Fodder's Day

When he's not thinking about it, that's the way that my French SIL says 'father.' I think it's rather delightful, as is he and as was the day this year. Actually, it was more like two very satisfying days.

In an effort to avoid any possible Sunday crowds, the four of us headed to Wheeler's for brunch on Saturday. In case you don't know, the other three are Cuppa, Butterfly (daughter #1) and her husband, The Boy. Wheeler's is the Maple Sugar Bush and museum that Cuppa and I discovered earlier this year. Of course, I blogged about it a little back then: twice.

In any event, when we were last there, we were quite taken with the place and decided to return. We targetted Fodder's Day as a seemingly propitious time because the Showy Lady's Slipper Orchids open around then in a nearby conservation area called Purdon's. They're wild flowers, and this is possibly the premier site in the province in which to view them.

So, after brunch at Wheeler's and some picture taking (that's me and Butterfly outside the museum, above), we drove over to Purdon's. It's in the swampy woods, so with doused ourselves liberally with insect repellent and headed in. The official viewing celebration for the flowers is next weekend, so we didn't know whether we'd find many flowers open, but there we're plenty.

We walked along the boardwalk, and we all took pictures. Butterfly and The Boy also have Flcikr accounts and are avid posters. Sometimes I envy them their artistic flair. They both capture excellent images that escape my less artistic vision entirely. I used my telephoto lens, partly because many of Lady's Slippers were not terribly close to the boardwalk, and one simply wouldn't consider leaving the walkway and possibly tromping all over these specimens.

You can see the boardwalk the photo below, and you can see the AC, looking up in great surprise after having just taken a photo. When you look at the photo below that one you'll see why — there were three cameras staring at me!

We did a lot more on this fine weekend: wandered through the village of Lanark, saw X-Men (3): The Last Stand, had late night snacks and pizza, did some Geocaching, and had a bbq together. It was a wonderful Fodder's Day gift that they gave me: time. And Ladybug (daughter #2) called from Toronto with her wishes last night and told me that she and Powerpuff would be coming to visit on the Canada day weekend in two week's time. Neat eh?

Two more pictures below: the first of a silly old fellow taking pictures and the second is of the wild orchids themselves.