At Dusk

The end of the daylight was fast approaching.

Some views of the sunset last week as we were driving home from Moncton.

Apologies for the dead bugs - I took these through the car windscreen (I wasn't driving!).

The sunset was spectacular and I loved the way that the trees were silhouetted.

We were driving almost due west, so the whole spectacle unfolded in front of us. 

Close to the shore and you can see the water.

The last hints of light as the sun sets.  The end of a perfect day.

Off Island

Thursday saw us heading off the island on a trip to Moncton, New Brunswick.  Moncton is 140 Km from here and the drive takes about an hour and three quarters.  The day was overcast and there were no opportunites to take photos on the bridge because we were behind a large truck.  

Back into moose country, though fortunately we didn't see any.

At a truck stop, we spotted some carved sandpipers.  These tiny birds stop in the area each summer before their non-stop flight of 4,300 Km to South America.

By the time we were on our approach to Moncton, the sky had cleared and the sun was shining.  We had an interesting visit and I found a great fabric shop, which I will visit again on a future trip.  I did buy a small piece of fabric, but I will save this for another post.

Our return trip over the Confederation Bridge, with Prince Edward Island ahead.

Another view of the bridge, with the elevated section ahead, which allows ships to pass through the channel.

The final approach onto the island and you can see the change in the weather since the morning. 

Welcome back!  It was late in the day and dusk was fast approaching, but I will save the rest of my photos for another post.

Just realised that this is my 400th post!

At The Beach

A couple of weeks ago, we discovered this beach.  It is on the north shore of the island - the water is the Gulf of the St Lawrence, so it is cold, as it comes in off the Atlantic.

Prince Edward Island is known for its red sands.  As you can see, the beaches are not exactly crowded.  We walked along the beach and had it almost to ourselves - the few people who were sunbathing were at the end closest to the access road.  

This beach has to be one of the best kept secrets of the locals.  I discovered it purely by chance, when I was searching the internet for places to visit and it was only a comment on a blog which gave me the clue to its existence.  

To think that we could have been here for years and not discovered it...

It was a hot day, but I wasn't tempted to do more than paddle.  The water was very cold!

We enjoyed seeing the birds in the shallows - I'm not sure what they were eating, but they seemed to have found something tasty.  

We walked a long way, but not to the end, as the beach continued beyond the headland.  

Still, there is plenty left to explore on another visit.

Autumn

 

Autumn officially arrived this evening and with it, thoughts of harvest, darker evenings and cooler weather, particularly in the early morning.  It has been cold enough to programme the central heating and it came on this morning, but it was only 6 C outside.

 

 

We see signs of harvest and recently visited this stand, where they have fresh locally grown apples, which they grow themselves at a nearby orchard.

 

The early varieties are ready, but I still miss those with which I am most familiar.  We bought Paula Red and Gravenstein, both early apple varieties.  They are both crisp and slightly tart apples.  We plan to visit the orchard around mid-October to pick our own personal favourite apples - Cox's Orange Pippins (mine) and Russetts (Mr Candytuft's favourite) - if we could buy Bramley apples there, it would be perfect...

Joy

I can hardly believe that I started this post a month ago, but never got further than adding photos.  My theme for 2017 is joy and it has been quite a while since I've posted about it.  Here are some of the things that have brought joy to my life this summer.

Drying washing outdoors.  It smells so wonderfully fresh.

A miniature orchid in bloom.

Wild flowers on a summer's day.

Our new home.

The sky at dawn.

And more wild flowers on our morning walk by the shore.

Walk 1,000 Miles - week 36

Thirty-six weeks into my walking challenge, I reached another significant milestone.  On Saturday, I clocked up a total of 900 miles.  I wanted to be somewhere significant and scenic, so I was happy to walk the boardwalk along the shore.

When I look back at my walks in the early part of the year, they were mostly spent walking the streets of our neighbourhood.  These days, I get to enjoy nature and beautiful scenery. 

So I'm on the final leg of my challenge - less than one hundred miles to go.

At the End of the Rainbow

This was the sight that greeted me when I got up on Saturday morning.  A spectacular rainbow right across the sky.  I couldn't wait to get outside and take a photograph before it disappeared.  I rushed out with the camera, only to find that my neighbour was outdoors for the same reason.  

Although I captured a couple of photos, I don't think that they really do it justice.  I don't have a fancy camera, so the angle of the lens couldn't capture the rainbow in its entirety.  Within a few minutes of taking my photos, it had gone.  I didn't even have a chance to find the rainbow's end.