A Sleepover At Last

We have owed JJ a sleepover for weeks now. He was supposed to go first, and we had his date lined up, but then something or other intervened, so Danica took his spot. We finally remedied that situation on the weekend.

They usually get a sleepover treat when they sleepover, and this was no exception, but there's no picture, so we'll move on. Move on to Movie.

JJ gets to bring or pick a movie, and this time he chose Robin Hood — again. And we watched it with him. Again! There's something comforting about routine sometimes.

Sometimes, he likes to snuggle during a movie.

He still gets a bedtime story when he's here. He found Hansel and Gretel and hadn't read it yet, so it was a good choice.

At other times, like the next morning, he took over my computer space, not to use the computer so much but to begin to craft a comic book. We had found some images on the computer for him to work from.

As the cat hovered.

First Picnic

Oh my! With summer half gone, we hadn't had our first picnic yet! Among other things, I think the weather has to shoulder a major share of the blame.

Whatever! It was time to remedy that sorry situations by visiting Tims and then taking coffee and sandwiches to our favourite spot, right new our favourite tee. I think it's everyone's favourite tree, which is here in this shot.

That shot was looking upriver from where we sat. Here is a downriver shot. Sue is off to the right.

Across the river was a line of seagulls — for awhile anyway.

Then, the paddlers came, mostly kids from the canoe club daycamp not very far downstream.

We stayed for about an hour and a half, reading and gazing for awhile after eating. There were others enjoying the day.

It was good to get out and enjoy a very fine summer's day in this grand little park in this fine little town..

On Ramsay Concession 7B and Sugar Bush Road

We went on a bit of a rural ramble on Tuesday evening, eventually finding our way along Concession 7B north of Almonte (which I mention in case any local folk chance upon this post).

Of course, I had my eyes peeled (what an odd expression) for potential photos, but I wasn't finding much of interest.

I did stop a couple of times but the results were ordinary. Following are two shots of the road. Not great, but it gives you the feel for the geography. One hopes for some clouds and not blank skies, but it was what it was.

Eventually, we stopped at the little bridge over the Indian River where I spotted some light around the bend along with reflections.

Indian River isn't much more than a creek really, but with the copious amount of recent rainfall, it looked more river-ish on this evening. In the other (more or less west) direction off the bridge, I spotted a little controlled brush burning, which added a little focal point. I left the bridge rails in the photo to act as a sort of frame.

Somehow, we left Conc 7 and found ourselves on Conc 6, which for a short section at least is also called Sugar Bush Road. The reason soon became apparent as we came across the Clarence Fulton Pure Maple Products operation.

This proved to be very near the more well-known Fulton's Pancake House and Sugar Bush, but as far as I can tell from a wee bit of internet sleuthing, it is a separate business and not part of the operation which draws tourists.

Finding Clarence Fulton's place made it seem like a worthwhile drive, not that we wouldn't have enjoyed the ramble regardless.

Gillies Grove

I heard about Gillies Grove quite a long time ago, but we finally made a special effort to visit this old growth stand of trees in Arnprior one evening.

Being old growth, the trees were quite tall although not necessarily all that wide in diameter. I could barely get them all in the frame even with a wide angle lens and pointing upward.

To give some sense of scale, Sue is in the distance in this photo. I was using a wide angle lens, so she wasn't as far away as it seems in the photo (yes, cameras do lie), but I think the photo serves to give you an idea of the height. These are very tall trees for Ontario and seemed more like British Columbia tall to me.

Photos were a little tough in the contrasting light and took some work in post processing to make half decent, but I suppose I like this next shot as well as any. I think it's the foreground element of the fallen trunk that adds interest and dimension. But, of course, you also lose the sense of scale.

There were a number of side trails, but it was extremely hot and muggy in the still forest and very buggy, so we stuck to the main trail and didn't linger overly long.

No longer in the grove but still near it, we later espied this cottage with an amazing bush.

I think I'd like to return to Gillies Grove in the cooler and less buggy autumn, but although we were very glad to visit on this evening, we were also glad to leave. At least we now know where it is and how to access it.

But before I go, some more information from the town's website: http://arnprior.ca/live/maps/gillies-trail/ .

The Grove was originally used as a picnic ground by the Gillies and McLachlin families. The land came into David A. Gillies possession as the McLachlin family lost much of its land following the company’s bankruptcy. Following his death in 1967 and that of his wife Jessie, in 1980, it came into the possession of the Oblates. The Nature Conservancy of Canada purchased the Gillies Grove in 2001, with significant support of local fundraising from the Oblates to preserve this old-growth forest.

Uniquely situated within the town limits of Arnprior, Gillies Grove is a rare remnant of the magnificent forest that once covered this region. Gillies Grove is recognized as one of the last old-growth forests in the province.

The size and the age of many of the trees is extraordinary. Trees in the forest include Sugar Maple, Yellow Birch, American Beech, Eastern Hemlock and Basswood. Most impressive is the stand of the towering ancient White Pines. Birds that inhabit the Grove include Scarlet Tangers, Pileated Woodpeckers, Red Shouldered Hawks, Barred Owls, Cooper’s Hawks and Eastern Screech Owls.

Vegetation in the Grove include Hepaticas, Spring Beauties, Violets, Red and White Trilliums, White Baneberry and Indian Pipe—not to mention Poison Ivy.

Posts

Our house backs onto a main thoroughfare, and the fence was becoming an eyesore. It was original to the subdivision about 20 years ago and wasn't holding up well. So the town decided that it needed replacing — at the owners' expense, but I will resist getting into the politics and minutia of it all.

I took a few photos of the work in progress. First, they drill the post holes.

After the drilling it takes manual labour to empty the the holes properly.

The posts are lined up and ready to be ... um ... posted? These posts, whatever they're made of, are rock solid and should withstand the elements for a long time.

The cement truck delivers its payload post by post.

And so it goes as the workers fill the holes and place the posts.

A Pleasant Evening Drive

With the prodigious rain of recent months finally abating for a few days recently, we have been trying to get out and about a bit.

One evening we drove along some rural roads. Photo ops weren't exactly plenteous, but we were enjoying the drive regardless (as opposed to irregardless 😄 ).

I spotted an interesting farm pathway off to my left, did a little reversing and pulled in. Up the incline there sat an barn. Now, since I was already trespassing, I chose not to go all of the way up to the barn but took this shot looking up the path towards it, which I quite like.

We didn't linger long, but on our way out, I took this shot of just the light on the field, which was to the right in the above photo. I don't love it, but the softness has some appeal.

A little farther up the road, I saw the sun lowering behind a barn, and I managed to catch it partly obscured by the roof. If you use a smaller aperture in a case like this, you may get rays, which I did to some extent in this photo.

I also took a vertical shot, but I don't like it as much.

A little later on a different, I saw the sun even lower beyond a fence.  Since there is a Happy Fence Friday meme on Flickr, I sometimes take fences just because. Taking photos directly into the sun will most often result in flares. Sometimes, I like flares although I don't think they work all the well in this image.

So, all in all, it was a pleasant rural drive, and I got two photos that I quite like, even though neither is exactly an award winner. 😊

Escaping the Laundromat

We had some heavy items to wash, which would have been problematic our aging washing machine, so we took them to the laundromat one morning. It was a little hot and stuffy in there with somewhat grungy, uncomfortable seating, so I took my coffee outside and began to wander.

Just around the corner I spotted a few potential photos, so I returned to the car to grab my camera. Now, I don't take my camera everywhere (although I suppose that I should), but I had grabbed it that morning.

I was intrigued by this pretty flower box under a window on a plain garage wall.

The same house had a flower box under the window facing the street. In the original photo my reflection and an uninteresting house were starring back at me, do I decided to try to change it. I don't think the result is all that good, but it's better than the original in my opinion.

The next and final photo is of a different house and shows the flag flying between two trees, so I snapped it.

Older neighbourhoods are much more interesting to me than newer ones, and people in this one had added some very nice touches that made for a fine diversion from the laundromat.