The Great Outdoors and Going on an Advencha!

I had a few more photos of the small trail beside the local marsh. Lynde Marsh is right beside a newly developed neighbourhood. The people on the trail that morning were all in a tizzy because of some surprise visitors. These cute little masked fiends were gobbling up all the seeds that people had tossed everywhere. I find it amazing that people don't make the connection between throwing food on the ground and the fact that more than sweet little chickadees are going to be attracted to it. These guys were pretty calm and ignored the people. I still was wary of them being close, but walked by without incident. I was warned numerous times "there are raccoons ahead on the trail!!!". Lots of people were even turning back! Ahhhhhh!!!

The soft autumn morning light was really nice.

Lots of beautiful blue jays cawing through the woods, mostly up in the high tree tops alerting all forest residents of intruders. One pretty fellow was lured in by the seeds offering a nice photo op. So. Blue! Love these guys and I wish I saw them more often in my own backyard. Remember Sammy Jay in the Thornton Burgess books? My daughter is named Sammy, but she's pretty quiet ;)

Blue on Blue.

Down around our feet were the nimble chipmunks. I do have these tiny creatures living in my backyard. They compete for seeds with the birds ... hands down, chippy wins every time. It's those expandable cheeks!

The Canada Geese forever debating ... north? south? Should we stay or should we go now ... There are new signs at the parking lot "Do not feed Geese & Ducks". Not working.

I brought this big pinecone home with me (+one) and roasted them in the oven. They came out all glossy from all that sap covering the needles. I may have had the oven a little too hot and they almost caught fire. oops!

I think this is a black walnut. I saw walnut shells scattered around the path, and then spied this one caught in the branch. My dad went ape for black walnuts, and he would pickle them. Um ... yuk. They just looked like something dark and dangerous on the basement pantry shelves. Good for a Halloween prop though! (I should have saved some from their house.)

And wild cucumber casings here and there. These look so cool. We used to have wild cucumbers growing down in our woods. The vines would drape artistically around the trees and shrubs and they produced the neatest looking pods.

And the "advencha" part of this post is that my son Kevin and his pal Jake (who we have known since he was teeny tiny) have gone north to do a 60 km three-day camping/hiking trip along the Western Uplands trail in Algonquin Park. This is Kevin's first backcountry hiking trip (as opposed to backcountry canoe trips, which he has done). He was a little concerned when Jake told him all the stuff he brought for blisters on their feet. Oh, and the temperature suddenly dropped this afternoon ... I hope they're warm enough when they stop to make camp. Here they are at about 3 or 4 years old. Don't you love those toothy smiles :) When Jake came by this morning he was proudly sporting his handknit headband that the girls at the Portage Store knit this summer ... very cool! Good luck guys!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Wendy

Toodles!!