Horses in Cow Bay

It seems like a long time since there have been horses in Cow Bay.  It’s nice to see that we have them in our midst again.    Almost twenty years ago, it wasn’t unusual to come across tracks made by horses’ hooves along the trails in the woods or see young women riding horses along the side of the road.   At the time, local resident Evelyn Ramey was the only female blacksmith shoeing horses in the Maritimes.  She taught horseback riding to 4H members in Eastern Passage.

These large mammals are both expensive and time consuming to raise and maintain.  Their disappearance from the landscape has been fairly quick.  I wonder how many horses lived in Cow Bay just before motor cars were introduced.  Back then,  farmers in the area probably depended on them for farming practices and for transporting their produce to Halifax markets.

Years ago I heard about a cemetery off Autumn Drive, where horses were once buried.  Every community must have had such a place to lay to rest creatures that lived their lives serving people side by side.  Cow Bay would have been no different.  Now, most of the lots on that street have been developed.   Only the odd lot, such as the one pictured above, doesn’t have a house sitting on it yet.  Whether the cemetery was near the present road or a distance from it, is unknown.  Much of the nearby area is boggy.

These days it’s nice to once again see people riding or walking next to horses along the road and see horses grazing in the fields.

There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.

~ Winston Churchill

Photo Credits:  Jeremiah Bell

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Where Mermaids Arrange their Hair

This large, smooth stone near Rainbow Haven Beach is where mermaids sit at dusk and at dawn. And what do they do there at the rising and setting of the sun?  They arrange flowers in their hair… flowers they’ve found on the beach, growing just at the edge of the high tide line.

These pink-lavender Beach Peas  have tendrils that can easily be twirled and fixed into long mermaid hair.  Land dwellers may have the wind to be concerned about, but mermaids also have to worry about the currents messing with their hair.  It’s not easy to find ornaments that stay in place.

Can’t you just see a pretty mermaid placing one of these pink and white Morning Glories  above one of her ears as she sits on the stone at dawn.  These wild blooms are colorful enough to look striking both above and under the water.

Jacques Cousteau believed that Manatees were what sailors really saw when they thought they were seeing mermaids.  It’s sad that scientists often try to make up in research for what they sometimes lack in imagination.

There are thousands of stones on shores around the world, where mermaids fix their hair and look out to sea as they plan or reflect on the day.  Perhaps there’s one such stone near you.

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Walking towards Dawn

In order to see the sun rise you have to set out while it is still dark. The air will be still and cool.  There may be birds greeting one another, but their calls will quickly fade into a hush along with the sound of your footsteps as you begin your walk.   The sky may be a deep blue if it’s clear, or a misty blue if it’s hazy…

The anticipation of seeing the sun rise will block out all other thoughts in these pre-dawn minutes.  At no other time of day is it so easy to be ‘in the moment.’

Whether you are looking towards the east from an ocean shore, the woods or a hilltop, the instant the sun kisses the horizon and awakens the day, you’ll feel a part of something bigger than yourself, your daily concerns and your dreams.

It is necessary for me to see the first point of light which begins to be dawn.  It is necessary to be present alone at the resurrection of Day, in the blank silence when the sun appears.  In this completely neutral instant I receive from the Eastern woods, the tall oaks, the one word ‘Day,’ which is never the same.  It is never spoken in any known language.

~ Thomas Merton from Day of a Stranger

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Deer Along the Salt Marsh Trail

For one moment, the deer was on the trail and then it was gone, bounding down the side of the path into the woods.  It followed the side of the trail from below back towards me, and for just an instant, was close again.  Supposedly deer will try to make their way back to their original spot after they’ve been startled.

Another deer was already on the other side of the trail in the same spot where I’d seen a coyote not that long ago.  I’d never seen deer along the trail so seeing two at once was quite the treat.

Eventually the deer that was right next to the side of the trail made its way into the water and swam across to a nearby island. Out of the water, it quickly galloped off and made its way behind some large rocks.  The other gradually made its way into the woods too, in the opposite direction.

Both these creatures were White Tailed Deer, which are not uncommon along Bissett Road and in Cow Bay.  They are among the shyest and most nervous of deer.  If startled, they’ll often raise their tails, showing the white fur beneath, as a warning flag to other deer nearby.  Before the salt marsh area was made into a park, they were probably hunted here for centuries.  They have a life expectancy of about ten years in the wild.

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The Simplicity of Daisies

The daisy’s for simplicity and unaffected air.
~ Robert Burns

Daisies can be found almost anywhere, growing in gravel along the roadside as well as in carefully tended gardens.  Yet, regardless of where they find themselves, they are consistently unassumingly pretty flowers with a simple design:  Circles of yellow surrounded by numerous petals of white.  Throughout the day, daisies follow the sun in the sky, turning their faces slowly from east to west. 
As a child I often picked bouquets of daisies but found it difficult to find any that weren’t a magnet for tiny insects.  They are a favorite with bees and beetles.

I also used daisies to decorate mud pies and made daisy chains to wear around my neck.  Who has not plucked the petals from a daisy repeating, ‘he loves me, he loves me not?’  Daisies and childhood seem to go together.  They are a symbol of innocence and loyal love.

Their Latin name Bellis Perennis means perennial beauty.  A perennial is usually a flower that lives for more than two years.  The name daisy originates with Day’s eye, as they are open from dawn to dusk.

The daisy is a favorite of my friend Rhonda who is 28 today.  Like the daisy, she has retained her sweetness and simple country girl manner throughout the years.  Here’s a spiral of 28 daisies to mark the occasion.  In this day and age, staying sweet despite our years is no easy feat and an accomplishment well worth celebrating.

Child of the Year! that round dost run
Thy course, bold lover of the sun,
And cheerful when the day’s begun
As lark or leveret,
Thy long-lost praise thou shalt regain;
Nor be less dear to future men
Than in old time; -thou not in vain
Art Nature’s favourite.
~ William Wordsworth, To the Daisy

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Elusive Summer

This empty boardwalk should be teeming with sun seekers dressed in bathing suits, eating ice cream cones, carrying beach chairs or picnic baskets and heading out for a sunny day at the beach. Where are they? 

During the summer, this blue mussel bed at Rainbow Haven Beach is usually a magnet for children looking for crabs at low tide.  It too is desolate. 

Although we’re already well into July, endless weeks of rain and cooler than seasonal temperatures have made Nova Scotians feel like we have yet to experience summer this year.  Our winters can be quite harsh with lots of ice, snow and cold, but our wonderful summers usually make them somewhat tolerable. 

Somewhere, beyond the fog and clouds, I know there are blue skies and the sun is shining brightly.  Maturing robins are looking for worms in the lawn, wild flowers are blooming and the grass is growing, carrying on as though it is indeed summer.  They don’t seem to need to see blue skies and experience soaring temperatures in order to go about their summer business.  Maybe we should be more trusting too.  Hopefully this week’s forecast for sunnier skies will give us all something to smile about.

The blue of heaven is larger than the clouds.

~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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Think Pink

Forget pink cotton candy, bubble gum, Elvis and Mary Kay’s pink cadillacs, pink slips and the Pink Panther.  Forget the color’s association with baby girls and all things feminine…  lipstick, nail polish and party dresses.  Just… think pink.

Pink, often called rose,  is considered one of the calmest colors to look at.  Its delicate blush is attractive, non-threatening and uplifting.  To look at the world through rose colored glasses is to see everything in a positive light. 

You may already know that Picasso had a blue period of painting, characterized by sombre arrangements of melancholic, seemingly disconnected individuals.  But did you know that his blue style was superceded by a rose period?  It expressed a changed life of personal happiness for Picasso, marked by closer relationships with others.

In nature, flowers like peonies, clematis and wild roses paint garden and roadside scenes with joyful jots of pink and rose.  The rising and setting sun may also blush the sky and landscape with a rosy glow.  Perhaps a walk at dawn or sunset may be just the remedy for a sad disposition.  If you’re really feeling blue, it might be helpful to gaze into a pink flower for a few minutes and breathe in its color.  It certainly wouldn’t hurt.  Just keep an eye out for the bees!

Frequently the wood are pink –
Frequently are brown.
Frequently the hills undress
Behind my native town.
Oft a head is crested
I was wont to see –
And as oft a cranny
Where it used to be –
And the Earth — they tell me –
On its Axis turned!
Wonderful Rotation!
By but twelve performed!

~ Emily Dickinson

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Seafood Buffet

Dismembered crab carcasses litter the trail that runs through the salt marsh.  Seagulls fly onto the trail to crack open and eat crabs found in the marsh.  Although Rock Crabs are most common, Green Crabs are also on the seagulls’ menu.   Sometimes cracked Northern Moon Snail shells can be found as well, remnants of a tasty breakfast.

Although Rock Crabs can run sideways at great speed, and are masterful at wedging themselves between the rocks along the shore, they are still easily caught by the seagulls.  These crabs are most active at night. 

Crabs are Decapods, having five pairs of legs.  Their abdomens are small and curled under their bodies.  They share the lobsters’ marvelous ability to regenerate legs, claws, eyes or antennae.  They are predators and scavengers, eating dead creatures found on the bottom of the marsh and sea.  Common prey are starfish, sea urchins and other crabs.  Crab shells fade in the sunlight, becoming a light orange color over time.

Neither Green nor Rock Crabs are consumed by people in Nova Scotia.  Snow Crabs, more common in Cape Breton, are the type usually eaten here. 

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Eating Slugs and Snails

If we eat escargots, why don’t we eat slugs?  They’re boneless, meaty (likely high in protein) and many species are herbivores, so we’d be eating fairly low on the food chain.

Of course, they might sound tastier in French:

I’d like to order an appetizer of limaces s’il vous plaît, with a glass of red wine. Better make that a bottle.  

Like escargots, slugs (or limaces, if you prefer) would probably taste best cooked with lots of garlic, butter and a bit of parsley, but could also be thrown into a stew, battered and fried or added to a Caesar salad.  

L.E. Adams 1896

Slugs thrive in moist environments. I’ve seen slugs near misty waterfalls on the west coast of Canada that were close to six inches in length.  The ones here on the east coast aren’t nearly half that size, but they are nevertheless quite common in the garden.  They’re eaten by birds, reptiles and amphibians.  Although they shrink their bodies when threatened and can be rather slithery to grasp, they are still fairly easy to catch.  Slow food.

Apparently, a few years ago, on a dare, an Australian ate a couple of garden slugs.  I can see someone doing that, espcially after a few beers.  It seems harmless enough and women are usually impressed by such antics.  Well, not really.  He nearly died.  Neurologists concluded that he had acquired both meningitis and encephalitis from the leopard slugs he had eaten.  The article cites a couple of other individuals who didn’t survive.  Apparently, the larval stage of the parasitic worm Angiostrongylus cantonensis lives in molluscs, including slugs.  Extreme heat will kill the worm but it may not be worth the risk.  Some slugs would probably be more suspect than others, but to the untrained eye, it would be difficult to tell the difference between one species and another.  The chart above shows types of slugs found in Great Britain. 

Meanwhile, in one corner of southern Italy, it’s believed that eating a whole, raw slug will aid gastritis or stomach ulcers.  Slug mucous is also used there to treat skin ailments.  See reference here.

This is the first year I’ve noticed several garden snails in the yard.  Their shells are fairly delicate and the snails themselves are quite small.  An Italian friend in Ontario used to pick and cook land snails she’d find along the railway tracks.  The ones she picked must have been closer in size to the periwinkles found along the shore here in Nova Scotia.

To my knowledge, periwinkles are not eaten in Nova Scotia.  However, they are cooked and eaten elsewhere in the world.  Food tastes are cultural.  Meningitis and encephalitis, however, are cross-cultural infections.  There’s a Chinese belief that eating molluscs while you have a wound on your body will lengthen recovery time.  Even Leviticus 20 in the Old Testament warns against eating any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground.  It might be best to be safe than sorry the next time someone dares you to eat a slug.

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Leave the Beaten Track Behind

A Porcupine Leaving the Salt Marsh Trail

Leave the beaten track behind occasionally and dive into the woods. Every time you do, you will be certain to find something you have never seen before.

Alexander Graham Bell

Both humans and animals favor the beaten track.  It’s easy.  It’s less work and there’s less chance of coming across the unknown.  Yet, there’s a price to be paid for both men and wild creatures.

A Fox Trail at Rainbow Haven Beach

Over time, predators become aware of who goes where and when, and stalk their prey from the shadows.  Hunters set snares along trails frequently used by hares and rabbits.  Human travellers become accustomed to getting from point A to B, and begin to lose the peripheral vision that ignited their curiosity as children.  Minds become dull and prone to boredom.

Leaving the beaten track behind doesn’t have to involve throwing caution to the wind and setting out into the wild without a compass.  It can be as simple as taking a little extra time to just stop and smell the wild roses that are growing a couple of feet beyond the trail.

Wild Roses Growing Near Rainbow Haven Beach

If you’re a fair weather walker, you might consider donning some rain gear and setting out when it’s drizzling and there are puddles waiting to to be splashed along the trail.  Even walking along the same path at a different time of day can open up a mountain of new possibilities.  The light looks different in the morning than in the afternoon or evening.  Animal traffic changes throughout the day so you might see creatures you’ve never seen before along the same trail.

Best of all, doing or learning something new will clear some of the cobwebs from your brain and make it work better for the rest of the day.  That’s reason enough to leave the beaten track behind. 

And now for something completely different…

~ Monty Python

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