Canada Day Long Weekend!

Canada Day Long Weekend!

Happy Canada Day everyone! Looking at theweathernetwork it looks as if the whole country is in for some warm weather this long weekend and a chance to get out an enjoy some sunshine! The forecast for Melville this weekend is predicted to reach a high of 23 deg C and sunny skies! 

It must be July in Melville as the seaweed has started piling up on the shore! While a nuisance to beach goers, seaweed has played an important role in the food industry for many centuries in a variety of coastal countries (Wikipedia). When you think of eating seaweed, sushi likely comes to mind and the Nori that it is wrapped in however, there are over 10,000 species of seaweed world wide! (Types of Seaweed). Because of it's gelatinous abilities, dairy producers have used seaweed in tasty products such as ice-cream too!

During mom's walk the other day, she found more signs of a wild summer in Melville! Above a single daisy (another flower with over 22,000 variations!) and below a wild rose making it's debut!

Mom has such an eye for fossils while beach combing in Melville and found a few more pictured above and below! Going to have to check in with her on the one above, but the one below distinctly looks like a few leaves.

Finally, mom caught up with the killdeer chicks and captured this one exploring it's way through the ditch in Melville!

Chickadees and Apple Trees

Chickadees and Apple Trees
With my temporary absence in Melville taking me out West for the summer, I am relying on my mom to keep the blog going over the next few months and by the looks of her recent photos - she will not be disappointing!

The first two pictures are of the apple tree saplings down in the orchard! While only small, the lush green colour and smell will surely be attracting deer to Melville, Mom will have her eyes open for Bucky and keep him and any other four legged wanderers away from the ripening yumminess!

Below, mom captured a fantastic shot of a little Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) that unfortunately had a run in with the window on the house! Interestingly, chickadees mate for life (Wild Birds), so likely it's partner will be along to heal it back to health, otherwise mom will be busy caring for this little guy too and keeping him clear of any future window run-ins!

Summer's Coming!

Summer's Coming!
Summer is definitely on it's way and evident when mom and I found this guy on the beach Monday night. The lobster traps are still out in the straight and the jellyfish have started to make their way in, washing up on the beach as the tide goes out. While the ones we found had no stingers or nematocysts (Wikipedia), we'll have to watch ourselves swimming in the ocean as they can provide quite the shock - from a numbing sensation to anaphylaxis in some people - if you unexpectedly run into one! This jellyfish was an average sized one, but some can measure up to 7ft in diameter across the bell!!! (World's Largest Jellyfish) Yikes!

This morning was my first time taking out the ride on mower and giving the lawn a little TLC. As I made my way down towards the path that leads to the beach I found these beautiful Iris flowers. Wikipedia tells us that the name for an Iris comes from the Greek word for Rainbow describing the variety of colours that they bloom in - between 200-360 colours!!

In the driveway gardens there are more blooms bringing in summer, above are Mandarin Azaleas and below the Lilacs are bursting in colour as well!

And to leave you with a smile, another absolutely beautiful Melville Sunset!

Meringue and The Northern Flicker

Meringue and The Northern Flicker
My first clinical rotation is finished and I arrived in Melville last night in the midst of pouring rain and cloudy skies. The drive to Melville was one of the most bizarre drives, with periods of absolutely beautiful blue skies, sunshine and temperatures in the mid twenties and then only minutes down the highway - complete torrential downpour, thunder&lightning and clouds as dark as the night! A pattern that repeated about 3 times from one end of the province to the other!

Tonight my brother drove in from New Brunswick and we invited my grandparents over for dinner and a game of cards. I tried my hand at lemon meringue squares, really nothing fancy (Dr. Oetker; Shirriff Lemon Meringue), but what I wanted a go at, was whipping the egg whites!

The reviews were good! And some even dove in for seconds!

While the meringue was setting in the fridge, we found this little guy outside on the lawn! This is a Northern Flicker or Colaptes auratus native to North America, Central America, Cuba and the Cayman Islands (Wikipedia). It has many common names including yellowhammer, heigh-ho or wick-up to mimic it's colours or bird call.

Above you can clearly see the red "V" distinctive to the back of its neck and below, if you zoom in, the distinctive yellow colour under its tail. The Northern Flicker also has a thick black band across the breast and for males, a red or black spot along the beak which mimics a moustache!

Wikipedia tells us that they consume ants as a major source of their diet, up to 45%! Which is great for us, because that is one less ant that will make it's way into the house!