St. Andrews Day One -- August has been a great month for vacationing and visiting nature preserves. After New Brunswick Day, our family got away to St. Andrews for a few days of vacation time. There are many preserves in the area, so I managed to visit one each day. The first day, we celebrated the birthdays of my niece Grace and nephew Elliot. Afterwards, Bridgette and I got out for an early evening walk around Pagan Point. This included an easy walk along a short path through a small stand of Acadian Forest and along a beautiful sandy beach. From the beach, you can look across the Passamaquoddy Bay and see Minister's Island with some of its unique architecture. We watched the tide come in at the far end of the preserve where it trickles into a salt marsh behind the beach. I was reminded of similar features at the Meredith Houseworth preserve on Grand Manan. My initial thoughts for a painting are to include a view across the bay, but also to capture the "place of the little forest."
The advice that I would give anyone exploring for the first time is to avoid wearing sandals as there are many of the famous St. Andrews biting red ants along the path. Lesson learned :) The next two blogs will cover two more preserves visited over Day Two and Day Three of our St. Andrews trip.