Thankful for the season

 Harvest frames this season

The feast of rainbow colour

Autumnal celebration 

punctuated with dolour

Langmuir streaks ribbon the lake

the winds they coldly blow

leaves sadly flit and dance

to waiting earth below.

 

 

Langmuir Streaks
	11 sec - 4 Aug 2008 - I wondered if the wind swept the particles into order. A peculiar sight. The wind pushes the water faster than the dirt.

 

Thanksgiving turkey

What a wonderful Canadian, October tradition. Here is my Nanny (1883  - 1978) basting her turkey. Today, down Memory Lane, since our family are elsewhere creating new family traditions, I can look to the past! Nanny always cooked for the entire extended family. Now we are all scattered hither and yon!

Wild turkeys are more plentiful in Muskoka than in previous years. There is an Ontario Wild Turkey Management Plan -(PDF).
I love seeing the turkeys around here. So glad MNR intervened.
From an Ontario low in 1984 of 3-digits, they estimated in 2007 that there are about 70,000 in this province. The program was successful, partially because they are a native species, methinks.

We must thank our American neighbours for sharing their wild turkeys. (Fishing Guy captured some great shots!) About 4400 were trapped and transported here from Missouri, Iowa, Michigan, NY, Vermont, New Jersey & Tennessee. Eventually, once the population was on its way at the original 275 release sites, Ontario wild turkeys were trapped again and spread into new areas (1986) that fell within the 'mixed hardwood ecozones' in which they originally thrived.

We see them from time to time. You see groups of two or three at the side of the road. Hard to photograph from a moving car. I won't even post THOSE photos! The guy above, left, was a drive-by shooting on someone's front lawn.

We had some visit our frontage, and they roared across the lake on the ice, having run down the neighbour's driveway first! I tracked them across the other neighbour's property, weird little roaches!

I thought it fitting to put a snowy photo on. It might inure us for what is to come. Our CranFest snow has been delayed from Saturday to Sunday!

Below, right, are some turkey vultures. Rather interesting feathered creatures! They were waiting for a ball game at the diamond one Spring. Don't hold your breath!

About a metre (yard) high, wild turkeys cannot be missed. Especially since they are noisy. They are best known for the male 'gobble' (sound).
From: Wild Turkey
Other calls include yelps (keouk, keouk, keouk);
the cluck(kut), a call to group together;
the whistle (kee-kee run) of a young bird;
the alarm or warning (putt)

They can fly, bless them. But like to wander up and down the neighbour's driveway. This video was taken on Thanksgiving Monday, Oct. 13, 2008

Early morning vista

Camera Critters #79

My little Oliver, ensuring the bulbs and lily of the valley I planted in my new garden remain so. (Well, 2 sq.' of chicken wire helps! And putting up the squirrel/bird feeders, too!)

I used to arrive very early to my class room, being a morning person. One of the first into my school. It was quiet; no one to disturb you. You could get things done, and get to the photocopier, it not having broken down yet, overheated as they tend to get during the day!

I love the early mornings more so now I am retired; when the lake is like glass. Bundling up in the cold morning, I'm glad to gaze over the lake. The fog dances in the lagoon with the temperature inversion.

Rain tomorrow, but today all is bright and beautiful.

I had to do another post, to laud the day. The new header photo was taken this morning!

The jays have nearly cleaned out the 6' crab apple tree. Each day they visit and steal a few more, to the delight, entertainment and/or frustration of the cats.

In the video below:
The sun peeks up over the eastern shore. Birds honk in the distance. Sady cat takes sips of water from the frigid lake. Oliver looks for prey in the bushes. The mice and moles are hurriedly looking for food. The cycle of the seasons revolves again with the Autumn Solstice.


Bird feeders are up. Oliver leaped 5' in the air to chase the chickadee sitting in the bucket. They twitter and tweet and dance away in their glee. Their scalloped flight pattern so unpredictable; they are fortunately hard to catch.

The squirrels have figured out the bucket. I really must label them, as the squirrels get confused with the bird feeder, nyger seed (finch) feeder, and the squirrel/blue jay peanut bucket. A little direction wouldn't hurt them.

Niger seed is also known by a variety of different names including nyger, ramtil, inga and black seed. Nyger seed comes from a plant called Guizotia abyssinica which is an annual herb grown in Africa and India not only for its seed but its edible oil too.

The 'coons ruined my bird feeder last year. Perhaps they will be kind this year. Not!

Not so nocturnal, either. They are hungry and preparing for winter. They do not truly 'hibernate', but nap somewhere between December and March in really cold weather. Otherwise they visit daily.


Oliver likes to help me tour the property.

He came upon a stick as I videotaped, caution is the word as it looks like a snake!

A wander through our bog reveals only one cranberry left that I can see! The 'coons and critters have eaten their fill. Good on them.

Oliver came along and checked out the moss for the aroma of critters. The bog is overflowing with water, despite the neighbour trying to fill it in over the past few years with leaves and debris. (At least she isn't burning her wet leaves as before!) It is truly on her property.
This long rock, on which Ollie reigns supreme Dauphin, called the Whale's Back, is only partly ours. But I inspect it and photograph it all the time!

Thanksgiving

We have noticed that many retirees, like us, were out shopping Friday. Hubby received a compliment for solo shopping. I am grateful for a hubby who shops. He explained he did it all the time. His fan suggested that her hubby might screw it up. She felt that men in her age group were not in the habit. Au contraire! My father did theirs, once mom retired. It is a whole new world.

We are grateful The stores are lovely. The oranges and browns of the season decorate many stores. The cut flowers are beautifully chosen; the mums are everywhere.

We are grateful to the florists who brighten our spaces. Hubby brought me home a delicious bunch.
The roads, on the way to shopping while wet, are lined with my soldiers and First Nations ghosts. It is a feast for the eyes. The beauty is only marred by the complainers. Now, I have complained about them on my rants blog, but it seems rather bizarre. Here we are, retired in cottage country. They are in the stores complaining about the rain. It is Friday.

Most in Muskoka anticipate children and grandchildren for the occasion. They shop Friday, to stay out of the stores on the w/e when it is busier. But grumpy grandfolks are preparing for delightful company with all the traditions of Canadians. Circle one: Too wet, too buggy, too dry, too snowy, too cold, too hot. Holy liftin snappers. When told, "What a terrible day", I always disagree. It is a glorious day, for which we are grateful.

Be grateful you are together. We seldom see family in the cold weather, our weather is too unpredictable for the 450 km between cities. We are grateful for Skype. We are grateful to have to have seen our friends on our whirlwind October Ottawa visit. Most here have dear friends of many years in Muskoka. Snowbirds, those with the big bucks, remain here for their obligatory 153 per year to keep their OHIP - health care. We choose to live here permanently. The snowbirds can have their sun. We are grateful for the rain, snow, sleet and hail. You appreciate each one differently. Shovelling is good exercise, when you need not make it out of the driveway for work.

The Raft
As an update, the raft is further along the lake into the lagoon behind the island. I know we are expecting snow next week, and I hope the family comes to retrieve the raft.= this weekend! It is being wind blown SE and SW with various storm fronts. Like a sail boat, it is floating slowly off into the distance. The storm clouds are gorgeous with the contrast. Ain't nature grand?!

Fair Trade Coffee

We love our coffee. It is one of my happy addictions. It used to be my treat for getting into work in the morning. Now, it is my treat for waking up!

We go to great lengths to purchase Fair Trade. I always seem to have a brain fade and say 'free trade' coffee.

Having read an article in Time: Special Report, Oct. 5, 2009.
I am beginning to think it is free coffee.

The facts

• Fair trade represents about 2.5% of the industry
• Fair trade is a 25-year global campaign
  
• pays the farmer 13% more than current non-organic market price
• if farmer gets $1.55 /lb., retail customer pays $10/lb.
• one farmer makes about $1000 per year, for example
  
• coffee is the 2nd most traded commodity (after oil)
• Nestle & Kraft dominate the industry
  
• there are 25 million coffee growers world wide
• Fair trade = $1.75 billion
• globally: coffee industry = $70 billion
  
• Starbucks is the globe's largest purchaser

Starbucks has pledged to double the amount of coffee it buys (20 to 40 million lb, to amount to 40% of the coffee imported into the US.

The farmer must drag 100 lb. of fertilizer up a mountain. It is labour intensive and still does not feed a family. About half of the farming families go hungry a couple months a year, in a recent study.

I cannot imagine the equity of this situation. Like Cheap-Mart, Kraft & Nestle get away with world domination, and the ruination of the small farming/business owner.

For what are we thankful?

We drove in for errands in town.
What a precious gift to soak in the colours in our part of the world. As we left the house, we spotted a tour bus, motor booming as the tourists did a tour of our street. A tight turn, but they made it. We wondered if the neighbours were selling tickets to see their tree (right)!

This tree is the reason we must carry our weekly garbage up another 50 steps along the road! I suppose the tree is worth it, and the exercise does not hurt, although our plumber offered a solution that involved his chain saw!

We drove from town, we came around the bend, and eased out from between the pink granite of the rocks. They hug us through this turn, and provide a firm foundation as we rise above the trees. Keeping us in their embrace before we launch above the world and gaze with awe at the view of the forest.

The colours are much more startling than this today, this picture not so recent, but you can imagine that Mighty Gitche Manitou (from the Anishinaabe language: gichi-manidoo) has taken his paint brush, and swept the forest with the reds, burnt umber, ochre, orange, gold, yellow from his pallete.

Red soldiers, wearing their red coats, deeply saddened by the desecration of this land, stand at attention. Green fields rise up, raided of their trees for timber and fuel. In pioneer days, the hardwood stumps would rot in 3 - 4 years; some were hauled out by oxen, the resin-filled pine did not rot easily. Holes filled, farm families would plant wheat, then potatoes, corn, rye. Chickens, pigs, and cows, began to make friends with the coons and beaver, bears, wolves and foxes.

The mighty pines have recently succumbed to the winds of the season and shed a scented carpet of needles. The pines frame the forest, a three-dimensional portrait of that which is beautiful on this earth. Pines, bragging, showing off with the deep green suit coats that provide a deep contrast to the picture.

As we drove, I felt the ghosts of First Nations long gone stood at the side of the road in their regalia.

Their children, the small sumac, generations not to come, now faded. Six nations still fight for survival in this millennium, life on a reservation or in the city, is not an easy one.

There are those who pray that we come to our senses on this planet.
Beaver no longer the plentiful inhabitants of this province; deer, wolf and coyote keep careful watch of their land, many in conflict with humanity. How sad that this changed our geography forever.
Tranportation, including the railway had a huge impact on wildlife and humans, and continues to do so. Roadkill dots the highway. I spotted 3 dead skunks between Port Hope & home (200 km). As we drove in Ottawa, I spotted roadkill deer on highway #416, where it runs through Cedarview forest.

And this sight, as barns fade away, and land usage changes. Many homes are cut out of small family farm land, reducing agricultural land.

I played with the colour, as my perceptions have changed over my time on this planet.

We see shallow souls hell bent for trouble. Two drivers pass two cars in a row, on a double line. I fear - not for me, but for the grief my children will bear.

We sit, shaking their heads, as two speed past, incapable of sufficient respect for us, and awe for this land. All they can see is this, as they speed past us.
We passed a hawk, who nodded in agreement,

What are these people doing to our world?


Fences to keep them out.

Migration patterns changed.

Be respectful this weekend if you plan to travel.

I hope those with family can have a great visit.
Drive safely. Be careful. Somebody out there loves you. You do not want to end up here.

For what are you thankful?

Kingston, Ontario Tour

The drive to and from Kingston is one of farms, farm land and farm buildings.

There are historic sites. We briefly visited the residence where Sir John lived, now turned into Bellevue Museum. (See the photo slide show below) An early 1840's home, Bellevue House served as a rental home to government officials, including Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada's first Prime Minister. MacDonald's short time at this residence was marred with sadness, as his son died and his wife was very ill.

The Wolfe Island wind farm is a contentious issue, but Kingston remains what it once was: an historic place where Aboriginal People once travelled and lived and French and English fought over land and territory.

The penitentiaries are quite interesting, with a museum in the centre of town. And there was a protest outside the hospital with pro and anti-abortion protesters on either side of the street. I took a video on the drive by, and made hubby drive around the block to video the other side, to0!

It is a city of contrasts, with old buildings, and Timmy Ho's on the same vista!

Queen's U. is a fabulously old place (1842), where many have gone in years past, and years to come. Hubby bought a cap that said, "Founded '41". In the store he explained to a fellow grad that he wasn't there in 1941, that Queen's was founded in 1841. Then the other gentleman said he attend in 1953, and his granddaughter attends there now. In fact, he drove her to campus, complaining that they couldn't just cross the street to the Book Store, someone had built a building after his time there. Hubby found a change or two, too!


Kingston photo slide show



Kingston video