Our late winter storm: I don’t think there’s quite the 15 cm (6 in) they forecast, but there’s sure the ice pellets mixed with it, as they warned.

The bright side is, it’s been too cold (expected of this season) for many buds to have appeared so nothing’s been ruined by last night’s weather activity.

Let me guess: warm & sunny where you are?

The Saturday Snapshot meme is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.

My husband was on a business trip near Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland last week and snapped lots of photos of caribou. I think they’re an unusual combination: they’re a type of deer, yet have the shoulders of a moose, and legs and a head that look like a horse (to me anyway).

What do you think?

More of the park. They don’t call Newfoundland “The Rock” for nothing.

A former owner had this streetlight installed on our property. I’m glad he did because otherwise it’s awfully dark coming from the car to the house, especially on moonless nights.

I snapped this last night as the light shone through the snow-covered but otherwise bare branches of the tree.

This is my first time participating in the Saturday Snapshot meme, hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.

We woke up this morning to a winter wonderland. The whole world seemed silent and clean. The tree house isn’t quite finished (and not quite in a tree anymore since a storm took it down).

What’s it like where you are?

WINTER STORM COMING. HUNKER DOWN. READ!

Want to join the 6WS club? Describe what is going on in your life in 6 words and then link up with Cate at Showmyface.com

HUGE CLEANING JOB. MANY HANDS. DONE 🙂

Want to join the 6WS club? Describe what is going on in your life in 6 words and then link up with Cate at Showmyface.com

FIVE BLESSED HOURS ALONE. QUIET. MMMMMMMM…..

Want to join the 6WS club? Describe what is going on in your life in 6 words and then link up with Cate at Showmyface.com

LIFE’S AT FULL THROTTLE; ENGINE’S OVERHEATING

Want to join the 6WS club? Describe what is going on in your life in 6 words and then link up with Cate at Showmyface.com

READY FOR A FRESH READING START

Want to join the 6WS club? Describe what is going on in your life in 6 words and then link up with Cate at Showmyface.com

Pretty, isn’t it?

It’s been snowing lightly since before dawn – and it’s slippery out there!

Look how gray the sky is!

But for a few glorious minutes just before noon, the sun burst out from the clouds at the back of the house and made everything glow. You can see the shadow of the roof peak in the bottom right.

I’m so glad I captured this moment – have a wonderful weekend!

I was out doing some volunteer work yesterday morning and came across what I at first thought was a large dog on the front lawn of a house.

When I realized that it was a cow, I thought for sure it was a lawn ornament – until said bovine raised her head to look at me.

Another “we never saw this in the city” moment!

I know I’m a day late but I do have an explanation.

Heavy rain started here in Nova Scotia about midnight Thursday and continued on until supper time Friday. In all, about 56 mm (just over 2 inches) came down in that time period. I took this photo Friday morning from my office window, thinking that the rain was benefiting the view: making the sere colours of November deepen and glow.

We had a dinner reservation with some friends in Halifax (about a two hour drive) and were amazed to see the water on the way: ditches running white water rapids, streams flowing through fields and down hillsides where there had been no streams a day earlier, standing water making hay fields resemble rice paddies, but the roads were fine even through Truro which sits on a flood plain at the end of the Bay of Fundy (highest tides in the world!)

Truro is located at the far right end of the water in this diagram (just off the map) – past where it says tides are 49 feet (15 m).

Ah – but supper time was low tide. By the time we traveled home at 10 that evening, matters were different. We saw a car abandoned in the Sobey’s parking lot, water up to the middle of its doors. And we found all the access roads through & around Truro closed because of flooding, necessitating some quick thinking and back roads to get home.

None of my photos turned out because it was too dark – but trust me: what looks so benign in my front yard was anything but at high tide in Truro.

Our three-year-old grandson has a pretty happy disposition and not much gets him down, but he was in tears this morning. We’re having a bit of a blow here on the east coast – a nor-easter with lots of rain and winds that are gusting to 100 km/hr (60mph). The ‘breezes’ caught the tree that held the start of the tree-house that Grampa is building for Steven – and took it out by the roots. Tire swing’s gone, too.

The silver lining? As Steven, who never cries for long, says: “I can fill up that hole with water and jump in the B-I-G puddle!”

Summer is fast drawing to a close & I realize that I’ve not shown you a full summer view from my window. (Oh, I wish I had a new camera!)

Despite the warmish weather of the last couple of weeks, the grasses and trees are losing their vibrant summer green, so I thought I’d concentrate on the mountain ash tree in the front garden. It volunteered itself there about four years ago and this year, for the first time, displayed the glossy orange berries that characterize it. (And, yes, the sky is really is that blue.)

We spent yesterday afternoon at the beach but it rained all night and today it’s 13C/55F with a NW wind blowing at 60km/35mph that makes it feel much colder. But the sun is shining – which it’s supposed to do all weekend. Have a good one, wherever you are. I’ll be back with book-related posts next week.

I was out doing volunteer work yesterday afternoon and got quite warm in the car. Each time we drove past an ocean view, the water looked so blue & inviting that I thought of stopping the car and just diving in.

Today promised to be as warm so we decided to make a last run to the beach. (Much cooler weather is forecast, starting tomorrow.) That ol’ Atlantic was darn cold – and rough, what with the stiff breeze coming in, but my three-year-old grandson had a ball while his mom & I sat in the sun.

Even if we have a very warm Indian summer next month, this will probably be our last beach trip for the year. Bittersweet.

On the way to the nearest town 45 minutes away, the highway runs by a field in which there is often a white horse. And if the horse is there, so is the goat, following the horse around like a shadow. This summer, there is a new addition – the goat’s kid, who is not visible in the photo.

I think people must stop often for photos and the horse is fed up. Nearly every time I took a shot, he moved his rear-end to the camera. Not amused by the paparazzi , I guess.

The less-than-rich soil and shorter growing season along Nova Scotia’s North Shore means that most of the farmland around is used in woodlot, wild blueberries, hayfields, beef & dairy herds, and sheep – lots and lots of sheep. While many of the area farmers still use dogs to herd and protect their flocks–border collies and Bernese mountain dogs being a couple of the favorites–more and more are turning to the use of llamas.

Llamas are relatively friendly, curious and a great asset in keeping the local sheep from the local coyotes. You can read about their guard qualities here.

Yesterday afternoon, we passed a large flock of baa-ing ewes and lambs (what a marvelous sound!) and caught their protector in the middle of a grassy mouthful.

I thought you’d enjoy seeing this, too.

It’s commonly thought that small towns are safer than cities. And I think Maritimers, particularly, pride themselves on being honest. Even so, people are imperfect, and reality sometimes bites.

So you can imagine the trepidation my husband felt today, after discovering that he had left his cash withdrawal in the bank machine at the SuperStore in Amherst, a town of about 9,500 people. He very nearly didn’t go back to check whether it was there, when he discovered his loss after about an hour.

But go, he did. He spoke to the cashier at the Customer Service register, sheepishly admitting that he thought he had left his money behind. She asked him how much he thought he’d left. When he told the amount, she happily handed him this envelope, containing the cash that an employee had turned in. That young man, who was on his way back in from the parking lot with a load of shopping carts when he spotted the cash, can stand very tall tonight. (Thank you!)

I know that honest people can be anywhere, but I worked in banking for many years in Ontario and, more often than not, when cash was left behind in an ATM, it was pocketed by the next person in line.

It was a small amount today, but it reinforced our belief that living in a small community is the best place to be.

When we came to Nova Scotia, I didn’t realize we were moving near the Cobequid Hills – one of the three mountain ranges here. All of these ranges are part of the Canadian Appalachians, which are an extension of the American mountain chain of the same name.

The Cobequid Hills run along Nova Scotia’s north shore from the Minas Basin to Antigonish, and contain the highest point on the mainland – 1200-foot Nuttby Mountain. (The “mainland” is Nova Scotia without Cape Breton Island.)

My doctor has prescribed walking for my arthritic back and so I try each day to take my dogs for a walk. One of my favorite spots is in the 70-acre hayfield behind our property. This morning was overcast and cool, and the view of the Hills at the back of the field was beautiful.

I’m up to only 15 minutes of walking time, but if you’ve ever tried moving rubber boots through thigh-high grass, you’ll know it’s still a pretty good workout.