My kind of morning

Woody, our golden retriever, rousted me out of bed a bit earlier than normal - about 5:15 a.m. I threw on some clothes and walked Woody up the street, along our yard, the neighbors house, an old barn, and fields of hay and corn blanketing the rolling hills. As we walked, the sun was rising over the ridge, the light softened by clouds. I fed Woody, then the chickens (5 hens and a rooster).
I spent the next hour or so gardening - pruning, adding mulch to a couple of peonies, and watering. Woody tagged along. Back in the house, I made some coffee for my partner and me. Had just enough time to do some stretching and strengthening exercises before sitting down for breakfast. Lisa and I usually eat omelets, with fresh eggs from the chickens. Today, I settled for cereal with fresh fruit and yogurt.
I headed out for a bicycle ride about 9 o'clock (having cycled yesterday, Lisa opted for a hike). It was a great ride on back roads through farmland to the town of Saint Fabien. After crossing busy Hwy 132, I rode up and over the ridge to Fabien-sur-Mer, with its small scenic road along the edge of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. This lovely road with seaside homes ends at the far western entrance to Bic National Park. Riding through the forests and meadows of the Park on well-kept gravel paths is a pleasure, but also a bit dicey on my smooth, skinny (25 mm) tires. After riding through the Park, I returned home on Hwy 132, completing a loop of just under 20 miles, according to my Apple watch.
It was a great way to spend the morning. A follow up post will describe the bike ride in more detail.

View from the back road to Saint Fabien from Le Bic

Ride along coastal road in Saint Fabien-sur-Mer

Western entrance to Bic National Park from coastal road in Saint Fabien

A cool June

Here in Le Bic and the Gaspe Peninsula, June was cooler than normal with high temperatures often in the lower 60s. Quite a few days were cloudy and windy, at least for part of the day.
Today (2 July), in contrast, was unusually warm with a high of 87. After dinner, we took a walk along the beach at Saint Fabian. It was definitely cooler  than at our more inland house. Oddly, as we walked up the road we kept encountering areas of cold air interspersed with spots of unusually warm air,  perhaps due to shifting winds sometimes blowing onshore bringing air cooled by the Saint Lawrence River. Cold air downdrafts from the cliffs above may have also been a factor. Driving home, the sky got very dark with billowy clouds and we had a brief thunder storm as shown in the photo below.

Thunder storm developing on an unusually warm July 2 evening

The Beach at Saint Fabian

To celebrate the summer solstice on 21 June, 2018, my partner and I walked along the beach at Saint Fabian (just up the road from our house in Le Bic). It was one of those magical evenings - the surface of the Saint Lawrence Seaway was smooth as glass, the sun low in the sky with nary a cloud, and temperatures a pleasantly cool 65F. An added bonus was picturesque driftwood scattered along the high tide line. I could not resist bringing a sample home. It was the third piece of wood I've gathered from the beach this summer, each of which currently adorns our landscape. The few biting insects, mosquitoes and black flies, were hardly a bother, contrasting with what we've recently encountered working in our garden. I imagine the mosquitoes will be around most of summer but we're hoping the black flies have a relatively short season. We'll see....

Beach at Saint Fabian