The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between themis sometimes as great as a month. ~~~ Henry Van Dyke.

Today it certainly felt like spring here in Nova Scotia. My husband spied these pussy willows today as we were getting in the car to go into town. Although the forecast is calling for a storm tomorrow, today these pussy willows are a welcomed sight.

Winter Road

You can't get too much winter in the winter. ~~Robert Frost

This photo was taken along of stretch of road called, The Four Mile woods. I've always loved the sound of that. I'm sure one day I'll set a story there.

  

The Christmas Tree Capital of the World

"Symbolizing eternal hope, the wreath goes 'round and 'round, And where it starts or ends cannot be found. Woven of things that grow - for life, and hung for holiday delight. The wreath must be left in place from Advent through Twelfth Night.”

I've known for many years that Lunenburg County held the title of  "The Christmas Tree Capital of the World." While, once upon a time, a small part of Dalhousie over-lapped into Lunenburg County, this is no longer true today. Got to love Government for messing with the boundry lines. Still, Christmas trees are grown and cut in our area each fall. And with Christmas trees also comes the making of wreaths. 

Shown here are 715 12" wreath, baled and ready to be loaded.

This year I tied 1065 wreaths by hand. My daughter helped clip and pack some of the brush for these.

Busy as a Beaver

Canada has two emblems - the beaver and the maple.
John W. Dawson

This beaver was very busy as you can see by the photos. I  can`t imagine how long it must have taken to gnaw through  this tree.

Autumn Already?

The foliage has been losing its freshness through the month of August, and here and there a yellow leaf shows itself like the first gray hair amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many.  ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Hints of orange and red have been present here since some time in late August. Perhaps fall is anxious to get started, anxious to show off her colours for the rest of the world to see. Why is it we refer to the seasons as she? Is it because the seasons are part of Mother Nature?

Gone Fishing

Fishing is much more than fish. It is the great occasion when we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers.~~ Herbert Hover

I love this sign posted on the Lahave River in Lunenburg County. Porky Pig's face is hidden, and I couldn't get a clear shot, but I'm sure anyone stopping by the river got the message. 

 

Hay Day

"Work and pray, live on hay, you'll get pie in the sky when you die."~~~ Joe Hill

Hay bales in Farmington, Nova Scotia

 

Floater Planes

More than anything else the sensation is one of perfect peace mingled with an excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost, if you can conceive of such a combination.  ~Wilbur Wright

The South Shore Aviation Club flew by New Germany Lake on Saturday to put on a display. The shoreline was filled with these little floater planes.

 

Big Pine Tree

You can live for years next door to a big pine tree, honored to have so venerable a neighbor, even when it sheds needles all over your flowers or wakes you, dropping big cones onto your deck at still of night.  ~Denise Levertov

 

Eagle Nest

“We are eagles of one nest - the nest is in our soul.”  Led Zeppelin

This nest is just outside Sobey's in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia at the top of a high pole. We saw one head moving about but couldn't get a good view. Not sure if eagles are occupying this nest or some other large bird.

Apple Blossoms

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. ~~Anais Nin

Blossoms from the apple tree outside my back door

Ditch Trout?

Memory is a net: one that finds it full of fish when he takes it from the brook, but a dozen miles of water have run through it without sticking. ~~Oliver Wendell Holmes

If lake trout are found in lakes, and brook trout in brooks, what do we call trout that were found in a ditch? 

Storm Clouds

“A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed...It feels an impulsion...this is the place to go now. But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough to see beyond horizons.” ~~Richard Bach

Blooming Forsythia

If you don't know what's meant by God, watch a forsythia branch or a lettuce leaf sprout.— Martin H. Fischer

By The Lake

“I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore. . . . I hear it in the deep heart's core.” William Butler Yeats

Getting the Green light

April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go.  ~Christopher Morley, John Mistletoe

Easter Morn

"Poor, dear, silly Spring, preparing her annual surprise!"
-  Wallace Stevens

This is the surprise we woke to on Easter morning. By the end of today it was gone.

Daffodils

The resurrection gives my life meaning and direction and the opportunity to start over no matter what my circumstances.  ~Robert Flatt

Happy Easter!

Birds in Flight

The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply that they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.~~J.M. BARRIE,

Gulls flying along the beautiful Lahave River in Bridgewater. 

 I love trying to catch them in flight.

 

Gathering Maple Sap

"Only with winter-patience can we bring the deep-desired, long-awaited Spring." ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Gathering maple sap the old-fashined way.

Canada was built on dead beavers. ~~Margaret Atwood

A beaver's lodge on Whetstone Lake

 

Gullible Gulls

"How much more there is now to living! Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there’s reason to life! We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!" 

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.

This young gull was not disturbed in the least when we drove into the Home Hardware parking lot in Bridgewater. As you can see there's no snow on the ground. You have to come to East Dalhousie these days if you want to see snow. 

Winter Sunset

Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again.
~Bill Morgan, Jr.

“Alas! in winter, dead and dark,

Where can poor Robin go?” ~~William Allingham

Certainly these robin do not seem to care that it February in Nova Scotia.

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree.


This isn't the first day of Christmas nor is it a picture of a partridge in a pear tree. It is however, a partridge sitting in the apple tree just outside the backdoor. They've been coming by lately, eating the buds. "Budding" as my husband calls it. 

More Winter Photos

“Nature has no mercy at all. Nature says, "I'm going to snow. If you have on a bikini and no snowshoes, that's tough. I am going to snow anyway."”~~Maya Angelou

Welcome, Winter

And finally Winter, with its bitin', whinin' wind, and all the land will be mantled with snow. ~~Roy Bean

What a difference a few days can make. Today the world outside is white, but here I sit, snug and warm, wondering how much snow we'll get and how long it will last this time.

Not Your Typical Nova Scotia Winter

Brew me a cup for a winter's night.

For the wind howls loud and the furies fight;

Spice it with love and stir it with care,

And I'll toast our bright eyes,

my sweetheart fair.~Minna Thomas Antrim

As predicted by the hornets in an earlier post, this winter in Nova Scotia has been one with little snow. Here's a photo I took just this afternoon of the lake, a thin layer of ice on it's surface. Who knows what the rest of winter will bring? But for now I'll enjoy this lack of snow.

Black Duck Lake

Sauerkraut

"Some prefer carrot while others like cabbage.~ Irish Sayings

Cutting in sauerkraut

Stomping the cabbage.

Adding a weight.

Most years we cut in sauerkraut. For us, it has almost become a ritual. Not sure why I'm the only one of my siblings who are interested in doing these things, but I'm certainly glad my husband shares my interest. The krautknife was given to us by my mother and we've made good use of it over the years. If you ask me when is the best time to cut in kraut I'm going to tell you  it's when the moon is growing. Sorry, it might sound old-fashioned but I totally go along with it. The juice on sauerkraut rises with the moon. I don't go along with this making a brine and pouring over the cabbage once it's cut in. That's just not how the "old people" did it, and didn't they know the best way to do these things? One thing we've found that works well when adding a weight to the kraut is to put water in a plastic bag and set in on top of the open bucket. It forms a tight seal and the water works as a weight.