It's Twilight Time

© Jul '12     photo by smck

I've probably taken more photos of this particular piece of landscape in Grand River Falls than anywhere else - the change of day to night never ceases to amaze me

Fishing Camp at L'Archeveque

© Jul '12      photo by smck

© Jul '12      photo by smck

I almost titled this post "Room With An Ocean View".  For several years back in the 80's, we spent our summer vacation time here in our friends fishing camp on the long interval at L'Archeveque - the ocean on one side and a nice canoeing lake on the other.  Electricity but no running water, a rough kitchen with stove and an adjoining bedroom.  If we needed to answer a call of nature it was a good trek up to Rodger's camp where an old fashion out-house was available.  On the little deck we kept a tin basin and a water container for washing our hands and about every second day we would journey up to Frances' house to get a lovely hot shower.  Truly some of the most awesome memories of our lives - going to sleep with the sound of the surf and the plaintive low moan of the fog horn at the harbour, the kids collecting stones and shells and odd bits of driftwood along the beach,  lobster dinner spread out on old newspapers covered table, long walks down the endless shore, late evening campfires with hot dogs and marsh mallows.  And none of us would trade those carefree, low-key times for anything.

note:  this camp had originally been up on the rise of hill along with the camps shown in L'Archeveque Harbour Working Buildings 25 Sep, but was moved here about the time we used it in the 8o's.  I can't remember for sure if it had electricity at the time or not.

Whisky - A Meaning Not Often Used Today

circa 1910

A 'one-horse shay' is a light, covered, two-wheeled carriage for two persons, drawn by a single horse. It is the American adaptation, originating in Union, Maine, of the French 'chaise', and is also known as a 'cheer', or a 'whisky' as its owners tended to whisk about doing errands.  The body is chair-like in shape and has one seat for passengers positioned above the axle, which is hung by leather braces from wooden springs connected to the shafts. It was colloquially known as a 'one-hoss shay'.

Oliver Wendell Holmes’s poem “The Deacon’s Masterpiece,” a satire on Calvinism was about a 'wonderful one-hoss shay'.

The Canada Goose - Branta canadensis

© May '09    photo by smck

I've heard many people refer to these birds as Canadian Geese but I read that the preferred term is Canada Geese.  They have always been a migratory bird going south from Canada and northern parts of United States to the lower U.S. in the fall and then north again in the spring to breed.  However in recent years there has been a large build-up of non-migratory birds in the Chesapeake Bay area, North Carolina, and British Columbia with smaller flocks of non-migratory geese scattered elsewhere.  These guys pictured here are some of the non-migrators in Maryland.

St. Peter's Canal Looking Toward Battery Provincial Park

© Jul '12    photo by smck