Sunrise on the Ottawa

Shooting a sunrise on the Ottawa River at Hawkesbury is a great way to greet the day, if you are dressed for the cold, the damp cold.

Tenacious visitor

You never know what you will find hanging around a feeder.

Peace on the Hill

The Peace Tower on Parliament Hill is lit up like a Christmas tree at this time of year.

The place where politics is the name of the game actually looks calm and dreamlike, especially at night.

Late flight

Winter always seems to catch us unprepared. But even geese were surprised to see our first major snowfall of the year last week.

Hey, Rudolph...

Morphed

A fire at the John Deere dealership in Maxville, a village east of Ottawa, wiped out an old building and left a slightly melted sign, which may give new meaning to the line that nothing runs like a John Deere. In fact, the unintentional colour mix has potential.

Oops!

Winter always seems to catch some of us offguard. Maybe Santa left this boot when he was scoping out his route.

Cool harvest

I took this shot about a week ago. It is a glimpse of a huge corn field beside my house. It is not my crop, but I know it well. I have watched the snow recede from the land, the spring seeding, the late spring sprouting, and the mid-summer spurt when the deep green stalks were knee high by the Fourth of July. I watched it tassel and when the raccoons started their late-night raids, I knew the corn was mature. I watched the sun rise and set on this stand as it turned from green to gold. Only a few days ago, snow covered the corn. But Mother Nature, in her own way, smiled, and the snow left for a few days enabling the harvest of these stalks which yielded countless bushels of corn. Combines worked non-stop on the frozen ground, bringing in tonnes of corn. The field is now bare, awaiting the snow.
So, what do you think? Too wordy?

In the big league

Steve Barton is an example of a smalltown guy who can make it in the big leagues.

A veteran National Hockey League linesman, Steve is from Vankleek Hill, a small town in eastern Ontario.

Ronna got this shot of him when he worked a game at the Centre Bell in Montréal recently.

Armed, not dangerous

Wonder who the owner of these bumper stickers would vote for...

Wire and ice

We have had the usual mixed bag of weather lately, ranging from snow to rain, freezing rain and balmy temperatures. The result on some days was a covering of ice which left some neat photo ops.

Blue moon

This corn field took on a surreal hue the other night, taking on cool colours that are no doubt a harbinger of what Mother Nature has in store for us here in the Great White North.

Mettle

Ronna chats with Brenda Kennedy (who is obviously off-camera) as they discuss the Iron Curtain that Mac Williamson created for an art show. He used 621 lids from orange juice cans to create this lasting work.

And what am I bid...

Ronna and I spent a day at an auction in St-Eugène, where an assortment of essentials, including a muskrat trap, was put on the block.

Backdrop

We are fortunate to see the whole spectrum of natural colours at this time of year.

Fall colours

The Thanksgiving weekend gave us weather that we logically would have received in the summer.

But nobody was complaining. The weather was perfect, whether you wanted to watch light dance on a Muskoka lake or take a leisurely paddle along a stream.

Road kill

The Green Party, one of the five main parties seeking votes in the October 14 vote, is aiming to make inroads this time around. A sign for our local Green candidate somehow made it into the southbound lane of a highway on the weekend, and was run over by traffic. So, was the placement of this sign an accident, an act of vandalism, or a clever tactic to make a statement about the impact of our wasteful ways on the planet?

A little to the left

The visit by Liberal leader Stéphane Dion to Alexandria began with the movement of Dan Boudria's campaign sign a little to the left and ended with the leader kissing hands and shaking babies. In the interim, we got up close and personal with some of the staff members, such as the one to the right in the top photo, who was never unplugged.

It was very exciting, actually.

Turkeys shoot the breeze

With Thanksgiving approaching, this flock of wild turkeys is plotting camouflage strategy.

Wetting the beak

You know the water in this lake is good when even the ducks are drinking it..

Oy! What a show!

One of the best shows Ronna and I attended recently was a concert by the Montréal Klezmer Trio who presented a lively and trilingual (English, French and Yiddish) performance at an Anglican church near Lachute. Here we see the flying hands of Henri Oppenheim.

Camouflage

This little creature emerged after Ronna and I had started splitting firewood a few weeks ago.

We thought the critter might croak after being evicted, but he said little, giving us the eye as he perched on top of a log to check out the real estate market.

We referred him to a nice place down the road, called Frog Hollow. Honest, that is the name of the place.

Prime colours

Some of Ronna's lilies have just peaked, providing a chance to stop and look into the heart of the flowers, where apparently pieces of brown rice can be found in a form of suspended animation.
Again, Mother Nature proves she has a colourful sense of humour.

Getting our goat

Ronna and I were invited to a goat roast Friday. The dinner had been cooking all day, in a pit.
Talk about your slow cooking movement!

Summer growth

This has been another humid summer in our part of the world. Conditions have been great for gardens, which have produced splendid flora, such as this lily in Ronna's summer, and the less spectacular, such as this natural water receptacle that has latched onto one of my trees.

Nature, go figure.

Another sushi fan

Ronna serves up a helping of sushi to Barny, who has quickly developed a taste for raw fish, along with raw birds, toads and most any other forest creature he can get his tiny yet strong paws on!

Hosta vistas

The hostas Ronna gave me last year have bloomed.

Hummer

Ronna's flower garden attracts an assortment of creatures, none of which is more entertaining, or fast, as this hummingbird, which makes frequent yet brief visits to the colourful foliage.

No cell phone

When we took in a tour of the former L'Orignal Jail, just down the road from Hawkesbury, Ronna made the mistake of complaining about the absence of cable TV service in her room and well, she made a public spectacle of herself.

Young performers

At the Vankleek Hill, Ontario fiddle and step dancing contest, if your toe is not tapping, you had better check your pulse. There is always a fiddle tune being played somewhere.

For the young competitors, however, waiting in the wings, and watching the opposition, can be nerve-wracking.

Son of a bee

So, you are working like a son of a bee, probing for sweet stuff while trying to stay airborne and some guy keeps taking your picture. It is time to get back to the hive and plan a sting.

Doll faces

Each year, the town of Vankleek Hill hosts a town-wide garage sale. As usual, there is the
assortment of Barbies and pretty faces.

Double dip

Ronna will soon be an expert in the world of chipmunks because a little colony of the critters seems to have adopted her place as a summer home. Of course, they are well fed.

On Top of Calgary

After seeing the sights of Calgary, Ronna decided to relax by ascending to the top of the Calgary Tower and casually surveying all that surrounded her on this, her last day of a whirlwind of her Alberta. She gained a new perspective on this bustling city, and even better, got a souvenir penny!

Lake Louise Frame

As we entered the magnificent hotel at Lake Louise, we realized that there was no escaping the incredible scenery. The brilliant reflection of the outdoors seemed to form a blue pool on a table in a hotel restaurant. This was probably one of the few times we could get an unobstructed view of this natural wonder.

Nutcracker, sweet!

Yes, I will soon run out of Canmore trip photos! Meanwhile...while in Lake Louise we spotted this Clark's nutcracker (I think) patiently awaiting for the ice to melt so he could perform a pas de deux on the surface.

The fine line

One of the many picturesque roads near Canmore levels off on a plateau that overlooks a gorge where the whole town, and the Rocky Mountain backdrop, lies in front of you. The warning sign seems totally unnecessary, however, sadly, the tiny bronze plaque secured to the cliff (just above the fence to the right of the sign) bears witness to one person who fell to his death here not so long ago.

Rocky Mountain View

Looking at the incredible Rockies, and the obstacles they presented the trailblazers, one can see the routes -- some natural, some manmade -- that were available to the many who went west seeking fortune, if not fame.

Nice bear

Somewhere between Banff and Canmore, we disturbed this grizzly bear which was frolicking in the spring sun after a long hibernation. Fortunately, he did not attack the intruders.

Loony lift-off

When Ronna and I were in Canmore we lucked onto this mountain lake where loons were doing whatever looons do. We were also treated to the long, and apparently labourious, lift-off by this colourful bird.

Count the rings

Ronna and I encountered this bighorn sheep -- not to be confused with the mountain goat -- during our recent visit to Canmore, Alberta. The age of this agile animal can be determined by counting the rings on his horns. I did not venture that closely to check out his rings, but he seemed docile enough, considering we were after all invading his personal space.

It was a grand whirlwind tour. More photos to come...

Dip at dusk

For a few weeks in the spring, we are treated to visits by ducks, who take a liking to the water that accumulates in fields and lawns.