Parker River Wildlife Refuge

The Parker River Wildlife Refuge is located on Plum Island, Massachusetts by the Atlantic Ocean. Jim and I were here a few of years ago during the summer when all the trees and plants were lush. This year however, we went in the Spring before everything was grown in. It was still a treat!

It has a delightful boardwalk stroll through the woods. 

Being a refuge, this place is quite popular with the bird watchers. The day we went was windy and cold so although we heard the birds, we only saw a handful!

This time we checked out a marsh walk. This was entertaining since it felt like a lot of the boards were in need of replacing! We remained in the center which seemed like the safer thing to do.

We located a sunbather in the marshes.

We walked out to the sand dunes along the ocean.

There is the Atlantic off in the distance.

The dunes have amazing scenery along its boardwalk.

We saw these silly guys walking along the road on the way back.

Typically wild turkeys in our area get into the middle of traffic intersections and even on the freeway! So I found it funny that these guys were walking in an orderly fashion outside the traffic line.

I hope you enjoyed this peak of nature along the Atlantic. It is a place to visit for sure! Thank you for stopping by. ~Val

Appleton Farms

Appleton Farms is close to 1000 acres of New England at its finest. Located in Ipswich and Hamilton, MA it is perfect place for happy cattle. 

The land was stunning! The farm was started back in 1636 by Samuel Appleton and it probably looks almost the same as it did back then. There are some old crumbled foundations on the property that must be centuries old. 

The land was deeded to the Trustees of Reservations in 1998 by the Appleton family and can now be enjoyed by everyone. It has been kept a working farm and even has a store for its beef, cheese and yogurt.

There were plenty of happy cows.

I don't think this guy was happy to see us!

The wildflowers were beautiful.

Birds. I hand the camera over to Jim when there are birds since I usually can't make them out in the trees!

Eventually I will invest in the camera lens attachment for better bird watching photos.

Do you see some serious camouflage in the center of the photo?

Then a red winged blackbird decided to kick the crane out of its territory!

This walk was absolutely beautiful.We only explored a small part of it. This is another one of those places that would be an amazing autumn walk!

I hope you enjoyed this nature trip with us. Thank you for stopping by! ~Val

This Week's Blog Post

Brecciated Jasper Earrings

These pretty beads are brecciated jasper which has a beautiful brownish red tone with dark grey markings.  In between is a corrugated sterling silver bead. These are available at Etsy.

Bota Box Wine

Don’t laugh, but Jim and I discovered a boxed wine we like!

The eco-friendly packaging caught my eye first!

Then we read that this received 88 points in the taste test. Pretty good so we gambled.

It is so convenient since it can be brought hiking, boating, to the beach, on a picnic, camping or fishing.  

I find this funny.  I would not pair wine with hiking. The other activities, yes.

Bota Box has other wines as well but the red zinfandel is the only one with the high rating on the taste test. That may mean the others are terrible. 

It was around $15 and equivalent to 4 bottles of wine. It supposedly stays good up to 4 weeks opened too although I never expect an open box to last that long since red wine is part of my nightly routine.

NECTAR Treasury

Here is my first team Treasury. A special thanks goes out to those of you who sent me the information on how to embed a Treasury here!

'New England Creators' by missvalscreations

The New England Crafters Team is full of talent! All of these wonderful items are from this team. Enjoy!

Beauty For Ashes Original 9x... Phoenixreborna... $225.00	Red Maple Burl Cheeseboard NForestWoodwor... $50.00	R2D2 Star Wars Decorative Do... idillard $14.00
Handmade in Vermont, all na... CovertEssentia... $8.00	Yellow and Gray Suzani Decor... PopOColor $48.00	CUSTOM Text Coffee Mug Anima... NuCabinWorks $17.00
Silver and gemstone necklace lcarlsonjewelr... $435.00	Mini Key Fob/Key Chain - Spa... bagsbymelanie $5.00	Hand Hammered Copper Swirl E... ElementsbyJuli... $16.00
Pink Moose Necklace Green Pa... kimberleeannJe... $19.99	Milk and Honey Soap NotSoFancySoap... $6.00	Maine Chickadee on a Bitters... MaineArt $49.00
Portland Head Light Maine Li... CelesteCotaPho... $10.00	Maine Surf and White Pine JoelleGuerardJ... $48.00	Cherry Spoon Hand Crafted, C... RJMWoodworks $15.00
Cream and Purple Lampwork Gl... lilicharms $25.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

I joined the NECTAR team which stands for New England Creators Team All Regions.  So this features team members!

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful week ahead! ~Val