Sunday Morning Dog Walk

Three photos from the dog walk this morning.

First, from the top of a fence post, a bit of new moss growing.

Then an encounter with three deer, wondering which way to run.

And lastly a Panicled Aster bloom, still hanging on, more or less.

Royal Botanical Garden's Rock Garden - October 28, 2016

The best flower view of the day was by the front gate.

The "mums" put on a great display.

Seedheads of one of the grasses were quite beautiful.

They kept many of the original tall trees in the garden.

I think the waterfall is new, 

or at least I do not remember it being this tall.

Hostas next to a smaller waterfall look great 

even going to seed.

I liked how the water was catching and reflecting

the blue of the sky just below the falls.

This part of the garden reminded me a bit of 

Monet's Garden in Giverny, France.

If I have rock garden photos from my1966 visit, 

I have not found them . . . yet.

Friday Flowers

              I found 35 wild flowers in bloom along the Hamilton Waterfront Trail today. Not too bad for the 28th of October and working alone. I will be leading a wild flower walk on this same trail on November 5th. I suspect with more eyes we will find more flowers even if it is a week later and into the month of November.

            I also visited the Royal Botanical Rock Garden today. I had not visited it since it reopened in the spring after a long closure. Due to a  special function at the main building, I did not get to go into the new building but it really was the garden that I wanted to see as the RBG Rock Garden was the first public place I was introduced to when I arrived in Canada just over 50 years ago. Needless to  say, there are many changes but I still recognized the old rock garden behind all the new changes. Not very many flowers are in bloom at this time of year but it is still a beautiful place to visit. (Photos tomorrow when I have more time to download and process them.)

Three Deer

            OK, not the best photo, but if the sun was up it was just barely up and well hidden behind heavy clouds. All three of these deer were in the field just south of our property. That is our fence in the foreground. The deer that is the furthest away was less than 200 metres away, maybe around 150 metres? Just guessing, I did not pace it off. In any event, these three deer were on our property just east of our house the night before and and just left our property shortly before I took the photo. Two of the deer had run over the edge of the hill and were out of sight but one stayed in midfield. When the dog did not bark and I did not move, they became curious and came back to see what we were all about and then I managed to get the photo.

Frosty Morning

Some Colours in my World

Yesterday's Sunset

Some Lichens on a Walnut branch that fell yesterday morning

Enjoying sunset colours on Goldenrod and Milkweed Seeds this evening

Grand Valley Trail Walk

            Fleur-Ange and I only walked a few kilometres on the Grand Valley trail yesterday but the colours were still wonderful. There were many more leaves still on the trees there compared to where we live. I am not sure why unless it is that we are more exposed to the winds.

            As I walked the dog last evening I heard the honking of geese in the distance. Even though I had a couple of minutes before they arrived, it was still difficult to get out the camera, change it to distance instead of macro, and focus. That being said, I did get one fairly good photo.

         

  As we walked along, we found a few more wild flowers that had not been blooming at home:

Bugloss, Viper's

Butter-And-Eggs

Chicory

Cinquefoil, Common

Clover, White

Dandelion, Common

Dandelion, Red-Seeded

Dogwood, Red-Osier

Goatsbeard, Yellow

Medick, Black

Sow Thistle, Field

Sow Thistle, Spiny-Leaved

Storksbill

Running and Wild Flowers

            So, I finished another long run yesterday. I ran 18 km on the streets, roads, and trails in the Brantford area. It will be the last long run before the Road-2-Hope Half Marathon that is coming up on November 6, two weeks from today.

            The leaves on the trail were very colourful and almost made me dizzy at times but they were not too slippery. My friend Chris ran with me and we ran just a few minutes slower than several others in the running club.

            In the afternoon, I cut down most of our Cup Plants. I put some of them into the fence line so birds could still get at the seeds and used some to make a bit of a wall in the trees. I wanted it to be an art piece but was not pleased with it enough to really call it art. Sometimes I need to be more patient with my work.

            Wild flowers that the dog and I found in bloom this morning are as follows:

Aster, Arrow-Leaved..(Symphyotrichum urophyllum)

Aster, Frost..................(Symphyotrichum pilosum)

Aster, Heath ...............(Symphyotrichum ericoides)

Aster, New England ...(Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)

Aster, Panicled ...........(Symphyotrichum lanceolatum)

Cinquefoil, Rough-Fruited..(Potentilla recta)

Clover, Red ................(Trifolium pratense)

Fleabane, Daisy...........(Erigeron annuus)

Goldenrod, Canada .....(Solidago canadensis)

Goldenrod, Tall ...........(Solidago altissima)

Harebell ......................(Campanula rotundifolia)

Herb Robert.................(Geranium robertianum)

Houseweed..................(Conyza canadensis)

Queen Anne's Lace......(Daucus carrot)

            Meanwhile, this seed head of Wild Basil caught my attention.

Friday, October 21

            And another day of rain. We need all we can get as we ran out of water in our well again this morning. Meanwhile it does make for fewer wild flowers in bloom. We only found 41 in bloom in the Hendrie Valley and around the edges of the formal flower gardens.

            We did have a treat in terms of "wild" pumpkins all over the Rose Garden and part of the Hendrie Valley today.

Wednesday Colours

So it is raining today, Thursday, but yesterday morning the colours were spectacular in the trees that still had leaves.

Beside one walnut, almost empty of leaves, were these catching the morning sun.

This ash tree was full of morning sunlight!

The elms and walnuts had lost most of their leaves but this sugar maple was showing through.

This black cherry was looking very  happy.

This part of the south ravine trail is almost at the west side of our property.

This little sumac could not decide which colour to turn.

I have almost daily photos of this scene that I want to make into a time lapse work sometime in the future. I have taken photos at almost the same location since late last winter.

Leaves?

Leaves from our walnut trees are rapidly disappearing.

Colours & Sounds

Enjoying

new north ravine trail

fall colours

and

sounds of 

"Spring" Peepers

Red-winged Blackbirds

Flocking

Talking

about flying

South

Running Note

            Back in 1995, when I was 52, I was very pleased to run a marathon in 3 hours 51 minutes, 5 seconds. I have only attempted that distance one time since then and it was 5h 5m 5s when I was 66. (I thought it was when I was 67; so much for my memory.) Anyway, this morning an 85 year old  runner, who lives about a marathon distance away from me, made an extraordinary run at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.

            In the same race, a friend of mine who works out in the same gym as I do in Brantford, came in first of all Canadian women. 

Saturday Run, etc.

          Run/walk/run . . . 16 k this morning with Road Rebel running group. I am not fast but I am steady. Ran with Chris this morning and kept Jeff & Jennifer in sight for most of the run.

Re yesterday's blog: Wondering what the mental condition of reversing sounds is called. The call of the Great Horned Owl is three hoots and then two, not the reverse.

Hoo, hoo, hoo,

hoo, hoooo

Meanwhile, lots of Red-winged Blackbirds and Kildeer calling along the road this morning during the run.

Oh yes, there was also a Yarrow blooming on the path that the dog and I walked this evening.

Late Afternoon Calls

Since August

often

not always 

but again 

late this afternoon 

hoo, hoo

hoo, hoo, hoo

come the calls 

of the Great Horned Owl 

from the woodlot 

to the south  

Blogging Again?

October 13, 2016

Just an hour or so ago 

I saw the east side 

of a west-running deer

and some mushrooms

and listened to

crows, chickadees,

and some red-winged blackbirds.

All this while walking

with Sadie, our dog

It occurred to me

that I have not written

on the blog for a   l o n g   time.

Wonder it is time

to blog again.

I feel the need to write.

Somehow Facebook is becoming

painful

Too much interference

Too much telling me what I should post.

Will I be able to blog again?

An old puffball and its apple friend

This fungus often grows on Ash-leaved Maple Trees

Sorry, I do not have a name.

Suggestions welcome!

Dryad's Saddle

(Polypros squamosus)