Yesterday Terry and I headed out for a walk - in spite of cool, rainy weather.
We weren’t alone...
Photographers were trying to get good shots of birds...
This heron, looking for food, was a popular subject.
I also noticed ducks - and a few Canada geese.
As beautiful as birds are to photograph...
... my favourite nature subject is the sky.
Clouds are always so awesome! And constantly changing!
A few days ago, I headed out for a walk around the neighborhood... How many more times will I be able to do this before the snow flies?!
Terry has worked hard to assure that our yard is ready for winter: leaves raked, drains cleared. A few days ago he even washed windows.
With numerous construction projects around us in the neighborhood, the windows accumulate a lot of grime.
What will happen to the trees that still haven’t dropped their leaves… like this beautiful yellow-leafed maple? Some years snow doesn’t arrive until December...
(Do the trees know something that we don’t know?!)
Surely all the leaves will be down by then!
I’ve been trying to divide plants that are now too large... and move parts to a new location.
My neighbor, Bill, who used to live across the street - and who had a long career in landscaping - used to do this in spring...
I didn’t think it mattered whether I did it in spring or fall.
The hostas are going dormant for the winter - so I thought I’d divide a very large hosta in the back yard, filling in the hole with new soil.
Now I notice that squirrels have dug in at least six places in this soft, fresh soil.
Have they planted new trees there?!
I guess I won’t know until new plants emerge next year
Having pesky squirrels upset my gardening plans is one of my pet gardening peeves!
Sometimes I put rocks on the fresh soil as a deterrent... but I didn’t do it this time. That was probably a mistake. Rocks do stop the squirrels from digging ... But it’s easy to trip over them once everything is in bloom again!
November 11 is Canadian Remembrance Day. At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, Canada remembers those soldiers who fought in Canadian wars - especially those who died.
There is usually a large crowd at Ottawa’s tomb of the unknown soldier every Remembrance Day and the ceremony of laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier is televised all over Canada. Terry and I headed downtown for the service one year. Both his father and grandfather were Canadian war veterans. My father’s father died in World War I, when my dad was only 4.
I find it moving to see the remembrance monuments in small towns, like the one above in Almonte...
This one in Manotick...
And this one in Merrickville.
In a small community where everyone knows everyone, when anyone dies, it’s like losing family member.
Terry and I were recently in Manotick when we noticed a city maintenance crew working on the old walking bridge near historic Watson’s Mill.
The pedestrian footbridge sits on top of the dam used to power the mill that was build in 1860.
Like many old mills of the time, Watson’s Mill was powered entirely by water.
What were the two men doing?
Talking to them, we discovered that they were opening up the dam sluices in preparation for spring, when big chunks of ice would be flowing down the river.
To open the dam up, they were removing most of the massive wooden blocks, piled one upon another on the left side of the bridge. These squared logs, piled one upon the other, acted as sluices to hold the water back when the river was flowing.
I had often noticed the logs lying on the walkway but I had no idea what their purpose was.
They then closed up the hatch and moved to the next hatch. It took them several hours to open up the dam sluices in this way.
They would open up all except the one closest to the mill.
I watched - intrigued that they were using the same tools that would have been used in 1860!
Arriving when we did, Terry and I had briefly stepped back in time!
They adjust the sluices only twice a year - once in spring and once in fall.
So fascinating!
The weather has turned colder...
Some mornings there is frost on the car.
But I’m surprised to see that many of the trees around us still have leaves... The orange one in the picture above is in the grounds of the nursing home where my mother spent her last 4 years.
Four weeks ago, when Terry and I were visiting Guelph - we noticed that leaves had begun to fall…
The park near our daughter’s home had a colourful carpet on the ground!
But here in Ottawa, trees didn’t seem to be shedding as quickly...
Not sure why... Did we have more rain? More hours of sunlight? Different types of trees?
This is the large tree across the street. l wonder how long before all its leaves will be down?!
