Yellow Brick Road

The Watchful Tree

The Birch Colony

Last Picnic of the Season

Gatsby Gal

                                Nothing like the grand ol' days of the roaring 20's

Castles on the Beach

Tranquility Bay

                                                  September's full moon

A Season’s Carpet

 

 I sat on a bench, and watched the autumn leave fall.
A gentle breeze would shake them loose,
until they drifted to the ground.
Soon there is a carpet of leaves,
red, yellow and brown,
dancing with the wind
inches above the ground.
Another season ending,
as the autumn leave come drift down.
Winter would soon be here,
with another carpet grand.
This one would be a carpet white with snow,
and would stretch right across the land.
Another carpet for another season
would soon be close at hand.

~David Harris~

Burn

The documentary film BURN,was shown at the Capital Theatre during Firefest 2013. This action packed documentary tells the story of Detroit firefighters battling not only fires, but reduced budgets and resources in the city with the highest arson rate in the United States.  BURN takes viewers directly into raging fires and into the lives of the men and women who fight them. This smokin’ hot documentary isn’t just about Detroit, it’s about all first responders whose budgets are always facing tough challenges.

Rock Garden

 What are these formations? extra-terrestrial debris, dinosaur eggs, cannon balls, human carvings? These are concretions, locally referred to as "kettles" because of their resemblance to the bottom of a large cooking pot and are found at Kettle Point on Lake Huron. They were formed during the Paleozoic Upper Devonian Period, 370 million years ago.

Afternoon at the Beach

Those of us lucky enough to live in Ontario often take the Great Lakes for granted. We might not realize that one-fifth of all the fresh surface water in the world 

— that works out to 27 quadrillion litres — is contained within them.

The French explorers called Lake Huron La Mer Douce, or "Soft Sea". On this September afternoon however, the winds picked up and created dramatic waves as the water came crashing over the shallow sandbanks.

A Cat's Prayer

A Cat's Prayer
Author Unknown

Now I lay me down to sleep,
The king-size bed is soft and deep...
I sleep right in the center groove
My human can hardly move!

I've trapped her legs, she's tucked in tight
And here is where I pass the night
No one disturbs me or dares intrude
Till morning comes and "I want food!"

I sneak up slowly to begin
My nibbles on my human's chin.

She wakes up quickly, I have sharp teeth -
And my claws I will unsheath

For the morning's here and it's time to play
I always seem to get my way.
So thank you Lord for giving me
This human person that I see.

The one who hugs me and holds me tight
And sacrifices her bed at night.

Hope Takes Flight

Just as the Indian legend goes, the butterflies quietly go and they take your feelings and your wishes to the spirit world. It means new hope; it means resurrection, new beginnings!
Recently,  many of my family and friends have experienced the loss of a loved one. In memory of those who have come and gone I have posted this beautiful Monarch Butterfly.  This butterfly will migrate down south  and for many after him in hopes his dreams can take flight one last time.

Gold in Them Thar Fields

Corn was once a straightforward crop. However, there have been big changes in recent years. Overall use of corn has increased significantly as a result of renewable energy legislation. There have also been dramatic changes in the corn varieties that are planted as the country’s crop shifts to genetically engineered strains. Seed corn and commercial corn continues to be the king crop for us and for Kent County.

Walk an Acre in Your Boots

THE FARMER

~by Debra B

Without delay he’s up each day
before the crack of dawn.
After breakfast, a kiss from his wife,
he yawns and pulls his work boots on.

Out the door he stands with pause
to smile at the gold-blue sky.
The rooster crows and the man steps off
with purpose in his stride.

There’s livestock to feed and fences to mend,
till the soil and plant some seed.
His list of chores has no end
for there’s a hungry world to feed.

This is what he’s called to do
as steward of God’s good Earth.
Like his father and the fathers before,
’twas passed to him by birth.

The sun has set and he’s earned the right
to relax on his old back porch.
He shuts his eyes and breaths in the night
praying tomorrow he’ll rise once more.

Pond Residents

                           
 All summer long we have enjoyed the company and serenade of our resident frogs. It is the daily routine of our house cat to patrol the perimeter of the back yard and kettle the frogs back to their watering hole away from the menacing lawnmower.  They have kept the mosquitoes under check and have been great subject matter for my photographs.

Dare You to Cross my Path

Breaking mirrors. Spilling salt. Walking under ladders. Lighting a third cigarette with one match. The list of arcane superstitions influencing the behavior and peace of mind of human beings around the world is, it seems, almost limitless. And for the superstitious, no day holds as much peril as Friday the 13th. The very thought of, say, a black cat crossing one’s path on such a day is enough to send ordinarily sane men and women into conniptions.

Dogs Are Family!

The fidelity of a dog is a precious gift. They make you laugh, brighten your life and everyday silently accept your tears without judgement, snuggle with you, forgive your faults and love you unconditionally.

Polly Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers

Red peppers are the belle of the ball at any buffet table. Crisp and incredibly sweet, these ladies in red are an easy sell to anyone who is not fond of vegetables. The only limiting factor is that they can be costly during winter, but now that it’s September, we can look forward to eating more inexpensive local peppers.

Wooden Ware-Vintage Kitchenalia

Wooden Ware ...a nest of tubs, a set of pails and bowls, a large and small sieve, a beetle for mashing potatoes, a spad or stick for stirring butter and sugar, a breadboard, a coffee stick, a clothes stick, and mush stick, and meat beetle to pound tough meat, an eggbeater, a ladle for working butter,  flour buckets, with lids to hold sifted flour and Indian meal, salt boxes, sugar boxes, starch and indigo boxes, spice boxes...

Freedom Past and Present

This young man and his family came to Chatham three years ago to begin new lives and give their children the educational and other opportunities they themselves had only ever dreamed of in Sudan. Like the runaway slaves fleeing America in hopes of freedom and peace in Canada, I hope his new beginnings are positive.

Buxton Settlement

Buxton Settlement was founded in 1849 by Irish Presbyterian Minister, Reverend William King and 15 former American slaves who, with other Underground Railroad (UGRR) refugees and abolitionists, purchased a 4,680 hectare tract of land as a joint stock company. Settlers cleared the land and established farms on 50-acre (202,342 square metre) plots which they purchased over time. By 1859, the settlement reached its peak population of over 1,000 residents served by three integrated schools, two temperance hotels, a general store, a post office, a sawmill, a brickyard, a grist mill and a pearlash factory. In 1873, its objectives achieved, the company was disbanded but the community survived.
Today the Buxton Settlement is a National Historic Site of Canada.

Kerosene Lantern

Fashion in the City 2013

You are my Sunshine

Northern Wild Blueberries

The wild blueberries from the shores of Lake Temiskaming always make the best pies.

Hogan's Haileybury

The sun rises over a misty Lake Temiskaming on this August morning in Haileybury. Today we remember the life of our brother-in law with family and friends. This is the view he would have loved to see.

Summer Night at Erieau

And The Music Plays On

1/4 Century Old

Dear daughter 25 years ago today you came into the world and with you came this incredible love and light that you have spread around since that day ... you are a beautiful wise old soul your wisdom and knowledge you share so lovingly and freely  are my guiding light... Wishing you the Happiest of Birthdays dear daughter!

Life is a Kaleidoscope

There are many different people you encounter, different situations, different emotions that you feel that are like the colors and shapes in a kaleidoscope. Just as the colors and shapes change in many different combinations, so do all of these aspects of our lives. These aspects of our lives also intertwine and merge in various combinations throughout life bringing new people into our circles and new experiences that affect our emotional reactions.

The Arts for All.

 

The St. Louis Art Museum or SLAM has over 33,000 magnificent works of art from the great masters to the up and coming. And the best thing is the Admission to the Museum is free every day.

Spa Day

Chances are, at some point in your life, you’ve seen what happens when a house cat gets wet. It’s no secret that cats aren’t fond of the water, even though they can swim just fine. Tigers love the water and enjoy taking dips in cold water. Tigers almost never have their heads under water, because they don’t like getting water in their eyes and nostrils. To avoid this, they typically get in the water backwards and keep their heads above water. Water is actually the primary cooling device tigers use.

St Louis Gems

$Vault$

Gorgeous and intricately patterned, this Herring Hall Marvin vault door comes from the First National Bank building at 501 Locust.  Once moved to the museum, twenty tons of steel plates comprising the middle of the doors were not reassembled to reduce the weight; instead they were cut apart and used as the stair treads for the Bulldozer staircase on MonstroCity.

Bottle Wall

City Museum acquired over 70,000 glass bottles in the late 1990s from a discontinued line at the Vess Soda Co. One bottle wall snakes through the Vault Room, but the motif is repeated a few times in the building, bearing witness to the Cassilly principle that "enough of anything becomes a brick!"

Muses

These ladies are an early sculpture in the cave in the St Louis City Museum. They've become known as the Muses. The caves took form over several years, beginning in 1995 and finally opening to the public in 2003.

Coincidence or NOT?

Two sisters traveling together on a summer road trip 

~one from Chatham and one from Toronto...

It was meant to be!

Corn as High as an Elephant's Eye

While traveling through Illinois this summer I had the pleasure of seeing vast fields of corn going on for miles and I never tired of the sight!

Sunflower

Sea Urchins of the Garden

The Echinacea or Cone Flower: The generic name is derived from the Greek word ἐχῖνος (echino), meaning Sea Urchin. Some species are used in herbal medicines and some are cultivated in gardens for their showy flowers. I think they are beautiful!

Lily

American Lotus

                                
Keith McLean planted several lotus ponds on his property, one of which is devoted to the American Lotus. The lotus used to be in Rondeau Bay. They disappeared in the 1940s. He transplanted them from River Canard in Essex County.  There's now close to an acre of the spectacular, flowering perennial.

Keith's Bench

The bench sits empty overlooking several lotus ponds on the McLean property and invites you to sit and take in the beauty.  Keith certainly has left  a legacy for all to enjoy.