Butter-and-Eggs

Butter-and-Eggs, originally uploaded by Ontario Wanderer.

A wild flower from a wild flower walk at Ruthven Park National Historic Site near Cayuga, Ontario. Ontario Wanderer was the walk leader. (Note that one can see the flower nectar in the bottom of the spur of the flower.)

Breakfast Time !

Breakfast Time !, originally uploaded by Ontario Wanderer.

One of my favourite activities is eating breakfast. I get to make about 90 % of the breakfasts because I am the first one up and hungry.



Onions & garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, fried with eggs in olive oil in the old cast iron frypan. Yumm, I am getting hungry again.

Nodding

Nodding, originally uploaded by Ontario Wanderer.

This is one of 111 wild flowers that I found on a 3 1/2 hour walk yesterday. It was the first day that it felt a lot like fall with clouds and cooler temperatures. Now if it would only get cool enough to get rid of the mosquitoes that still are a plague I would be a lot happier.

Autumn's Glow

Autumn's Glow, originally uploaded by Ontario Wanderer.

I love the almost neon glow of the Silky Dogwood berries at this time of year. This photo still does not quite capture the beauty of these berries. As soon as they are ripe, they will all disappear. So far, I can enjoy them every morning as I walk by the shrubs but soon they will be bird breakfasts.

Gertrude

Gertrude, originally uploaded by Ontario Wanderer.

Every morning when I walk into the barn this is the first face I see. (She has lots of Enchanters Nightshade seeds caught up in the hair around her face and is not keen on my taking them off.)

Gertrude has an amazing appitite and eats almost all of our leftover vegetables from our meals. Alice, our other Angora, is more picky about her diet. Trying to keep her youthful figure?

Morning

Morning, originally uploaded by Ontario Wanderer.

" Outside, there is the stirring of birds among the leaves,...the sigh and sob of the wind coming down from the hills, and wandering round the silent house, as though it feared to wake the sleepers, and yet must need sall forth sleep from her purple cave. Veil after veil of thin dusky gauze is lifted, and by degrees the forms and colours of things are restored to them, and we watch the dawn remaking the world in its antique pattern."

--- from The Picture of Dorian Gray; by Oscar Wilde

And the song of the Chickadee, Phoebe, Jay, and Crow add their music to the dawn.

Beggartick

Beggartick, originally uploaded by Ontario Wanderer.

According to one source that I read this morning the seeds of the beggartick are so prone to attaching themselves to passing animals that even "migrating salamanders" have seeds attached to them. (Meanwhile, I did not know that salamanders migrated. I wonder from where to where. Anybody know?)

We have two species of beggartick growing on our property but this one is from the Royal Botanical Gardens.

A Flower Called Turtlehead

A Flower Called Turtlehead, originally uploaded by Ontario Wanderer.

This is another flower that has changed families within the last few years. It is currently placed in the Plantaginaceae or Plantain family according to the 2008 publication of Mabberley's Plant-Book from Cambridge University Press.

I am hoping re revitalize my blog with more plant and other nature observations. Time will tell if what I want is what I have time to do.

Swan Song For a Harbour

Swan Song For a Harbour, originally uploaded by Ontario Wanderer.

The night was beautiful and cool and the birds were flying and swimming in the polluted waters of the Hamilton Harbour. It looked beautiful. Even the steel mill looked good as the full moon rose over the waters.

Wild Blue Berries

Wild Blue Berries, originally uploaded by Ontario Wanderer.

We visited Églantine's old stomping grounds in August and enjoyed eating berries from the bush. There were lots of various berries in the area but the blue berries were the best eating!

International Rock Flipping Day

International Rock Flipping Day, originally uploaded by Ontario Wanderer.

Some rocks are harder to flip than others. I actually did not move this one too much. OK, I didn't move it at all but some of the rocks at the base of this one were flipped.

Eastern Black Nightshade

Eastern Black Nightshade, originally uploaded by Ontario Wanderer.

Since the microscope is out and hooked up, I thought I should look at a few more flowers. This one is Solanum ptychanthum and will have black berries. That's why the "black" nightshade got its name in spite of the white and yellow flowers. The actual size of the flower is less than 1 cm ( 4 in).

Ragweed

Ragweed, originally uploaded by Ontario Wanderer.

Many people are allergic to the pollen from Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia ). Since it blooms the same time as the showier Goldenrod, the Goldenrod often gets the blame. Goldenrod pollen is fairly heavy and sticky and does not go far. According to once source that I read, Ragweed pollen can travel up to 400 miles (640 km). It is also abundant as each plant can produce up to a billion pollen grains. [Information from John Eastman's The Book of Field and Roadside.]

Swing Time

Swing Time, originally uploaded by Ontario Wanderer.

Kids, and maybe some adults, have used this rope for swinging out and into the Groundhog River in Fauquier, Ontario under the railway bridge.

Sunrise at the Bridge

Sunrise at the Bridge, originally uploaded by Ontario Wanderer.

I spent a couple of hours at the two bridges in Fauquier taking varioius photos of the railway and highway bridges on August 19.