Ships & Chips

Well, we ran away for a little bit to see the tall ships in Halifax. (& to go to some nice restaurants, of course!)  We had fantastic weather, but I continue to struggle with seasonal allergies that defy even the strongest of antihistamines.  To add insult to injury, I also have a kink in my neck that makes sleeping very uncomfortable. Despite these little nuisances, we wandered the streets of Halifax and had one unremarkable dinner (Estia Greek Restaurant - there wasn't anything wrong with it, but there wasn't anything amazing either) and one FANTASTIC dinner (The Press Gang Oyster Bar and Restaurant).  Here are some not so good photos of the tall ships:

Back at the old homestead, our wild life interactions continue.  We not only have a squirrel again (we haven't seen him for a bit, so we think the raccoons might have had him over for dinner...if you get my drift), we've also discovered that we have a chipmunk.  Thankfully, they are a bit less damaging to our property, as they don't really climb and have no interest in living in our house.  I haven't named the chipmunk yet, but will have to see if he stays around long enough.  He had a very near miss with one of the local hawks, which set his nerves on edge.  The slightest shadow makes him scamper for cover.  (Not that I blame him!)  He was saved by the barbeque, but it likely gave him a fairly large lump on the head when he ran in to it.  This is what our little guy looks like (once again, shamelessly stolen from the internet!):

Yup, pretty darn cute, but how do you catch the squirrel without catching the chipmunk?  We're hoping that the raccoons took care of our dilemma.  That's about all there is from the little red island.  Hope your summer is coming along nicely and that the sun shines warm and gently upon you!

A Portrait of Flowers

We had a lovely stormy day yesterday.  Lots of clouds and rolling thunder, but the temperature was quite warm, so we sat out on the back deck and watched the rain fall.  The wind came up a little bit and the clouds started parting, leaving our little garden moist with rain drops.  Here's some of the things I noticed, after the rain:

Day Lily

Pansy (Obviously)

Hens and Chicks (In full bloom, who knew?)

"Dragon's Blood" Sedum  (At least that's what the tag says

Then I started getting all fancy schmancy.  I love taking macro photos.  So here are some of the better ones.

Centre of the Day Lily

Day Lily stamens

Flower on the Hen & Chick plant

Thyme flowers.

Pansy centre

We've seen a new type of bird in the yard.  It took us a while to find out what kind they are.  (What did we do without the Internet???)  They're called Cedar Waxwings.  They're very smooth and have pretty colouring.  They have a bit of allure, as their eyes are covered with black masks, like they're heading out to Mardi Gras or something.  Our camera isn't good enough to get a picture of them, but here's one stolen shamelessly from the Internet.

Rakish little things aren't they???  They nest very late in the season, so they've been very busy trying to untie our finch feeder to get at the string.  Ron has industriously cut up some jute string and tied it loosely around branches of the pine tree to distract them.  We both love all the birds in our little kingdom, but he's become somewhat of a "Birdman".  Yup, that's right, the Birdman of Freetown.  Catchy!  The weather has cleared and we had a rather lovely rainbow at the end of the day.  Yes, I took pictures of that, too!

Well, I think that's enough bragging for one day.  (I'm exhausted from trying to find enough adjectives!)  Sometimes this place is just the sweetest corner of heaven.  Love to you all!