I've been a Bad Bad Blogger...

Turning 60 is a LOT of WORK!! Yup, it's official, I'm starting a new decade. But as my sister said, "you'll always be the youngest!" Thank God for small mercies :)  During the month of May I did a "nature challenge", spending a minimum of 30 minutes for 30 consecutive days "in nature." My chosen spot is called Kilally Meadows and has become a very magical place for me. Watching the daily changes was fascinating as was the weather! I experienced everything from snow, strong winds to sultry humid days of +30c!! 

(I've started another challenge for the month of June - more on that in my next post! I might also show you some photos from my 60th birthday party if you're nice!)

I watched as trees came into bud, then blossomed into flowers - white, yellow and pink. In the past week the tropical weather has caused the vegetation to grow at least 2 feet! Trails are getting narrower as the plants fight for space.

One thing I came to appreciate about the forest is nothing really dies. A fallen tree (above) becomes a fertile environment for fungus, new plant life, birds and animals. Nothing is wasted.

I loved watching the "greening" of the area as first grass started to grow, trees unfurled their leaves and bushes and wild flowers sprang up literally overnight! When I started going to Kilally there was no colour at all - now I am overwhelmed with it all!

One of my next purchases will be books about wildlife and plant life in Ontario - I've learned a few new names of birds etc but there is so much to learn! I took a friend out with me about a week and a half ago - she said "I love how you talk to the plants!" I didn't even realize I did! Am I senile? I prefer to think I've "connected" with nature. I greet the birds and the rabbits and the toads and I tell the flowers how beautiful they are. It's spontaneous - I can't help myself.

Every day over the 30+ days spent in nature I wondered if I would see anything new - and I always did. Even on the final day I saw a swallowtail butterfly that I'd never seen before.

I continue to find new areas to explore, new birds, new plants. The diversity is astounding.

I would definitely recommend this challenge to everyone! Nature has a calming effect on the brain and I can say, without question, that I feel happier, more grounded (pun intended!) At one point I thought there were no ferns as I had observed for weeks and saw nary a one...until one day...a small treasure trove.

There are dozens of plants whose name are a mystery to me but feel I am on a quest of discovery.

Wild iris!!

 Lilacs!

I have a couple photos left to share for today - you may have seen them already if you're a friend on Facebook. When I was young my connection to nature was something I took for granted. I'm glad I've come full circle and have become reacquainted. It's the best thing we've got!!

Jane hanging out in the lilac tree :)

An even younger Jane hanging out in the same tree.

Crofters Lane - Dream #1

     "I'm dreaming of a green spring-time...just like the ones we used to know....."

What is cuter than a bird in a saucer I ask you??  I love birds - my dad knew every bird and every bird song and built and erected hundreds of bird houses and winter feeding stations around the area where I grew up. He won a trophy for helping to bring bluebirds back to Southwestern Ontario. Yup, he did.

My hope is to plant bushes and trees that will attract all sorts of bird life to Crofters Lane. That's one of my dreams. I came across a neat post on Facebook a week ago that had a picture of many common birds and when you clicked on them you would hear their song. I was able, at long last, to identify a birdsong that I hear all summer long in PEI - it's just a song sparrow but I love the sound as it's quite long and has a lot of different complex sounds to it. Speaking of sparrows that pudgy little guy above also perched on my big toe from time to time but I wasn't able to snap a photo of it.

I'll try again next summer!! :)

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/nature/birds/bird_songs_interactive.html

Winter Camping in a Yurt - Day Three

Yes, the saga ends tonight! Tomorrow I'm going to talk about my love affair....... with pads of paper! AND how to spend and still have a NO SPEND DAY!! Ooooh, that's a good one!!


So here's the last of the photos from the Yurt adventure:

A wee bit of sunshine struggling to get
through the grey clouds. Mmmmmuch
colder today - down to -18c!

Before you think we're getting
all mushy here, I was a bit of
a grumpus because it was so
ccccccold and Michael was all
gungho about going for another
100 mile hike. Sometimes I just can't
handle his high level of gungho-ness!
This is how he
tries to improve my mood!
Pretty underhanded
wouldn't ya say?

Where all had been open water yesterday
is now covered with a thin veneer of ice
and snow - would NOT want to fall into
the river or the lake today!

We took a different trail but then drove
down the road a ways so we could go to
the lake again - lots of wave action again
today - I don't know HOW cold it was with
the wind chill.

Inviting no?
NOT!!
No sand today - just lots of ice formations!

Because of the size of the waves and the
frigid temperatures everything
within 20 - 30 feet of the shoreline was
now coated with ice!

Just hanging around trying to stay warm!

Lumpy ice is nice!

I felt sorry for the long grasses -
they were frozen solid!

Won't be long now til the river is all
covered with ice.

A very different shoreline
than yesterday! Everything
is frozen solid.

As we were walking back to the car we
came across a family feeding the chickadees!
So I joined in and Michael snapped a few
pictures. I tried it without my mitts but
my hand froze within seconds.

But the birds didn't mind my mitts.
So was I glad that Michael dragged my
butt out for a hike - YES!!
Just an example of the pros and cons
of living with a life coach - ya just
can't get away with being a grumpus!

Look - two chickadees!
Gotta go, going to finally finish watching
"Couples Retreat"!!
SO FUNNY!!
Don't ya just love Vince Vaughn?
Ya sure wouldn't catch him on a
100 mile hike!!

Weekend at the Trailer in Bayfield

So much is growing at my trailer in Bayfield, like my golden spirea.
We've visited a couple of times to rake and clean up but this is the first weekend we could stay overnight. We can turn the electricity on ourselves but have to wait for the water to be turned on. Most trailers, like mine, only have uninsulated plastic pipes for the bathroom and kitchen so in the fall we have to get our trailers winterized with the water drained and antifreeze added. But on Saturday someone came by and turned on our water for us so we are now in business until the end of October!
Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

I think this is my pink azalea bush.
Over the years I have planted a lot of flowering bushes, a tree or two and some perennials. I don't have the room to do much at my condo so it just revives me so much to go to the trailer and watch my plants grow. A week goes by between my visits so there is always so much to see. As soon as I arrive at the trailer I "survey my land" before entering the trailer and setting up. It fills up my well!

This is my climbing hydrangea - I just planted it last year and I can't believe how much it has grown - I just love it. I'm hoping it will eventually grow and hang over top of my rustic little shed. A piece will be taken to PEI this summer!

Sweet woodruff - I will dig some of this hardy plant up and take it
to PEI. It has sweet little white flowers and is pretty durable and spreads nicely to fill up those empty spaces.

This is my healthy looking lilac tree. This is its third summer and I really hope it blooms this year. It gets lots of healthy glossy green leaves but no blossoms. I'm starting to get a complex.

By the end of Saturday the sun was struggling through increasingly overcast skies. What, more rain?? Yes, it did rain a little while I was sleeping as I woke up to a few puddles. Usually I hear the rain as it hits the tin roof pretty loudly but I slept right though it. Too bad for me as I really love listening to the rain, especially the thunder storms! Nothing I enjoy better than being all tucked up cozy inside the trailer with a good book and an afghan, a cup of tea (or glass of wine) while the wind howls, the lightning flashes, the thunder booms and the rain pounds down on the roof. I have a huge front porch that I can sit on during rainstorms too and still be protected.

Every visit to the trailer means a trip to the lookout point to capture the sunset. This is my first of the season and it wasn't that great due to the clouds moving in.  Weather rolls in quickly across Lake Huron and it can blow up a storm REALLY fast - I have been caught in a few downpours.
Hello to my friends on the other side of the lake!!

No night is complete without a single malt by the firepit! I kept this fire going from about 3 or 4 in the afternoon til about midnight! I read until I couldn't see the print of the newspaper any longer, then I just gazed into the flames and thought about how sweet it is to have a place where I can unwind, only an hour from the city but it feels like I'm an ocean away from the noise, the traffic and the pollution.

I came across these white flowers growing close to the ground on my Sunday walk, not sure what they are.

There is a ton of driftwood and whole tree trunks all over the beach right now, flotsam from the spring thaw. By summer's end most will have disappeared, burned up in bonfire's all over the beach. For now they make interesting sculptures or a great place to sit or recline with a book.

Lake Huron is pretty rocky. There are inviting sandy beaches but you need water shoes on when you go into the water. Once you're out a ways it gets sandy again but many a stubbed toe is saved by wearing shoes.

In the middle of the sand, something is green and thriving.

Lots of logs around help to get me across the many little rivers of spring melt and rain that have sprung up here and there.
Sunday continued to be rainy and overcast so I snuggled in my bed and
watched a couple of DVDs on my laptop before once more heading
back into the city.
Until next time............

Springwater Conservation Area

First off - yesterday was another beautiful day in the neighbourhood so Michael and I took ourselves off to explore a new (to us) trail near Aylmer, Ontario called Springwater Conservation Area. It's only 40 minutes away yet we'd never been there before - had never heard of it in fact - it was recommended to us by another hiker met upon another trail. We took snacks and water with us and other than gas it was another NO SPEND day. (That $10 I had left after Friday night's movie rental is still in my wallet :) I think one of these weeks we should have a challenge where we each put a $20 bill in our wallet and see how long we can make it last - the winner wins $20 ha ha!!

As you can see by the photos Springwater is a natural treasure - full of maples and beech and very tall, very straight white pines reminiscent of the Group of Seven paintings.

For the first time I have spent all of my allotted money for food as I took advantage of a lot of specials while shopping on Saturday: sirloin tip roasts at $1.97/lb., pork loin at $1.29/lb., shrimp, talapia and haddock all half price and so on. So while I spent a lot we will be rolling in meat for several weeks to come.

This week looks pretty busy - meetings on Wed., parent/teacher interviews on Thursday, and a P.D. day on Friday so won't be much opportunity for spending temptations. Just the way I like it!

It was wonderful getting outside again yesterday. When I am able to put myself into such inspiring surroundings I totally forget about the daily challenges of balancing the books, ironing the big stack of clothes sitting on a chair in my bedroom, vacuuming the cat hair or the disaster area my daughter calls her room.

Blessedly all of that inner noise is drowned out by the soft sighing of the wind in the branches 100ft. above my head, birds chirping, frogs glugging, children laughing and me snapping away with my camera. Life is good.

Although there were a TON of leaves on the ground there were still enough left on the trees to ooh and ah over.

Those pine trees are humongous!!

Can you see tiny little Michael on the other side of the bridge walking on the path?

He walks a lot faster than me:)