Skywatch Friday

My first look out the window this morning...

The early morning sun just beginning to get her bearings.


September is drifting in with the morning mist.

A collection of colours and codes long established.

I love mornings like this.

Bird Watcher's Digest Special Features - Tear That Mountain Down by Julie Zickefoose

Bird Watcher's Digest Special Features - Tear That Mountain Down by Julie Zickefoose

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Kodak Moments

A new camera is pretty much an open invitation to take pictures of any and everything in sight, play with all of the crazy settings and generally, lose your focus! This is, after all, a blog that is supposed to mention birds from time to time. But, peaches , log homes, sunflowers, Lola and Vera, and eggplants have pretty much taken over of late!

Time to remedy that!

I am so lucky to live in an amazing place, on the water, and with a back yard filled with mixed hard and soft woods. So on any given day, there's lots to divert my attention span, and render it to a series of Kodak moments.

Kodak One -

Black-capped Chickadee dee dee dee. I think these are the cutest little creatures in the world, and love it when they land on my hand to take the proffered sunflower seed. Like being touched by a fairy!

Kodak Two - Goose bums. I would love to get a picture of these guys under water. Are they standing on their bills?Are they tilted totally forward on their little webbed feet?

Is it a contest?

Kodak Three -Knock knock !

Who's there?

Gonna.

Gonna who?

Gonna Getcha!

What, you expected better from a bird brain?

Kodak Four - Private Screening. The awesome thing about this not so awesome photo is that I'm actually standing inside the screened in porch, and the tiny RTHB is sitting outside.

And the amazing camera has shot right

through the screen mesh!

Wow.

Kodak Five - Milkweed Seed Pod...no birds yet,

but once it opens, the American goldfinches love to use the fluff to feather their nests.

And all's right with the world.

A Peach of a Day

Every once in a while a day comes along that's pretty much the way we wish all our days could be! Today was one of those.
First, we made peach freezer jam -determining that this is so easy, that we believe it is the key to world peace and life everlasting. We should all be jammin' together!

Step one...get fresh peaches. Slice. Dice. Add sugar and pectin. Done.





Step two. Ladle into containers.



















Step three. Take a picture. Put in freezer.

There! That was so easy, that we're going for a drive along the Quebec side of the Ottawa River, and hanging a left at Black River Rd/ Chemin Riviere Noire. This is a great river, rich with the history of logging and the founding of this area as Her Majesty's (Victoria's ) official Tree Prospectors came looking for tall timbers to fell for her fleet of ships
with which she hoped to conquer the world.

Some of those gentle fellers of trees may have seen this scene...goose, goose,cow. Which was one of the first Chinese Canadian foods on offer back in 1828.

Then, this being the perfect day it was, it was time to return home and
still hyped on peaches make some Peach Cobbler for dessert
(because it seems we had a bunch of fuzzy orbs still sitting there on the table that either needed to be dealt with or thrown out).So...cobbler it is.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Say "Ohmm."

Skywatch Friday

Today was a glad to be alive day here in the Ottawa Valley! Skies that give the word 'azure' its meaning, clouds that look like you could live on them, and sun that warmed the soul!
Looking due south from our home on the Ottawa River...Take a turn to the east...

90 degrees to the right brings you to the north...this is a blog about, among other things, birds..but I don't have a clue what little feathered friend this is...a bird in the north, caught by the camera..warbler, and that's as far as I can go...any guesses?So then I look to the east, beside the cottage... this little sprite I do know...


And a turn to the west brings us to this view that we get to enjoy daily...And one more look just before I post this...a spectacular harvest moon that will likely keep poets, songwriters and lovers busy tonight. Enjoy!

For more views of the sky from around the world, visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/

This Old House

If these walls could talk…
would they remember the warm summer nights, when the meadow was filled with fireflies? Would the faint echo of a child’s laughter be heard from the hallway? Surely they would recall the song of the sparrow heralding a new day from the fence post, and the chattering of chipmunks under the lilac.

What would they say about the apple trees? Would they recall the quiet whispers of a young couple as they sought shelter from the sun under its fruit laden boughs? Was the kitchen filled with the cheerful clatter of pots and pans while sweet smelling pies were being made for the harvest dinner?

Or, would the walls remember the night the screen door slammed with purpose, and pain, and finality? The words that couldn’t be taken back? The wind that found the chinks in the logs and whipped through the house, moaning with sorrow.

And now for today's headlines...

Today's front page of Canada's largest newspaper,the Globe & Mail had an article about Charges of criminal negligence being laid against Ontario's former Attorney General.
The Montreal Gazette featured an article stating that Actress Kate Blanchett is "fine" after hitting her head on a prop while filming in Montreal yesterday.
The Vancouver Sun had an article about Seal Pulls Girl into Water at the West Vancouver Marina (!).
On the opposite end of the country, the Halifax Chronicle Herald said that Halifax Shipyard Lands $194 million Contract. And on the prairies, the Calgary Herald says that El Nino to Deliver Forgiving Canadian Winter. All pretty interesting, important articles of information that may impact the lives of Canadians.
And here at home, The Pembroke Daily Observer in Pembroke featured a 10" x 8" photo of me standing in front of sign, and welcoming fiddlers and step dancers to the 34th Annual Fiddle Week. Now THAT'S news! Rosin up your bows and dust off yer dancin' shoes!

Up Close and Personal with a Sunflower

Inspired by Kelly at http://redandthepeanut.blogspot.com/2009/08/beauty-and-bee.html
I grabbed the new toy (which I love ) and headed to the garden. We have a few sunflowers growing...none where we planted them, thanks to squirrels, chipmunks, and birds who put them where they wanted them, and ate most of the seeds, save four, while doing so. But this one! This one is doing just what sunflowers are supposed to do: look great, and attract bees and birds and cameras.
A closer look at the flower reveals a little guest looking for some dinner...

There's a relatively famous book (if you are interested in communications or advertising especially) called Ways of Seeing by John Berger. In it Berger says "It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it...In the act of viewing, we situate ourselves in the image we view, thus taking on a special, perspectival relationship to the things viewed." He says so eloquently what I'm feeling...which is to say, a tad voyeuristic...I like viewing the bee so closely, but I feel a bit like a Peeping Tom too!

Imagine what Galileo or Hans Lipperhey would have done with today's super zoom lenses! What spin would they have put on the stars and the moon and the sun?

93 Reasons to Garden

Our town participates in Communities in Bloom,( http://www.communitiesinbloom.ca/ ) in fact, Pembroke won the national competition for its population category in 2007, and one of the reasons that we won is because the local community has come on board in a big way, supporting the program through their efforts at recycling, renovating, restoring, conserving, volunteering, and of course, gardening. Some way more so than others!
Like Lola.
Lola is 93 years old, and lives on her own in an apartment in Pembroke. She still drives, and she still has many hobbies. She loves to go to yard sales every weekend, tole paints, collects china, and she gardens. Boy, does she garden!

Her apartment is adjacent to a meadow, and Lola decided one day that it would be nice to turn that meadow into a garden that the people in her apartment complex could enjoy. (Did I mention that Lola is 93?) She started fairly small, a plant here and there to catch her eye from her balcony...but like all good things it just kind of grew, and got bigger and bigger!
It's now about 60 feet long, and meanders up and down a slight slope for the full length of the apartment building.
There are little foot paths leading from one section to another with lovely stepping stones (that Lola made in her spare time) and little hidden pieces of garden art that delight the eye once found.

As I was there today taking pictures of this testament to the healthy effects of gardening, I heard a little voice: "Yoohoo! oh, yoohoo!". I looked around, seeing no one, til again "Up here dear!".

I looked up and there was a little white haired lady waving at me from a 4th floor balcony. I waved back, and she said "Would you like to come up?" (Note to city dwellers: this is what living in a small town is like.) "The view of the garden is lovely from here".
And so she told me how to get in to the building, and up I went and met Vera, and she was right, Vera's view of Lola's garden is quite lovely. Vera said she helps Lola out with the watering, "because she's 93 you know, and the hose can be pretty heavy." Vera's a spry 87.

When I grow up, I want to be just like Lola and Vera!

A Hoya! Howare ya?

My maternal grandmother's family was part of the wave of Norwegian immigrants who landed in North Dakota in the late 1800's. They settled around Minot for starters, and then slowly spread throughout North America - a Grambo here, a Grambo there, everywhere a Grambo. Including one who ended up in Canada and married my Grandfather. Here a Brown, there a Brown...
Anyways! The man that Gramma married was seriously into plants, in fact, so serious that he became a plant doctor - with a PhD in Horticulture. They had beautiful gardens in every home they lived in, and naturally, many, many houseplants.

One of those plants was a hoya, in fact, it was a Hoya Diversifolia with thick rubbery leaves. It's the kind of plant that sits quietly in a corner, pretty much minding its own business, demanding little in terms of food or water. Actually, it's pretty much the perfect plant for busy people who like a touch of green but might forget to water for a few months. Not that Gramma and Grandpa would ever do
that ! I'm just sayin'...that someone like me might let the watering slide on occasion.
So, they lived many long years together, and raised five kids who grew into adults and had kids of their own - some 21 grandchildren, some of whom even display a talent for growing plants too.

Alas, eventually time claimed them both -Grandpa in the late 60's and Grandma in the early 80's. She lived a good life, in relative good health 'til she was 94. When she died, and her personal effects were all sorted out by her daughters, one of the things that was kept by one of them was her hoya plant. It moved from a corner perch in a southern Ontario bungalow to a highrise apartment in Canada's capital where it was kept entertained by Aunt Marg and Uncle Orv and their interesting friends for almost another 25 years, 'til it was their turn to shed this mortal coil. I tell you, if that plant could talk! It would have some great stories to recount! and lots of funny anecdotes, and a few tunes as well. So when the cousins cleared out the Aunt's personal effects, one of the things that was kept was Gramma's hoya. Only this time, clever cousin Margie decided it would be a good thing to divide the plant up, and share it with the other cousins. Which she did. One branch of that hoya now sits quietly in a corner in my home, where I regularly forget to feed or water it. In fact, I hardly notice it, until one day last week I did happen to see this thing hanging down from one of the tendrils it seems to have grown. Sure enough...closer inspection revealed a flower type growth... pale pink and pretty in a waxy sort of way. Yesterday it looked like this:


















And not even 24 hours later, it now looks like this! Amazing! Just like my grandmother, Marie Pauline Grambo, was. I promise to try and take better care of it ....

A Trifle Little Thing

About a week ago I came across an article on rustic summer desserts on www.cbc.ca and the author chatted merrily away about Trifle and all the variations -should one use Lady Fingers, Sponge Cake, or Pound Cake? Real whipped cream or spray can stuff? Fresh or frozen fruit? Cointreau or rum or Grand Marnier?
So many decisions!
I pondered about all of this for awhile, 'til it drove me crazy. And then I made my own version, which is quietly waiting in the cool darkness of the fridge for me and 12 other people we are having dinner with to taste its boozy, fruity, creamy lushness. Just a trifle summer food fling.
But, I digress. So, this gathering of the senses stars the following:

Spongecake, liberally doused with amber rum.
Wild blueberries.
Plump, just picked raspberries.
Gorgeous, juicy Ontario peaches.
Beautiful red and tender plums.

All chopped up nice and politely.

Then the layers begin.
Rum and sponge.
Fruit mix.
Creme Anglaise -kind of a looser version of Devon Cream. Extraordinarily yummy.
Chantilly Cream, which is another name for whipped cream, with real vanilla.
Then repeat two more times until your trifle pedestal bowl is full.


To finish, top with pretty little flowers from the garden, garnish with some fresh mint, a touch of grated nutmeg, and voila! Dessert fit for friends, family and fotos.

A New Viewpoint

There's nothing quite like a fresh dip in the river to clear your head and give you a different viewpoint...which is what happened to me on Saturday. I took a lovely, leisurely kayak up to the swamp at the end of our beach, just about an hour's worth of paddling and sheer entertainment, looking at all the reeds, the dragonflies, the lily pads, and Ottawa River. Once home, I promptly tucked the camera under my bathing suit strap to bend down and haul the kayak ashore. And just as promptly, it fell straight into the water! Damn! However, truth be known, I had been complaining about this particular camera for awhile - I had outgrown it basically, and was ready for a bit better model. Not that it was a Freudian slip (ha ha), but there were no tears shed, except for the great photos I had just taken. (Which John says he will try and retrieve for me. Fingers crossed on that score.)
Ah well. This new camera (Canon SX110 IS) can catch the whiskers on a weary Eastern Red Squirrel!




















It can capture the lacey leaf of a White Birch that some tiny visitor has created. Go ahead, click on the photo! The detail's amazing.



















It knows that a nasturtium leaf is actually a runway for nectar seeking insects...how else to explain the pattern?

















And it can capture a quickly moving mystery bird that lands in the thick of the leaves...I haven't been able to identify it, a juvenile red eyed vireo perhaps? Maybe you know?

















I hate to state the obvious, but a zoom lens is pretty spectacular! Just like this little American Goldfinch caught by a sunbeam (and me) with his flock.























Signed,
Happy tonight.

Hot August Night

Hot August night...
And the leaves hanging down



















And the grass on the ground smelling sweet
















Move up the road


















To the outside of town




















And the sound of that good gospel beat
















with thanks to Neil Diamond...never, ever (!) thought I'd remember the lyrics to any of his songs, but it's 30 C right now (for Americans that's 30 x 2 + 32= 92 F) and I'm not complaining, given the cool, wet summer we've had up til this past week. So the heat is great, and Hot August Night just came in to my little head. The photos are all within 5 minutes of here.
Time to go jump in the river!
Also,thanks to National Geographic, for the shot of the Pileated...we have them, but my camera just ain't up to it. ( note to self: time for a new camera!!!)

Cuppa Tea and Some Morning Mergansers,please

It's 6:30 am on Friday morning, all is quiet as I putter around, slowly waking up.
I love this time of day...my quiet time when I collect my thoughts, and bit by bit, get ready for the day ahead. Until, that is, I look out the window. Then I may as well phone in late right now, because the view on the river is far more interesting than anything I need to do today!
There's the beach flock of Common Mergansers out for their morning swim with Mom.
We've been watching this particular flock for the past 2 months, first as cute little fluff balls that seem to run on water, and now they're almost teenagers! Mom's still in charge though. Every day, she's got them out of the nest and on the river swimming laps up and down the beach. They practice their synchronized swim routine - heads down, under water. Go! Go! Go! Make waves, git those webs workin'! Now dive! Make no waves, leave no trace, leave'em wondering WTF, where'd they all go?
Now, up up up UP!...hey, you out front, you're too far ahead! Get back here! We're supposed to resemble a flock of geese in flight,as in s,t, u, V not p, i, d you daffy duck you!
There's a lady standing in the window up there, trying to take a picture, and your job is to help her!

Now, all together, let's do this again, from the top, 5, 6, 7, 8....

Sheesh! You boids need a lot more practice, but one thing's for sure. The lady with the little grey box in her hand is totally distracted now - completely featherbrained no doubt! She'll probably have to make a second cup of tea 'cause we made the first one go cold. Good Job!