A visit to Nova Scotia

The province of New Brunswick, where I live, shut its borders in early May in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  That meant that only essential workers and law enforcement could cross the provincial borders to either Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, or Prince Edward Island.  Of course, the border to the US was also closed.  Last weekend, after several months of the closure, the four Atlantic provinces decided to form an Atlantic "bubble" because all the provinces have very low numbers of active cases (I think it's 6 or 7 cases between all four provinces now).  I was really pleased because I was finally able to visit my parents in Nova Scotia.  I hadn't seen them since Christmas, even though they only live a couple of hours drive from me.  The borders to the rest of the Canadian provinces and to the US are closed, although land owners can come in but they have to self-isolate for 2 weeks before they can go anywhere public.

Anyway, as you can probably imagine, there was a bit of a frenzy of travel on the first day that the 'bubble' opened, and that was the day I left for Nova Scotia.  I left at 8:45 am, and normally, it would take me about 7 or 8 minutes to get to the border.  Instead, due to the line-ups, it took me 1.5 hours to get to the border!  This was because there was a LOT of traffic, but also because every vehicle was stopped to question the occupants about their destination and determine the place of residence of the vehicle occupants. This is for contact tracing purposes.  I was stopped in traffic, so it was OK to take a picture.  

Traffic later in the day was backed up for 5+ hours, and they had to install porta-potties as a result of the line ups.  When I was in line, there were people walking their dogs and just getting out of their cars to wander around for a while as they waited.  It was kind of crazy.  I didn't see anyone relieving themselves in the ditches but apparently that happened later in the day.  Ugh.  

Anyway, it was absolutely wonderful to get to see my parents and spend a few days in their company again.  It's amazing how we take these things for granted until suddenly the opportunity is gone.  My parents lived through the second world war in England, so they had years of experience with food rationing and restricted movement.  People of my generation have never had to deal with this kind of situation.  Fortunately, for me at least, it wasn't a significant hardship, especially since I already work from home.  The biggest things I missed were visiting my parents and getting together with spinning or knitting friends.

My parents' garden was absolutely lovely to visit at this time of year, with loads of roses in bloom and many other flowers.  In addition, of course, I was busy photographing insects.  Here are some of the pictures I took on my visit.  Here are some of their roses - just glorious.  The one in front is named a campfire rose, and the blooms change colour with age, from yellow to pink (or pink to yellow, I'm not sure!)

This is a scarlet malachite beetle (Malachius aeneus) on a foxglove flower. It was the first time I had seen one of these.

A close-up of a campfire rose bloom.

This is one of the David Austin rose line, but I'm not positive which one.  Lovely blooms and ever so fragrant.

This is a European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) taking a rest in a foxglove flower. They are called wool carder bees because they scrape and gather hairy fibres from leaves and flowers to use as nest material and carry it with their legs in little bundles, so it sort of looks like "wool."

A beautiful double columbine flower.  Such a rich colour...looks like grape jelly!

I don't often take panorama shots, but here is one I took of their backyard flower beds. 

A stunning Japanese maple, flanked by foxgloves (shared from my garden!)

Yet another beautiful rose coming into bloom.

It's absolutely delightful to sit and take in the glorious colours in their backyard, and as long as the neighborhood kids aren't making an infernal racket, it's really peaceful and inviting.

This is my first observation of a bee from the subgenus Hylaeus, or masked bees.  I haven't been able to make a species ID on it.  They are very small bees. 

This was also a first time observation for me.  It is a hawthorn mining bee, Andrena crataegi, confirmed by bee expert John Ascher on iNaturalist. 

Finally, here's an ever-so-ordinary honey bee, Apis mellifera, but still a lovely insect to observe.

All the bees were going crazy on the masterwort (Astrantia) blossoms, so I'm hoping to get some for my garden as well.

I'm so glad I took the time to visit and enjoy the hugs and love that only parents can give!  

Visiting my Parents

Earlier in July, I visited my parents for a few days.  It was great to step away from my desk and enjoy a few days with limited thinking about work commitments.  I took the camera to record any interesting birds, bugs, or other beauty that I encountered.  Here's a round-up of my captures.

Some beautiful roses (my mother has a super green thumb!)  No doubt you will find the visiting bee.

The birds were happy to put on a good show for me during my visit.  There were hummingbirds and American goldfinches, not to mention a very accommodating song sparrow who allowed me to repeatedly photograph him.

The finches looked so pretty next to the William Baffin roses.

There were honey bees in full force...

...as well as bumble bees, both the common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens)...

...and the two-spotted bumble bee (Bombus bimaculatus).

It may not be that exciting, but this common greenbottle fly has an amazing metallic green coat.

As always, I was happy to see their dog, Bella.

This tiny moth is the orange mint moth (Pyrausta orphisalis).  It's sitting on a begonia flower.  Probably it was visiting the monarda - which is one of its preferred food species.

Spending an afternoon in this gorgeous garden really is very restorative.

Garden Update: Apple Tree

Last year we bought a 4-in-1 apple tree from a local nursery.  It was quite small but healthy looking and it wintered well.  I must give it some fertilizer soon.  A 4-in-1 apple tree is four different apple varieties that have been grafted onto a single trunk.  When we bought it, they said that it would not bear fruit for 3-4 years, but one has to start somewhere!

I was excited to see that 3 of the 4 different limbs have flowers this spring.  I don't know if any of them will end up bearing fruit or not, but the blossoms smell lovely and they are so pretty.  I love how the blossoms have a delicate touch of pink on them.

The four varieties on the tree are:

All are flowering except for the Chehalis.  It would be so exciting if we actually had a few apples form on it this year.  I will keep hoping!

The 4-in-1 apple is planted next to a crab apple tree that is currently absolutely glorious.  It is just covered in deep pink blossoms.  I am so happy every time I look at it!

The bees love it as well. 

 Some blossoms have yet to open.


But most of the buds are fully opened.  The scent is heavenly and the colour is so vivid and rich.  It is no wonder that winter makes me so gloomy when spring delivers such a riot of colour that brings such happiness! Maybe I need to find more indoor flowering plants for next winter.

Garden Visit

On the weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting with my parents and enjoying some time chatting and knitting in their backyard.  They have an absolutely lovely yard, both back and front (and a side path of lavender plants!) with carefully considered landscaping and plant placement.  I really take inspiration from their garden, but also find it to be a lovely place to just sit and enjoy the colours of the flowers and leaves, the feel of the breezes that are nearly always present, and the chatter of the ever-present birds.

Here's a little tour of some of the beauty of their garden.  There are a number of gorgeous roses, all of which are tremendously fragrant.  I know they have Brother Cadfael, Hermione, Campfire (which is 2-coloured) and several others.  I'm not sure which pink bloom is which, but they will know!

The bees are always busy in my parents' garden!

Here is one of the pollinator bee nests that my parents have installed in their garden.  The bees lay eggs in the tubes and the nest keeps them insulated and safe until spring's warmth triggers the hatching process.  I have one of these bee nests for my own garden but haven't installed it yet.  If I was a bee, I would certainly like to make my home near this delightful garden!


This rose is definitely Campfire.  The honey bees like it a lot!

I think this one is Hermione.

My mom grows some poppies that her family grew in England.  I just love the shaggy blossoms and the distinctive seedpods.  I have some seed for this one to put into my own garden next year.

This is "Swiss Mint" daylily, which is a beautiful custard yellow colour with a touch of peach.  I am particularly fond of this daylily because it is very fragrant - most daylilies are not.

The flower beds are always well planned and the colours are designed to work well together.  My mother has a very green thumb and an excellent sense of garden design.

This beautiful Japanese maple is a show-stopper.  I hope to have one in my garden someday.

This clematis has lovely blooms, but as the blooms fade, the centre portion remains on the stem, giving a kind of second bloom without petals that extends the flowering time.

Here is an unusual fruiting structure on the Kousa dogwood tree - apparently it's edible!

There is also a lovely bed of Scotch heather - species carefully selected for their diversity in foliage and floral colours.  I'm hoping to try some slips of these heather plants in my own garden in future. They make a lovely "cushion" style of ground cover.

Finally, here is a beautiful Calibrachoa blossom that I couldn't resist photographing.

I'll show some of the birds from the garden in a future post!

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