Tropical Ponderings From Charlotte

Here be a funky flower from Busch Gardens. I had a great week in Tampa at the EWRI conference. Although, I have to admit that Busch Gardens was one of the highlights. Its a pretty cool place, cooler than I initially gave it credit. Its been a long time since I've had the pleasure of being on a rollar coaster that made me scream without reservation. I'm pretty tired, and owing to some weirdness in flights I'm delayed, but enjoying having access to the internet for the first time in a week, but now I should see what I can do about making sure my lugage is here too....more to come.

Stormy Waters at "The Jack Pine" site

Here is Grand Lake on a stormy April morning, the picture taken at the spot where Tom Thompson painted the sketch that would later be his famous Jack Pine picture.

:D

Jennith

The Assassin's Apprentice

Robin Hobb is surely my favourite author. While there are undoubtedly numerous ways that she is a talented storyteller - it is her characters that make me read her books over and over again. For a time, I swear I was half in love with one of them. So, although I've lost count of how many times I've read this trilogy before, I still sit infront of this computer my eyes bleary and my face tight with tears. I swear I cry harder with every reading. I have read books by authors far crueler to their characters, but her writing is like the person who forces you into tears simply by asking what is wrong or putting an arm around you when you are trying so hard to hold all those tears in. Ah... how they spill at that kindness and that is her knack - to balance cruelty with kindness, and bad luck with deserved consequences and while Fitz is perhaps the character I identify with most strongly, I can say with honesty that each of the supporting characters is wrought with equal skill. I can close my eyes and picture them, imagine their voices, I know their woes and struggles by heart, and their quirks and habits. How people so complete could spring entirely from the mind of one woman baffles me - and I can only shake my head in wonder and sniffle quietly and blink the gummy feeling from my eyes.

I must hustle off to the other things I should be doing....but, I recommend anything she has written highly and I thank her once again for the gift of her stories that have taught me more about courage, honor, friendship and sacrifice than my own life has - and for that I shall be grateful.

Jennith Peart

For whom the Trillium tolls

Silence keens sharply
White wind sucked dry of sounding
Solitude ringing

Twisted Bellflower

My life is odd. My room feels empty...so I went for a hike early this morning to cheer myself up and catch the spring wild flowers before they were gone. Maybe pictures of trilliams and large bell flowers later I headed home being glad that I don't live so far from the woods that I can't visit.

Trailing Arbutus

These were pretty much the only flowers (save a few carolina spring beauties) that we saw on the trip. They were peaking out from the needles on the berm lake trail.

Canoeists below

Looking down from a 100 ft cliff we caught a lucky soul canoeing the barron canyon. Having left the canoe at home - we didn't get a chance, but I'm definately planning on going back to do that at some point.

Wolfe Farm

I just loved this farm so much I had to stop and take pictures of it, even if it meant hiking nearly a km back up the highway.

The weather was dreary, but I think it added to the beauty rather than took away.

Bon Echo Bay

Bon Echo was open but only partially. We did one hike along a ridge, but half of the park was still shut - so we decided to keep going and see where we ended up.

Barron Canyon Pine

This twisted pine clings to the edge of a 100 foot cliff carved by raging waters and sediment born of melting glaciers. Today, it is a nice spot for a bit of lunch and photography.

The Barron Canyon

On the east side of Algonquin, after a 50 km stretch of dirt road from Pembroke, is Archray Campground. Small by Algonquin standards, this 45 site campground features many sites on the shore of Grand Lake. Aside from its beauty and the sense of being in the interior (especially in late April), this was the site of the ranger station that Tom Thomson of the group of 7 (well, more or less) stayed. The log cabin he stayed is is still there, and a short trail takes you to the place where he sketched the painting of the Jack Pine - although the tree itself is long gone. Two other hiking trails are available. The Berm Lake trail, sharing some trailway with the eastern pines backpacking trail (14.5 km) travels around Berm Lake, while the Barron Canyon Trail provides a stunning viewpoint of the canyon from a cliff. Here we met a lady visiting from Dublin while her son competes in a playboating (crazy kayaking) tournament. I promise to post some more pictures both from the camp ground and Barron Canyon. Its amazing there, I was quite pleasently surprised.

Farm in the hills of eastern Ontario

A quaint and beautiful farm nestled in the hills. We saw some of the neatest log cabins on our trip. At this point our destination was Pembroke.

April Roadtrip 2007

This picturesce church in Wolfe, ON (on the 512 maybe) is surrounded by rolling hills and farms. The scenery was so lovely, we stopped just to take a few pictures on a dreary day.

As for travel in April - well the weather was warmer than our trip to Cape Breton about the same time of year 2 years ago, we saw little snow, but the weather was pretty dreary when we set out, improving greatly on Sunday.

Why travel in April? Well, here are a few advantages:
- the park we stayed in was nearly empty and we were able to pick the best site and didn't have to pay reservation fees.
- its rarely painfully hot
- well, the last week of april and august are generally the only moments in student life between school and job when nothing is hanging over you head.
- there is nothing as neat as seeing the first signs of spring, burst in to life

Alright. Work now, but more pics to follow.

Coltsfoot

Usually among the first plants to come up in spring - this aster - Coltsfoot - is bright among the leaves

Photographic Surprise

Taking photos of trout lillies (Yeah! the first I've seen this year) is not always easy. You have a choice between lying belly down on the forest floor or you have to take the picture and hope you get what you want without looking through the viewfinder. I took about 10 pictures, hoping that a few would be in focus. For the most part, they didn't turn out, but this one - in spite of me missing most of the flower - was not only in focus, but contained the image of an insect I hadn't noticed when taking the photo. Go figure.

I'm excited about spring. I actually got out hiking on the Bruce trail twice this weekend. I went to Hilton falls on the way to Guelph yesterday, which was nice despite the line up to get in and I went to Mount Nemo (my new favourite place to hike) today with Gabe. Between us, we have about 120 pictures of turkey vultures (and I have about 15 - which leaves Gabe with the rest.)

Anywho... I'm back in the photo days. Silver Creek is one of my next hits and maybe somewhere next weekend to... I'll post some photos. As for probably one of the longest gaps in my posting - my apologies. Things have been a bit wild around here and I've been trying to spend less time on my computer and more time exercising.

Here are some of my goals for the summer:

1. Get another 20 crest sewn on my blanket
2. Make a small, simple quilt
3. Exercise a little every day - and in the end - be in pretty good shape by the end of the summer.
4. Cross stitch - I bought my first real cross stitch a few weeks ago and I'd like to finish it by Christmas
5. Organize my files better - this means tackling the filing cabinet first and then the boxes of papers in the basement - and perhaps throwing some old stuff out.
6. Get as much of my ruddy thesis done as possible this summer - so that I can escape by christmas.
7. Spend some time with friends and phone some people I owe phone calls and create a book that has current phone numbers of people in it.

Cheers,

Jennith

Cross One Bridge at a Time

This time last year, I was watching the sun rise (well, very occasionally) in Fredericton, NB over the Saint John River - and its funny but I miss the river and the walking bridge and a part of me would really love to hike around Killarny Lake. On the other hand, I spend too much time peering over maps and I have a hole list of provincial parks that I'm dying to see this summer. Things have been a bit nuts here - try living without a fridge for a week while you have company and you'll quickly and you'll understand. Ok... I'd better go find my watch... it seems to be hiding - probably in the kitchen.

More updates later.

Jenn

Hilton Falls

The Weather is Confused

I must admit that I've never been a real fan of spring. Its usually to wet to hike and until the trilliums and trout lillies emerge - not the best time of year to be in the woods. So I played with the photo editor and made this one look a bit more appetizing. The weather, promising a week ago, it threatening snow and while I am used to snow in April (a common occurance in all the places I've lived the past 11 years) I was hoping for an early spring this year now that I'm down south. :D I keep checking the weather channel in hopes that they've changed their minds about the sub zero temperatures and flurries. I guess I should be glad to be facing a few flurries rather than threats of 25 cm of snow, but then again at least you can ski on that (says the girl who only went skiing once this winter).

I also discovered the weather network website which I've always turned my nose up because it wasn't environment canada - but they have way good maps that show temperature, snow depth and precipitation giving a country wide overview. So I think I may visit there more often - and they have more detailed predictions too.

Alright.. no one really cares what I think about the cold or the weather network website. In more entertaining news, I was dreaming that I was swimming laps to prepare for my NLS recert (I wonder if you can burn calories by dreaming that you are doing something athletic) when my FRT radio went off which resulted in me going under and ending up with a mouth full of water in my dream before waking up to a dry and beeping reality. In the good old days, I'd have been half way down the hall running full tilt before I work up.

:D

Jenn

Reflections on Spring

I made myself take time and go for a hike today. I can't say that this is the most beautiful time of year, but still the shapes and colours of the woods are more relaxing than concrete no matter what the colour or surface treatment is. The photo depicts a vernal pool, likely created by a culvert with inadequate capacity to pass the rain, but it was pretty none the less. Surprisingly, there was little birdsong or frogsong although around my house there is ample samples to prove that the birds are up to no good this time of year - but they seem to prefer dawn to 6 pm. It was nice though. I only met 2 other hikers - so even though the trail was roadlike, it still was nice. I'll have to visit Mountsberg soon.

I'm looking forward to field season, I'm sure I'll be glad to be outside lots. I'm trying hard to get back in shape - hoping to get the bike out soon and yeah I'm in Ontario this year and won't have to wear a helmet. I know it is a safety thing, but I can never get the straps right and the are always either choking me or the helmet is sliding into my eyes.

Anywho, the pond reminded me of spring in Kash where the sound of frogs was deafening... at least the ones that Lola hadn't dug up and eaten during the winter.

Goodnight.

Jennith

Lanky trees reflect
In emphemeral pond - naked
Dancing a frog's song

Rapids

I wandered onto Andrew Desmond's live journal for some reason tonight. I guess he's surfaced a bit more in my mind this week owing to it being his birthday, or maybe it was just hanging out with highschool friends or people I've run into on facebook. It somehow seems less angry now than it did when I read it last year - I guess it just made me think how he never had much luck, every time things started to go well, some crazy thing would sideswipe him. I wonder if he ever worried just because things were going good, the pattern was that strong. I still regret that I didn't drop by his work on that Saturday, like I meant to, since clearly Tuesday was too late. Then again, maybe this would be that much more horrifying if it had happened after re-establishing contact with him - knowing him as I did - he'd probably have said something infuriating and iratating and left me feeling grouchy at him. Its all beyond changing - so I scatch my head and wonder at the cruelty of fate. Hope there is still cake and ice cream on the other side.

The FRT end of year party was tonight. We enjoyed a snazzy dinner at a restaurant and some awards. It was kind of nostalgic - not a bad bunch of people really even though living out of town has limited my social interaction with them in general. I'm on shift now, hoping for a quiet night.

Ren and family visited the other day, leaving a small pair of shoes behind should they be wondering where they go to. I made some pretty good spagetti sause, even for me. Unfortunately I'm starting to feel sleepy and should catch some zzzz's, since I can't remember the rest of the list of things I wanted to say.

Night

Jennith