The Longest Day

Well hello blog lovers...It's a bit of a short one this week.

I attended the Camera Club on Wednesday as it was the last meeting of the season and it seemed rude not to. There were nibbles and it was the results of the annual contest. As you may know already I do enter this every year with some degree of success, although this year I must say I wasn't feeling it at all with the images I submitted, never the less I am pleased to report I scraped in with  a couple of third places for HDR and Landscape. A bunch of us headed over to Tim's afterwards for a catch up and I didn't get home till around 11 pm.

Rachael and I had a much needed weekend off taking photos this week. I definitely needed to recharge my batteries. Have no fear, weather permitting we will back at it next weekend.

Saturday night Rob and I attended Anne and Smiffy's Summer Solstice BBQ party. The food was incredible! There was a definite Brit Pack presence, The amount of Expats absolutely outnumbered Canadians. We got to meet some some new faces, Chris and Kath who have literally just landed a week ago, good luck to them for the future and Julie and Paul who have been landed since last September who are finding settling here a bit of a struggle especially employment wise and financially...As I think we all did and do. It will get better honestly! Some of the other faces, I had met before when we went bowling the last time for Smiffy's Birthday. It was very nice to see them all again.

I find it incredible to think how many Brits have moved and are moving over here. There seems to be so many of us now. But lets face it the lure of the scenery and the ocean on your doorstep is pretty hard to resist...If it wasn't for the bloody long Winter it would be perfect!

Until next time here are some more images from my back road adventures in recent weeks:



Beauty & the Blossom

Canadian Pacific



Rural Beauty

You Meet the Nicest People

My word this week has been a long one, it's seems like two since I was sat here updating.

The weather has been all over the place this week but mainly rainy. Judging by peoples moods the weather is really getting them down and everyone is ready for a good spell ot nice weather. Thankfully the rainy cluttered off (most likely over to England) in time for the weekend.

Nancy, Rachael and I went out on Saturday to see what we could find in the way of photographic subjects. I particularly wanted to pay a visit to Hantsport Railway Station which is not long in service and from an article I had read a bit overgrown, it proved to be a very good location and we spent a long time pottering about there.

Afterwards we headed along the Evangeline trail to see what else we could find, I spotted an abandoned property on the side of the road which we promptly investigated, it was locked, but the road/driveway made us think there was more to find, a neighbour told us to go ahead and didn't think the owner would mind. A few yards down we found some classic old trucks which we were overjoyed to photograph, having been there for a few minutes a truck pulled up with the owner in it. What a lovely man Raye, he didn't mind us being there at all and even went off to open up the old house for us. He said when we were finished in the house to come down to the end of the road and see the lighthouse.

The lighthouse in question turned out to be what was originally the Horton Head Lighthouse. The original lighthouse was demolished and burned on beach, but Raye has rebuilt a new one true in shape, to the original, but this one has all mod cons and is actually his cottage. I want to live in it.
He showed us round, it's really is a beautiful spot with a fantastic view across the water.

This man is a seriously talented craftsman in my book, when we interrupted him he was busy building a bandstand, it looks stunning even though it wasn't finished and it transpired it was for an event he was holding on the property in 2 weeks time, he has an English folk duo coming to play, Instantly I wanted to attend, and luckily he had some tickets left (there are only 30 for sale), so Rob, Rachael and I will be heading back there at the beginning of July for an initimate eveing of song...and I cannot wait.

Reluctantly we left Raye's place and headed on to Grand Pre. it's that time of year once again when my favourite art installation goes up. (You remember the doors!) The artist Nicole contacted me earlier in the week to tell me the new one was up...But it wasn't doors....What could it be, well it pictured below and is called 'Mercury Rising'. They took an old Ford Mercury, cut it up, and repainted it a vibrant yellow and then reassembled some of the parts and mounted them on a mirrored plinth to create the illusion of it floating. I love it personally, but I know many people will miss the doors (myself included as it's an end of superb series). At long last I finally got to meet Nicole, Since 2010 I have met her partner, her daughter, even the cat, but she has never been in. It was great to finally catch up with her. She is as much a fan of my work as I am of hers, and I have given her my images of her art for various projects. When she is not creating unusual art pieces she is a chocolatier, and she presented me with a beautiful box of truffles she made for me. She also invited Robert and I to come for dinner one evening which will be very nice as I didn't much time with her as the family had to rush off to attend a prior engagement.

So all in all a fab day, and in Nove Scotia you really do meet the nicest people on your travels. Below are a selection of images taken yesterday.

Spare Parts & Broken Hearts

Mercury Rising

Broken



Horton Lighthouse...AKA The Cottage

The Window Seat

Just a Quickie

After what seemed like a very long week, especially with inventory/stock taking on Friday night after work, I was definitely looking forward to a rest and some more photographic adventures.

Thanks to the tail and of tropical storm Andrea, Saturday was a waste of time weather wise, nothing but torrential rain and wind all day...I spent most of it in bed.

Today the weather was much better, it was mild and cloudy but no rain, so Rachael and I once again took to the back roads, this time around the South Shore in search of abandonment. We definitely had a couple of good finds and a few average ones. Robert came with us today and drove, which was nice, not only for us but for him as well, as it's been so long since he has been out anywhere due to his 'on call' rota and his revising. We left at 8 am this morning and return around 7.30 pm this evening, we have wandered and poked about in the smelliest of houses today and marched our way through a bog to get to a great little house on a hill and best of all the $18 bug spray we bought last weekend actually worked and we didn't get bitten, although I do feel like I have caught lice from one of the places...just kidding...but seriously that place made me itch.

Lost in Translation Continued...

I used the phrase 'you're a dark horse aren't you' this week at work and found out that this was yet another expression that doesn't translate! I am trying to note these as they happen as I find it highly amusing.

Abandoned Mill

Two Rooms...This one didn't smell

Mind the Gap :o)

And the Sun Came Out!

Yes indeed, it's been hot for the last three days here, I went from wearing a cardigan on Monday to sweating like I don't know what on Friday! All the foliage is super green now and looks so new and fresh everywhere.

I haven't really done much to write about this week other than going out yesterday with Rachael on a long old drive around one of my favourite areas (Pugwash and Oxford) for hunting down abandoned stuff. We visited a few old favourites of mine and sadly the search for new spots was a bit of a non event, we found a few but they didn't totally inspire me. However, we do have 3 leads to follow up for next weekend though, which could prove to be good one IF we can find them. Our trip took much longer than intended as I think we confused the sat nav and even though it only took about two and a half hours to get to our first destination, coming back it took us along every back road imaginable, a sum total of 6 hours...we left at 8 am in the morning at eventually got back at around 10.30 pm last night. As you can imagine I needed a long sleep to recover today :o)

You can tell the warmer weather has arrived as my garden lights have come out of hiding, the lawn has been cut (more than once now) and my lupins are just about to bloom. The garden (yard) such as it is, is looking quite tidy and pretty right now.

The cats and I are over heating the air conditioning unit is back in the bedroom after only a couple of days of hot weather the place is like a furnace upstairs and there is an obscene amount of cat fur everywhere.

Apparently we are due for a bug infestation in June...Joy! Cicadas live underground for 13 to 17 years, and then surface to reproduce and die. They come up annually, but this year scientists are predicting a bumper crop. Can't honestly say I am looking forward to seeing them, they are large bug eyed flying critters that on mass when sounding their mating calls sound like hissing cockroaches.

Two Barns and a Pump

House on the Hill...An Old Favourite Place Revisited

Two Chairs, a neat little find from last weekend