The Black Fly Song

While the song may be about how bad the black flies are in Northern Ontario, they are a nuisance here in Southeastern New Brunswick as well. Finally, yesterday, a beautiful warm sunny day so I plunked myself down on my outdoor swing, in the cool of the shade, overlooking the river. It wasn't too long before I began to itch here and there realizing those tiny little black flies were feasting on my person. Having a thick head of hair is no deterrent, either. They are quite adept at reaching the scalp, flying up pant legs or sleeves without being felt or noticed.

A few summers back, when we were country newbies, hubs decided to shave his head as the weather warmed. It actually suited him quite well! So, one day he trotted off to work in the garden, sans bug spray and/or sunscreen. Well, it was near the death of him. His poor scalp was eaten alive by black flies and flaming red from sunburn. In fact, he had been bitten so badly that he came down with flu-like symptoms. My poor baby.

I came home one afternoon to find him lying on the couch with a fever. My first view was of the top of his head. I gasped, then my jaw dropped as I stared at what looked like an alien reclining on my couch. The skin had tightened from being sunburned, then cracked and all those bites had been weeping. It was not a pretty site but I bit my tongue and made sure he wasn't needing a trip to the emergency war. He was overcome with discomfort, but he lives to talk about it. As much as we both dislike using bug spray, it's become a necessary evil.

And with that, I'll leave you with a little song about the lovely little black fly.

Dinner Conversation... "I wonder what the Locals are eating tonight?"

No offense to the Locals but we don't eat like them. By "Locals" I mean the Acadian people for the most part, who were born and raised here and whose lives are steeped in the Acadian culture.

Traditional meals eaten here are not foreign to my hubs nor me. My Grandmother (on my Mom's side) was an Acadian, as was my hub's dad. We are familiar with Acadian culture - the diet - in the traditional sense, but we are not raised here. And so it goes.... the conversation, that is.

"hmmm... wonder what the locals are eating tonight?" I ask, as we dine on any number of gourmet delights. Pictured here are spring rolls of julienne carrot and cucumber, bean sprouts, shrimp, green onion, cilantro and rice noodles served with a delicious sauce of lime, fish sauce, pepper flakes and a host of other goodies I can't name because I didn't make it. My job is to enjoy. Nuff said.

And I answer the question, too. "Oh, chicken frico, poutine rapé, rappie pie, fish cakes, boiled dinner, pork & beans...." OK. To be fair, I'll include in the Acadian diet some lobster, clams, mussels... those incredible seafoods that are deliciously popular (and much more expensive) in the 'big' cities yet comfortably affordable here.

And so we laugh, eat, enjoy and give thanks.

On those occasional foul weather days, though, there is nothing quite like a big heaping plate of comfort food... the kind Mom or Grandma would dish up back in the day. The kind that reminds of us of our reason for coming here... simple but rich in flavour and satisfying to the soul. We are enjoying the best of both worlds when it comes to our culinary tastes. And I don't even have to cook. How sweet is that?

Crafty Girl.... or Looking for my Niche

You do realize that you'll probably have to click on the image in order to read the text, right?

I was updating my digital photo album that I make PDFs from so I can share with my 'away' friends. I type little blurbs beside each image and this saves me from having to type it up in an email each time. The person I was mostly doing this for is moving here but I'm going to keep adding to my album anyway. I like that I have all the tools (which are the tools of my trade, actually) for building and creating digital albums that will keep for ever (or as long as I have a device for loading and previewing them). It's all good.

So, I'll leave you with some of my crafting attempts. I really do want to get into painting of some sort.... water colours would be nice but I'll have to explore and see how well I do. If I can't do something right, I won't do it at all. Bit of a perfectionist, I'd say.

Little Tweets That Come Calling

I was inspired by a fellow blogger to share some photos of birds that visit our feeders. The quality of my images are poor for a couple of reasons.. 1) My camera is dated and not high end and 2) Some opportunities to take photos mean you get what you can when you can. My longing for a new camera that can take detailed close-up shots is just that. My budget does not allow for every luxury that my heart desires. And so it goes....

I even made a little 15 second movie of our hummingbirds since I didn't have a good photo of them. I used my iMovie software for the first time in many years. The quality is so bad but I did manage to add a theme, a title and some music. So, at the risk of presenting crappy images, here are some of the birds we've enjoyed at our feeders.

I wish I could show you what I get to see from my dining room window. One day, I happened to wander over to the window while talking on the phone and witnessed a Bald Eagle coming down to the water's surface, talons extended and he ever so gracefully plucked a fish from the river and flew off with it. We also see osprey hovering over the river in search of food and then watch him dive bomb into the water and fly off with a struggling fish. Funny to see the osprey fighting to keep a firm hold and find a place to land so he can eat his catch.

We have a number of ducks that pass through in the spring, some I have yet to identify. One type looks like a loon and another which is similar but larger with a reddish orange beak. The females are a drab brown. I think they may be common mergansers. Then there are the Blue Heron's which I have yet to see at the river. I believe they'll show up a bit later in the spring.

Other wildlife I've seen here are coyotes, pheasants, fox, deer, moose. There are bears in the area but I've not seen one yet. And a good thing, too. Some summer evenings, I'll hear a little fox crying out, making the strangest sounds and as for the coyotes, well... I'm not too keen on hearing them howling. On a nature walk a couple of years ago, we were stalked by a pair of coyotes. They were huge. Why do I get the feeling I wrote all this here in my blog before?



The Chickadees don't seem to mind the watchful eye of CeCe!



The coo-ing sound of the Mourning Dove is always welcome.



Seeing these Red Grosbeaks at our feeder was an unexpected treat.



These Evening Grosbeaks were an even more unexpected treat. They're so beautiful!





The Bluejay has always been one of my favourite birds.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Garden Sanctuary

You who walk,
Maybe with troubled thoughts,
Come, enter here and rest;
And may the sweet serenity of growing things,
And the heavenly peace
Be mirrored in thy soul.

-Doxis M. Palmer

Blogging Blahs and Little Green Worms

The weather sucks - it's cold, windy and rainy. I'm house bound, our dogs are restless and I have nothing of much interest to blog about. Soon, my only brother and his wife will move here to the East Coast, trekking clear across the country with all their belongings in tow. It's a huge ordeal for them but they've accomplished so much already. He has work lined up, a three ton truck for transporting their furniture and a little house to move into.. a rental for now but eventually they will buy some property and build a new home.

I'm looking forward to having family here. While they looking for a house to rent, it was found that more people are looking to rent than there are places to rent. I was able to check out the place they're going to live in as it's not that far from me and the gentleman who's renting the house was very kind to hold the place for my brother even before he put any money towards it... how cool is that?

Now, about those little green worms. We planted a gooseberry bush (it IS a bush, isn't it?) a couple of summers ago. Last summer, it was growing like a weed and I could see that we were going to have a nice little bounty. Then, I look at the plant and the leaves were near gone... it looked sick. How could that happen so fast? Little green worms, that's how. Hubs had to go and pick them all off (shudder). Not a job for a wimp like me. The plant survived, as did the berries and this year, I'm going to be keeping my eye out and some pepper spray on hand - or something. Our garden is strictly organic so whatever we use must be safe for us and our pets.

Oh Ladybug, Ladybug... get out of my house

Isn't she pretty? She eats aphids that eat the plants we love. We like the ladybug. She is our friend.

Yah.. OK. To a point. I wish to talk about ladybugs and being stupid.... err - I mean naive, we thought we were being friends to the sweet ladybug when they decided to find a place in our home...... First, I'd like to back up a few years and tell a story about a Vancouver experience with ladybugs.

We lived along the Fraser River in South Vancouver at the time. Across the river, there were fields of cranberries. In mid October there is usually a warm spell. It's also the time when the cranberry fields get flooded - a harvest thing which I know a bit about. Anyway, all those lovely ladybugs that eat aphids and such have to take to the air. One particular year was a good year for ladybug reproduction. Understatement!

We were out for the day and had left some windows open in our high rise apartment. No biggie. When we got home, we saw our cat sitting at the window looking at 'something' with great interest. We went over to see what held her attention. Ladybug infestation! They were spilling into the sill, the air was filled with them and the apartment building (high rise!) was covered in lady bugs. I recall seeing a lady scooping them out of her apt. Tons and tons of ladybugs. It was science fiction in the making. I was in such awe and have never seen anything like it before or since.

Flash forward some six or so years later. We're country bumpkins now in Eastern Canada. A few ladybugs found their way into our home in the fall. No biggie. We like ladybugs. We have forgotten the infestation episode in Vancouver. We let them live with us till spring. BAD idea. They reproduce, you know, like rabbits, only worse. Poor hubs... filling a jar with them and releasing them outside. This went on for weeks... 50, 70, 90 at a time. By the time it was all said and done, we (mostly hubs) had removed several hundred of them from our house. All this from compassion for a few. Be afraid! Be very afraid and send them suckers right out your door as quickly as possible in the fall. Don't be a victim! Save yourselves and show no mercy. Well, maybe you don't have to go to such extremes. I can count a few of them in my bedroom right now. I just can't squish 'em or flush 'em. Hubs is collecting them and taking them out but I did purge the ones I could find last fall.