Hard to Shake the Spookies!

I know this doesn't look like a particularly scarey place, but just beyond this path lies acres of wilderness.....where all sorts of beasties live out their lives without me knowing much about it! I have been walking thro this type of landscape for almost 30 years and i can count on one hand the number of times i've been spooked....not too many really....but when it happens, it's a seriously difficult feeling to shake! This morning, just prior to where i took this shot, as i wandered along the path, listening to the wind, the birds - the water trickling down streams - i heard a weird sort of grunting noise....funny i thought, maybe it's the dogs!!! a few more steps and there is was again....almost like something blowing out a heavy breath! I was definitely feeling a bit spooked...cos i know there are bears, moose, coyotes in this wilderness...they are there...we've seen them and heard them...and when you walk in these parts you become very atuned to the quiet, it can be unnervingly silent! I decided it was a good idea to just call in the dogs and turn around and head for home! It took me a good 10 minutes or more to drop the fear.....and i also heard the sound again, less muffled....and i believe it was a far off gun shot! that's the other worry....it's hunting season up here and altho we live on 200 acres, where hunting is forbidden.....you just never know! So back home i went. It wasn't too much of a problem cos i was close to the point in my walk where i usually turn around!

Case in point regarding wild life around here! Last night on our way down to Baddeck, Terry came to a screeching halt....it was dark, and just a few feet away was a huge moose just crossing the road, taking it's own sweet time - what a brilliant sight it was too!

We were in Baddeck to attend a play, put on by the local Theatre Group! The playwrite, Bev Brett, is well known around these parts, she's lived on Cape Breton Island for many, many years, but originally comes 'from away' - the play was both funny and tragic (as all good theatre should be!) and based on her real and very unsettling experience of loving and living with an alcoholic! Boy was it intense......the devastating effects of such a disease are so far reaching....the guy the story is based on....and dedicated to....committed suicide 8 years ago, in her kitchen!!! It is so amazing to me, to meet and chat with folks (i've seen her in the community lots of times) and i had no idea of her history. The actors were wonderful, portraying such an intense relationship!