Out and About – Page 3 – This Old House 2

A Place Called Hope

Yesterday we visitied a bird sanctuary – A Place Called Hope. – A Place Called Hope is a Rehabilitation and Education Center for Birds of Prey. Our goal is to heal injured, orphaned, or ill birds and return them to the wild where they belong. Federal permits allow us to house and work with the birds that can not be returned to their natural world provided we share them through educational presentations. These particular birds have become ambassadors and have helped us to educate the public. They also teach all of us how to co-exist more peacefully with the wildlife in our very own backyards.

I was so impressed by the enclosures these birds are kept in, the knowledge and great care these folks provide, and always.. the inspiration, hope and good will people like this give our planet in their generous gift of caring and doing.

I do love owls… this little guy below could fit in the palm of your hand.

Up the river with two paddles

Because this ain’t sh*t’s creek 🙂

It’s a glorious summer day here in New England and we took full advantage by throwing Ruby and Torch in the back of the truck and setting out just over the bridge in the Salmon River.

My experience is that being surrounded by the beauty of nature, especially these bodies of water I’m lucky to live near, washes away the anxieties that are life. When I push out into the river and take a deep breath in, I feel the stresses leave me as the salty air refreshes, invigorates, heals.

Have you gotten your dose of natural beauty today? Step away from the chaos of the TV, the news, the papers, the computer, your phone!…. Drop your cares at the door.. go find it, drink it up, soak it in. Life is short, friends. Go live it –

Salem Feed & Grain

So.. I brought home the two baby bunnies, Harley & Cloud… and placed them in the prepared “Nursery Chicken Coop”. We’ve got a menagerie here, as you have probably figured out.. and I try to keep my animal care expenses down to respectable levels (*ahem) and thought I could make due with bunnies in a sort-of hutch-like coop. The supposed non-animal-loving husband took one look at it and said “it’s not safe enough, go get a real rabbit hutch.”

Who am I to argue! But there-in lied the rub. I called around looking for a decent rabbit hutch. Thought in a semi- rural area like ours it would be pretty simple. Petco nearby had nothing for outdoor use, but could order one. I looked at their stuff online, and the reviews. ” Nice looking but cheaply made, wood was flimsy”. “Plastic”. “Way too small for two rabbits although it is advertised as appropriate for two.”. Ok then! On to Agway. WAY TOO EXPSENIVE and not adequate space in my opinion. SO … then I googled local.. and found a fellow who makes hutches! And they were really nice styles! But they were at minimum $799!!!!… What???…. *sigh*

Yes I know I’m married to a builder. You know the shoemaker who’s family goes without shoes….

Not that we go without housing, just not a home made hutch. Priorities and available time and all that stuff.

Then I remembered a stop we made a few months back at a feed store about 40 minutes from here. Oh, how I love that place…If you live within an hour radius, or are traveling down I-95 in CT, it is soooo worth stopping in. Salem Feed & Grain

Pictures say a thousands words here…

There was indeed one double bunny hutch available for sale out on their front porch.

Sturdy construction, up off the ground (preditor protection)

and the price was right.

Now, to pimp out this bunny hutch!

Farmers Market and a Wedding bouquet

M & M went to a wedding Saturday…

And brought home this beautiful table centerpiece which her grandmother made…. the ceremony was on the shoreline, perfect theme, don’t you think? Two of my favorite things here.. a ball jar and sea glass.

Yesterday we went with good friends Jeff (our awesome Restoration-This-Old-House guru) and his wife Raven (the Fairy Queen who let me try on her wings) to the Coventry Regional Farmers Market. If you are fairly local, it’s one of the best around and since dogs are welcome, many attend.. some in their absolute best dress. So consider it a dog show too.

It was a good friends, good food, pink poodles kind of day.

It’s not about the Mansions

Oh, you’ve gotta see ’em at least once, the Mansions that line Cliff Walk in Newport, RI. I’ve posted on it before… see HERE if interested. They aren’t what I love most about that incredible place, though.

This Old House is located about four miles from the coast. Our “coast” isn’t quite –the ocean– because we are on Long Island Sound and the barrier it creates, calming things a bit as far as the water is concerned. Once you get to the mouth of the sound and beyond… the Newport area is an example, the water turns a deeper, colder, moodier blue-turquoise-green-navy color and the roil and foam are a crisp white. So refreshing and soul soothing, that’s what I love most. We often bring beach chairs and sit by the water with good reading material, taking in the salty sea breezes and Vitamin D.

located on the bulkhead

Clear water

This boats sail reminds me of a shark fin

He was flirting with the girls.. hoping for a bit of their lunch.

Del’s is a Newport staple.. if you’re out near the water, you gotta get a lemon

slushy from the Dels Lemon Truck (it’s yellow & Green, like the cup)

Most refreshing drink ever created, I believe.

Wind whipped but happy girl here, in her element.

But enough about me…this picture is about one of my

buddies from back in my artisan shop days…

Mickey Johnson, formerly Nicholas Landon Jewelry,

is now living in beautiful Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia.

I love her sea-inspired jewelry designs, and they are affordable!

I’m wearing one of her simpler original pieces, pearls are

among her favorite natural gems to work with.

Her studio and creations can be found here –

https://www.facebook.com/SeamistStudio

(you’d think I woulda put the clasp in the back, right?)

The best part of yesterday was meeting up with these characters

for an early dinner before heading home.

They spent the day on the beach below the Cliff walk and Mansions.

What I love about this particular crew right here is … they are all each others

best friend. There isn’t drama, no petty bickering… they really enjoy each

others company and holy cow – even ours on occasion.

It’s a beautiful thing.

Just a side note because I found it kinda funny –

What exactly was in the cooler they packed for themselves?

Water* Cheez-its * Swedish Fish * a Nerf Football

Who could ask for anything more 🙂

Lions Mane Jellies

I can almost hear the collective “HUH?”…..

Frasier and I took a hike along Hammonassets rocky waterfront trails this morning and when we came to where we like to dip our feet in the water, well…. we didn’t. Just as I kicked off my sneaks and stepped into the chilly ocean water I spotted them. Hundreds of what I thought were man o’war jellyfish. Come to find out later after posting on FB, they are actually Lions Mane Jellies. For all these years whenever I spotted one of these, I pretty much yiped and got out of the water. Turns out they are not deadly. Their sting might be annoying, but it’s a mild irritation. I’ve read some conflicting info on the Lions Mane jellies though… Supposedily originating in the deep arctic oceans, they can reach huge sizes, like 40 lbs. and 7 feet long, I kid you not. These are very small in comparison. Some the size of a dessert plate, others like a silver dollar.

Beautiful, aren’t they?

Some jellyfish facts:

* Jellies are ancient animals, having roamed the seas

for at least 500 million years

* Jellies don’t have brains as we typically think of them: rather, they have a network of neurons (“nerve net”) that allows jellies to sense their environments, such as changes in water chemistry indicating food or the touch of another animal. The nerve net has some specialized structures such as statocysts, which are balance sensors that help jellies know whether they are facing up or down, and light-sensing organs called ocelli, which can sense the presence and absence of light.

* Jellies are found in oceans worldwide, in shallow and deep water, and a few can even be found living in freshwater.

* Jellyfish are carnivorous, and will eat just about anything they run into! Most jellies primarily eat plankton, tiny organisms that drift along in the water, although larger ones may also eat crustaceans, fish and even other jellyfish .

* Humans eat jellyfish: people have fished for jellies for at least 1700 years off the coast of China.

* Many jellyfish are able to produce light—an ability known as bioluminescence. They have proteins in some tissues that undergo a chemical reaction to produce blue or green light in response to stimuli such as touch. No one’s quite sure why jellies bioluminesce, but it seems to be mainly a defense tactic. A bright enough flash could be enough to startle a predator—or to attract an even bigger predator to make the jelly’s predator into prey.

I had the lovely experience of getting stung by the long tentacles of a clear jelly fish that had been lying on the beach in Panama City, Florida years ago. OUCH! The only relief? … soaking my foot in meat tenderizer mixed with Vinegar. So there’s your remedy in case you ever find yourself afflicted with a jellyfish sting. It works!

Willards Island Nature Trail

In my never ending and quite possibly futile quest to get back to my pre middle age weight, I have kicked up the walking distance and speed and frequency now that the weather is cooperating. Frasier is often my companion on these jaunts. I have found that I’m more likely to stick with it if I have a dog with me, change up the location and don’t worry so much about things like…

how.many.calories.did.I.burn….how.far.did.I.go…. what.speed.did.I.manage.

When I try getting too technical and give myself yet another chore by having to keep track, I lose interest real fast. That includes using all those fabulous apps that are just one more thing. So I’m just winging it, and I find I’m having more success at staying the course as long as I don’t plot that course too rigidly.

Silt Soaks are all the rage, you know.

Apparently.

According to Frasier.. you get yourself all situated with a good long stretch.

Then you just relax in that position for, like, five minutes or so.

Long enough for plenty of silt to settle in your fur.

Then you get out, shake off and splatter whoever is within a five yard radius

so that they benefit from the silt soak too.. and you allow the remaining

two pounds of silt to dry on your fur as you meander back to the car,

where you proceed to rub the rest of said silt into the upholstery.

Make sure mom is not prepared with, oh, say.. a towel or three.

It’s just more fun this way.

It’s a new day, all – we’re headed to a four day horse show in the rain. But we’re gonna make it a good one. You know I’ll be back with pictures… have a great weekend!

Follow Frasier

This exotic looking flower was all by itself

in the middle of the woods.

By the stream there are several beautiful wild flowers in bloom…

In this picture below, there is an owl!

We’ve seen him two nights in a row now,

he must live here in the woods behind the farm.

Can’t spot him?

Let me crop and blow up the image……

The woodpeckers favorite _restaurant _ below

On our way back out of the woods, lets stop in the equipment barn

and I’ll introduce you to Big Red..a real old work horse here at This Old House.

He’s babied, I can tell you that.

This weekend he was hauling mulch,

you’d never know it.

and THIS thing below.. is the Cupola we saw at the Thrift store not long ago.

The Mr. is fixing it up so that it can sit on top of the barn

it’s currently stored in. There were quite a few bullet or bee bee holes in it

along with some rust…

I could stand inside of it easily.

The bugs are biting, so lets follow Frasier down to the house…

Have I told you lately how much I love my dogs?

..and this one in particular, I think because his journey was not always

an easy one through green fields and trickling streams with a welcoming place to

come home to.

Down Country Roads

I may swear at the typical dreary spring weather or long winters we get here in New England, but in truth the list of what I love is far longer than the issues I complain about. The old stone walls and foundations and quarries, etc. are among my favorites. Houses dating back as far as the 1600’s are a treasure too. Many 1700 and 1800’s houses are fully functional and the history present because of them is something I would miss terribly if I were to move away from the area.

We’re on our third day of dreary rain, but it’s good for the newly planted things outside and the trees who are pushing out their spring leaves and flowers. The guy and I took a ride over the river -just because- yesterday, traveling back country roads we have not paid much attention to before. We both love exploring areas not far from home to discover hidden gems like one. I was standing on a bridge crossing a river as I took this picture of a lovely 1800’s home… what a beautiful spot to come home to, no?

Paradise Found

We discovered an oasis this morning… a beautiful garden center like no other we’ve seen before, just over the river and through the woods in East Haddam.

“Ballek’s is a family business with old-fashioned values of quality and
service. Our garden center is located in the center of the farm that
has been in the family since the 1660’s. Our stewardship of this land
underlies our commitment to preserving and enhancing the beauty of
nature through gardening. “

How often do you come across a working farm that has been kept by the same family for over 350 years?

We were in awe…

As you approach the farm, there are contented beef cattle on the left and a beautiful old barn and silos on the right. Behind the barn is a parking lot, and not until you go inside are you fully aware of the splendor of this place…

This plant had me returning again and again to look at it..

It did not have an identifying tag on it, but I fell in love right on the spot…

Look at the beautiful purple hues in these bell shaped flower clusters…

I should have asked it’s name….

So very many species of plants and flowers, cactus, citrus, annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, statues, terrariums, pots, wind chimes, water features, stone benches, pots, baskets, I could go on and on….

The greenhouse room shown below I call the Citrus room… there are large lemon and orange trees in the corners, and the sweet, delicious scent of orange blossom is intoxicating.

Nancy Ballek Mackinnon arranging a floral bouquet… The family works side by side to keep this beautiful place running, and what an incredible job they do. I can only imagine the care it takes to maintain all those beautiful plants…

Fairy Garden supplies abundant!

Need pots? Hundreds to choose from…

You know I’m always a fan when I see that animals are loved…

and here at Balleks, this is clear.

The Ballek family is also devoted to setting an example of “green” living and
sustainable use of resources. In keeping with their vision they have
recently undertaken a major investment in solar energy. Currently they produce all of their electricity with photovoltaic panels and put the surplus back into the grid. They meet hot water needs with
solar thermal units.

We plan to return again and again, and today we did make a major purchase. It’s located in one of the above photos, but I’ll share it with you when we’ve got it properly -in place- . Dare to guess?

If you’re local or travel to the area, a trip to Balleks won’t disappoint. Balleks Garden Center is located at 90 Maple Avenue in East Haddam, CT www.balleksgardencenter.com