FROM HERE TO THERE...

Since I had a later flight back to Toronto tonight, I took the opportunity to go to the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. Uncle Tak's retrospective exhibit is there until August 27th.

By the time I got to the gallery, there was only about 45 minutes before closing time. As I was pulling my $10 out, the girl behind the counter told me I had 45 minutes and asked if there was anything in particular I wanted to see. I told her I was going to see my uncle, as I pointed to the brochure and she told me not to worry about it.

If your going to be in the Halifax area this summer, check it out, you can try saying he's your uncle. The gallery is on 1723 Hollis St., Halifax, NS. Here is a closeup of the banner outside.

The gallery is down near the Halifax Harbour. I had the chance to walk around after visiting the gallery. It has been close to 30 years since we visited Halifax when I was a kid.

There were lots of fishing vessels in port

That bump coming out of the ground is suppose to be a "wave". Here is a closer look.

Here are a few pictures of the sights of the harbour through my eyes.

Across the harbour is Dartmouth, there is an Environment Canada building over there.

One of the bridges that connect Halifax to Dartmouth. I think it is the MacDonald bridge.

One of the many tour boats available is Theodore the Tugboat.

I am able to post todays blog entries from the Halifax airport, they currently have free wireless access, but I'm sure the next time I'm through it will cost to use it. My flight back to Toronto has been delayed almost an hour.

I'm down in Kejimkujik National Park in Nova Scotia this week for a few days. The black flies and ticks are plentiful. The black flies feasted on my head until I got my bug jacket on. I saw this guy early on and he sat in the same spot almost the whole day.

In case you didn't know what a tick looks like, here is one on my leg.

Just after I left the park I saw this guy on the side of the road, he was pretty big.

It was slow going coming back into Bridgewater, I was stuck behind this truck and the road is winding with few places to pass.

This week I was up at our site near Barrie for a couple of days. With all my travel lately, my office has become somewhat of a disaster area. Our division actually had a day at the end of April dedicated to cleaning up your office, but it was my scheduled day off. And I wasn't about to go in just to clean my office. I have some holidays coming up, and usually I get my desk cleared off before I go. Here is a picture of my desk.

While I was up at our Egbert site, I came across this guy.

Here he is being disturbed by me for a photo opportunity.

It's back to Kejimkujik in Nova Scotia next week. Still ahead is Regina, North Bay, Manitoulin Island, Newfoundland, Alert and Minneapolis before the end of September.

A screenshot of Saturna Island from Google Earth.

Saturna Island in relation to Vancouver.

Even though it wasn't forecasted, it rained anyway. It started at about 7:30 am and it rained off and on all day. It does bring the deer out earlier in the day, when it is sunny out we usually don't see them until parts of the site start to shade over. This was before it started raining.

We made it off the island on the 4:15 pm ferry, with a stop on Mayne Island, where we had to transfer to another ferry. Here we are waiting for our ferry to come. The one pictured was heading to Tsawwassen.

Spending the night in Sidney, out by the airport, and then on the first direct flight back to Toronto Friday morning.

Today for lunch we went up to Mt. Warburton Pike, it is the highest point on the island at 397m. You can drive right to the top, it gives some awesome views of the neighbouring islands.

Spotted some feral goats further down, look closely and you can see about four of them.

I saw some of these birds at the site and after a little research, I think they are Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura), so called because of their red heads. Often from a distance they are mistaken for eagles.

On the way back down we spotted this truck.

I wonder how long it has been there to be overgrown like that.

Couldn't do an update without a deer picture. When I called out Bambi, it turned to look at me, I was just taking a wild guess on its name.

A little video of the family leaving.

I almost stepped on this guy, if it wasn't for our trip to Botanical Beach last summer I wouldn't have known what it was.

Picked him up and confirmed it was a Banana Slug (Ariolimax columbianus)

It can stretch out pretty far. That is a quarter for reference.

A little video of the slug.

I was up early this morning and took a walk down to the beach by the cottage we are staying at. This is the cottage looking up from the trail to the beach.

A view to the south through the trees.

The view to the north east.

An island off in the distance.

When you lift a rock, you'll find a little crab sitting under it.

They come in all sizes.

Self portrait.

Even the deer come to the beach.

For all the times I have been out here, this is the first time I have walked down here, usually because I am here in November and it is raining.

Woke up this morning an opened the blinds, this is what I saw. He was a little closer, but by the time I got the camera he had moved on.

Nothing like working outside when the sun is shining and there is a cool breeze.

There are big spiders on Saturna, often we get spiders in some of the samples that come back from the sites.

Probably the only flowers growing in the clearing where our site is.

Look closely and you can see the ladybug.

The black tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus) have been very plentiful this trip, to date we have seen over 20 deer.

Self portrait of me and the deer.

A closer look at the deer.

Drove out to Winter Cove after work.

I'm off to Saturna Island this week. The flight into Vancouver was good and we actually got bumped up to an earlier flight over to Victoria. Of course that meant we had to wait longer for the ferry. Here is the restaurant at Swartz Bay.

We passed a Fisheries and Ocean vessel from Ottawa on the way to Saturna.

Was able to catch the sunset down Navy Channel. That was after watching the Oilers lose to Carolina.

A bird got in the way of this picture.

Just by turning to the left a bit, it is a whole different view.

I tend to go a little overboard with the digital camera.

I am heading to Saturna Island tomorrow for the week. I should be able to do some updates through the week. Weather is forecasted to be sunny.

I spent the week in downtown Montreal on a training course. It was a nice change of pace. The view from my hotel room.

You know you're back in Ontario when as soon as you cross the border you are in a construction zone.