winery

I went Christmas shopping at a winery. So sharpen up your cork screws. I'm making a list of the naughty and nice. Naughty is more fun.
And now just for the halibut here are three boys:

flower pots

The Hopewell Rocks and a lot of visitors: tourism is up in New Brunswick this year. I arrived when the tide was coming in, but I could still walk out to the rocks. I took another picture a half hour later when the rocks had become flower pot islands. The tide comes in at just under 8 vertical feet an hour this time of the month as we just had a full moon. Tides are at their highest at new and full moons. This makes it a 42 foot tide. Of course at their lowest it still comes in at 6 vertical feet an hour. Either way they are phenomenal.

low tide

I returned to St. Martin's on a sunny afternoon and took another picture of the caves in contrast to the one taken two days previously. Then I rounded it off with some shots of the harbour. I had gone to pick up a picture - this done I stopped for a lobster roll on my way back. Are lobster rolls strictly a Maritime thing or do you also indulge and enjoy them?

wet caves

The rain was pouring down on Saturday - in the end it did not stop for hours. We went into a fish restaurant at the caves in Saint Martin's. It was low tide and the wet had not stopped people walking over to the caves. One picture captures the water coming down from an eave spout. We bought the weekend paper and went back to the apartment to put up our tired feet and to lose ourselves in the print.

Fuller's Falls

What a great day we had at the Fundy Parkway! It wasn't hot. We hiked for miles: up and down, up and down, up and down. Here's a picture of the last trail we went on. This is typical - well, they did say that it was "challenging".

Fundy forest

On the Fundy Trail, through the forest - trees. Some stand out and catch our attention. Sometimes you can see the forest for the trees.

inukshuk

This inukshut stands guard on the road to St. Martin's. Others stand along the main highway to Saint John. This one is spectacular. This art form has practical use in the Arctic, but now it has caught on around the world. We have sat at the beach building little inukshuk - a great source of pleasure and it takes some skill. Here is a class in the Netherlands playing with the form:
And here I am standing by the road near the inukshuk.

Fundy Trail

I went walking and sketching by the Salmon River today. If you look to the horizon on the right hand side, that is where I live. Of course it takes almost six hours to drive around, but I can see home from here.
The Bay of Fundy has been selected to be in the running for the seven new wonders of the world. It is the only site in Canada. This may mean that the Rockies, Niagara Falls and the Far North are diddly squat compared to my Bay. There may be those that differ, but their wonder just didn't make the cut. So this means that you need to vote: right here: votemyfundy.com
Every vote counts. In the list I also selected Halong Bay because I've sailed on it, and it is truly fabulous, too.
I passed the waterfall on the way back. On both sides of the Bay there are huge cliffs and the water pours over and down into the ocean.

enroute

I am at a church conference. It is very late and I am just back from the pub where the real stuff happens. I am staying in a student dorm which really isn't any better than the dorm I lived in 45 years ago. Here is a statue in front of the town hall in Moncton. It was on my way here.

ancestral bridge

On my way back to the apartment I crossed over this bridge. It is the McFarlane Bridge. Now as my mother belonged to this clan I think that it must have familial ties. It seems somewhat good to be related to such a lovely structure.

today's adventure

This is the first time that I have posted the blog with the help of someone else. So here she is on today's adventure. It was a glorious day.

beach

Went to the beach with a friend.

snowy day

Yeaterday was still snowy and so we went gallavanting to hardware stores and woolen mills. Today the sun shone again, and most of the snow is gone.

cemetery

It poured in the night, and the morning started out quite grey. I was working hard on the almost final draft of a complex organizational model of church governance. When it was completed, I stretched and realized that the sun was shining. Now this is November, so it doesn't usually shine for very long. I had to get out! I love exploring the back roads. This little cemetery is somewhere between Norton and Bloomfield. When I took the picture the sun was no longer shining. But it wasn't raining, and the snow here from the weekend storm has vanished.

These pioneer cemeteries are forgotten. Often the local historical societies volunteer to work on the upkeep. Eventually all the places where we are buried will be forgotten. So much for paying for perpetual care!

Reversing Falls

I had a breakfast meeting this morning in Saint John at the Reversing Falls Resaurant. I don't know this city so I googled my way there - but there seems to be a Bridge Street and Bridge Road. I circled through parts of Saint John that are not meant for tourist consumption - but at last I did end up at the meeting and then I went out to see the Falls. The high tide comes up the river at the point where the water is flowing through a gorge and over rapids - so when the tide comes in and the river water flows out there is a convergence and the water flows up river. I am alays drawn to watching energy in water.

Fundy cliffside

Here's another image from the north shore of the Fundy. I go down to the Fundy shore to absorb the tremendous energy of the place. It has the world's highest tides, which is a lot of water and a lot of energy shifting twice a day - always moving - never still. There are amazing stories about the Bay. Many surround the sightings of otherworldly craft drawing on the Bay for their energy supply. We saw one, once, so I know that there is some truth to the tales. But I return to the Bay for my own energy, to be recharged. It is a feel-good place. Have you found a feel-good place?

flower pot

This is my second posting of the day because the site was down last evening when I was trying to connect with you all.

This formation is called the "Flower Pot". Twenty-one of us from the church went for a hike this morning along the northern shore of the Bay of Fundy near Saint Martin's. These are good faithful people who enjoy being together. They call themselves "The Boomers", although, technically, some are too old for that classification, as strictly speaking, the Baby Boomers were born after the War. Are you too old to be a Baby Boomer, but still put yourself in that category? I am guilty.

reprieve

The rawness left and the sun came out and I took a break this afternoon. After hassling them at the bank, I drove down the valley and just enjoyed the countryside. Here are a couple of pictures. Something in my soul needs green and open water. I get desperate in February.

wild side

This is a trail in Quispamsis - but after the rains and the floods it really proved much too soggy for me without any rubber boots. I did find a geocache nearby. Then I went to Tim Horton's and had a celebratory cup of coffee.

ice cream queries

In answer to a request of what Polar Bear Paws tasted like: well here you are: http://www.farmersdairy.ca/products.php?cat_id=4&sub_id=27&products_id=153

I shouldn't have read that! Anyway it's a vanilla ice cream with almonds and chocolate candies with caramel inside, as I remember it - I must try it again as I have been too long in icecreamless Northern Ontario which has real polar bears. When I stopped at the little place in the photo I tried "Hokey Pokey" ice cream - not nearly as good.

In the Maritimes the favourite flavour seems to be Grape Nut. I know, cereal in ice cream: you have to taste it. Millions, okay hundred of thousands, cannot be wrong! (The population is not very high.)

This store with the sign in the photo is a little more high class and is in the old train station just down my road.