Mountsberg

[vaneramos]

Today Jon had Sylvie, me and my daughters over for lunch. It was a quiet gathering. We all have colds except Brenna. Afterwards we sat out on the balcony in the sun. The weather forecast called for rain. It couldn't have been more wrong. This was a perfect spring day.

Jon showed me the second bedroom in his apartment. It would at least be big enough for a bed and office space. It has early afternoon sunlight. I asked him whether he would be interested in looking for a larger place together, and he is open to the idea, although it's doubtful we could afford anything much better. On the way home, I talked to the girls about of moving into Jon's place. They surprised me by saying they think it's a good idea.

Then I took the girls to Mountsberg Conservation Area, where we ended up spending several hours. There was a maple syrup demonstration, chainsaw sculpture, a raptor rehabilitation program, hiking trails, an 1870s barn converted into a climbing pavilion, and many other things to see and do. In the small lake we saw an osprey perched on a nest platform. In the marsh, the spring peepers were in full chorus.










Mountsberg is only a 20 minute drive from here, but the last time I visited was 20 years ago, while I was a biology student at U of Guelph. The park has been developed considerably since then. I showed the girls the place where I came with my ornithology professor to band birds. The birds were caught in long sheets of mist nets (nearly invisible) arranged along the edge of the meadow, then weighed, banded and released.

The meadow is gone, replaced by a huge swath of empty lawn.

Comments

[mathan.livejournal.com]

I grew up in Campbellville and went to Mountsberg quite a bit while growing up. :) I love taking people who have never seen proper Maple Syrup tapping, making, etc...

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Cool, I didn't realize you came from that area. They have developed Mountsberg somewhat; it's nice to see.

[currawong.livejournal.com]

I always love your holiday pictures with Les Girls.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Bill. Besides getting me out and doing things, the girls provide interesting stories and photo ops. Marian is going through a "scared of the camera" phase but Brenna, as you can see in the third photo, is a ham.

[apel.livejournal.com]

Wow, that second picture is pure poetry. I could stare at it for hours.

[queenmomcat.livejournal.com]

It reminds me of one of Escher's etchings-can't remember the title though, alas, but one of the straightforward representational ones (I love his mind-bending geometry-busting stuff.)

[rsc.livejournal.com]

It reminds me of one of Escher's etchings-can't remember the title

It's called Three Worlds (in reference to surface, underwater, and reflection), and it's one of my favorites. This is not the first of Van's photos to remind me of it, but I think it may be the best so far.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Dang, you beat me on the draw.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

But, unlike you, I was too lazy to go dig up either the previous reference or the link to the Escher itself.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I think you mean Three Worlds. rsc pointed out the same connection to another image I posted in November.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I love it, too. I've been exploring photos of reflections all year, and this is just about my favourite.

glad it was a good day for all!

[djjo.livejournal.com]

Great pictures as always. It always amazes me how well you observe things. wonderful!

hugs! it should be another great day out there.
Danny

Re: glad it was a good day for all!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

The walk reminded me of Turkey Point. I can hardly wait to get out in the woods with you again this summer.

We had another long walk today with even more nice pics.