Category: Nova Scotia weather

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Beautiful morning

The sweet smell of spring
The sweet smell of spring

I wish I could post the perfumed air that caressed my nostrils when I opened the door this morning so that you could smell it too. These guys on the right may have contributed to it, but the main source is probably all the dandelions that suddenly opened up this morning.

This is my favourite week of the year, when the trees leaf out and the world is transformed.

Where we live, on a tidal inlet on Mahone Bay, it all happens a little later than just up the road, half a mile inland.

The picture below expresses, to me anyway, some of the softness of this morning.

Soft lighting at high tide
Soft lighting at high tide
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Video: Frosty Morning – Winter Ice on Mahone Bay

Hot off the press: our first Nova Scotia Photo Album video. It won’t be the last!

This one shows how tide and temperature create an ever-changing landscape on Mahone Bay’s shoreline, from first frost to spring breakup.

The music is an Appalachian tune called Frosty Morning, played by Dennis Robinson on fiddle and Heather Holm (that’s me) on accordion.

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Spring has surely sprung

Enjoying the tender green grass
Enjoying the tender green grass

Sunny weather is forecast for the next week, with no temperatures below freezing. Time to plant some lettuce.  Not for this bunny to eat, however (I hope).

Only a few weeks ago the rabbits I saw were quite white.  This little fellow has his summer coat on now.  He (or she?) looks quite delighted with the newly greening grass, or perhaps some delectible weed he has found. He was so busy, he didn’t notice me softly walking up the driveway.

Blue jay flies across the lawn
Blue jay flies across the lawn

How quickly comes spring, when it finally comes.  Perhaps even the word “spring” comes from the same root as the kind of spring found in a mattress.  All that life energy is compressed, cowering under winter’s weight, until winter rolls away off the bed and, suddenly released, Spring bursts forth to exuberantly express itself …  Boing … like a rabbit’s hop when it realizes you’re there.

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If you don’t like the weather in Nova Scotia…

… stick around for 20 minutes. That’s what they say. I got anecdotal proof of it today. Driving into Mahone Bay at about 8:10, I saw this:

8:10 a.m. Gloriously sunny - but see those clouds on the horizon...
8:10 a.m. Gloriously sunny - but see those clouds on the horizon...

Then about 20 minutes later, this is what I saw in the same spot:

20 minutes later it's cloudy in Mahone Bay.
20 minutes later it's cloudy in Mahone Bay.

Case closed.

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Ice on an April morning

On a cold morning the receding tide leaves a film of ice on the seaweed and rocks along the shore. Nova Scotia is blessed with natural shorelines like this, a haven for wildlife which is threatened by development.
On a cold morning the receding tide leaves a film of ice on the seaweed and rocks along the shore. Nova Scotia is blessed with natural shorelines like this. It's a haven for wildlife, but threatened by development. More about that in future posts. We feel fortunate to live along an undeveloped coastline.
Ice forms patterns on two species of seaweed.
Ice forms patterns on two species of seaweed.
Chunks of heavier winter ice are heading out to sea, temporarily caught in the overnight freeze, soon to be melted by the warming spring sun.
Chunks of heavier winter ice are heading out to sea, temporarily caught in the overnight freeze, soon to be melted by the warming spring sun.
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Ice leaves, buffleheads take over

The ice that yesterday filled the cove has floated out to sea.
The ice that yesterday filled the cove has floated out to sea. The Oak Island Inn (which is not on Oak Island, but overlooks it) is in the distance.
2009-03-28-buffleheads
As soon as the ice had melted, the bufflehead ducks that had all winter occupied the other side of the causeway, the side that didn't freeze, gleefully (I imagine) took possession of the newly open water.