Nectar Lovers

Nectar Lovers
Labour Day weekend in Melville is typically the weekend when the parties end and cottages get packed up for the winter. I captured these busy bumblebees collecting the last bit of this season's nectar to take back to their hives in preparation for their winter too!

There are over 400 species of bees in the Canada!! (Halifax Garden Network) and while I am terrified of them getting too close (hence the telescopic lens to capture these pictures!) they are crucial to the agriculture found in our backyards and for produce nationwide.

Another nectar lover in Melville are the Hummingbirds that whizz past looking for something sweet to dip into as well! The name of the hummingbird originated from the unique sound they make as they fly or hover nearby, beating their wings 12-80 times per second! (Wikipedia)

Hummingbirds will additionally gather nutrients and proteins from insects close to their nests amongst the trees and conserve their energy for flying by reducing their metabolic rates down to 1/15th of normal rate during rest and sleep periods!

To send your summer off, I will leave you with a relaxing shot of the crisp waters of the North Cumberland Strait!

Labour Day Weekend!

Labour Day Weekend!
I arrived in Melville on Tuesday after spending a fantastic, exciting and absolutely eye-opening summer in Calgary! School starts next week, but not before enjoying a few well deserved vacation days in Melville at the beach!

All these photos are credited to my mother, who captured above Mr. Tucker, receiving a very satisfying back rub from my brother!

We took a long walk down the beach and found this guy standing at the end of someone's beach staircase, advising of a 'daily event' that is sure to draw some attention!

As we rounded the point we received an announcing presence and captured these seals lounging away the afternoon! Quite a few pups were born this summer and were very curious as we approached with the dogs, leaving the rocks and coming over to where we were walking! This is a great time of year for the seals, as the fishing boats are out catching herring and the seals trail along looking for an easy summer dinner ;)

Just as we started to head up to the house, we found the killdeer chicks, which have done some growing up over the summer! All four have made it and are thriving well, hunting and working together to scale the bedrocks along the beach!

We're off to have some dinner and kick-off this labour day weekend! Enjoy yours and send off summer with a bang!

Canada Day Long Weekend!

Canada Day Long Weekend!

Happy Canada Day everyone! Looking at theweathernetwork it looks as if the whole country is in for some warm weather this long weekend and a chance to get out an enjoy some sunshine! The forecast for Melville this weekend is predicted to reach a high of 23 deg C and sunny skies! 

It must be July in Melville as the seaweed has started piling up on the shore! While a nuisance to beach goers, seaweed has played an important role in the food industry for many centuries in a variety of coastal countries (Wikipedia). When you think of eating seaweed, sushi likely comes to mind and the Nori that it is wrapped in however, there are over 10,000 species of seaweed world wide! (Types of Seaweed). Because of it's gelatinous abilities, dairy producers have used seaweed in tasty products such as ice-cream too!

During mom's walk the other day, she found more signs of a wild summer in Melville! Above a single daisy (another flower with over 22,000 variations!) and below a wild rose making it's debut!

Mom has such an eye for fossils while beach combing in Melville and found a few more pictured above and below! Going to have to check in with her on the one above, but the one below distinctly looks like a few leaves.

Finally, mom caught up with the killdeer chicks and captured this one exploring it's way through the ditch in Melville!

Chickadees and Apple Trees

Chickadees and Apple Trees
With my temporary absence in Melville taking me out West for the summer, I am relying on my mom to keep the blog going over the next few months and by the looks of her recent photos - she will not be disappointing!

The first two pictures are of the apple tree saplings down in the orchard! While only small, the lush green colour and smell will surely be attracting deer to Melville, Mom will have her eyes open for Bucky and keep him and any other four legged wanderers away from the ripening yumminess!

Below, mom captured a fantastic shot of a little Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) that unfortunately had a run in with the window on the house! Interestingly, chickadees mate for life (Wild Birds), so likely it's partner will be along to heal it back to health, otherwise mom will be busy caring for this little guy too and keeping him clear of any future window run-ins!

Summer's Coming!

Summer's Coming!
Summer is definitely on it's way and evident when mom and I found this guy on the beach Monday night. The lobster traps are still out in the straight and the jellyfish have started to make their way in, washing up on the beach as the tide goes out. While the ones we found had no stingers or nematocysts (Wikipedia), we'll have to watch ourselves swimming in the ocean as they can provide quite the shock - from a numbing sensation to anaphylaxis in some people - if you unexpectedly run into one! This jellyfish was an average sized one, but some can measure up to 7ft in diameter across the bell!!! (World's Largest Jellyfish) Yikes!

This morning was my first time taking out the ride on mower and giving the lawn a little TLC. As I made my way down towards the path that leads to the beach I found these beautiful Iris flowers. Wikipedia tells us that the name for an Iris comes from the Greek word for Rainbow describing the variety of colours that they bloom in - between 200-360 colours!!

In the driveway gardens there are more blooms bringing in summer, above are Mandarin Azaleas and below the Lilacs are bursting in colour as well!

And to leave you with a smile, another absolutely beautiful Melville Sunset!

Meringue and The Northern Flicker

Meringue and The Northern Flicker
My first clinical rotation is finished and I arrived in Melville last night in the midst of pouring rain and cloudy skies. The drive to Melville was one of the most bizarre drives, with periods of absolutely beautiful blue skies, sunshine and temperatures in the mid twenties and then only minutes down the highway - complete torrential downpour, thunder&lightning and clouds as dark as the night! A pattern that repeated about 3 times from one end of the province to the other!

Tonight my brother drove in from New Brunswick and we invited my grandparents over for dinner and a game of cards. I tried my hand at lemon meringue squares, really nothing fancy (Dr. Oetker; Shirriff Lemon Meringue), but what I wanted a go at, was whipping the egg whites!

The reviews were good! And some even dove in for seconds!

While the meringue was setting in the fridge, we found this little guy outside on the lawn! This is a Northern Flicker or Colaptes auratus native to North America, Central America, Cuba and the Cayman Islands (Wikipedia). It has many common names including yellowhammer, heigh-ho or wick-up to mimic it's colours or bird call.

Above you can clearly see the red "V" distinctive to the back of its neck and below, if you zoom in, the distinctive yellow colour under its tail. The Northern Flicker also has a thick black band across the breast and for males, a red or black spot along the beak which mimics a moustache!

Wikipedia tells us that they consume ants as a major source of their diet, up to 45%! Which is great for us, because that is one less ant that will make it's way into the house!

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!