Conscious of Our Treasures

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.
~ Thornton Wilder

I find treasures - large or small, almost every single time I go out walking with my camera. Below are a few of those which have caught my eye over the past few weeks.


The trees have already experienced their full blooms and have settled into the leafy shades of green for the summer. This is one of my favourite areas of the park caught at the hight of blossom season. I will admit to having Photoshopped this image to remove the unsightly trash and recycle cans from the left hand side in front of the fence. There was also the beginning of a floating island taking shape but the florescent orange balls bobbing in the pond also looked wrong for this scene. If you'd like to see how it looked before I removed these things, keep on scrolling.





Which of the two photos do you prefer - the one with the original distractions or the one where I cheated?





Geese are always a treat to see whether they're paring off for nesting season..





...or just stretching to greet the day.





On one of Frank's visits here, he noticed this fuzzy-headed little cutie swimming around all by himself. I believe he's a juvenile hooded merganser.





Up close and personal with a delicate, white blossom.





Way down at the bottom of the dam, this little sandpiper whistles his little song while rummaging around for insects.





My neighbour, friend and walking buddy, Caroline spotted these very tiny wildflowers (or weeds) in the grass at the park. Each bloom wasn't really any larger than an appleseed. You can tell how little they are compared to those blades of grass which surround them. If anyone knows what they're called, please tell me?





Before the leaves came out, this lovely robin was enjoying the dried berries from last year's harvest. You can see that some of the leaves were just beginning to bud. This was taken toward the end of April.

I have lived in this home for 29 years. Coyotes have been in the area for at least 15 of those years. I walk the parks regularly, as you know. In all these years, when everyone else has seen coyotes numerous times, I have yet to encounter one. I've always been rather bummed about that.

I was walking along the path one afternoon. A couple of people told me that they'd seen one hanging around for the last few days and he'd been spotted as recently as in the past fifteen minutes. I walked around the pond once.

Nothing.

I walked around a second time and glanced to my right, just on the other side of the fence when I thought I saw slight movement on a rather large rock. I stopped to see what might be on the rock. That's when the rock stood up and looked at me with the most beautiful piercing eyes. I took a step toward the fence and raised my camera. This made the coyote a bit nervous and he moved deeper into the brush. I followed him with my camera as he headed down toward the pond. But he stopped briefly and looked back at me before continuing. He allowed me to take a photo.


This was my greatest treasure, that day. What a wonderful gift from a gorgeous creature. It's not a great image, having shot it through a chain link fence and various twigs and branches, but I was just thrilled to see this handsome creature, let alone get a photograph of him. Thank you, beautiful beast.

Word has gone around that shortly after that day, this wonderful animal was seen struggling with a serious injury. There was speculation that he'd been hit by a car or possibly shot (I don't want to believe the latter about our neighbourhood). I'd seen Police and Animal Services in and around the park on many occasions but they'd all been very closed-mouthed about the purpose of their business. A couple of days later, my neighbour, Caroline heard a distinct gunshot at around five in the morning. I wrote to my community Counsellor Pat Saito and asked her straight out if the coyote had been destroyed. She replied that Toronto Wildlife Services had been trying to catch and treat the coyote but that she knew nothing further. She said that her staff will find out and let me know. A few days later, one of her staff members followed up with a "we're still awaiting a response" kind of email. To date, I have still not heard further nor has the coyote been spotted by anyone I've talked to.

I'm hoping for the best for that beautiful treasure.

More photos in a few days.