Friday Flowers - January 10, 2020

 

 

 

1st Post of 2020

            As usual, I hope to do more blogging again this year. I guess starting on day 3 is not too bad. There are some other activities that I thought I would start this year that have not been started but the day is not over yet.

            On of the first bits of wild life that I saw this morning was a Hairy Bittercress plant growing in part of the lawn that had had some deep tire tracks in it. During the fall, I had filled and levelled that bit of lawn using dirt from a pile that had been removed during some landscaping at the front of the house a few years ago. I do not remember any Bittercress being in that pile before. Anyway, having seen that plant growing, I went to the west side of the house where I had seen some Bittercress blooming in December just to check it out.

Hairy Bittercress

cardamine hérissée

(Cardamine hirsuta)

            It is still blooming.

            I have been thinking, for the last few months that the birds have been a lot quieter than usual and fewer have been coming to the feeder. I realize that the bird population as a whole is going down fast but it hurts to feel the lack of birds so close to home.

            That being said, at our feeder so far in 2020 we have had Blue Jays, Cardinals, Chickadees, Mourning Doves, Goldfinches, Juncos, White-breasted Nuthatches, Downy Woodpeckers and one Red-bellied Woodpecker. Out in our meadows, I have heard Canada Geese flying over, Crows calling in the distance and, today, a Pileated Woodpecker flew across the meadow as I walked with our dog.

            That all looks not too bad but I still have the feeling that there have been more birds and more varieties in the past.

            In the barn we have had some Woolly Bear Caterpillars crawling about on the dirt floor for the last week or so. I saw two this morning again.

            Due to the warm weather of the last two days, most of the snow has melted and I have seen grasses and sedges greening up as well as the usual plants that are green at this time of year, usually under the snow: Common Strawberries, Dame's Rocket, Garlic Mustard, and White Avens.

White Avens

benoîte du Canada

Geum canadense

The Last 10 Years . . .

In spite of my Ontario Wanderer Instagram and Blog name, during this past decade I have wandered less than any other decade of my life. I have, in fact, only lived at one address, with Fleur-Ange Lamothe, for the whole decade which is the first time in my life that I have been at one address for 10 years. (During the other 6 decades of my life I had 21 other addresses in addition to being homeless for a few months; I  wandered through 32 states, all of the Canadian Provinces, one Canadian Territory and 15 countries.) 

During this decade I only wandered in 2 new countries and have done the majority of my wandering within 20 km of home. (Well, there was the 480 km walk that I did with Fleur-Ange and her friend Pauline from Montreal to Massachusetts in 2014….)

During earlier decades I spent a lot of time swimming, cross country skiing, biking, canoe tripping, hiking, leading wild flower walks and running in addition to working as a student, camp maintenance worker, lifeguard, swimming instructor, child care worker and elementary school teacher before retiring from work. 

This decade I have volunteered as a worker at an organic farm, been a helper in the Royal Botanical Garden Herbarium, volunteered with Fleur-Ange as a co-wild flower walk leader and continued long distance running. 

Other than being happy at staying at one address for ten years, I am most pleased to have finished 6 five km races, 11 ten km races, 1 twelve and a half km cross country race, 13 half marathons races, 5 thirty km Round-the-Bay races and 2 marathons.

I wonder if I can keep running for another decade.

November Flowers

            The 8th of November was the last day I was able to get some good late fall wild flower photos. We got some snow the next day and a lot more on the 11th. We actually had a record snow on the 11th along with record low temperatures. There have been very few flowers to photograph since then, ie. only Witch Hazel shrubs that are blooming well above the snow. 

            Following are three wild flowers that I found on the Hamilton Waterfront Trail on the 8th of November:

            The Sticky Groundsel, (Senecio viscous), aka Sticky Ragwort or séneçon visqueux in French, grows under the 403 bridge next to the Waterfront Trail.

            I found the Mad Dog Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) or scutellaire latériflore in French, by accident as I was trying to photograph a sow thistle. The skullcap flowers are quite small and growing in rocks by the side of the Hamilton Harbour.

            The Thin-leaved Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), or symphorine blanche in French, grows in various places along the Waterfront Trail.

November 3rd Road-2-Hope Half Marathon

        Here is the map of the half marathon course. The start is at the Arcelor-Mittal Dofasco Park where there is a large building with a gym, meeting rooms, etc.

            Kilometres 2 through 6.5 were against the wind this year. From km 6.5 to km 16 the route is mostly downhill on the Hamilton Red Hill Expressway. The last 5 km are along the Waterfront Trail with two way traffic about half that distance. 

            

            Here I am, dark and early, after being dropped off by Fleur-Ange who has been my official chauffeur for quite a few years now. It makes the race easier as I do not have to be at the end of the course to catch a bus even earlier.

            

            Even though I was early, there were already quite a few runners in the gym. The first bus had already dropped off the first set of runners. Nevertheless, I got to find a place to sit by the wall so I had support for my back during the wait.

            Most of the runners sat quietly, did some chatting and stretched while waiting for the races to start. Meanwhile, there was one runner who ran, skipped, hopped, and did various twisting steps for at least 40 minutes before the run. I did not see his number so I have no way of knowing if all that pre-exercise helped him in the race.

            The photo shows my long shadow as the sun is just over the horizon and the not so long lines for the porta-potties; not so long unless one really need to get there before the starting gun.

            I always line up near the back of the group of runners. 1. Because I do not like being in crowds and 2. because it feels like it takes energy away from me when I am passed and, conversely, I get a  bit of a charge of energy when I can pass anyone. (That happens less and less these days.)

            Here we are about 4 km into the run running against a 24 km wind. I saw several of the runners just ahead of me for most of the run.

            At this point in the run, we have gone just over 7 km and are starting down the expressway. The thin blue line above the trees at the bottom and before the more distant hills is Lake Ontario.

            The steeper part of the Red Hill Expressway has started by km 8 and the runners are spreading out more and more.

            Here is the reason for the name of the expressway. It looks a lot redder when all the leaves are green.

            Here is one of the "official" Road2Hope photos as I crossed over the bridge that goes over the Queen Elizabeth Way's 6 or 8 lanes of traffic. The noise is dreadful and it is always windy on the bridge so I took off my hat to keep it from flying away into the traffic below. Ian is hiding behind me as he is not an official runner in the race. He has come out two years in a row for this race to help pace me and give me encouragement. (Thanks again Ian!)

            Fleur-Ange took this photo of Ian and I as we ran along the waterfront trail about 2 km from the end of the race.

            Here is another "official" Road2Hope photo just seconds before I crossed the finish line.

            Another photo of me taken by Fleur-Ange while I was still waiting for my 2nd in the age-group metal. For some reason it took about a half hour for the word to get to the metal people that I had finished 2nd. Meanwhile, it was cold and very windy as one can see by the space blanket blowing behind me instead of keeping me warm.

            Here is my finishing metal, my 2nd place 75-79 age group metal and my prize cup for finishing 2nd. Now I am just waiting for the soreness to go away.