nature – Page 9 – OldPlaidCamper

Brightening up?

We’ve just returned from a flying visit to SW England (with a bit of NW England thrown in at the end) and what a trip it was! Being happily tired this week, here’s a quick report and a tangent or two. Perhaps I’ll include a few extra bits and pieces in future posts as and when my brain untangles the wonderful whirlwind of highlights and events.

After landing in London we travelled down to Cornwall to celebrate my mother’s birthday – one of the landmark ones. “A landmark birthday? How old?” I hear you ask? Or did you? (I’ve not lived in Britain for almost two decades, and even when I did could never be bothered to understand the stifling intricacies and eccentricities of how one “should” behave. I’m not too sure, in the post Jane Austen era, if it’s yet entirely acceptable to reveal the age of a lady, particularly the age of a lady of a certain age. I’ll simply say it is a number between 79 and 81 and leave it at that…)

By the way, some of the above will certainly influence the title of my new, and, dare I say, difficult second novel. “Portrait of a Particular Lady of a Certain Age and Certain Sensibilities in a Particular Age, An Age of Intricacy and Eccentricity”.

Catchy, hey? A comedy of manners with no funny bits. My hope is for it to be published soon after my first (also difficult) novel is completed. This will be a more modern tale, based on almost real events, and is definitely not a comedy. It attempts to capture Britain today. The title? “Black Coffee Please. Black Coffee? Of Course Sir. Milk and Sugar With That?”

Eventually I’ll write a sequel to Black Coffee Please called “Please-Thanks, Thanking You, Please-Thanks, Yes Thank You, Yes Please-Thanks and Thank You. Milk and Sugar? No thanks!” Bestsellers all, if only they existed. Order and pay for a black coffee in England and count the please-thanks. Honestly, you could write a saga poem…

Where was I? Why, in dear old Blighty! Mother had a splendid time, and it was great to catch up with family and friends, enjoy a meal or two and a drink or three in comfortable surroundings. It might have been the drink or three that had us heading outdoors every now and then to take in the bracing sea air and help a head that needed clearing.

The “brightening up” title this week is from what some British people might say as they decide to go for a walk. This makes sense if you know that often in Britain it’s just stopped raining, about to start raining or is actually raining.

I exaggerate, but not by much. “I think it’s brightening up so shall we head out?” “Nah; it’s raining. Another pint?”

A Porthleven Pale you say? Oh go on then!

Clearly my brain is travel-befuddled, so let’s leave it here for this week! Please-Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Woodsy wanderings

After all the excitement prompted by the first (heavyish for the time of year) snowfall last week, we managed to calm ourselves and continue to enjoy the woods even after the snow disappeared pretty quickly. The granite greys and golden browns haven’t been as dull as that might sound, and there were still patches of snow to provide contrast.

In fact, our woodsy wanderings took place on almost warm days – warm as in a few degrees above freezing and under mostly blue skies. There’s a real delight in seeing the shape of trees that have lost their leafy cover. The woods are more open, the views are a little longer, and we can see the very healthy looking grey and black squirrels being busy in their autumn work. They dash and scamper, with an occasional pause to confirm we’re no threat, and then on they go. To say scamper makes it sound like they’re being frivolous, but that’s not really fair or true. Goodness, don’t they work hard?!

The tree bones in the woods near our house are much more slender than the mighty western cedars and hemlocks we were used to back on the island. I’ve enjoyed that difference, and the crunch of leaves, as well as the less damp and somewhat drier mustiness of an eastern fall.

As I write this a few fat flakes are starting to fall, and they’ll likely continue to do so with increasing frequency as real winter approaches.

Golden brown – and chilled, squirrels and all…

What’s left of the last of the leaves will be buried under deep snow, and any crunching will be of an icy nature. What a wonderful fall it has been, and what a wonderful winter we’re looking forward to! Our woodsy wanderings will continue, slower paced by being on snowshoes or in winter boots through deeper snow. Maybe we’ll speed things up from time to time on xc skis – if we have enough muscle memory to remain balanced enough to get away with it. A winter on skis? It’s been a while…

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

First snow of the season!

A bit earlier than we expected, and it didn’t stick around too long, but it was a welcome first sight of what we hope will be an enjoyable outdoorsy winter. (Ask us about that again in late March…)

Scout was absolutely thrilled to see the snow and couldn’t get out of the house fast enough. Fortunately, our door and front gate is each wide enough to accommodate one excited canine and one excited human at the same time. C’mon, Scout, it’s not a race…

The total amount didn’t top out much over a handful of centimetres, but it was enough to kick and slide around in, and it remained cold enough to still look pretty the following day, quite dazzling under bright blue skies.

Mrs. PC managed to calm Scout (and me) down, explaining that there’ll be plenty more snow the next few months and wondering if we might be a little less excitable, ‘cos it’s a long winter? I can’t speak for Scout being less excitable about snow, but I’ll try. Although, whisper it, it was Mrs. PC looking up local xc ski trails and searching out the snowshoes in the basement. Cool!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Quiet

We’re enjoying some quiet time!

I hope you have a great weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

By happy coincidence, thanksgiving more or less marks our anniversary for when we moved to Canada, a decision we’ve never once regretted. With each passing year, we love the place we call home more and more – we’ve so much to be thankful for here in Canada!

Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate this holiday!

Keeping it short – we’re heading out to visit friends and family the next little while, with off grid and in the woods cabin time involved, so not too sure if there’ll be anything posted for a week or two or three.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great (long) weekend!

Fall-tastic?

That’s not a word, but it is an attempt to convey how much we’ve been enjoying the season. Being up with or even ahead of the latest thing is so very much us, haha. Identifying fall is beautiful? Couldn’t be more on trend… Moron, you say? No, but I’ve been called worse, by worse…

Where was I? Clearly, you’re not going to get high quality season-centric (huh?) writing here (see “fall-tastic” above) but we really have enjoyed our eastern woodland leafy fall into autumn.

What a mood enhancer! We’re pretty chipper anyway most of the time, (don’t judge a book by it’s cover; it’s a smiling – on the inside – visage I present to the world) but being out in the woods the past few weeks has further boosted our generally sunny outlook. Each recent morning we’ll approach the local trail and murmur “that’s beautiful”, then a few yards on and a few turns into the trail, say again “that’s beautiful” and on and on we go.

The crisp air, the bright blue sky, the green through yellow through orange and into red leafy splendour, plus Scout’s bouncing gait, the wet-dry smell of leaf decay, and the satisfying crunch and scrunch underfoot? We add it up and our answer is “that’s beautiful!”

“Bouncing? Me? I’m far too dignified for that. But if you wanted to say beautiful…”

Yup, here we are this week struggling to find words and phrases to describe our autumnal adventures. Fall-tastic? Fallsome praise? Autumnulent? Why I autumn do better… Hmm. Should I stop, leaf it for now?

If you’re looking to read about fall – about any season – with thoughts on the joy found in the natural world, then head over to Walt at Rivertop Rambles. He posted this week, and, like always, it’s a great read. I’m not blowing smoke from a leafy bonfire up his a- … read him, and you’ll see.

Anyway, it’s far too nice outside to be in here writing. I can see the trees from my office window, glowing in sunny autumnal glory, and let me tell you, it’s beautiful!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great weekend!

“His vocabulary really is limited, isn’t it? I mean, bouncing?! What’s wrong with regal, majestic, purposeful…”

Cooling…

…and thank goodness, particularly after the recent mini heatwave! So, how have we spent these cooler days? (Be warned: bouncing around like a box kicked rugby ball, this post will chop and change more times than a fly half trying to fool the opposition, showing no coherence, like a game spoiled by a fussy rugby referee with a whistle breaking up the flow of a game, or, or, like a…) Yeah, if you don’t like rugby, maybe stop reading?

Let’s try the non-rugby stuff. Falling temperatures and falling leaves helped make the week a pleasant one. Scout has been very happy to get back to the woods, and we’ve enjoyed the almost bug free wandering through the trees. Yesterday morning was cool, close to the point of chilly, but it isn’t light jacket or rugby jersey weather quite yet.

Gentle breezes prompted some light leaf fall, and the photo below is colourful evidence autumn is more or less upon us.

Red leaves seems a reasonable reminder to look out for red ales (it does? On what planet, OPC?), and hats off to Brasseur de Montréal for their splendid red. Autumn in a glass with the cardboard and toffee caramel flavours I like in a red. It tasted far better than I’ve described it…

We spent a couple of mornings mooching about the Old Town, enjoying the slightly slower fall pace compared to the more full on summer visitor business. Shall we stop for a coffee and pastry? Oh, ok!

Almost forgot – rugby stuff! The rugby World Cup is in full swing, but at seven weeks long, I’ll pay more attention after some of the opening phases are finished. My hopes are very high indeed for Ireland, unrealistically high for England, somewhat high for France, but let’s be real – most likely New Zealand or South Africa will win the whole thing.

I recently read a great piece about remarkable rugby grounds in attractive locations, and for me, this place was the winner: (we’ve agreed with friends to watch a game there sometime and go for a pint or two of Guinness after!)

Donegal Town Rugby Club’s pitch, the Holmes, next to Donegal Bay in the Republic of Ireland. Photograph: Connor Doherty/Harper Collins

Must leave it here as there’s a rumour our backyard lawn (that’s too grand – let’s say patch of grass) is being laid today, needing my expertise (huh?) and fast developing skill with a garden hose. Nope, I’ve no idea where or why Scout is hiding…

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

*Backyard and him with the hose? You haven’t seen me…*

Followed by a Guinness? Oh, ok… (Photograph: Connor Doherty/Harper Collins)

The furnace

We’re enjoying (I think I mean that) a brief heatwave this week, one that is threatening thunder this afternoon (Thursday) and all through tomorrow. It’s been too hot – hot, like a furnace – to charge about doing anything interesting aside from walking with Scout and retreating from the woods due to the resurgent mosquitoes. I got multiple bites on my right shoulder after something got in under my long sleeved shirt. It chewed away for quite some time until I noticed. Itchy…

Bugs! You can’t see them, but they’re there…

The furnace outside has meant mostly staying inside, time well spent with reading, writing and watching a few movies. The best of the movie bunch for me was The Furnace, (yup, you’ve seen what I’ve done here) an Australian outback western set in the late 1800s.

Spectacular locations, more bugs than even in our local woods, and a ripping yarn full of interesting characters doing bad and not so bad things due to greed over gold. An exciting and thought provoking piece, with lots to chew over regarding race, avarice, indigenous rights, immigrant experiences and camels. Yup, camels. If you don’t like camels, don’t watch the movie, you’ll only get the hump. (It’s warm, I’m tired, this is the best I’ve got…) If you’re interested, here’s a better review: The Furnace Guardian review – I think this review acknowledges the Treasure of the Sierra Madre vibe, and I’d agree. If it’s not up to that level, it’s still decent enough.

The book I enjoyed most this week was Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks. If you liked Human Traces (I did, even if it was long winded at times) or Birdsong or A Fool’s Alphabet then you’ll likely enjoy this one. What’s it about? Love, death, grief, recovery, political tension between the wars, identity and belonging, small kindnesses in the midst of tragedy, and, as I’ve found with most of his novels, it stays with you. Also, let’s be honest, snowy Austrian mountain scenes were just the thing to read in a heatwave and after watching the outback movie!

With the heat allegedly diminishing after the weekend, we’ll be back outside a bit more and looking to explore Quebec in early fall. It’s starting to get colourful out there.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Dog days

It’s been an odd summer, not at all bad, but certainly mixed. We’re thoroughly enjoying exploring our new home, and enjoying securing contractors to complete various landscaping projects a bit less thoroughly. To be clear, the contractors are great – they’ve all been, quite rightly, “en vacances” – but they’re back now and trying to catch up on backlogs due to the rainy weather. Finding contractors? An invisible modern day problem to be sure, and actually the delays have been helpful – we’ve agreed not to go with the Poseidon statue. I was so hoping…

Almost there… perhaps a Poseidon statue?

It hasn’t been all rain and meetings with builders. In between showers we’ve enjoyed picnics in the park. One picnic spot looked like a set from the Teletubbies show. (If you don’t know the Teletubbies, keep it that way. Our daughter loved them when she was a toddler. She probably still does, but don’t tell her I said that…)

Scout has become more used to the heat and humidity, and with all the recent rain has even wondered if we left the rainforests behind? She might have a point:

Agreeable weather permitting, Mrs. PC has absolutely insisted we go along to the Festibiere this coming weekend. It took a bit of arm twisting. I mean, over 100 local beers? OK, yeah, maybe we’d enjoy that… We’ve put in some training:

Thank you if you took a look at the pig photo last week – I was going to write a not so controversial caption connecting pigs to Tories, but decided against it. All those greedy snouts in the trough, who wants to think about that? Instead, and far better, how about this joke from ACI?

A pig walks into a bar and orders 10 drinks. After he drinks them all, the bartender says “Don’t you need to know where the bathroom is?” The pig says “No, I go wee wee wee all the way home.”

That’s still funny after the umpteenth time!

There’s no way it’s going to get any better here this week, so let’s leave it for now. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Bacon

It’s been a full on time recently, so this week the post will be a brief one. I was going to share a few beer photos, and do a little write up celebrating our new discoveries, but that can wait because I remembered this photo:

If you’ve the time and inclination, I’d love it if you would like to suggest a caption. No prizes, but I’ll share anything suggested. Yup, you’re writing my blog – man, I’m lazy!

Thanks, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

	plaidcamper on Contrasts
	Miriam on Contrasts
	plaidcamper on Contrasts
	Maria on Contrasts
	plaidcamper on Safe harbour