Family Mellmann

On Friday morning we drove the Cabot Trail route on Cape Breton Island, still in Nova Scotia.  We enjoyed some beautiful scenery on this ride.  The Trail was only supposed to take us a couple of hours (according to a local), but it was more like SIX. At the northern most point of our road trip (so far); Dingwall Nova Scotia.  We had to do a family picture here.  We arrived back in Sydney just in time time to board a ferry to go to Argentia Newfoundland.  It was a sixteen hour ferry, so we slept during the night as best we could.  There were no cabins available so we had to bunk out in the main area with all the other...riff raff. :) We survived the night.  Now it's time to gather our stuff and get back on the bikes. Once we got off the ferry in Argentia Newfoundland, we started the ride toward Deer Lake; our goal for the night.  It was a long day, and when we arrived there they had no room for us at the inn...so we had to go back about 30 minutes down the road to a hotel there with

We walked around a little bit to stretch our legs and look for a supper place, but everything was full.  During our walk I captured a little sunset. We returned  to the hotel restaurant for dinner, where we could sit outside and enjoy the ocean breeze.

Today we put in 299 miles from Sackville New Brunswick to Sydney Nova Scotia (that's more than 1,070 miles since we left home).  Our hopes for the evening didn't pan out, but that's all part of the deal on a real road trip.  We've been on the road for four days and managed to get this far without any reservations. Patrick and Katherine played a game on Patrick's phone while Jörg and I worked out our alternative plans. The up-side to our changed plans for tonight means that we have a relaxed evening to stretch out, a relaxed schedule for tomorrow, and time to do a little laundry. Funny side note.  We tried three hotels before finding one with a vacancy.  It seems that this weekend is a motorcycle rally with thousands of riders from all over the place.  So, while we are definitely outnumbered by the Harleys, we fit right in. ;)

On Monday morning we loaded up our bikes and hit the road for a summer road trip with the kids. We have a general plan, but no reservations and no specific destinations...well, maybe a couple.  So on Monday we rode through Vermont, New Hampshire, and into Maine.  On Tuesday we drove along the southern coast of Maine all the way to Lubec where we crossed into Canada and Campobello Island.  From Campobello we caught a ferry to Deer Island.  As we boarded the first ferry, the clouds grew dark...so we got the rain gear on. It got pretty dark, and we got pretty wet.  But before long the dark cloud had passed.  We drove the whole length of Deer Island and caught the second ferry that would take us to Back Bay, New Brunswick. Once we arrived in Back Bay we started looking for a place to spend the night and catch some dinner. We found a nice hotel where we can spread out, and then went for a nice dinner (fresh fish, of course).  On Monday we rode about 268 miles.  On Tuesday we rode another 24

I finally had a quiet morning to get out in the garden before the heat of the day made it too unpleasant.  The weeds were calling my name...taunting me, really. I spent the morning pulling weeds, pruning back some of the growth, and plucking out the spent flowers.  I even filled the bird feeders and staked some drooping Cosmos (flowers).  The Campanula is filling in better this year.  I still have some gaps, but perhaps spring bulbs can fill them.  The glorious "after".  Weeds are gone, spent flowers pruned. There was an interesting "mound" underneath my Potentilla (that yellow flowered bush in the front).  I still don't know what could have caused such a large hill (no signs of bugs or critters) in my flowers, but I flattened it by spreading the sand around.  I really like the curly branches of my Henry Lauder's Walking Stick. When I was done working in the garden, this little guy came out to great me.

Sixteen years ago we were attracted to this location because of the trees and densely packed forest on three sides.  Over the years, we have watched as the best parts of the trees have grown up so high and taken the privacy with them.  When we built this house, nine years ago, we had to remove several trees.  Again, a few summers ago, we lost more trees to wood-boring ants.  This year, we lose some more. Along the front of our property we have enjoyed three old Sugar Maples.  We have enjoyed watching them leaf out in the spring, we have tapped them to get sap for sugaring, and we have raked their leaves each fall.  Next to them we planted an Elm tree from the seeds of an Elm that my mom sent us back when Patrick was a toddler. Today we lost them all, and a Boxelder on the other side of the driveway. One Maple was leaning, two were hollow and weak (we lost a significant branch from one earlier this spring), and the Elm developed Dutch Elm Disease. These are the guys who will