Wild winds in the Annapolis Valley on Saturday night. The curtains blew straight in from the window frame, so forcefully that they sometimes hovered parallel to the bed. Hard rain, driving rain, unwelcome rain. We’ve had so much that garden rows are flooded, and I don’t hang clothes on the line. Work on the land is halted, and more mightn’t be done.

But yesterday the sun shone, and hundreds of ladybugs come out for the warmth.  For most of the afternoon, a small bat fluttered and dipped around the front yard, coming so close to me that I could see its eyes in the pushed in face.  Unusual to see a bat in the middle of the day.  I wondered had it been blown of course by the gale force winds the previous night. This does happen, as was pointed out to me by Zoe Lucas, my friend who works on Sable Island. Her website www.greenhorsesociety.com is one of the best I’ve every viewed. No bells or artsy whistles, just solid information and photos that are better seen than described (note to songwriters - as are most things).  Bats, horses, birds, geology, island invertebrates, the weather station, seals, seal predation…these name but few of what the site has.

Here’s a little fellow from Sable.  I should have been there, too.

Marcus in the fall - Sable Island. photo: Zoe Lucas