Heavenly Paradise@AdelineAng.com

The annual Highland Games was held in Fredericton, at the Old Government House from July 22nd to 24th this year. Miles and I waited till last Sunday to join in the fun as the first two days would have been too hot to stay outdoor for a long period of time.

Besides from piping, drumming, and highland dance, the heavy events interested us the most. Heavy events included men and women categories, in which Weight for Distance, Hammer, Caber Toss etc. were involved.

We watched the men’s “28lbs Weight for Distance” event. ” Below were some action shots that we managed to capture. Enjoy!

Most people have heard of, or experienced the dreadful, brutal cold winter in Canada. Has anyone wondered how hot does it get in the middle of summer? Heat wave could very well happen. Last Friday, it was 39 degrees Celsius in Fredericton! Of course, when the weather gets that hot, thunder shower will follow. It was certainly a very Malaysian-like weather. I didn’t mind it too much, since we don’t get it all that often here. It sure beats -39!

It’s that time of year again, strawberry picking season. Yay! After the tiring moving, unpacking, organizing, cleaning etc., enjoying some freshly picked strawberries might not be a bad idea. On top of that, I’ve moved closer to the u-pick farm. This year’s season is a little slow starting, due to the cool weather and consistent rain in the spring.

Miles and I visited the Sunset U-pick farm this week. Strawberries are sold at $1.30/lb or $2.10/quart basket. Pre-picked berries are available at $3.50/quart basket. I think the whole idea of visiting the farm is to be able to pick my own berries; as many as I want! 

Fresh berries are great for making strawberry shortcakes too! Home-baked tea biscuits with whipped cream and generous serving of fresh berries. Yummm….

What’s your favourite summer activity? There are lots that I enjoy doing; biking, fishing, kayaking, canoeing etc. I often find summer short; two months, if we’re fortunate. Not only that the hot summer days remind me of the scorching hot climate in Malaysia, but also a better change of season from the brutally cold winter.

It was end of August. The low water level of Saint John River was a convincing evidence of the dry summer days. You could literally walk across the river! It was a canoeing trip that Miles and I went to, on a Saturday afternoon. We couldn’t have asked for a better weather;  a cloudy and warm day. There were ten of us in the group, and two in each canoe.

Canoes loaded with food for a picnic bbq.

Miles was paddling hard while I busy shooting pictures :P

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream……

Scenic view along the Saint John River.

Despite some rocky and shallow sections of the river, we had a marvelous time canoeing. The picturesque river has made the hard paddling worthwhile. It was a good 4-hour canoe trip, with an hour break in between. Canoeing, a great way to appreciate the beauty of Mother Nature!

Cool breeze, red and yellow fallen leaves… These are certainly signs of an early arrival of fall! Believe it or not, this was speculated in late July. I was thinking: if the season is shifting at this rate, we’d see snow in the fall!

The weather has gone whacky this year. Just as I was hoping for a longer summer days, the heat wave hitted Fredericton on the first week of September! On the night of September 1st, the heat was unbearable in my room (for someone like me who grew up in the hot climate to say “hot,” it means really hot). After a few minutes of toss and turn, I fianlly got up from bed and decided to find out my room temperature with a fridge thermometer.

I was right… I was reading it right… 36.5 degrees Celsius in my room! Trying to fall asleep in the body temperature-like “sauna” room was driving me nuts! How I wished I had an air-conditioning unit at that very instant! I convinced myself that it was a “warm-up” for my next visit to Malaysia. Thank God I didn’t get up till the alarm went off in the morning as soon as I fell asleep.

I was truly blessed by the dry summer; biking almost every day all summer long! Having said that, the water level was at an alarming stage where people can literally walk across the river.

The heavy rainfall from last weekend, partially affected by Hurricane Earl has helped with the drastic transition from summer to fall, once again…

Fishing is my new found hobby this past summer. Fishing in the province of New Brunswick requires a seasonal fishing licence. There are specific areas that mapped for fishing. Depending on the area and type of fish, the fishing season varies. It’s important to keep in mind that a special licence is needed for catching salmons. On top of that, the size and amount of fish that can be caught per day is regulated. Trout, Pickerel, Muskellunge, Burbot, White perch, and yellow perch have to be at least 10cm in length to be kept.

More information about fishing licence can be obtained here. A regular seasonal fishing licence, or sometimes known as trout licence can be purchased from Department of Natural Resources offices, Service New Brunswick Centres, and licence vendors (e.g. Canadian Tire and Home Hardware) throughout the province. It’s offered for $20, with $5 fish stocking fee and $5 conservation fee included.

Over the fishing season, Miles and I have learned that artificial bait doesn’t work very well. We have also came to a conclusion that it’s easier to catch a fish earlier in the season, since fishes live and learn; they will nibble on the bait, but smart enough not to be caught.

During the summer months, we went fishing in several places; mainly Killarney Lake in Fredericton and Lily Lake in Saint John.

Placing an earthworm on the hook was challenging the very first time.

Patience is the key for fishing.

Sunfish:” Poor me…I’ll be put on the supper table tonight.”

Yellow perch:” Oopsy…I shouldn’t be greedy to take another bite of the yummy worm! Too late now…”

Another Sunfish:” Posing for my last shot…”

Catfish:” Alamak! He caught me! I failed to escape this time lah…:(“

Most of the fishing we did, was catch and release. It was too sad to kill the fish. Furthermore, some fishes were small. Catch and release worked well for us, as we got to enjoy the fun of fishing while fishes munched on their snacks.

Biking is one of the summer activities I enjoy a lot. Once the “white stuff (a.k.a. snow)” is no where to be seen on the biking trail, weather is warming up, and flowers are blooming. It’s a clear indication that the spring is here and biking season begins!

Biking in the cool spring, hot summer, scenic fall; misty morning, hot afternoon, or warm evening. I’m loving it! It keeps adrenaline going, heart pumping, and body muscles working.

I still remember bits and pieces of how I learned riding a bike when I was little. A big thank you to Dad who patiently taught me how to bike. Have I had bike accidents before?You bet! Surprisingly, some of the bad falls I’ve had, happened after I’m proficient in biking skills.

Biking to work 14 km a day has become part of my routine; leaving for work in crisp and breezy morning, and going home in sunny afternoon. Weather can vary from warm, hot, sunny, to overcast, rainy, chilly, windy etc. As long as there’s no pouring rain, I’d go biking almost anytime during the day.

Watching the blooming flowers in the spring, appreciate the warm sunshine in the summer, and admire the stunning vibrant colours in the fall. Together with my loved one, we’re in love with this city. Miles who once told himself that he’d never wanted to bike again after his unpleasant learning process, convinced himself to relearn how to ride a bike in the spring.

On the Old Train Bridge at dawn.

Odell Park is my favourite park for biking.

One of the many trails in the park.

There is a variety of blueberries, such as highbush and cultivated blueberries.

Highbush blueberries found in the wild.

Store-bought wild blueberries.

Cultivated blueberries. They are noticeably larger than wild berries.

The “gigantic” cultivated blueberries.

Fresh blueberries are delicious on their own. Having said that, I enjoy them in various baked good. Besides having store baked blueberry mufiin and doughnut, I had fun making blueberry treats myself. Blueberry zucchini cake, blueberry cake, and blueberry muffins. Yumm…

What other ways can you enjoy the goodness of blueberries? How does blueberry jam, syrup, and wine sound?

Blueberry goodies on sale at the farmers’ market.

Try the new blueberry mochi!

Blueberry mochi, filled with blueberry jam.

Acadia, is another name for the Canadian Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island), as well as Maine in the United States. Among these places, about 86% of the total Acadian population settled in New Brunswick. Acadians are known as the descendants of the 17th century French colonists.

The Acadian Day is celebrated annually on August 15th. It’s a celebration of the Assumption of Mary. The date of celebration was set in 1881 in Memramcook, New Brunswick, at the first National Convention of the Acadians.

In conjunction with this special occasion, there were bouquets of flowers on sale. How were they special? These flowers came in yellow, blue, red, and white; just like the Acadian flag! How nice… The blue roses were especially precious. I’ve been wanting to get some in the past, and my dream came true… when Miles handed me this unique bouquet of flowers as a surprise gift. ^v*

A bouquet of red, white, and blue roses; matching colours of the Acadian flag.

The red rose.

The white rose.

The blue rose.

More pictures…. Can you tell what they are?

These sand sculptures were amazing! They looked so real… Imagine the time and effort that the sculptors have put into their masterpieces. The creativity went wild! Some of the artwork was beyond imagination. Simply stunning!

More pictures from previous years can be found here.

The annual sand sculptures competition at New River Beach was held on August 15th this year. The registration started at 9 a.m. and judging begun at 3 p.m. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon. The busy crowd was unbelievable! Cars were parked by the highway, due to the congested route to the provincial park.

Just as we thought we were out of troubles…

I was backing up the car in a pitch black environment. Nothing came into sight from the rear and side mirrors. I had to make my judgement based on the white sign that read “Dobson Trail 58 km” at the corner of the dirt road. Just as I thought I had the car backup far enough and turned the wheels, all of a sudden, “BAM!!”

The car was sitting at a 45-degree angle, with both rear wheels in the ditch. With my trembling hand, I pulled the hand break instantaneously. I was terrified. Trying my very best to stay calm, I approached Garth who just got out of his brother’s car. He was in shock.

No blame. No question asked. The guilt in me was kicking hard. I was afraid that Garth was going to blow up at me, since his car could have been wrecked from the accident. Instead, Garth tried to find a solution…

It was 9:30 p.m. on a Sunday night. The next day was a public holiday. We were on a dirt road with no reception on cellphones. It was dark. We were exhausted and helpless. What were the chances of us finding some help? A tow truck might take a while to come to our rescue,  if we ever managed to get hold of one. Hence, we decided to work things out without ruining the group’s initial plan (making it home for Monday morning).

I hopped into the car and started the engine. It was working fine. While Garth was pushing the car by the driver’s door, I slammed on the accelerator in first gear and hoped to get the car out of the ditch. We didn’t succeed… The car moved forward a little, but the force wasn’t strong enough. Worse still, the driver’s door was jammed on the gravel. With his sharp-wittedness, Garth jacked up the front wheel and managed to keep the door closed with enormous effort (kicking, pushing etc.). One problem solved…

Next, we filled up the gap between the bottom of ditch and the rear left wheel that was hanging in the mid-air, with rocks that we found along the dirt road. One good thing was that the rear right wheel landed on the gravel in the ditch. Here was the challenge…. With the front wheels on road and rear wheels in the ditch, Garth did an amazing “stunt” by backing up the car onto the road. He made it!!

I was keeping my fingers crossed the whole way when he did it. I was actually afraid that the situation might be worse… Sure enough, he proved me wrong. I was glad that he did.

The exterior of the car looked fine, as far as we could tell. Off we went; we drove along the dirt road for about 30 minutes. We asked for direction to get to Prosser Brook Rd. A young couple was kind enough to guide us all the way there.

To our surprise… Our friends weren’t there! After thanking the young couple, we drove to the top of the hill, hoping to get cellphone reception. It was about 11 p.m. They left us a voice message. Apparently, they were invited to wait for us in an older couple’s home, instead of idling along the dark road.

We met up with the rest of our group 10 minutes later… It had been a long day for everyone… I was grateful that they waited patiently for close to six hours, and never gave up their hope on Garth and I….

* Adapted from Google Map

The route travelled during hitchhiking, from Prosser Brook Rd. to Fundy National Park.

* Adapted from Parks Canada

The driving route (in pink) from Chignecto campground to Laverty Falls trail; and hiking route (in black) of Laverty Falls and Dobson Link.

The treacherous trail has slowed us down a lot. It was a slow progress treading along the trail; with mud, slush, puddles, and swamps. It was my wettest and muddiest outdoor adventure, as far as I can recall.

Regardless, we had a great time throughout the hike; wading through the woods, dodging tree trunks, hurdling tree roots, working through weeds and broken branches. Having said that, we didn’t feel very comfy hiking with our muddy and soaking wet hiking shoes. Oh well, we had to bear with them for the time being. Changing into a pair of clean, dry socks wouldn’t help much, as our shoes are too wet to begin with, and the same thing would happen–wet socks again.

It was a cool morning, after a rainy day on Friday. This was the perfect weather for mosquitoes and flies to go “hunting” around. Apparently, I’ve such tender skin and juicy blood that the mosquitoes couldn’t let go for me, not even a split second! Even the insect repellent that I’ve sprayed all over my body didn’t help much. As a matter of fact, mosquitoes love me too much! Unfortunately, I hated them!!

I had no choice but to put on my rain jacket and splash pants to minimize my exposure of skin areas for mosquitoes. Just as I thought I already had myself well-bundled up, they started attacking  my face! Oh no… leave me alone, you evil bugs!

Mosquitoes find their victims by tracing exhaled carbon dioxide. Hiking along the trail with my backpack that weighed at least 15 lbs, huffing and puffing was necessary during the cardiovascular activity; replacing exhaled air with fresh air.

She was penetrating my skin. Ouch!!

A slug was hanging in the mid-air from a tree branch with its slime.

…And trying to attack my backpack!!

At a crossroad, trying to find our way back to the trail.

The 17 km marker. We were getting close to the campsite.

Garth, Justin, and Ben didn’t have a good night sleep last night. The rain seeped through the top of their tent and caused a flood. They had barely any sleep, perhaps 3 hours of nap during the night. We decided to call it a day as we got closer to the potential campsite, around 5:30 p.m.

Just before that, there was a “big mess” that we first had to get over with…

A muddy stream!

We found this decent site for…

A campfire!

Robbie fixed his torn shirt with duct tape and ropes (by the sides). It was quite impressive! 

My wet, muddy, stinky pair of socks and hiking shoes by the end of the day :( 

“Watch out, water is entering your tent!” I heard the voice of Robbie as the clock struck 6:30 a.m. on Saturday. Guess what? The water from the brook overflew and flooded the surrounding areas. My tent was set right beside it!

As soon as I have all my gears packed up, I literally fled from the tent to keep my backpack and myself dry. It won’t be pleasant to get everything wet at the beginning of a hike. Fortunately, there wasn’t too much water in the tent. We managed to save it from drifting away. Pheww….

After our breakfast, we started hiking around 8:30 a.m.

Following the blue markers along the trail.

There were puddles everywhere. Wet!

Arturo is trying to keep himself balance on the log, while crossing the swamp. Justin was ahead of him.

I was behind Ben, hiking through the muddy patch.

Muddy and yucky!

Robbie and Susan were fetching us some drinking water by a running stream, with filter pumps.

There was water everywhere, owe to the large amount of rain we’ve received since the beginning of spring.

My backpack for the hiking trip.

Green ice tea? Nope. It was drinking water that filtered from the stream. It did look like ice tea though :)

Sun was shining, birds were chirping, and bugs were bugging… :(

One of the better-looking bridges.

Taking a break under the tree.

My hiking experience has been fun and rewarding thus far. My passion for outdoor activities was developed since my first mountain climbing adventure at the Mt. Kinabalu, the highest peak in Southeast Asia. It was challenging, exciting, and nerve-wrecking at times.

There are numerous spectacular sites and trails across the Maritimes. I enjoy exploring the trails on hiking/camping trips. For the past few summers, I’ve been on hiking trips to Cape Chignecto and Fundy Footpath. My attempt to climb Mt. Katahdin in Maine, U.S. was tempered by the inclement weather (hailing in August) two summers ago.

Last weekend was the New Brunswick Day long weekend. I was eager to go on a little expedition with seven other friends, on a 3-day hiking trip at Dobson Trail. It’s a trail that stretches 58 km in length, and runs from Riverview to Fundy National Park, in southeast New Brunswick.

We arrived there around 8:30 p.m. on Friday. Six of us from the group hiked in about 3 km to the campsite. Garth and I drove the cars and parked them at the end of the trail. David, who wasn’t on the hiking trip gave us a drive back to the starting point.

It wasn’t until 11 p.m. that we started our hike. It was pitch black and rain was pouring down heavily. After 45 minutes of adventure in the dark with a compact size LED flashlight, we managed to find our group at the camp site.

As soon as I changed into dry clothing, I was ready to hit the sack. I heard the steady stream flowing beside the tent and rain drops beating furiously on the tent. I couldn’t care less. I was sleep deprived. I finally dozed off around 12:15 a.m…..