Simple Pleasures

Simple pleasures are best.

~ Alan Bradley

Chickadees: everyone laughs at so small a bundle of large enthusiasm.

~ Aldo Leopold

This sweet little feathered friend landed on the base bar of the patio table. She looked so sweet just sitting there, posing for me. Really, she was eyeing the birdseed that was scattered on the deck.

I have trouble with seafood because it tastes like a dock.

~ Douglas Coupland

Would you believe that I've never cooked mussels before? My son has though, and he decided to cook up a huge pot of them for us, one night. They were delicious. And a lot easier to prepare than I thought they would be. I've since cooked them again. Yum!

Blood may be thicker than water, but it's certainly not as thick as ketchup. Nor does it go as well with French fries. ~ Jarod Kintz

This is representative of a much less healthy meal but it's also a must-do out in cottage country, in the summer. A chip wagon situated about ten minutes from our place serves up some very tasty fries. They stay open on weekends until Thanksgiving (the second Monday in October) and then they'll disappear until next summer.

Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light.

~ Theodore Roethke

These beauties appeared in both the front and back yards, this summer. Some of them actually grew up between the boards of the deck. Despite being top-heavy, they held on until our first frost, when we reached a temperature of -4 C (25F) overnight.

A man of wisdom delights in water.

~ Confucius

My sons were here together on the Labour Day weekend. Alex was only able to stay for one night but it was wonderful to spend time with both boys. My next door neighbour is rarely up at their cottage. In the spring, she told me that I was welcome to borrow her kayak anytime - to just come get it from where it's stored under her deck. I never did use it on my own but each of my sons thought they might try it out. First Jeffrey took a spin around the island, across the bay.

Never tell someone that a kayak is so stable you can stand on your head in it. They will insist that you prove this!!! ~ Dave Lindo
 Then he passed the paddle over to Alex who took the same route - a fifteen or twenty minute tour.

There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island.

~ Walt Disney

Just across the bay, through that channel and around a corner or two, you'll find the best boathouse ever built. Who would imagine that a wonderful pirate ship was lurking in these waters?

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

~ Helen Keller

Late in August, I spent a few hours visiting my cousin who was renting a cottage with her adult kids and grandkids for a week, less than two hours from my place. These are her daughter's dogs who fetched every tossed stick together like this. Such teamwork.

Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle.

~ Paulo Coelho

We also attended a wedding in August - Frank's niece. Our drinks for the duration of this celebratory event were to be enjoyed in a wine glass of our choosing. Here is only part of the selection from which we chose our glasses.

It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.

~ Lewis Grizzard

What better way to enjoy the fruits of summer than with homegrown tomatoes. They were sweet and wonderful.

That's it for this collection of simple pleasures. There's be more photos coming up soon. It's only a matter of time.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my fellow Canucks.

A Million Little Suns

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?

~ J. B. Priestley

As what seems to be the norm for me lately, I can't swear that these photos are all from the same day. We've had so many snowy days that they all seem to blend together.

Still, snow out here in the country doesn't get old as quickly as snow in the city used to. It stays white. It stays fresh. It stays. Well that last part is a bit much.

I'm told that this winter is the worst the locals have seen in a very long time. That's encouraging because for a first winter, I'm not finding it all that awful. The cold is unpleasant but the worst of that is mostly overnight. And of course, we have our beautiful deer come visit us daily. Winter in the city was never like that. Bundle up and join me while we wander about on this snowy day.


The lake is frozen solid in the bay, with thigh-high snow piled upon it. Snowmobiles have created many paths through the weeks, as have the deer as they make their way to and from neighbours. Those two blobs over on the left of the dock frame are all that you can see of a couple of wood chairs. The sky is beginning to show some blue but snow continues to whirl and swirl with the wind.






A slightly different angle allows you a peek at our barbecue. It's doing a heroic job of holding up all that snow.






Outside the kitchen window, a small cafe table and chair are also doing their best with their snowy burden.





The Chickadees don't mind the snow, as long as we put out the usual Birdie Buffet. This one is eyeing the freshly scattered seed.






This was certainly an earlier time in the winter. Our snowbanks are ridiculously high now.






These neighbours only live here through the warmer seasons. No need to plough their driveway in winter.






This first time I saw this owl from a distance, I briefly thought it was the real thing. I suppose if I had seen it with that snow on its head I might have known better.






I like the rustic look of this garage down the road from our place.






A single birch shows off its own winter white.






A large dollop of snow melts and refreezes on the clothesline.






And no winter post could be complete without one of our sweeties who come to visit daily. Hello, deer!

Join me again soon for some more photos.

The snow is sparkling like a million little suns. ~ Lama Willa Miller

Beautifully Blue

Aside from a couple of days here and there, I've not spent much time blog visiting. It's been about ten days since I've spent any time up at our new place as I'm still focused on getting the old place ready for sale. We came close last week. The house hasn't been listed yet but my agent had someone in mind whom she thought might be interested. There was a conditional offer which was accepted but he backed out in the end. Back to the drawing board. 

Except for this preamble, this post was prepared a while back. I hope you enjoy.

Oh! `darkly, deeply, beautifully blue', / As someone somewhere sings about the sky.

~ Lord Byron

A lone blueberry, sitting atop our deck rail, waiting for someone to come along and claim it.





And this sweet chickadee obliged. But that berry is far too big to fit in its little mouth.






Clever wee thing.






Frank happened to notice our pal, the Great Blue heron resting on the neighbours' raft. He looked this-a-way.






And that-a-way.






And then flew off to share his magnificence with nearby kayakers.






A young Blue jay waits patiently for mama to return with a morsel of food.






Do you think mama will share her bounty?






I can't complete a blue post without showing you the lovely blue skies, late in the day, over Blueberry Island.

More photos coming up soon.

The Seedy Side

Autumn is a time of abundance.

Birds happily feed on seed which Frank spreads around his place. This sweet little chickadee enjoyed the feast.

The creatures are quite cooperative and as soon as the chickadee flew off, this adorable chipmunk took over.

He wasn't alone. A few feet to the right, his buddy was getting ready to fill his cheeks with premium bird seed.

Nature has her own way of spreading seed around. This is the pods of the Indian Balsam flower, photographed shortly after a rainfall.

The lightest touch will cause them to pop open and scatter their seeds. This is why they're also known as Touch Me Nots.

Cedar seeds are very lightweight and by late September they're scattered all over the place with even a gentle wind. These landed on the frosted glass top of the patio table.

An unknown (to me) seed, up close and personal.

I took the macro lens out around the fields near Frank's place, one day. I enjoyed taking photos of what has become one of my new favourite subjects - milkweed seeds. These recently escaped from the pod.

I love its silky, white hair which glistens in the late-day sunlight.

Today's seed, drifting in the wind becomes next year's flower for butterflies, once again.

Thanks for joining me on the seedy side.

For the Birds and Remembering

What's dumb and pretty and struts around with a feather on its nose? Only a mourning dove could be this lovely and this dopey. After her preening session, she carried that feather around with her for the next half hour - possibly longer but she flew away. For all I know she has it still.

Now this is a very smart bird. Her name is Lucy and she belongs to Frank. I've never seen her walk around with a feather on her nose. She does however walk around with a question in her voice. That question is "Wanna peanut?"

Now don't be fooled. Lucy isn't really offering a peanut. She's hoping upon hope that her repeated offers will convince one of us to get one for her. As you can tell by the victorious look in her eye, she's usually successful.

One afternoon, while sitting on my front deck, I noticed the goldfinch high atop a tree branch a couple of houses away. Frank's nifty 100-400 lens allowed me to take this shot from where I sat.

Much closer to me, but in Frank's back yard this time, this lovely little chickadee flew in to dine at the birdie café. Frank sets seed out every evening for them to enjoy and she's about to fly down to partake. I like the way her feathers are backlit by the sun.

One evening, at my local pond, this mallard struck a lovely pose, bowing its head as if in silent remembrance. I didn't realize it until I noticed the date upon scheduling this post, but I find this to be a fitting image with which to end this post on September 11 - ten years after.

This was a scheduled post.

Through the Glass

Yesterday's post showed a closeup of this recycling bin which sits on the platform at Toronto's Union Station. It was shot through the window of the GO Train which took me to visit Frank a couple of weeks ago. A few of you suggested that it was a trash bin and a couple of you got the precise answer. Tabor was the first one to guess that it was a recycle bin. Thanks for playing along.

I guess the bags had just been changed. Toronto can't possibly always look this neat.




Also shot through the window was this view of the St Lawrence Market. I had to be quick since the train was on the move.




Once I met up with Frank, we drove up to Orillia together. Wandering around town brought us to a craft shop. These colourful beads in glass bottles caught my eye.




Further along the main street, this unusual table setting in a store window beckoned to be photographed. It was a promotion for a murder mystery dinner theatre.




Back at Frank's place, this red-winged blackbird sat on a branch of his magnolia tree and sang to us through the closed window. Photography is never all that sharp through glass.




Case in point - this blurry little chickadee on my own back yard tree one rainy morning. She had collected a sunflower seed from the ground beneath the feeder and was about to set to work cracking it open...




By striking it repeatedly on the branch. They're such clever and agile little things.




Now this is the only photo on this page which wasn't taken through glass but they're the reason why the next photo was...





Flower-stomping, bud-biting, grass-ripping, lawn-digging, blind-wrecking little brat! Can you tell how much he wanted to be back outside?