch over his family!

Spring Blooms!

Spring Blooms!
I made it back to Melville for the long weekend and arrived to a warm sea breeze in the evening and another colour filled Melville sunset!

Today is going to be another beautiful spring day, with blue skies, birds singing and the sun shining down, putting us at 21 deg, at only 11 o'clock in the morning!

I'm happy to report that our little Killdeer plover has had her chicks! They have made their way down to the beach and we were unable to capture any pictures because of their speed, but all four made it! As far as the nest, there are no signs that she had even been there over the last month.

Instead I took out mom's camera to capture these beautiful springs blooms that have blossomed around the gardens. The first picture is of mom's Clematis and the second of some purple rock cress.

I am not sure of the names of the yellow flower above or the little pinkish flower below are called, but I think it is funny how the pinkish flower blooms to look like there is a piece missing from the edge of the petals.

Our apple trees in the orchard are also in full bloom, even the little saplings! I did not get too close, because the bees are also taking full advantage of the spring blossoms and I am terrified of anything that has the potential to sting me!

 Hope you are enjoying the spring blooms wherever you are! Happy Victoria Day!

Kin of Bucky

Kin of Bucky
Since Sunday we have had a lot going on in Melville! My youngest sibling became a graduate of St. Francis Xavier University and I have returned to my first clinical placement. My mother and father are still in Melville and were able to capture these beautiful shots yesterday, while keeping me updated on the daily happenings. Above is another beautiful Melville sunset! As you can see, it does not take long for it to get out on the straight.

Below, my mom captured a pair of white tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) or Virginia deer strolling along the driveway and scoping out the apple trees in the orchard! Despite the name, they are native to many countries, including all parts of Canada and are commonly known as whitetails.

The first deer we observed in Melville was denoted the name "Bucky" and since then any other deer we see are often referred to as his kin!

Below is another sign that spring is in full momentum, as mom's rock crest was in full bloom!

Lobster Boil and Super Moon

Lobster Boil

As predicted, not more than 5 days after the lobster season started did they hit the dinner plates in Melville! Now, I am not a seafood eater, but I did capture some of the action!

Lobsters are a very plentiful resource of the fishery industry in Nova Scotia, however Maine is one of the largest producers worldwide (Lobster History). 

The average lobster weighs between 1.25-1.5 lbs and the majority of this weight is in it's claws or Chelipeds (Crusher and Pincher). While Maine takes the cake for lobster economy, Nova Scotia holds the record for the world's largest lobster ever caught in 1977, weighing in at 44lbs!! (Largest Lobster)

I have certainly never seen one that size, but I would imagine that the after math of tonight's dinner may be weighing in, in more ways than one - as seen below!

Super Moon
Just as the first lobster boil of the season was winding down, we turned our attention to the full moon illuminating the night sky. This day, May 5th, 2012, marks a unique day in astronomical history as tonight the moon is the closest and brightest it will be to the Earth for the next few years (May 5th Moon). This phenomenon is known as a Super Moon and typically occurs once every 18 years!

Beautiful afternoon

Backyard

Beautiful Afternoon
Not much to blog about today, but I did get some pictures of the beach with the blue skies and a sunny afternoon as inspiration.

Shoreline Erosion

Killdeer in flight

Tide pools

Seaweed along the bedrock

Oysters

Another beautiful Melville sunset!

Barney and Lobsters

Barney 
As mentioned before, Melville is not just home for us, but for many birds and wildlife too! One bird that makes an appearance every year is a male pheasant whom my mom has named Barney. This morning, Barney decided to make a run across the lawn and just as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared into the long grass. My brother was able to capture these shots with his SLR before he scooted away!

Wikipedia tells us that Barney is a common pheasant native to Georgia and was introduced to other parts of North America and Europe for gaming purposes. Although, I think Barney is pretty safe here!

Lobsters
May 1st in Melville marked the beginning of lobster season in district 26a in Nova Scotia. The straight now has so many buoys in it that, as my dad stated "Those lobsters don't stand a chance!" Sure to make an appearance on some dinner plates in Melville!

These two lobster traps below adorn our driveway, differing slightly from the modern traps used on the waters, but remind us of the culture in Melville and our support of the local economy!

Granola Bar Competition

Granola Bar Competition
My friend Shannon and I have cooking parties when we're both in Calgary, making some bulk recipes and then splitting the end product into single servings for our own freezers. One of our favourites is based on the Whitewater Granola Bars recipe below, with a few personal modifications!

I have since passed this recipe on to my mom and she has given it her own personal touch (one of the great things about granola bars!). So last night, after my sister and I picked up our mother and father at the airport, it was proposed by my father to have a cook-off to see which granola bar comes out on top. Now my mom was very private about her recipe, so I will describe how mine goes.

Start with 1 cup of sesame seeds, 1 cup of coconut and 1 cup of sunflower seeds (all organic!) and toast in a frying pan on low heat just to bring out their essential oils. I use unsweetened coconut, as I have a bit of an intolerance to it and it does not come out as strong in the final product. Once toasted, set them aside to cool.

Next, cream together 1 cup of butter, 1&1/2 cups of peanut butter, 1&1/2 tbsp. of vanilla and 2 cups of brown sugar in a LARGE bowl (you'll be adding a lot more to this and will need a lot of room). I use real butter as opposed to margarine and organic peanut butter. For the prep work, make sure you mix the organic peanut butter and put it in the fridge for at least an hour or two before using it in the creaming step or the granola bars will come out too soft and runny!

Following the creaming, add the corn syrup. Now the Whitewater recipe uses 1 cup of corn syrup, S and I substitute it for 1/2 cup of corn syrup and 1/2 cup of honey to sweeten it up! Next, add the seed mixture to the creamed mixture in 3 parts, mixing thoroughly with each addition. After this will come 6 cups of oats, yes 6 CUPS! I use the Bob's Red Mill  organic whole oats and add it in 3 portions again, mixing thoroughly with each addition. The next step calls for 2 cups of raisins, which we substitute for 1 cup of organic raisins and 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips - big chocoholics!!

Now that your arms are exhausted, cause it takes a lot of work to mix in the oats, raisins and chocolate chips, it is time to press it into a greased casserole dish. The original recipe uses a deep cookie sheet, but we prefer the casserole dish. Bake at 350 deg F for 20 mins or until browned, oven dependent.

Looking delicious huh :P! Score the cooling bars and leave them until they are 100% completely cool, or they will crumble when you attempt to lift them out of the dish. Hint: We make sure there is ample room in the fridge and stick them in there while we make our other dishes!

Once cool, cut along the score lines, lift em' out and enjoy! These are perfect for hiking, snacking and taking to school/work and freeze easily too! They yield approximately 16 bars, unless you're Shannon and then you get about 12 ;)

Above are mom's version of the granola bars, as you can see slightly different with her personal touch! As far as the winner, we'll leave the comments to be the judge!