CapeBreton-NorvellHimself-SingleMalt: July 2014

What's It All About, eh?

Cape Breton evokes deep memories and strong emotions for me as well as a deep appreciation for the beauty of my adopted island. My hopes are that you too might find the photos evocative - maybe a view you've not enjoyed before, or an 'Oh I've been there', or if from away that you may be encouraged to visit this fair isle so that you might come to love and breathe Cape Breton as I do. One word about place names that I use - some are completely local usage while others are from maps of Cape Breton that I've purchased over the years. I frequently post travel and other photos that are of interest to me - and hopefully you.

On the right hand side bar find my take on Single Malt whiskey - from how to best enjoy this noble drink to reviews (in a most non-professional manner) of ones that I have tried and liked - or not. Also musings, mine and others, on life in general.

Photographs are roughly 98%+ my own and copy-righted. For the occasional photo that is borrowed, credit is given where possible - recently I have started posting unusual net photographs that seem unique. Feel free to borrow any of my photos for non-commercial use, otherwise contact me. Starting late in 2013 I have tried to be consistent in identifying my photographs using ©smck on all out of camera photos I personally captured - (I often do minor computer changes such as 'crop' or 'shadow' etc but usually nothing major), and using ©norvellhimself on all photos that I have played around with in case it might not be obvious. Lately I have dropped the ©smck and have watermarked them with the blog name.

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Sure Foggy Today - II

Snag Harbour - (not really, but)

Welcome Denmark - glad you stopped by

Grand Greve

Sure Foggy Today

Bonaparte’s Gull

Bonaparte’s Gull – Larus philadelphia

Unlike other more raucous gulls these small, almost tern-like in flight, gulls build cup shaped nests of twigs five to twenty feet above the ground in conifers. Note the red legs.

St. Peters Inlet From The Information Centre

Though fairly impressive this body of water is just a small part of the inter-connecting waterways of the St. Peters Inlet which eventually leads you into the Bras D'Or Lake. I particularly showed this somewhat panoramic view of the Inlet to give some perspective to some zoom shots I will post of the boats in the distance.

July 1914

Fog Off The River In Late Afternoon

Just Say'in

On The Highland Road - II

The common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), is a bird in the pheasant family (Phasianidae). It is native to Asia and has been widely introduced elsewhere as a game bird. In parts of its range, namely in places where none of its relatives occur such as in Europe (where it is naturalized), it is simply known as the "pheasant". Ring-necked pheasant is both the name used for the species as a whole in North America and also the collective name for a number of subspecies and their intergrades which have white neck rings. The word pheasant is derived from the ancient town of Phasis, the predecessor of the modern port city of Poti in Western Georgia.

On The Highland Road

As I was driving the Highland Road from Grand River to Lardoise I caught a glimpse of colour along the roadside so I quickly backed up and brought out my trusty (most of the time) camera.

Grand River - II

A River of Flowers

The Sky Is High

Coming Sundown

Grand River in the Rain

Goodbye

My mother died around noon on Wednesday - at 97 and 1/2 years of age. I will miss her.

"Bearding"

When the bees started forming clusters at the hive entrance after sundown Carol became quite interested in determining if this was 'normal' behavior. And indeed it is. At http://countryrubes.com/images/The_Phenomenon_of_Bee_Bearding2_8_17_10.pdf I found a nice commentary on this "It’s the clustering or hanging of older bees out at the front of the hive during very hot weather. When bees do that it looks like the hive has a beard. This behaviour coincides with the onset of the hot humid days and nights (mid-June to August)...etc" - click on the link to read more. Our 'bearding' seems to be very mild.

Seed Pod Cluster - Dogwood

The widely cultivated flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) of eastern North America

The name "dog-tree" entered the English vocabulary by 1548, and had been further transformed to "dogwood" by 1614. Once the name dogwood was affixed to this kind of tree, it soon acquired a secondary name as the Hound's Tree, while the fruits came to be known as dogberries or houndberries (the latter a name also for the berries of black nightshade) alluding to Hecate's hounds). Another theory advances the view that "dogwood" was derived from the Old English dagwood, from the use of the slender stems of its very hard wood for making "dags" (daggers, skewers, and arrows)^.Another, earlier name of the dogwood in English is the whipple-tree. Geoffrey Chauser uses "whippletree" in The Canterbury Tales ("The Knights Tale", verse 2065) to refer to the dogwood. A whippletree is an element of the traction of a horse-drawn cart linking the drawpole of the cart to the harnesses of the horses in file; these items still bear the name of the tree from which they are commonly carved.