Major Explosion!!

The earth has erupted in many shades of green...at long last! 

Needless to say I've been hiking and biking along the trails so that

I can capture some of spring's glory. This

is my favourite time of year when the earth 

comes back to life.

Leaves are appearing...

...delicate flowers are blooming everywhere!

...green carpets are so inviting...

...the trails are easier to see!

...the geese are framed by bridge pylons, softening the view...

...the goslings waiting patiently for the "all clear" from mom and dad...

JACK is back! I thought spring wildflowers were much later this year after the long, harsh

winter but when I checked my wildflower journal it was May 3rd last year when

I first saw the jack-in-the-pulpits, so only a difference of 4 days. 

Mother Nature has her ways of catching up!!

After several floods this year I didn't see as many jack-in-the-pulpits but when I had

a good look around I saw a few more here and there, like in the photo below.

No...that's not my beer bottle. I've cleaned up and filled two garbage bags with garbage while

hiking but it looks like I'm not done yet!

Ahhhhh, green glorious green - my favourite colour!!

As you can see I am spending most of my time outside. We've been having

perfect weather - sunny and 22c today. So it's time for lunch and

then I'll be getting back on my bike so I can explore the trails some more.

PURE BLISS!

So Long April

April was more like winter than spring this year; I can't say I'm sad to see it go!

May is my favourite month and not just because my birthday is in May. No.....I love May because the weather is usually crisp and clear, not too hot and not too cold.  The bugs (mosquitos) aren't out in full force yet and the wild flowers are coming into bloom. There is usually more sunshine than rain. I can get out on my bicycle everyday to see what's new...trout lilies, bloodroot, coltsfoot, marsh marigolds, lily of the valley, lilacs etc....

This year we had more rain than usual sometimes getting 2 weeks worth in 2 days. And the river showed it by overflowing its banks not once but twice so far this spring. It made cycling a bit tricky and I often had to turn around and paddle peddle back to shore!

Remember these photos?

The river is now back where it belongs..... (two days later).

 The photo below I took while I was cycling - I'm a bit of a risk taker........CRASH!

One more photo for today - This was on the wall of a vegan restaurant I went to last Sunday for a fundraiser dinner (very yum!!) and the picture gave me a little giggle as it's based on a hip-hop song with the line "everyday I'm hustlin'". Kinda cute.

We had - roasted tomato soup with quinoa croutins and vegan parmesan cheese - excellent!! Then the entree was eggplant with roasted veggies and fresh sprouts and some sort of sauce reduction followed by New York Cheesecake (the crust made of crushed nuts....(not sure what the cheesecake is made out of for it to be vegan).

All washed down with a new local craft beer - Andersons.

There was a raffle and I bought several tickets but didn't win anything but my friend Julie won a bag of coffee beans! Hopefully she'll share :)

Still to come - April's finances.....

Back to Walking

Words cannot express my happy feelings for being back in Kilally Meadows, my home away from home. I walked for a couple hours and my toes caused me no grief.

I received as a birthday gift this year the book called "The Hidden Life of Trees" and it is fabulous. If you are a lover of forests, as I am, you should read this book. It is an amazing read and the research will help you understand that trees live in very social communities and are much better at supporting each other and communicating with each other than we are. 

Anyhoo...there is still a lot going on in the forest at this time of year. We've had cold weather and hot weather and everything in between. Except for rain - we really need more of that! I went on a sunny day that was around 18c and it was perfect.

          So inviting isn't it?

I love fungi! Fungi play a huge role in the lives of trees in the forest.

I've always loved the way fallen branches create works of forest art.

Look at these sweet little seed fluffies. (definitely a scientific term!)

Still lots of colour to be found.

And lots of wildflowers still blooming brightly!

The last of the phlox. 

I chased this Clouded Sulpher butterfly around til it settled long enough for a photo. 

Beautiful!

This is the ugly part of things - invasive species.  Mostly we should leave forests alone.

But sometimes certain invasive species try to take over and kill the whole forest and then

man must step in to try and stem the flow.

In this case it is the European Buckthorn population that has been taking over.

For some reason these milkweed pods below remind me of 

Heckle and Jeckle :)

I'm dating myself! 

Whatever flowers these were is a mystery that will

have to wait until next spring.

Two very fat ducks - they better stay hidden until after Thanksgiving!

.....this weekend in Canada.

A clothesline of sumac leaves - such glorious colours.

And that's it for this week's walk. Hopefully I will get to Kilally Meadows again soon; possibly tomorrow. Today is volleyball - I played a couple hours on Tuesday and am happy to report that my fingers held up quite well :)  And yesterday we had the first rain in weeks so I took the opportunity to work on a couple of soapstone carvings.

I LOVE autumn!