Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
Here’s our annual Christmas card, this year it’s an aerial view of Marije and me snowshoeing through the forest. 🙂
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
Here’s our annual Christmas card, this year it’s an aerial view of Marije and me snowshoeing through the forest. 🙂
Here’s a bit of fall and winter scenery from the last weeks of November and the first weeks of December:
Fall trees, fall sky – New Zealand, Prince Edward Island
Lean on me – Sally’s Beach, Prince Edward Island
‘Floating on the surface’ – Souris, Prince Edward Island
Forest bridge – Winter River Trail, Prince Edward Island
Forest ferns – Winter River Trail, Prince Edward Island
Fall coloured dunes – Tlaqatik Trail, PEI National Park
A pretty moon snail shell – Greenwich Beach, PEI National Park
The next 2 shots are from last week, when we woke up to a -23° windchill. A walk at nearby Norris Pond beach was very pretty with a steaming sea and snowy cliffs:
A very cold morning – Norris Pond beach
Winter cliffs – Norris Pond beach
The last 3 shots are from a short walk to Greenwich beach this very afternoon, just before sunset:
Snow on the boardwalk – Greenwich Beach, PEI National Park
Snow on the beach – Greenwich Beach, PEI National Park
Snowy dunes at the beach – Greenwich Beach, PEI National Park
A lovely early start to winter, as you can see, though I wouldn’t say no to some fluffier snow that isn’t so hard to deal with in the mornings.
Here’s a bit of fall scenery from the last week of October and the first of November:
Morning fog – Prince Edward Island
Sunset on the dunes – Greenwich, PEI National Park
Fall coloured blueberry field – Prince Edward Island
One of the things I like most about living here that you can start your day at the beach, and then follow it up with a walk in the forest:
Waves at Basin Head Provincial Park – Prince Edward Island
Heron at Basin Head Provincial Park – Prince Edward Island
November on the Confederation Trail – Prince Edward Island
Yellow on the Confederation Trail – Prince Edward Island
The final few images are from yesterday afternoon on the Greenwich Dunes Trail, which was very beautiful and quite windy:
Big dune – Greenwich Dunes Trail, PEI National Park
Wild weather – Greenwich Dunes Trail, PEI National Park
Long shadow – Greenwich Dunes Trail, PEI National Park
Into the setting sun – Greenwich Dunes Trail, PEI National Park
Sunset dunes – Greenwich Dunes Trail, PEI National Park
So yeah, summer is long over, but there’s still lots to see on Prince Edward Island!
Fall colours are really good right now, check these out:
October on the Confederation Trail – near Souris, Prince Edward Island
October on the Confederation Trail – near Souris, Prince Edward Island
October on the Confederation Trail – near Souris, Prince Edward Island
All three are from my quiet morning walk on the Confederation Trail.
Late summer is a lovely time to go for a walk on the Confederation Trail, so that’s what I’ve been doing. Here are some images:
September on the Confederation Trail – near Souris, Prince Edward Island
Early fall colours on the Confederation Trail – near Souris, Prince Edward Island
Slug on a mushroom – Confederation Trail near Souris, Prince Edward Island
This slug was enjoying a meal of mushroom along the side of the trail.
If you prefer furry creatures over slimy ones, there are plenty of those about too. Chipmunks, for example, live in holes right in the tracks of the Confederation Trail itself:
Chipmunk – Confederation Trail near Souris, Prince Edward Island
Here’s a closer look:
Chipmunk in a hole – Confederation Trail near Souris, Prince Edward Island
The next two images are not from the Confederation Trail but from Souris itself, where you can sometimes see seals lounging in the morning sun:
Seals lounging at low tide – Souris
Seals lounging at low tide, closeup – Souris
Nothing like a nice nap to start your day, right seals?
Access to PEI National Park is free this summer, so today I enjoyed a wonderful free walk in the park. It wasn’t just wonderful because I didn’t have to pay, but because it was such a lovely day:
Boardwalk among the dunes – PEI National Park, Greenwich
There was a lot of wildlife about in the morning, hundreds of dragonflies accompanied me on my walk, and dozens of squirrels. Look closely and you may spot the squirrel running through the picture above. He’s carrying a pinecone.
Along the bay – PEI National Park, Greenwich
Out on the sandbar – PEI National Park, Greenwich
Out on the sandbar the wind was blowing sand along the ground, always fun to see as long as it doesn’t hit you in the face.
Mirror in the surf – PEI National Park, Greenwich
The sea was quite wild and unsuitable for swimming today, which was interesting to see because just 3 days ago we were swimming a little east of here in much calmer conditions.
Up and over – PEI National Park, Greenwich
This picture shows the dunes are growing tall again. Usually you go right through here, hence the ropes to hold on to, but now I had to go up and over.
Buried pole – PEI National Park, Greenwich
On the other side of the dunes, the top of the path is now at ground level, and plants are growing where before there was just air. 🙂
End of the boardwalk – PEI National Park, Greenwich
Bowley Pond water level – PEI National Park, Greenwich
In this last picture you can see the anchors of the ‘floating boardwalk’, because the water level is quite low right now.
It’s been a very quiet summer this year. Hot and sticky at times, but with plenty of pleasant days too. Marije and I spend a lot of our evenings in the sunroom, which is often cooler than inside the house.
The shaded forest trails are nice too, but only if you can bear the mosquitos. The trick is to walk faster than they can chase you, but sometimes even that doesn’t help.
Summer on the Confederation Trail – near Souris, Prince Edward Island
Things are usually better at the beach, because the breeze keeps the mosquitos grounded. Not this morning however, as the wind was so light the bugs were able to find me there too. Lovely scenery though:
Beach scenery – Red Point Provincial Park
Last week we bought some beach chairs and a big umbrella on sale, with hopes of spending our remaining summer evenings at Basin Head beach. We’re looking forward to that 🙂
It’s the close to the end of May and I’ve finally put the snow shovel back in storage, hopefully not too soon. The weather forecast says it’s basically summer already, with highs in the 20s later this week!
This morning I enjoyed a walk on the Confederation Trail, as I often do, and just look at the difference a month can make. This is a photo taken in the exact same spot as in my previous post:
Spring on the Confederation Trail – near Souris, Prince Edward Island
The downside to these steadily warming mornings: clouds of black flies and mosquitoes following me every step of the way…
This morning we woke up to some beautiful fluffy snow, so after dropping off Marije at work I explored a little bit of the Confederation Trail near Souris:
Snowy Confederation Trail – near Souris, Prince Edward Island
What a lovely and serene walk, the only sound for miles around was the snow crunching underneath my boots, and the occasional drumming of the local woodpeckers.
Winter has been pretty decent this year: lots of snow, lots of ice, and lots of frozen beauty. Since none of the trails I like to walk in summer are open in winter, I often go to the beach instead. Here are some pictures:
Snowy cliffs – Basin Head Provincial Park
Beach ice – Basin Head Provincial Park
Pack ice on the North Shore – Naufrage
Seaweed Slushy – Basin Head Provincial Park
Pack ice breaking up – East Point
Beached pack ice – Naufrage
Ice monster – Basin Head Provincial Park
While the beach is never far away, some days we don’t even need to go out to see something cool. This morning at 4AM we had clear skies for the Total Lunar Eclipse. This was taken from our backyard:
Total Lunar Eclipse – Prince Edward Island
Not as mind-bending as the Total Solar Eclipse we enjoyed last year of course, but still, a lovely sight to behold.
Atlantic Sander 