The Old and the Restless

Great use was made of the cottage at Rice Lake by the family, starting with Megan Tom and Maggie on the July long weekend. Tom and Megan finish their first swim of the season as Paul installs a new security device on the outboard motor.     Paul and Megan ready to launch the canoe for its maiden voyage of 2015. The grandkids are not quite coordinated as Megan backs the canoe away from the dock. Still, in spite of the eager assistants, Megan was able to steer the canoe into the bay. Megan looks back at the end of the bay to see Maggie jump in the swamp to try to get out to the canoe! Every grandchild claimed to know how to swim; but the “house rule” was that everyone had to wear either a life preserver or a flotation device or both. Ella did not like the idea of jumping into the lake from the dock, so she walked down to the lake through the flowers and weeds to start her swi...

On the Victoria Day long weekend Paul and I drove to Ottawa to test rides that we will be leading on the August 1st weekend at Cyclon. We stayed at the University of Ottawa residence which is where the rides will begin. Saturday was cool, overcast and threatening rain but a fiddling group played toe-tapping songs beside the Ottawa River. The crabapple trees were in full bloom. The flowering trees and lilacs were along the Rideau Canal. While it was "Tulip Festival" weekend, there were thousands of people among the tulips, too many for us to join... so we took photos of the crabapple blossoms instead.

Towards the end of March, Carole and Roy drove to Florida to visit us. I was able to reserve a bird watching tour at Merritt Island. Outside the office, the Indigo buntings were at the feeder. The volunteer organization who does these tours has acquired a bus, and the driver of the bus was Betty, who was our guide 5 years ago when we did this tour with Maureen and Ramsay. The anhinga above is drying its wings. Since Anhingas do not have oil in their wings, they need to dry them. In the bush behind this Little Green Heron is its nest. Carole and Roy did two rides with us each over 42 km. The first one was down to Canaveral Seashore to see the rocket take off. It was so foggy that we heard it but did not see it. The second ride was on the Seminole Wekiva Trail. Considering that they had not been riding since last fall, and that Carole had a partially torn rotator cuff, and Roy had neck problems, they did very well. So that we don't have to cross a busy r...

When I heard that Daren, Kyla and the triplets, Callum, Jack and William were going to be staying for a week two buildings over from us, I invited them for lunch. William was eager to show us the new additions to his rock collection. Kyla tried out the ring puzzle. The boys wanted me to solve it, but it is beyond me. When she came at the end of March, Carole looked it up on the Internet and found out that you are supposed to get the ring off. She did, but could not put it back on. Perhaps when Mark and Margot come again, Mark can fix it.

With Glen and Norma we went to Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands to see how the bird population is this winter. We left at 7:30 AM for the 1 ½ hour drive south. As usual, there were Great Blue Herons. Some were nesting. One of the more unusual birds was this Limpkin. Norma and I joined birders with telephoto lenses trying to catch this bird that they were calling "Larry". A male Anhinga. While we were watching the anhinga, someone was watching us. The Glossy Ibis caught something. The little Green Heron was an unusual bird to spot. After we went for lunch at the Riverview Restaurant.* At lunch time you can watch the boats going by as the bridge lifts up. *(Actually, the picture from lunch was taken in Fiji 7 years ago, but Glen just sent it to me this week and we look just the same....don't we??)

The best weather this winter was in December. Since then, it has often been too windy to bike. Still, the beach is usually good. When Maureen and Ramsay came, we did a lot of walking on the beach. Obviously, a deep discussion here. We visited the manatee. Maureen directing Stand there. Smile! Lunch at JB's fish camp. Is Maureen taking a photo of the ketchup?