Winter Wonderland

I have to keep up with the cousins and show some more snow pictures of Corner Brook. I don't think we have as much as Ontario seems to have at the moment, but I think that is going to change overnight!





Tucker enjoys the freedom of the trail.


What's taking you so long? Stay with the program!

Some little birdies enjoying a rest in my maple. Marion Hann's house is in the background.

A lonely park bench on the Glynmill Inn Trail, probably thinking its going to be quite a while before anyone will want to be sitting on it....brrrrrr......

Crazy Cali strikes again!

I think Cali has the potential to be a psycho-dog. She's never been caught with a knife but on occasion can become a bit of a whirling-dirvish. There was a time when Mikki would join in with the antics and they would entertain themselves for quite a while. But Mikki is not so interested in playing anymore. She just looks at Cali with bewilderment and a little fear. Eventually she sought refuge in my arms.

Psycho-dog Strikes Again

Sometimes its so hard to get comfortable!

No sofa's were harmed in the making of this video.

weather

November has been an interesting month when it comes to weather. Early this month we had wind storm. I think it was the tail end of Hurricane or Tropical storm Noel. Noel blew down lots of trees on the nice trails that I like to walk on every day. I went for a walk during the wind storm ( the day before these pictures were taken) and you could hear trees creaking in the woods and I realized it wasn't Fallen trees I needed to watch out for, It was Falling trees.







Had to detour around this one that fell across the path on the Glynmill Inn Pond trail.

And another one across the trail around the pond.

This one is hanging across the path on the upper trail ( Pipleine Trail)



Then, about a week later we had snow. Lots and lots of snow. This is up along the Pipeline near 3 Mile Dam. I was wishing I had my snowshoes.

Tucker didn't mind that he didn't have snowshoes. He was able to move much faster than me, but was nice enough to wait and let me catch up.

Then we had some mild weather ( up to 18 degrees) , some rain and some sun. the snow is all gone, the trails are mucky, but we soldier on.

Here's a nice rainbow I managed to capture digitally a couple of days ago.

And another view of the rainbow

Its a dog's life don't you think? We should all have it so good.

Wild Flowers

I have a new hobby. its taking pictures of wild flowers. It started as just something to do while on one of my many walks with Tucker. Then it became a bit of an obsession. Its a great way to get to know the names of the flowers as its so much easier to look them up in a book when you have a digital picture on your computer. Now my goal is to identify as many different flowers as I can.




I have found four orchids.




Showy Lady Slipper


Yellow Lady Slipper ( variety makasin)

Yellow Lady Slipper ( variety pubescens)

Pink Lady Slipper

I was very proud of the 4 species of orchids until I read in my orchid book that there are 19,500 species of which 43 species and 4 varieties can be found in Newfoundland. So I have a ways to go.

Of course I'm not sticking to just orchids. here are a few more favorites.

I think this is a Hare Bell. If you look closely there is a bee or bug inside the flower,

The Twin Flower is one of my favorite woodland flowers. Its so delicate looking.

I have no idea what these are. I assume they are some kind of mushroom. All I know is that they look pretty growing in nature's green shag carpet.

More sights from the trail

I thought this picture was "Blog Worthy". I was walking along the pipeline yesterday with Tucker when I saw what I thought was a paper bag on the water pipe. On closer investigation i realized it was a Grouse. Grouse are apparently related to chickens, which explains why it was so stunned. It sat there, on its bum with legs dangling watching me taking its picture before it flew off into the woods. tucker had run ahead of me and missed it entirely, lucky for the Grouse.

More colour

These pictures were taken a week or so ago while I was taking a hike with Tucker on the Gorge/ Pipleine trail which runs from Margaret Bowater Park., parallel to the pipeline then crosses the stream to connect with the Gorge Trail. Its my favorite "In town" hike. Its beautiful and takes us around 2 hours to complete. This is just before the colours hit their peak.



Some colour along the trail



Looking toward the pipleine from the top of the trail on Crocker's road

I think this may be proof that God approves of green shag carpet. Who would have thought?

Corner Brook Stream as seen from the bridge on the Gorge/Pipeline trail

Crazy cali

Cali's problem solving skills aren't the greatest. I had given Tucker an almost empty, plastic peanut butter jar to lick out. When he was finished with it, Princess Cali decided she'd like to have a go. Not knowing how to get the peanut butter out of the jar, she decided to run around it instead. this went on for quite some time. Poor Mikki just looked on with confusion, thinking perhaps it was an invitation to play.

Jesse and Mikki

I was looking back at some old posts and I realized I hadn't included pictures of the other 2 dogs in my extended critter family. These are Irv and Marg's dogs. Mikki is Cali's sister and look alike. Jesse is a very affectionate black Lab. As you can see they get along well together. But make no mistake, Mikki is the boss. She will tell Jesse off in style if she gets too close to someone else's food.
Mikki and Cali love having a snooze together. They have a special bond. Mikki is the only other dog that Cali will play with. Awwwww! Aren't they sweet! Mikki and Cali will be 11 years old in January. In Cavalier King Charles years that's very senior......but they are still babies to us.

Gotta love those colours

As most of you who read this blog know, Corner Brook is quite beautiful this time of the year. These pictures were taken over the past few days while I have been walking the many fantastic walking trails we have.











Margaret Bowater Park and a light pole. A great photographer I am not.

A view from the pipeline.

One of the many brilliant colours of the maple trees

Had to add a dog picture of course. I am taking care of Irv's dogs while he is away for a few days. This is Jesse and Tucker taking me for a walk.

Dogs

Meet Digby. Digby is an almost 6 month old West Highland White ( Westie) owned by my friend Della. Digby was born in Nova Scotia and, being a terrier, loves to dig. Hence his name...Digby.


Like Garfield the cat, Cali just can't resist a sunbeam.

Tucker all tuckered out on our pipeline walk.

He huffed and he puffed!

It was quite windy last night!!! Nothing blew away or got knocked down on my property but my neighbours were not so lucky. 4 doors up a huge maple blew over, just brushing against the house next to it. Luckily nobody and nothing was damaged except for the tree of course, and a concrete light pole.

How I Spent My Summer Holidays- part 2

Well it was a very busy summer indeed. After my trip to Ireland ( and yes Sara and Kelly you should go to Ireland if you go to England next year) I was busy playing with my friend Paula, who was home for a month visiting her mother. We did a bit of hiking in Gros Morne Park.


Paula enjoying a break during our hike of Trout River Pond



But we also took time to relax a bit.


Me...relaxing with Harry Potter and a cold one on the deck of the Jesseau's cottage in Woody Point

We were lucky enough to see an American Bald Eagle, just before we got to Rocky Harbour. It was on the top of a tree that was on an embakement by the road. It was an awsome sight.




Elaine came to visit the middle of August. She and I went to the Writer's at Woody Point festival. These pictures are compliments of Elaine and are published with her permission.


Shelagh Rogers was the emcee for the writers festival. She laughs a lot!!



Elaine and I raising a toast on the 17th of August. The 17th of every month is our official "Red Hat" day. August 17 was the 2nd anniversary of our Red Hat club. Our Friends Inge and Marilyn are the other members.

Me, assuming my superwoman pose on the Coastal Trail ( near Baker's Brook)

A view of the Table Lands from the Table Lands Trail

The north end of a grouse heading south

It wasn't all fun this summer. Tucker learned to drive.

Cali wanted out......




And I did some babysitting which was definitely fun.

How I spent My Summer Holidays

Its been a busy, fun summer.....which is my excuse for failing to keep up on the blog. But I'm back now and I am going to share some of the highlights.

In June I took a trip to Ireland with my sister Sonia a.ka.a Tone. We had a great trip but my digital pictures do not do it justice. Nonetheless here are a few highlights.

We spent the first 5 days in Dublin. Dublin is crazy with people and activity and has an old and new feeling to it..

This is me braving the rain outside a pub in the Temple Bar area.....a pedestrian area of cobblestone streets lined with shops and pubs...South of the River Liffey.

......of course we didn't just stand outside the bar. We went in for a drink and a taste of Irish music. The old geezer with the beard is actually from the USA but from the accent I'm guessing he's been in Ireland a while.
We took a commuter train to a seaside community just outside of Dublin. It was called Howth...rhyming with "both" when pronounced properly. It reminded me a little of St. Pierre.

We also took a bus tour through the Wicklow mountains. Very beautiful. We couldn't resist the photo op.
Of course afternoon tea (okay its latte!) ...we are daughters of Daisy and nieces of Sophie after all.

A picture of a peat bog, taken from the bus window. You could actully see where the farmer had cut a set of stairs in the bog.

We also visited many of the famous Landmarks of Dublin including Trinity College, Christchuch Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral. Of all the beautiful things there were to take a picture of, what do I have to share? a picture of a mummified Cat and Mouse supposedly found in the bellows of the pipeorgan in Christchurch......ewwwwww

How touristy is this....Molly Malone ( also known as the "Tart with the Cart". Molly is the one with the ample bust......

From Dublin we went by train to Waterford.

Of course we had to visit the Waterford Crystal factory.

and we took a bus to a seaside community called Dunmore East ...a fishing and recreational village with lots of thatched roof cottages.

The next leg of our adventure was Cork. This is a view of the River Lee which runs through the city. The buildings were interesting, the river was yucky.

This building was right behind our hotel. Its part of a butter factory. A "Firkin" is a butter barrel and this building stored the butter barrels. I roared when I saw the name because it reminded me of the word "ferkin" which my mother used all the time. Ferkin menas rooting aound, like a hen ferks around the ground for seed. I looked ticked off but I wasn't. this building is now converted to a dancwe studio and theatre.

While in Cork we did a bus tour of the city which also took us out to Blarney Castle, very pretty despite being so touristy. this picture was taken from inside the castle, just before I had a panic attact and had to find the next exit out without going to the top! Castle stairways are very narrow!!!!!! and claustophobic. so I didn't get to kiss the Blarney stone. some would say it wasn't necessary anyway.

Me enjoying a Smithwick's ( smiddicks) at a very modern restaurant called Luigi Mallones!!!

Our trip finished in Limerick. By the time we got there the weather had turned rainy again. We were getting a bit tired and we had read so much about street gang violence in Limerick that we were getting a little skitty. However, we spent a full day doing a beautiful bus tour that took us across the Burrens ( reminded me of Bonnavist Bay!!!)

This is an ancient burrial site. This was called a portal tomb.

We also visited the Cliffs of Moher. Lots of tourists there. It poured rain but it was quite breathtaking.



Ireland is very beautiful. I would love to go back and do a walking tour.