A Fourth of July Picnic

     Since I have American visitors I had a picnic today. 

We walked through the Gaetz Lake Sanctuary

We found some sort of leaf roller.

My picnic. Notice the millions of people in the area! I do live in a sparsely populated area.

Fourth of July

Have a Great Fourth of July

     For Americans the Fourth of July is a very big day! It's a great party! So have fun.

     This year I get a little taste of the day as I have my American son-in-law and my wannabe American daughter visiting here.

Now I really missed out on the red , white and blue.  

Happy Canada Day

HAPPY CANADA DAY !

    Canada officially became a country on July 1 1867. It had 4 provinces...Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. 

    It was a country in name only. It had control over local issues and then there were strings attached.  Gradually growth took place. Now we have ten provinces. We have our own supreme court. We completely control our own affairs. We don't have a Queen anymore. We are completely independent.

    We now have ten provinces and 3 territories.

     We've come a long way baby!

Another Walk in the Woods

     Yesterday I went for another walk in the woods. I was still looking for the Wood lily. I didn't find one. I think I'm going to have to look in another area. They need some open woods and where I'm going has really grown in the last ten years.

    However, my walk was not wasted. Last time I forgot to photograph the trail. Birds were very active. So were the mosquitoes. I did pick out three plants that I could not identify and one of my old favorites.

I know I went by a million wild roses so here's just one

Seneca root

Northern bed straw

     I also found a pale comandra but I see I didn't end up with a photo.

Up hill but I'll pass the bench

Continuing up hill.

Ominous storm clouds

The Red Deer River is running very high.

So it was a good afternoon. There were some dark storm clouds. There were a bazillion mosquitoes. I had a good look at the Red Deer River which is in flood stage. We do not have the flooding like Calgary.

Baby Red-necked grebes Have Arrived

     Three posts ago I showed you a direct look at Red-necked grebe nest. some of you wee interested in what the hatchlings would look like. I knew I would never get pictures as they don't stay long at the nest.

     People at the Nature Center did get pictures when the eggs hatched. So I'll give you a link that will take you to the baby grebes. My friend Kathryn wrote the blog and my friend Doug Pedersen took the pictures.

      Look hard to see the little guys and I hope you enjoy their post.

My Picnic Was Cancelled Today

    Today was a nasty, cold, rainy windy day. We had a picnic scheduled for our ice skater's group. Because of the weather the picnic was cancelled.

Long retired skaters like to come back for a visit

More pleasant picnics.

    Now I like picnics so I was disappointed that the picnic was cancelled. It was my favorite kind of picnic where we roast wieners over a fire. 

    My liking for this type of picnic goes back a long way to when I was in early grade  school. On the last day of the school year we would have a wiener roast and it was a big deal. The school trustees supplied the goodies. We had to get our own wiener sticks . There were no fancy metal forks in the days of my youth. This meant we had to go out in the brush and cut a proper stick that would hold a wiener. Some of us got a fancy forked stick. Others found the biggest stick they could cut off with their jack knife. Some wanted willow. Others wanted a curved stick. Everybody bragged that their stick was best. There were play fencing episodes with the newly cut sticks.

    So the time to roast hot dogs  arrived. Some found that the stick they had carefully selected was a failure and the wiener dropped off in the fire. The style of cooking went from totally charred to barely warm. Into the bun went the wiener. Mustard? Oh ya! 

    So as a little eight year old I started enjoying my hot dog. I had the hot dog, my treasured stick and a pop to look after at the same time.  So a little mustard got on my fingers. Another hot dog. More mustard. Now some mustard  is on my shirt. So it was a very exciting time eating, drinking and running around. I would get home with lots of mustard on my shirt and some on my pants.

     Now girls don't behave this way. Girls have things under control and no mustard gets on their clothes. Mothers know about boys and hot dogs. Mothers know how much work it is to clean mustard off a shirt. I remember bringing my son home from cubs. I debated whether he should go in with other gross material that was discarded. However, I didn't have the heart to leave him with the trash.

     Now back to my cancelled picnic and how I got on about school hot dog picnics. On occasion our school outdoor picnic had to be cancelled as we would have a day like today. So the great event was held in the school. The great old Waterman and Waterman heater in the corner of the classroom was lit and functioned as our campfire and all the shenanigans occurred indoors. 

    Now come to think of it, I don't think much has changed. I still get home with mustard on my shirt!

A Walk in the Woods

     On Sunday I went for a walk in the woods as I really wanted to see some Wood lilies.

    There are wood lilies here . Sometimes you have to look pretty hard and at other times you get lucky. The time they bloom seems to vary a bit. I came up empty on my wood lily search.

     After I got through the woods trail I walked up a trail which follows the escarpment. It was an old utility road but when the sanctuary was established In the late 1980's it made an excellent trail. The road has grown in and you can find a number of wild flowers at the edge of the trail.

    I was quite surprised to find an abundance of yellow lady slippers.  They have been planted but the area would have had lady slippers. The lady slippers appear to be doing well.

Yellow lady slippers doing well.

    Then I found a blue flower that I had heard people talking about on other field trips. So what I found was blue eyed grass. I see why people rave about it as the blue color is spectacular. The stem is flat like a shoe lace.

Next time remind me to get on my belly to take a photo of blue eyed grass.

    The roses are just stating to bloom. Soon all the edges of woodlands will be decorated with roses.

These are very common at this time of year.

    So I didn't find my wood lily and I will have to go for another walk and I'll probably find a few more things I wasn't expecting.