Meandering Trails

Autumn seemed to come suddenly this year.

Daytime temps haven't been too bad, but it gets quite cold at night, and our 50 year-old house is not very well insulated. It seems craziness to turn on the furnace in the middle of September, but the portable electric heater has been out for at least a week, and has seen good use.

So when the temps went up today, we had to take advantage of the sunshine.

After church and lunch we headed to a nature trail recommended to us.

We are blessed that even though we live in the city,

we don't have to go too far to find some country.

This trail is just 10 minutes away by car and has convenient parking.

Called Colonel Danforth Trail, named after a road builder from the 1700s, it is -- well I can't say it's untouched by civilisation as there are plenty of marks left by civilisation -- and it is certainly not particularly well maintained. But it is a pleasant change from manicured gardens.

It was a little adventure for DOTH and I to explore the meandering pathways which run alongside Highland Creek.

But first....I always manage to find at least one unusual tree.

The park was quite deserted, but we did see a young man fishing round about here, who looked up at us and said, "You just missed it!" 

I asked him what we missed and he said, "I just landed a 10-12 lb salmon, but I threw him back in. I don't eat any fish from Lake Ontario -- I go up north to get the ones for eating." 

We looked for salmon as we walked along the creek - the water was quite clear in most places - and we sure didn't see any salmon. I think he was pulling our legs.

Lots of trees down everywhere

Junk in the water

But pretty little spots, too

We made a new little friend along the way...

So cute!! and her mistress was quite chatty...

she told us (we think - because she had a strong German accent) that she (the dog) is a  is 16 year old

part Bichon, part poodle - does that make sense?

So, in human years, the dog is 112, and her mistress looked to be at least in her 70s, and when they set off again, we couldn't keep up with them -- pretty sprightly!

This is an interesting photo -- hard to tell where land meets water.

A few more photos...

We had a lovely walk and then decided, because we hadn't seen any birds, that on our way home we should stop off at a little conservation area down by the lake...

Not many birds there, either -- swan, heron and seagull was the best we could do.

But the heron was interesting to watch..

Looks like he's on a conveyer belt on top of the water!

And then it was time to go home -- a lovely, refreshing  afternoon.

Back to the grindstone tomorrow -- six weeks left till the first deadline!