A Chilled Weekend

After a frantic week at work...and it was frantic. I am pleased to say the weekend has been very relaxing. For once Rachael and I were not racing around the back roads, instead we took a leisurely drive out Hantsport way to see our now friend Raye at his lighthouse. Once a year he has an open day for friends and family to come out to the lighthouse, some of his friends bring their vintage vehicles along and this time he had music in the afternoon and the evening (although we left as the second band were setting up). The weather was glorious and we got to meet some new faces and spent a relaxing few hours there admiring the scenery. We took a wander down the path to his little guest cottage on the beach, it was utterly gorgeous.

Today was yet another scorcher of a day, and as Summer is nearly at an end, Nancy, Rob and I took off to the lake to have what might potentially be the last swim of the Summer. We sat chatting in the sun and sadly I have to report I got burnt once again...damn it!

It's that time of year again when the crickets are out in full force, I so love the sound of them at night, I find it such a soothing sound and it always reminds me holidays past in hot climates over the years.

I believe the Bank Holiday is due to be a nice one back in Blighty this weekend, so make the most of it people and don't get jammed up on the M25. Traffic jams...I vaguely remember them, we don't really have them here :o) Bank holiday weekends you can just get in the car and drive, you will hardly see anyone on the roads, I suspect those of you in the UK will find that pretty hard to imagine!

Here's some images from the weekend...Click on them to view larger.

Feels like a James Dean Movie :o)



Up Close and Shiny, The Fargo Tuck (left) is Raye's

Can you tell I was listening to Bruce Springsteen
when editing these shots?

The Guest House and Beach....Sigh...Love it here.

Feels Like Groundhog Day

Well of course it isn't actually Groundhog Day, but it feels like it as I am writing this blog simply as I haven't really done anything to speak of since the last update, and what I have done has been exactly the same. Rachael and I went out yesterday, beautiful weather still here by the way. In truth it was the first day we had a lack lustre day when it came to finding good subject matter. The one hit we did stumble on was another abandoned church. Funny how that happened, I have been wanted to find an old church for ages, then both last week and this week we find one. The one yesterday was open and we were able to shoot inside which was excellent.

We did find one other place, not sure if it was a community hall or a school at one point. We decided to don our rubber boots and head on in through the broken door at the front. Rachael went on in ahead of me and just as she made it through she started laughing... If we had only looked around the side first we would have seen that the whole of the left side had collapsed and essentially she had clambered through in the outside...lol

Rob and I have spent today researching and tentatively booking up hotels for a week away in September. We are hoping to spend most of the week in Vermont, New England and take in a few attractions of Maine on the way there and back stopping in Bar Harbor and Portland on route. I say we have booked it up tentatively as money is tight and just to make matters worse this week Robert's brakes went on his car so that's more expense we can ill afford.

Until next week I will leave you with some of the images taken last weekend and one from this weekend. (more church images from this weekend to follow next time).

Broken Barn

Deceptively in Tact! Don't be fooled!

The Old Pontiac - Summer Edition





Abandoned Church (found last weekend)

Quick Update

I am really not in blogging mode right now I am so out of sync!
I have really done anything much since the camping trip, I have a back massage booked for tomorrow after work, to try and sort out the pain in my lower back that I think was worsened by the sleeping on the airbed in the tent last weekend.

Rachael and I were out on Sunday combing those back roads again, we found a couple of interesting places, and old church a crumbling old home and a private collection of farm equipment, cars, saws, train parts...You name it they collect it. We spent ages chatting with the owner Ivan and his wife Nancy for quite some time and ended up have drinks with them on the deck, to be honest I could have stayed there all afternoon.

Big news...Rob passed his Gas Theory exam! What a relief after all that studying. He got 82%. Now he just has to pass the practical exam...?!

Finally a belated birthday shout out to my dad who's birthday was on August 9th.

Where the Wildflowers Grow

Blowing in the Wind

Vintage Treasures at Ivan and Nancy's

The Camping Expedition

Well hello there, better late than never I guess, apologies for the delay, but I am still catching up from the few days away at the weekend.

We had an eventful time and considering I haven't been camping since the early nineties (with not one fond memory of it), I did surprise myself...With one caveat to that last statement...Next time I need a larger tent that I can stand up in! These old knackered bones and joints are no good for crawling around on the ground!

The trip began on Friday, Anne and I had the day off and were traveling down together in Smiffy's 4 wheel drive, first she had to come and get me and together we went to drop off the cats at the Cat's Inn. I probably didn't mention this last time, but the Cat's Inn, has a humongous amount of steps to climb to get to it, it's gruelling for even a fit person let alone me carrying a cat basket. After nearly keeling over and having a heart attack we made it to the top, and bid farewell to the boys. They didn't seem too bothered, although Shakespeare looked a little sad.

After slogging it back down the steps we then headed back to to our place to cram as much of our stuff into the already quite full car. Then it was off to Anne's to pack up all the food and the rest of her stuff, followed by an unpacking and re-stacking of the the load. Not an inch of space wasn't utilized (see images below). We only just got it all in. After that we were exhausted and sweating pretty badly, but we were on our way!

Upon arrival at the the Park I was a little stunned. I was expecting a field and shower block, like the good old UK. Well there was none of that. It was a good few kilometers to actually get to the sites in the woods. Each pitch had a gravel hard standing of sorts and a fire pit with a line of trees in between each pitch. As soon as I got out of the car the buzzing of the mosquito's around my ears jolted me back into reality.

Anne's friend Kat and her daughter Moira, came to greet us, they had already set up on the pitch next door.

We then proceeded to unpack the car and set up Mine and Rob's pitch, before then heading off to set up Anne's tent which was going up on the same pitch as Kat's. By the end of this there wasn't a bone in my body that didn't ache and the sweating was appalling.

We had supper (I should mention that Kat is a professional cook) so throughout the 4 days we had some pretty amazing food rustled up on the camp stoves). The boys were both working on Friday so they didn't arrive on site until around 10 pm. We got them settled in, unpacked more stuff and sat round the fire with a beer or two.

The toilet block thankfully wasn't that far away, but get this (no logic whatsoever), you had to drive to the shower block, and even more stupidly the shower block has no power points, only the toilet block...!?? Hence I only had one shower in 4 days.

Saturday morning we we up with the light and after breakfast headed for the campers beach. Lovely little spot and a joy to go swimming (definitely felt less grimy after that). The path down the the beach was on a steep hill, so getting back up it wasn't pleasant. We had lunch and then in the late afternoon went to see Mill Falls in the park, such a beautiful spot and flat ground for the most part, which was a treat for my legs.

Then it was back for dinner, after dark Rob, Smiffy, Anne and I headed back down to the beach in the pitch black to marvel at the stars, they were incredible. We we going to try and photograph star trails, but we really didn't have any success, and around midnight we headed back up the hill...OMG my legs were like jelly by the top.

On Sunday plans changed on a dime, the rest of the group were going to go canoeing from a place called Jake's Landing, but due to it being a long weekend, there was a shortage of life vests and way too many people wanting to rent, I have to say Jake's Landing was a stunning spot on the river. Amazing colours. I photographed Moira and another little girl on the jetty there as they made instant friends.

With the canoeing a no go we headed to another beach and spent the rest of the day there, we were going to head out of the park to Annapolis Royal in the evening to watch a parade, but some of us (Anne and I) were so pooped we decided for a quite night doing as little as possible. I managed to snooze on the beach and got myself a little burnt again!!!

Monday sadly it was time to pack up all the stuff and head home. It didn't seem to take as long to pack it up as is did unpack it thankfully. Great time, great company and once I got over the shock of no make up and not washing I definitely enjoyed myself.

Summer Friends - Moira made instant friends with
the girl in yellow

Gone Fishing - I couldn't have got more luckier with this shot!

Near the top of Mill Falls

The lower Falls at Mill Falls

The Day Beach, complete with lifeguard, changing rooms
 and canteen area

Oh Shit...How's it all gonna fit....

Just leave it to the girls to stack and pack!!