Saturday, May 30, 2009

Birthday Adventures

I would like to share some of the adventures of my birthday (28 May). Paul made my day every special for me.

It was a beautiful, sunny morning so Paul made a pot of our favourite coffee and we sat out on our back deck listening to the birds while enjoying our coffee and the warmth of the sun.



From our deck we could also watch the lobster boats in the bay catching our dinner.


A Hummingbird finally made a visit to our new feeder on the front deck. They are such interesting little birds to watch.



After a couple hours of relaxation, Paul took me to one of our favourite restaurants in Beresford, Danny's Inn, for brunch. We both had the Eggs Benedict which was very good. Danny's provide a discount, equal to your age, on your meal for your birthday, so I received 5?% off my meal. They also presented me with a large piece of cake with a sparkler but I opted to have it as take-out, as my tummy was quite full after such a rich meal.



Paul and I had planned to make a day trip along the shore road to Caraquet, which is about an hour from Beresford. Near Janeville, we got distracted by some colored roofing we spotted among the trees so we decided make a little detour down a side road to see what was there. We came upon Carey's Chalets located near the ocean. The owners, Tomi and John Carey were very inviting and offered us a tour of one of their chalets and I thoroughly enjoyed strolling about her wonderful flower garden. There was a row of coloured bird houses at the entrance to the garden.



Her garden was interesting as you can see from the red iron-framed bed that was planted with her flowers. You could also find planted an old sink, a dory, little wagons and other rare finds. At the moment the garden was filled with spring flowers, but she invited us back for another visit in a couple of weeks to see the later blooming flowers. After my little tour I had garden envy!



Paul and I took a beach walk along the ocean there to look for a few treasures. It was the first time on this beach for us.


It was my lucky day as I found a blue mermaid tear, sea glass for those of you who are not beachcombers. It may be small, but it was blue.


Tomi had her laundry drying outside, which to me is such an eastcoast thing. I just love my clothesline and I think that the smell of fresh air on the laundry is wonderful. This is one of my favourite pictures.


After about an hour of chatting with the Careys and enjoying the lovely area, we drove on to Pokeshaw and took a short walk on the beach there. It was amazing to see how much the beach area had changed since last year. It use to be a fairly rocky area, but this year there is mostly sand on the beach. We found a few treasures, but no blue or red mermaid tears.


After some time, we finally made our way into Caraquet which was our destination. Our first stop was at the local Cheese Shop to buy some of their yummy cheddar cheese curds.
They were made fresh that day, so we had a bag to snack on in the car and a bag to take home to have with fresh bread and wine. Then on to the Tea Room to purchase fresh bread and birthday pastries to take home also.


We went to the wharf area and enjoyed a walk on the boardwalk along the ocean. We watched the lobster fishing boats return to the fish plant. There was a smell of lobster in the air.



Our last stop was at Le Caraquette, our favourite restaurant in Caraquet. While you enjoy your meal, you can look out and see the boats at the wharf and the ocean. Paul treated me to a lobster sandwich for my birthday dinner. As usual, it was an awesome sandwich, overstuffed with fresh lobster.


To finish off our day, we stopped at Paul's sister for tea and cake, before heading home.

It was such a perfect, relaxing day and it was nice sharing it with Paul.



Friday, May 29, 2009

Interesting Photos from our Adventures

Three photos we took at Carey's Chalets in Janeville, NB during our exploring yesterday.


Great plate.



This bed is in Tomi's garden planted with flowers which I thought very creative.



This to me represents the simple life of the east coast. To me, nothing smells better than laundry dried in the fresh air.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Gardening

Seeds in my Jiffy Garden planters


Flowers in my front garden



Still more work to do.......

Monday, May 18, 2009

Active Day at Our Feeders

Downy Woodpecker & American Goldfinch


Purple Finch


Northern Flicker

Friday, May 15, 2009

It May be Small but.....

To some of you this may be a small piece of blue glass but to those of us who are beachcombers, this piece, even though rather small, is an awesome find.

More information on sea glass can be found at this link.



Monday, May 11, 2009

Always Things to Do

We started last week with lots of yard work. Two days of raking the front and side yards, then we ventured into the backyard for a day to cut the long grasses, clear out under the willows and cut down the damaged branches. Then the fourth day we had to burn all that we collected in our fire pit. It was a long day and I was covered with soot when I finished as the wind was gusty at times.

On Thursday we thought we would treat ourselves with a nice walk on our beach and do a little treasure hunting. It was so nice to listen to the waves roll in.


Paul and I did very well finding treasures and here is our collection. We found several nice pieces of white this time. As the tide was rather high, we were limited.

Over time we found several pieces of seaglass that we were excited about. Paul found a large piece of green and I found a piece of white which we think was once a bottle stopper. I decided to have necklaces made with these two pieces, by Sonia Turner our local Seaglass Queen.

On Saturday evening we attended the Clifton United Church lobster dinner and it was a great meal. While waiting for our table number to be called, we sat in the Church which gave us the time to enjoy the magnificent stained glass windows. Here are a couple of them.

Our week would not be complete without a little bird watching in our yard.

I wonder what this week will find us doing?


Saturday, May 9, 2009

Homework

Since Paul and I like to take pictures, we thought it would be a good idea for us to look into taking a digital photography course, now that we have more time on our hands since retiring. We found that the University of New Brunswick offered a beginners course at the Bathurst High School on Wednesday evenings. Since it was a beginners course we thought it best that only one of us attend, so we decided that Paul would register and that he would share his knowledge and course material with me at home.

After his first class, he was tasked with bringing some photos back to the next class. One picture was to be taken with a macro, another of something his classmates had to guess what it was and another of something he thought interesting.

As the macro is often used to photograph flowers, Paul chose to capture some of the daffodils in my garden.

The photograph he took for his classmates to guess what it was, was this one.

It is the seat cover of one of our dining room chairs which I had recently recovered with lighthouse material that we purchased in South Carolina.

H
is interesting photo was rather unique. When we went to our local fish market, Arseneau's, to get our first lobster of the season, the clerk brought out a lobster that had an extra claw growing on the side of its normal claw.

The last photo was of a garden swing taken at a local exhibit Paul attended. When we are out shopping about, we often take photos of items that we see and want to remember or think about whether we wish to purchase. It is a good way of not forgetting, which for us these days is very easy to do.




Friday, May 8, 2009

So Cute

This little finch was sitting in our birch tree today. He is so cute that I wanted to share this photo.


Thursday, May 7, 2009

Our Feathered Friends are Back

Our feeders were very busy today with the American Goldfinch


Saturday, May 2, 2009

Six Happy Years


On 1 May 2009 Paul and I celebrated our 6th Anniversary. I am so thankful that it was raining on 1 May 2003 and he accepted my invitation for dinner and a concert - rather than go golfing!

It has been a full six years - lots of travel, including five wonderful vacations (Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Cuba, Mexico, South Carolina), many live music festivals, numerous beach walks, moving to New Brunswick, retirement and much more.

Like 1 May 2003, it was raining in the morning so we had a leisurely morning at home enjoying coffee and French toast. As the day progressed, the rain cleared off and the temperatures warmed a little so Paul and I were able to enjoy a pre-dinner drink on our front deck. I sipped on a glass of Oak Leaf Zinfandel, which we purchased in South Carolina this past winter, while Paul enjoyed a cold beer.




We were very happy that our Anniversary fell on the same day as the opening of lobster season in northern New Brunswick. We have an excellent fish market just minutes from our house so we decided to treat ourselves to a dinner of a couple of these nice, juicy lobster.

Wow - can't wait.....

Happy Anniversary Cutie

Dinner's over and they were so good.......


Here's to many more lobster dinners and many more years of happiness together.