We stand on guard for thee ….

Something new on this afternoon’s beach wander the ~ Canadian Coast Guard ~ I had never seen a Coast Guard vessel off any of my beaches before.

It is probably no surprise that they turn up on the same week that President elect Donald Trump, threatens Canada’s sovereignty with the proposal to remove that “artificial border”. Well I can confidently highlight to Mr. Trump, if in fact the rumours are true that he follows my blogs, that there is no way an invasion of Canada could take place on Lunenburg County’s sea border, because the Canadian Coast Guard Ship ~ “G. Peddle S.C.” ~ is offshore, anchored and waiting, with its full complement of nine all briefed and ready.

Today’s pics including some natural ice sculptures on Rissers Beach …

Mr. One Antler ….

On this first day of this New Year, I had a personal first ~ I saw a North American deer with an antler. In my time here in Nova Scotia where I have probably seen dozens if not hundreds of deer, I had convinced myself that the local breed did not grow antlers, well this afternoons visitor proved me wrong.

Initially when I saw buddy in the backyard, it looked like he had impaled himself with a small twig, but with the aid of my zoom lens I could see that it was actually a single antler. Then upon closer inspection through the lens, it was clear that in the past, he did have a second one.

Below are the pics of Mr. One Antler, together with some photos I took in June of last year in the Highlands of Scotland of his much better equipped Scottish cousins ….

All quiet, still and foggy …

Over the last couple of days, it has been a little bit foggy. Apparently it is caused by warm air that has moved in from the south. When this warm air contacts snow or cool moist ground conditions, it becomes cool, the dew point rises, which then creates humidity followed by fog ~ there yae go ….

The following pics where taken this morning down at a very quiet, still and foggy LaHave River.

A pleasing December beach wander …

With the tide on its way out, the sky bright and blue, I had great wander at Rissers Beach. I always find those bright and slightly chilly winter outings to the beach are the best. In such conditions, everything always seems fresh, clean and extremely pleasing …

Backyard visitors …

Recently the empire has seen an increase in the number of visits by the local deer. I would say that during the first five years in the house it was extremely rare to see any, perhaps at most one or two on a couple of occasions a year. A few weeks ago, there were eight wandering around at the back of the house, which so far is a domestic record. This afternoon three came to visit. At one point I thought a couple of them were poised to knock at the back door. 

It is nice always nice to see them, but I would appreciate their visits so much more, if they could help keep the grass perfectly trimmed during the summer ….

Bright and sunny in black and white …

I was on my way to the islands this afternoon in bright sunshine, blue sky with low puffy clouds, and thought that it would be a good opportunity for black and white pics. In addition to the selection of monochrome, I also decided to experiment with my ND1000 Neutral Density Filter, which resulted in exposures of anything between 15 to 30 seconds.