“If I had my life to live over, I’d pick more daisies.”
– Don Herold
“We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.”
– Carl Sagan
Summer and my love for it has been a delightful and major distraction, but of course those days are racing by. As the weather cools, you should see me around more often.
Now, where was I?
Oh yes – he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me…
🌼🦋🌼🦋🌼
Happy Monday, all!
When I woke up Saturday morning and picked up my phone, I noticed an unusual amount of notifications, including likes, follows and comments on my blog. Then I opened this email:
After blogging for nearly 15 years, I had finally made it to a “wider audience”. Thank you to all the new subscribers, and thank you for your lovely comments and likes. It means a lot to me. Maybe my fellow bloggers will one day receive this honour as well. I’m proof that it’s never too late!
If you haven’t checked out the post yet, here it is:
What is it that inspires our desire to create?
What moves an artist to draw or to paint a picture? What sparks the passion in a writer to pen a poem or a story? What is it that prompts a photographer to run for her camera and try to capture that perfect shot?
Here are a few things that give me continued inspiration:
1. The ocean, which surrounds me. No surprise there, right?
Every day, it is a slightly different colour, morphing between shades of blue sapphire, steel grey, or deep, dark navy with racing waves and frothy white-caps. On other days, it is as calm and flat as a mirror. The sea is a living thing: mercurial, organic, merciless, and endlessly beautiful.
2. I’ve always had a passion for all animals (no, not just my cats! 😉 ). Horses, dogs, whales, and birds… …natural beings of the forest and untamed creatures of the sea and sky.
3. Teaching children about Nature, and why we need to respect it, appreciate it and care for it is a spark for my imagination. I love answering their many questions…… and listening to them tell of their own experiences in the beautiful, natural world.
Have you ever noticed how Children and Nature go so happily together?
“As a child, one has that magical capacity to move among the many eras of the earth; to see the land as an animal does; to experience the sky from the perspective of a flower or a bee; to feel the earth quiver and breathe beneath us..”
~ Valerie Andrews, A Passion for this Earth
“Children are born naturalists. They explore the world with all of their senses, experiment in the environment, and communicate their discoveries to those around them.”
~ Audubon Nature Preschool
Do you have special childhood memories of exploring Nature?
What fills you with inspiration? Do tell!
First posted on this date, August 5, 2015
This evergreen post first appeared on today’s date in 2014. (Gosh, did life seem simpler back then?) We had planned to visit Lead Cove last summer, but couldn’t because of all the wildfire alerts in the area. We are fervently hoping we get to visit there in August. 🙏
☀️☀️☀️
Summer in my province of Newfoundland and Labrador, compared to most of North America, is short but ever so sweet. What makes it so cherished, to my mind?
The following photos were all taken in Lead Cove, the little community where I raised my children.
I love my home for its natural beauty,
its refreshing, rugged and
unspoiled charm,
for its clear and wide blue skies
without a whisper of smog.
I love the clean, sparkling water
and the glistening rocks adorning the coastline
that beg to be traced
and trod upon by eager footsteps.
I love summer in Newfoundland
for its breathtaking views
of seascapes and landscapes
when I embark on a hike.
Whether I traverse
its beaches of sand or
climb its rocky windswept hills,
I know my camera will find its aim.
I embrace it because
the bushes and shrubs,
green and lush,
are heavy with fragrance
and of wild roses in bloom…
…while in the gardens,
the planted perennials are brilliant with colour,
delighted at last
to spread their bright petals to the sun.
I love the hardy trees of Newfoundland…
…as they stretch
their ripe foliage to the sky.
Shot through with rays of sunlight,
a shimmering haze settles over the treetops
like a warm summer veil.
After a long winter and dismal spring
of cold, naked branches,
they, as I do,
breathe a sigh of gratitude
at the return of this warm and golden season.
Are your days filled with Summer Lovin’
where you live?
*All photos and prose are from 2014
Here is another favourite to add to my Summer Memories collection.
This post takes us back to an overnight stay on Gander River in June of 2023.
Whenever my husband Paul has to travel for work in our beautiful province, I often accompany him. Particularly enjoyable are the trips that take us somewhere we haven’t visited before. And when we can combine business and pleasure, the trips are all the more fun.
This time Paul’s work took him to a business associate’s cabin on the Gander River, to design an extension and renovation for the client. The long boat in the photo above took us there, the only way to access the site.
In spite of the high winds, and getting splashed by spray over the side of the boat, the temps were warm and the views were lovely.
Here below is a shot of the little guest cabin we stayed in on the property. So cozy!
The Gander River is well-known for its salmon pools and outfitting business. To learn more, check out this site.
Below: blue flag iris growing along the shoreline.
Time to eat, sit back and relax.
Our gracious hosts provided a delicious grilled steak supper and refreshments at the main cabin.
I would love to go back there someday!
This is one of my favourite summertime posts. It features Vivian K. Perry and was shared in 2017. We still love and miss you lots, Viv! I also love the scenery of Barbour Tickle here in Newtown.
Welcome back for the Big Reveal.
On Sunday, I asked “What has gotten Vivian so concerned?”
Scroll down to find out!
On an especially gorgeous Saturday last month, Paul and I decided to go out for a row in the Serendipity, a lovely little punt built by our late neighbour, Ben Perry.
We came up with the ‘brilliant’ idea
to try to take Vivian along.
We did everything we could to coax her aboard,
but she was having no part of it.
In fact, she almost lost her mind that we were going,
with or without her.
She cried to break her heart as we left.
Bon voyage!
Your loss, Viv.
Rounding Perry’s Point…
…and down through the Tickle
Part of a wedding photo shoot.
You never know what you’ll see
when you’re out for a row.
Leaving the Tickle,
we set out for Bennett Island.
In case you were wondering why there are no lifejackets,
the water is very shallow here.
Vivian missed out,
but thank you for coming along!
For more Barbour Tickle photos, click here.
I will be sharing other summer memories over the next three months. ☀️
The Ragtag Daily Prompt today is Summer Memories! I thought I’d share this favourite evergreen post as an introduction to a summer series I plan to showcase in the next few months. ☀️
*Ragtag Daily Prompt: Summer Memories
All poetry and images are my own.
There is only now.
An open window
a fresh breeze
to welcome
this bright and beautiful
April day.
– J. Kelland Perry
As I have mentioned on my blog before, spring takes its own sweet time to show its face on the island of Newfoundland. The arrival is gradual, just as it is on most northern coastlines, with cold temperatures accompanied by the odd snowfall or sleet storm.
I love the anticipation of warmer days ahead. And there are still some lovely moments, particularly when the wind is light, the water is calm, and the sun begins to set. These photos were taken on the peaceful evening of April 2nd, and since then most of the snow and ice has disappeared.
Another reason I love spring here on Perry’s Point: the pleasure to witness the renewal of nature by observing our seabirds. Two weeks ago, it started—the sudden appearance of seagulls and other salt water birds pairing off to mate. Everyday, we now see them huddled—and even cuddled!—together on rocks and small islets off the point, or gliding through the water side by side: herring gulls, saddlebacks, black ducks, and pintails.
Seagulls squeal a spring duet
swim in pairs around ice and rock
glide as swans in graceful tandem
hush broken by caw and squawk *
*excerpt from Seagull Spring by J. Kelland Perry, April 2015
“April is the gateway to the joys of summer.” ― Fennel Hudson
“Oh, the lovely fickleness of an April day!” – W. H. Gibson
There is something so beautiful about sunsets. Perhaps it’s the natural silhouettes they create.
Newtown Branch Sunset
Summer Sunset on Perry’s Point
Winter Dusk on Perry’s Point
Summer Crescent Moon on Perry’s Point
This is the only one not from Newtown, but it is in Newfoundland: Garden Cove Trail just south of Swift Current.
All photos are my own.
Ragtag Daily Prompt: Silhouette
Jennifer's Journal 