Mountsberg
Apr. 9th, 2004 11:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vaneramosToday 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.
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.
