October 7, 2013: Village of Gagetown Barn

365 Project, Day 100

Here is my day one hundred submission to my 365Project:

Wow! I've posted 100 photos in my 365 Project now. I think I managed to get a photo up most days but I have realized it would be more difficult than I had anticipated when I started. Still, it is fun to look back on the many photos I've taken. I think I have also learned something about my photography in the process. 

I'm still visiting my family in New Brunswick and while I was on a walk around the cute Village of Gagetown I snapped some photos of this barn. Recently, I learned it is a good idea to have a strong foreground in landscape photos and I liked the detail in the wood of the fence post and the wire leading away from it. 

Fun fact of the day:
The Village of Gagetown (to be distinguished from the nearby Canadian Forces base CFB Gagetown) was founded in 1783. The village is steeped in history and became a busy and vibrant farming community. Today it is a mecca for artists, artisans, bird watchers and boaters.

Read more about the Village of Gagetown at the village webpage here. 

And some more photos from around Gagetown :)

Another photo of my parent's cute pup, Yoko, the Shiba Inu

While taking photos for an assignment for a photo class I'm taking I snapped this photo in my parent's dining room and I liked the lighting, the contrast in the wall colours and the old feel it had. 

October 3, 2013: Butterfly Feeding

365 Project, Day 96

Here is my day ninety-six submission to my 365Project:

Fun fact of the day: 
Imagine if you could taste with your feet! Well, butterflies can taste with their feet! They have six lets and they each have sensors on them that can tell just by landing on a flower what it tastes like. 

Read more about butterfly 'eating' at this webpage.

More photos of a farm and the entertaining cow residents in the Village of Gagetown:

October 2, 2013: Looking For A Meal

365 Project, Day 95

Here is my day ninety-five submission to my 365Project:

While out at my step-dad's property in New Brunswick we spotted quite a few turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) circling around above us...most likely looking for a dinner OR taking a break from a meal on some unfortunate dead critter!

Fun fact of the day:
Tibetan Buddhists practice "sky burials" where animals, usually vultures, consume their dead. Zoroastrians also offer their dead to be consumed by vultures and regard vultures as precious animals that release the soul from the body. 

To read more interesting facts about Vultures check out this All About Birds webpage.

Here are some more photos from today's adventures:

Doctor's Hill B and B in the lovely Village of Gagetown

Yoko, my parents' (and sister's!) cute Shiba Inu dog, Yoko, taking in the sun

Going for a stroll on my step-dad's property in New Brunswick

More photos of that turkey vulture :)

Winter scenes, New Brunswick, December

A white Christmas in New Brunswick

When I first started working as an offshore Marine Mammal Observer (MMO) I knew it was very likely I would spend many Holiday seasons away from Canada. In fact, 2009 was my first year working as an MMO and I did spend Christmas offshore on a seismic vessel (see post on my first Christmas offshore). It was wonderful though because the crew decorated the galley and the cooks made a Christmas feast although, for some reason, it definitely catered to a carnivore's taste and consisted of turkey, ham, roast beef, suckling pig, ribs, salmon, crab, prawns and potatoes (I don't recall their being other vegetables?)! That's right! The only thing a non-meat eater had to  choose from at this Christmas dinner were mashed potatoes! I enjoyed the day though which was made extra magical and Christmas-ey when one of the other MMOs surprised me and the other MMO with a stocking stuffed full of treats hung on our cabin doors :) 

Luckily, the way the rotations landed on the Egypt contract this winter (see previous and following posts) I was able to come back to Canada and spend the holidays with my family in New Brunswick. This would be my first Christmas in Eastern Canada and my first white Christmas in ages. 

So why did I end up spending Christmas in New Brunswick instead of Vancouver Island? When I completed my undergraduate degree in 2004 I ended up working and studying in various places until 2008. During this time I worked at the Center For Whale Research on San Juan Island, WA, with the Coastal Ecosystem Research Foundation (CERF) on the central BC coast and San Ignacio Lagoon, Mexico, with Global Vision International (GVI) in Kenya and then studied my masters course in Marine Mammal Science at St Andrews, Scotland. Until I completed my masters nearly all of my immediate family were on Vancouver Island but within a couple years of me returning to Victoria my parents and then my brother and grandparents moved to eastern Canada where the family had a fair sized piece of property that needed attention i.e. somebody tending to it once in a while!

Vancouver Island, on the very southwest coast of Canada
New Brunswick is in red 

Although I couldn't really complain having been away for so long myself, I was sad most of my immediate family now lived on the other side of the country. The full trip from Victoria to New Brunswick takes more time than it does to fly from Vancouver to London! With all the connections and the fact that the distance from Victoria to New Brunswick is 5353 km (this trip would take a full 2.5 days to drive) they journey by plane is one very full day. Of course, I was willing to make the trip to spend Christmas with family this year and was certainly glad I did!

Following are some photos from this lovely WHITE Christmas!! Something we don't really get on Vancouver Island...although we nearly missed out in New Brunswick too as the snow arrived later than expected this year!

Yoko, my parent's (and sister's) sweet Shiba Inu

Scenes around the Village of Gagetown (not CFB Gagetown!), New Brunswick

Doctor's Hill B and B - lovely, lovely home!

Beautiful but c-c-c-cold!

The Village of Gagetown is a busy place this time of year!

Gas dock - in hibernation mode, onshore, in the winter

Taking some time out :)

Visiting my parents' friends' farm where they bred fine quality Percheron horses

This big guy, Chicago, was the prize winning stallion. A big, beautiful horse indeed!

Absolutely loved this photo...so New Brunswick! Randy, the breeder, and my grandfather sitting under all the 'trophies'