Pinery, July 12-14 2013

Hazy, Hot & Humid...........
It was the hottest week-end we have had so far this year. I've never seen so many people at the beach before and parking was at a premium all week-end. We did enjoy the sun and the water was warm. We drove through the loop of the park and enjoyed the sights along the way. My shoulder is almost back to normal but I don't want to aggravate it so we didn't do any biking or canoeing. We spent time at our campsite relaxing and enjoyed time down by the channel watching the herons and the dragonflies. We had a great steak dinner on Saturday, watched the sunset at the beach and enjoyed a campfire. Sunday morning I walked through our campsite area and part of a trail to see what sights I could take in. We always enjoy our time at the Pinery as there is so much to see and do. Next week we are off to Point Farms and the great bakery in Goderich.

 Chippy taking a rest from the heat

The Heron trying to keep cool

Even the bumble bee was resting in the heat

I watched a family of Tufted Titmouse. This is a juvenile one

Blue Heron preening in a tree

Sights down by the Ausible Channel

Pacman!!!

 

Ducks keeping cool in the shade on a log

Dragonfly on the lily pads

View of the channel from the edge of the hill

Dragonfly on the reeds in the channel

Flowers and lily pads

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 

Enjoying the nectar of the common milkweed flower

Saturday Evening Sunset Over Lake Huron

Sunset through the beach grass

Seagull in the sunset light

Reflections in the wet sand

A Hiking I will Go.........

Black-eyed Susan

Female Wild Turkey

Poison Ivy

Leaves of three leave it be, berries white take flight

 

Another face in the trees

Butterfly Milkweed coming into flower

Dragonfly on the tall grass

A flower about to bloom

Port Burwell, July 5-7 2013

It was another adventure this week-end. When we left home it was raining but we arrived to clearing skies at Port Burwell. We had one of our favorite sites and we were high and dry. Unfortunately the same can't be said for many other campers. They had lots of rain and many sites were mud baths. They even had to close the road to the far beaches due to flooding. The parking lots at the near beaches were covered in water by the dunes you have to cross to get to the beach so we had a beach less week-end. On Friday we went to the docks to see if we could see Jushua our nephew who works diving out in Lake Erie but we couldn't find him. We had a great evening at the campfire. Saturday was a relaxing time as my shoulder is still bothering me. In the afternoon I headed out on the Ravine Trail to see what I could find. Even though I was well covered in bug spray I was fine dining for all the mosquitoes. It was a quicker hike than I had planned as I must have had at least 25 bites before I headed out of the woods and back to our site. After an afternoon snooze we received an e-mail that a friend of ours had passed away earlier in the afternoon so we sat and reflected on some of the good times we had had with her. Later on we were surprised when Jushua found us at our campsite and we had a great visit with him. Duncan & I enjoyed a late dinner and headed down to the docks to see the boat he works off of. For a treat we headed to the ice cream shop and enjoyed a yummy waffle ice cream cone. Not long after getting back to camp a storm rolled in so we sat out and enjoyed the sights and sounds of it. Sunday the sun did return and the humidity rose. I went for a walk to get a few photos of some flowers I had spotted on our way in on Friday. When I got back Duncan had made a yummy brunch for us. We enjoyed the next few hours at our site and headed home. They are calling for a sunny and much less humid week-end this week so I am looking forward to a nice walk on the beach.

The sub from the 2nd World War has arrived 

in Port Burwell and is open for tours now

A young Northern Rough-winged Swallow looking for mom

Open wide mom has some food

Closing it mouth so he won't drop it

Stretching after enjoying the snack

 

You are not my mom. What do you want?

 

My hike in mosquito ville!!

Slime fungus

Coral fungus

Tree art in the woods

Red fungus I have to identify

This robin worked all week-end 

building a nest at our site

The boat Jushua works off of in Lake Erie

One of many flowers down by the dock

Northern Rough-winged Swallow feeding her 

young in the condo bird house at the town beach

 Lilly flowers by the road

Rain drops on the lillies

Baby grasshopper on a budding flower

There is lots of water in the bushes

Dainty yellow flowers

A Bumble Bee collecting pollen

Awenda, June 28 - July 1 2013

Hope you all had a wonderful Canada Day long week-end.
We had a restful week-end after our busy week-end last week. Unfortunately I have pulled some muscles in my upper shoulder and I was not up to doing to much hiking. On Saturday we met up with friends and went to Point Severn for lunch and spent some time at the locks watching the boats pass through. We then headed to Big Chute to see how they take the boats out of the water to transfer them into the other lake. That was cool to watch. Saturday evening we drove to Kettle Lake and on the way we came across a mommy dear and her twin fawns. That was special to watch. The rest of the evening was spent in front of the campfire.

We hiked one trail on Sunday but my shoulder was to sore to do much of anything else. Therefore the rest of the week-end was spent relaxing at our campsite. We did see a few special things on the week-end and the photos of them are below.

We had our flag out to celebrate!!!

A Yellow Bellied Sapsucker feeding her baby

The baby enjoying a dragon fly mom brought

A Wood Thrush searching for food in the leaves

This chipmunk is praying I give him more peanuts.......lol

The water flow beside the locks at Point Severn

A boat going through the locks

This heron landed on the bridge at the locks

 

Taking off to try some fishing at the waters edge

Walking over to the waters edge

Looking for a fish for lunch

A boat getting in the carrier at Big Chute

It is now being lifted over the road and down to the lower lake

Almost down to the lower lake

The fawns are nursing at the edge of the road

Mom has decided its time to move across the road

The little ones are checking me out

Mom's keeping her eye on the fawns

The reeds at the edge of Kettle Lake

Things we saw on our Beaver Trail Hike

 

Fungus growing on a moss covered log

The wild berries along the trail

Velvety bracket fungus

Beautiful purple wild flowers

A male American Redstart singing his song

There were lots of boat out on the lake and moored at the island