A beautiful day for a protest

Scenes from the Ottawa Tar Sands Action on September 26, 2011:

Monday Forest Photo: September 26, 2011

This isn't from Monday at all, since I spent Monday doing other things, more on which later. I took this picture on Sunday afternoon, but if I didn't tell you, you wouldn't have known the difference. I'd love to be a skilled enough photographer to have captured the golden light that exists in the forest right now. It's almost impossible not to be cheerful when immersed in that glow.

Monday Forest Photo: September 19, 2011

1:00pm 21C sunny

Another glorious sunny and dry day. We've had very little rain this summer, so the soil is cracking in places and even the wet spots are dry. The pond is down to almost nothing, and the grass is brown except over the septic field and the areas with clay soil that were squishy underfoot until practically May. The forecast calls for some showers tonight, but lately, mere showers haven't actually resulted in much water falling. And what does is quickly absorbed by the parched soil and you can't even tell it's rained. Living in an area blessed with plenty of precipitation, this single season of dryness has actually been quite welcome. I'm sure that if it was to continue, there would be worries about the trees, and wells and water levels in the river, but for now, I am enjoying the fine weather.

This week did mark our first frost, so I decided to harvest the winter squash along with the last of the cucumbers. I took my chances with tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, because I could easily cover them, and I was able to keep them alive this time to hopefully ripen some more fruit before the next frost. The orange beauty in the centre (and the two smaller squash on either side) is a Potimarron squash grown from seed given to me by Ottawa Gardener this spring. It is said to taste of chestnuts. I think I will keep it somewhere where I can admire it for a while before eating.

Monday Forest Photo: September 12, 2011

5:00pm 25C cloudy

 It's warm and threatening thunderstorms this afternoon. Everything is extremely dry, so any rain will be most welcome. I really ought to have taken the picture this morning when it was sunny, because the light at this time of year is just golden. I've been spending lots of time in the woods lately, thanks to the light and also to the lack of blood-sucking insects.

Asters are blooming all over. I always get a warm, fuzzy feeling when I see asters and fallen leaves. Can you tell I like this time of year?

Monday Forest Photo: September 5, 2011

10:00am 15C overcast

Summer's over, right on schedule (equinox, shmequinox). Overnight it went from hot and humid to cool and breezy and some leaves have turned colour and a few have even fallen down. On our shallow soil, with lots of ash trees, and not so many big maples, the leaves drop early and without a big colourful show. It looks more fall-ish here than it does just down the road.

Any excuse for a picture of a couple of the "littles" as I call our 10 week old chicks. Martha, the Barred Plymouth Rock, is the prettiest of all the chickens - which makes up for her anxious and rather dopey disposition.