Category Archives: Nature

Faerie Houses

 

Recently, on one of my hikes at Quoddy, I stumbled upon what’s known as “Faerie Houses.”

 

What are “faerie houses”? So glad you asked!

 

Faerie houses are typically little mounds of earth, either moss or mud covered, that look, in my opinion, kind of like Hobbit holes. People tend to make little stone walkways leading up to these mounds and some even go a step further by making doors and even awnings above. But some people build faerie houses from scratch using natural materials they find such as bark, stones, shells, etc. Some even go all out and build fancy two-story houses, complete with doors windows, and little gardens.

 

Some people view faerie houses as simple little nature projects, but others believe faerie houses attract spirits or “faeries”, and that by decorating and adorning them they become pleasing enough to faeries that it invites them to live there which will bring the faerie’s favor to the house‘s creator.

 

Whatever you choose to believe, you have to admit, faerie houses are pretty cute, even the most simple ones.

 

Fairy House 1

 

Keep an eye out when you‘re in the woods exploring. You never know when you might stumble across a faerie house!

 

 

Until next time…

 

[^_^]

 

~A.M.

Morning Clouds

Recently, when I got up to feed my cats breakfast (they can be relentless in their pursuit of their meals), I happened to look out my kitchen window and saw an interesting group of clouds. As usual, my camera wasn’t far away and I decided to take a picture.

 

Morning Clouds

 

I find cloud formations fascinating. Everything from the small puffs that look like misshapen animals or objects, to the massive dark walls that carry storms. Nature is awesome.

 

Until next time…


d_[^_^]

~A.M.

New Trail…Fail…Again…

 

This past weekend, there was finally some decent weather. No rain and not too humid. So, I decided to get out and try to locate another new trail I read about.

 

I found the road but unfortunately couldn’t access the trail itself because the access road was so overgrown with brush and downed trees.

 

Fail.

 

So, as a backup, I decided to head over to the Hamilton Cove Preserve to check out the Benny’s Mountain trail I hadn’t hiked the last time I was there.

 

Fail number two as that trail was also overgrown so much it was completely impassable.

 

On to my second backup and trusted standby of Quoddy Head State Park. There I managed to salvage the day with a decent hike (hiking is always decent there) and some pictures of several interesting rock stacks out at Green Point.

 

Transformer Rock Face

 

 

Now, is it just me, or does this kind of look like the face of a Transformer? [o_O]

 

 

If at first you don’t succeed, try again. Hell, try as many times as you need to!

 

 

Until next time….

 

[^_^]

 

~A.M.

New Trail….Fail…

Where last time I won where trails were concerned, this week I failed.  I’m not sure if I can blame it on the trail or if I should blame it on the day/circumstances.

Recently, I checked out another new trail (again, one I’ve driven right past for several years and never knew it existed).  This time it was the Norse Pond trail between Cutler and Whiting.

First of all, it was an extremely hot and humid day.  Strike one.

Second, there were several people on the trail behind me.  Strike two.  (I always feel like I’m being pushed down a trail when there’s someone behind me)

And third, the black flies were relentless even though I nearly drown myself in bug repellant (the strong DEET stuff, too).  Strike three.

For as sucky as the experience was, I won’t write the trail off completely just yet.  I’ll wait a while though, put it in the archives, and try it again later on in the fall when it’s cooler, the bugs are less prevalent, and the kids are back in school.  Who knows? On a better day, under better circumstances, I might actually like the trail.  It did have a nice little patch of beach after all.

I did happen to see some HUGE prints in the mud which I can only assume were from a moose.  I’m talking HUGE!

 

 

Here’s to hoping the next new trail I explore will yield better results!

Until next time…

d_[^_^]

~A.M.

New Trail….Win!…

As an avid hiker, I’m always stoked to find a new trail or two.  On my recent trip to Campobello Island (which I posted about last week), I stopped at the Roosevelt International Park visitor center and grabbed a pamphlet detailing trails in Maine.

I’ll let that sink in….

I had to go to Canada to find new trails in Maine.  What the, what?  Yeah.  One thing Maine is notoriously bad at is promoting hiking trails (and signage. Hardly any signs exist, directing you to trails).

But, I made super use of that pamphlet and found several new trails to add to my hiking itinerary.  I decided to check out one of these new trails a few days ago.  The Hamilton Cove Preserve.

It’s within five miles of my favorite hiking spot, Quoddy.  And in all the years I’ve been visiting, hiking, and raving about Quoddy State Park, I never knew the Hamilton Cove Preserve existed.  Maine signage fail!

Anyway, I checked the trail out and I have to say, I was impressed.  It was a pretty easy to moderate hike and the views of the ocean and Canada’s Grand Manan island were awesome.

Hamilton Cove Preserve Overlook

On to the next trail…

Until next time…

d_[^_^]

~A.M.