Blogger on the fritz

Blogger has been down a bit this morning, maybe they are fixing the half-picture thing (hopefully)

Here is Gabe in the Gatineau

Tree Crossed Photographer

I seemed to have a rediculous number of pictures of Gabe taking pictures. He's so cute!!

I also had a relatively thought provoking if depressing conversation with my mom about the world, violence, child rearing, values and possible solutions. Sigh.

Somewhere between the rash of school shootings, a defiant nuclear test, ongoing bloodshed in the middle east and 8 year olds dressed for the bar in Fredericton - there has to be a better way to have a civilization, a better way to pass on coping skills and civil values, a better way to raise our children and protect ourselves and others from the ravages of status revengeicus. I just can't figure it out off the top of my head. The best I can offer, whenever I determine I have the experience and ability, is to become a politician. Not exactly what I had in mind for a career, being naturally averse to confrontation and not keen to ask for verbal abuse, but willing to endure as a civic necessity. I can produce maybe 2-3 children and love them and hopefully raise them to be caring and kind people. I suppose I can set a good example of kindness, thoughtfulness and responsibility. But at this point in my life, I don't have a huge sphere of influence.

Anywho, back to cleaning my bedroom and exercising.

Cheers,

Jennith 

South Facing Slope Oak

Here is a leathery white oak leave turning rich shade of green, crimson, yellow and rusty orange. We also saw some red oak nearby.... excitement. Well drained upland forest ecosystem. 

Gatineau Escarpment

Glorious view from the south side of the escarpment in Gatineau park. Perhaps not far from here my best friend is wandering the hills with her family, unbeknownst to me and Gabe. Alas. Everyone else I knew in Ottawa except Manda went to Toronto for the weekend or Saint John.

So, I still have a lot of people I'd love to see or at least talk to on the phone. It may happen one day. Sigh. In the mean time, I'm busy trying to learn stuff and learn more stuff. Hopefully I'll learn enough before it gets too cold to do field work.

I'm still not sure why this program is only inserting partial pictures. if you double click on the picture. You will get the whole photo in fancy format.

Cheers,

Jennith 

Bursting Milkweed Pod

Taken on the 10 somewhere between Kingston and Ottawa this field of milkweed gave us much amusement watching the amazingly floaty seeds blow off into the distance.

As for blogger/picasa, I"m not sure why it is posting half pictures, but perhaps one day I'll be able to fix them.

Jenn 

Sharbot Lake

A tranquil moment at Sharbot Lake - on highway 7 between Carlton Place and Madoc.

We chose to drive the backroads home yesterday (given our sucess with the 401 - I think this was a splendid and scenic plan). We made a brief leg stretch stop at Sharbot Lake Provincial Park, toured a few dirt roads on a detour and stop briefly at Wilmot so I could show Gabe the creek.

The 401 West was a disaster from Oshawa to home, so we actually drove Steeles most of the way. A slow travel, but we did get to see the IBM building in Markham.

Sigh... traffic.

However, it was all worth it because we had a lovely family thanksgiving dinner and played Settlers of Catan.

Cheers,

Jennith 

Here you can actually see his face.

 

Even long dead priministers can't help getting shat on

Poor McKenzie! He hasn't done anything good or bad in years, and still he gets no respect from these seagulls(does anyone get respect from seagulls). 

Looking up the Ottawa River

Here is the upstream view from Parliment Hill.

Parliment Hill

It turns out there is a reason they call it parliment hill. It is actually on one!

This was taken from the far side of the Rideau Canal.

Wolf on the trail of photos in Gatineau Park

Gatineau Park was lovely... and insanely crowded. There were hoards of people, cars and bicycles on narrow roads, sometimes driving in a peculiar fashion. Nobody got killed so far as I saw.

It hasn't been the most impressive fall I've seen, but it is the first Ontario fall I've had in 5 years and first southern Ontario fall I've experienced since 1994. (wow do I feel old).

We went to the McKenzie Mountain trail - waiting 20 minutes for a parking spot and on the sugarbush trail by the visitor centre.

We were treated to 2 most excellent Thanksgiving dinners. Manda fed us on and my parents the other. All in all it has been a terrific and relaxing weekend... back to the grind tomorrow.

Jennith

Milkweed seeds aloft

I guess if it wasn't past my bedtime this picture would evoke some kind of haiku poem. I guess I'll just have to settle for posting it plain. 

Sharbot Lake Provincial Park - Chipmunk

I always think of the Raven (Algonquin Park Newletter) where the author notes one german woman's facination with chipmunks and how terribly we underrate them because of the familiarity.

I guess that goes for everything... friends, foods, a peaceful place to live.

Sharbot lake is a small but delightful park with sites crammed between a lake and the highway. We travelled back from Ottawa via highway 7 and I have to say, I don't think I would take the highway 401 anymore than I have to to get to Ottawa. The 7 is a nice piece of road and the scenery kicks the 401's butt.

Jennith

Eeek! Watershed Design

Picture from Hanlon Creek Conservation Area.

Sunrise bird song flies
Through gravel-streamed forest valleys
Nestled between peaks

Onwards and upwards and Arcviewing again.

Jennith 

A true bug

Correct me if I'm wrong Erin - but is this a true bug. He is hangin out on dog wood leaf.

ooooooohhhhh slimy

Witches Butter - a nice orange slime mould revels in the humid post-torrential-storm afternoon 

Hiking in the Hanlon

I was out and about looking for a potential study site in the Hanlon watershed. I'm amazed at the amount of greenspace in Guelph. If you tune out the sounds from the parkway, you'd think you were in the depths of the woods. Here is a nice cedary-swampy bit with lots of coarse woody debris. 

Amazing Asters

I can't seem to go wrong with close up shots of these asters. This one in near the Hanlon Creek Conservation Area.

The closest match in Forest Plants of Southern Ontario (aka my "bible" or at least the most well used book I own with dog eared pages and dirt - may have to do somewhat with where I use it). As a caveat - I'm trying to identify from a photo and I didn't get a good look at the leaves or stems for the purposes of identification. Oh - and the book describes it as a "highly variable species". So... who knows. 

YEAH!!! I MADE THE EFRT TEAM!!!

Its official I am a first responder once more!

Yeah! Hooray! Yahoo!

Jennith

more astercaes

 

Couldn't help myself

Well, the asters do go together! 

Astercae Autumn

Haunting autumn rain
A fall of chill tears - dark skies
Coming snow whispers

An aster on a field trip in Guelph - yeah macro lens.

Busy weekend!

I finished the AMFR course sucessfully and I'm waiting for them to post the list of people who made the EFRT team. I guess wearing my orange shirt (under my fleece of course) really was good luck.

We shall see... but hopefully now I'll be a bit more relaxed, especially since I'm finally starting to feel better.

I'll post again when I find out - if the results are good, otherwise I'll just plunk up some more autumn pics. Hopefully I'll make it out to the Bruce trail before all of the leaves are gone.

Jennith