July 2023

July has mostly gotten by me and I am still behind on my posting. I would guess that is normal for a casual blogger like me. I did get a new toy on Prime Day. I bought a Google Pixel Watch. I haven’t worn a watch since smart phones took over that function. But this […]

The primary purpose of this vacation was bird watching and puffins in particular. Day three of the vacation was meant to be the primary puffin watching day. The plan was to take the eight AM ferry, rent a car and explore the island. It was rainy and foggy when we arrived and we thought we

I have quite a backlog: June, Puffins and Bedrock Gardens all the way back to May. So when the going gets tough, it is easier to just skip over stuff and get to it later. Late June and early July have been a rainy season here. The gardens have been going gangbusters but so have

I have no complaints about the food in Iceland. There favorite candy is black licorice. My DNA suggests a strong Nordic component and maybe this is why I have a fondness for black licorice. So I am going to start off with the highlights. To me, this is reason enough to go to Iceland. Appetizers

Meg arranged for a two hour Icelandic Horse canyon tour. The Icelandic horses are related to the horses the Normans used when they invaded Briton. The guide says that they were related to Mongol horses. The internet suggests they are cluster C1 originating in the steppes and central Europe 1800 years ago. The Icelandic horses

Wink wanted to go see some puffins and there are two ways for us to do that. There are puffins down Maine and in the Canadian Maritimes as well as in Iceland and Ireland. Mark has a strong preference for seeing puffins in Iceland and so that is what we did. The crew, Mark, Wink,

Iceland is an amazing place to go birding. There are great birding opportunities all along the ring road and a large variety of different habitats. This trip was no exception. However the weather interfered with the birding. It rained everyday and there was frequently strong gusting winds. So even though we could see lots of