Tamarack and Poplar

Driving home from physio the other day, we noticed these beautiful Tamaracks in a field at the corner south of Woodbridge.  The leaves have now fallen from most trees, but these Tamarack are the only conifers here whose needles turn a golden orange and drop off.  So they're not evergreens, but they are conifers; they're deciduous conifers.  In any case, about 3 weeks after the glorious colour of the hardwoods here, the Tamarack add a beautiful exclamation mark to the end of fall.

In fact, most of these may not be Tamarack at all, but European Larch. Widely planted because they grow faster, European Larch are virtually indistinguishable from Tamarack.  But I feel a loyalty to our native trees, so I just call them all Tamarack.

In any case they're truly beautiful in the middle of the dreary month of November!

I just wish I could get out there myself and see all the little tiny needles growing in tiny clumps of the twigs, as well as the tiny cones.

Driving down the road we slowed through a wet forest with lots of Poplar (probably Trembling Aspen).  Mrs. F.G. always enjoys the patterns on the bark.

The older bark near the base of the larger trees gets quite rough and corrugated, making it look like a totally different tree.

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Cold and wet here today.  The nice fall temperatures have dropped and it was just above freezing this morning.  Snow in the forecast for tomorrow.

We Will Never Forget

 William

Feb. 22, 1977 - May 22, 2015

On this Remembrance Day here in Canada, we remember those who have served in the military, but also those Police Officers, Firefighters and First Responders who have given their lives in service - including our son William who gave his life when his water bomber crashed in a fire tornado near Cold Lake Alberta.  We will never forget.

Yet More Fall Colours

Still playing around with photos of the tree out back.  These 8 photos are partial tree photos where I look for the tree trunks to be partially visible and provide some vertical structure.  They differ in terms of lighting. the first 5 taken under cloudy conditions, the last 3 taken in bright sunlight.   Let me know what you think.  Some of these are really too similar to tell the difference, but you should be able to see a difference between the first 5 and the last 3.

More Fall Colours

I'm enjoying playing around with my fall colour shots this year.  After all, it's the most colourful time of year here.  So today is a quizz to see which pictures you prefer in a number of choices.  Of course you don't have to answer at all, you can just enjoy the photos.  Believe it or not, these are all shot outside our back window.  The leaves seem to be hanging on a long time this year.

#1 or #2?

#3 or #4?

And the rest are just close-ups for you to enjoy.

I do feel that using my big camera is allowing me to crop on for some much better close-ups.

As I said the leaves are holding on for a long time this year.  Here's the big tree out back (first two photos above) last year at this time.

Nice slightly warmish day here today, though with a cold wind blowing.  I'm going to dress up and go out to sit in the sun regardless!  Can't just be a wimp.

Hercules Transport at Billy Bishop

On our way home from physio yesterday we were coming to the Billy Bishop Regional Airport just east of Owen Sound when we saw a large military-looking transport plane approaching.  Out of interest we pulled into the airport parking lot to see if it was going to land.  It was larger than any other aircraft we'd ever seen here.

The plane roared directly overhead and began a large low circle to the east.

We waited patiently for it to emerge at the north end of the airport, and finally there it was, just above the trees, its lights shining out brightly.  Notice the 'ground crew' - one guy waiting on the tarmac near the terminal.

The plane dropped low over the trees and onto the runway, emerging from behind the hangers as it taxied south.

It was a big Hercules transport plane, flown by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).  And they had the back gate down before the plane had even drawn to a halt.

As we watched three crew members hopped out and walked over to pick up two parcels waiting by the fence.  It didn't look like they were going to stop for long.

I should explain that we have a large army base near Meaford, formerly known as 'the tank range', locally 'the base', but now officially the 4th Canadian Division Training Centre.  Primarily used for summer training of the Primary Reserve force, we hear the big guns going off regularly on busy summer weekends,  There are a number of large dormitory buildings, dining hall, fitness facilities and so on.  But there is no runway for landing large planes like the Hercules. so when it is called in they use Billy Bishop Regional Airport, which is really just down the road 20 minutes.

Here the crew is loading back on these items that I presume are being sent from the base to some other destination.  It seemed like a very small load to pick up, but I've also read that flights like this are used as training flights.

Within minutes the back gate was up, the plane turned and headed back to the base of the runway.  They didn't even stop for coffee or a washroom break!

The engines roared, the big plane headed down the runway and disappeared in the distance.  First time we've ever stopped to simply watch a plane land and depart.  All these photos were shot through the windshield, which accounts for the dull lighting.

It's Snowing - My Hibernation Begins!

Well, it isn't really snowing, it's more like graupel - those little white pellets that look like soft small hail or snow pellets.  And it's vanishing as soon as it hits the ground.  But the colder weather is enough that my hibernation season has begun.  Apart from church. physio, and coffee/lunch once a week, I'm inside, wracking my brain for ways to keep busy and occupied for the next 6 months.  It isn't just the snow or cold, it's my tires getting wet and gritty and making a mess in the house.  All told it does keep me housebound for nearly half the year.

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P.S.  It's a day later and we've now had real snow flurries right here at home.  And driving to physio (where I pulled myself up into a standing position with my brute upper body strength again!), once we got up over the ancient Algonquin shoreline, there was snow on the ground.  Just a slight difference in elevation makes all the difference.  Winter is here!

*****

P.S. #2  It's a day later again and we woke to snow on the ground.  Winter is definitely here.  It's just a very light dusting, so here's hoping it won't last!  It's only 2°C, a little chilly.

More Sandhill Cranes

Yes, a week after successfully chasing Sandhill Cranes around Elsinore, west of Owen Sound, Mrs. F.G. saw another Facebook post reporting a flock of about 100 'near Copper Kettle'.  So after physio this week she sprung it on me and we headed out to hunt for them.  I pulled up Google Maps and looked for open fields in that area (Copper Kettle itself sits in forest for all directions).  So I directed us on our new expedition.

And we were quickly successful.  The Cranes were scattered over a large field around a farmstead, walking along searching for food,  Mixed in with them were a few Canada Geese, looking about half the size of the cranes.

Our first view of them was off in the distance, but we got closer quickly.

Luckily for us they were close enough to the road that we got a really good luck at individual birds, unlike the enormous flock we saw two years ago east of Collingwood.

As we passed the farmstead we saw there was an even larger number ahead in the next field, so on we went.

If anything these were even closer to the road, so we enjoyed just looking.

We counted nearly 100 before we moved on.  And so our second Sandhill Crane hunting expedition was a success.  My only regret was not having my big camera, so I couldn't really crop in closely.  But sometimes it's better to just enjoy what you're seeing!