Fall 2011
End of summer – beautiful colours!
Wild flowers (clematis vine, I think)
Hydro pole with some age.
Oct. 26, 2010 – walk
Lots of oak leaves on the ground now…
And an unusually pointy maple leaf…
And some red oak leaves still on a sapling…
Oct. 15, 2010
Rain, rain, rain, and we had to go to town, so I ended up jogging on the mini trampoline instead of walking today. The scenery’s not that great. 
A couple of pictures of the morning glory vine out on the porch handrail – to brighten a dull day! It grew all summer and didn’t have a flower on it until a couple of weeks ago. Now it’s covered with buds, but half killed from the frost. I might try another one next year, but hopefully I’ll get one that flowers a little earlier in the season.
Raindrops on the morning glory…
And another view of the vine, with more flowers…
Pretty things, but they don’t even last a day.
Oct. 13, 2010
Ok, I’ll admit it – it’s all about me today! That is, me and my horse Tea Jae.
Here are some pics from our trailriding weekend (Sunday). Thanks to Karen Pyne for sending her photos.
Great weather, great trails, great buddies (horse and human)! It is a great privilege to experience the beauty of the Ontario woods in our area on horseback, and this is my way to share.
Here we are heading out with Holly (on April, thor/percheron) and Stephanie (on Mia, arab) ahead at right…
Tea Jae and I go scootin’ down the trail… I love the picture – thanks, Karen!
More trails…us again up front (well, I did say it was all about me today, haha) with Ron Pyne (Parelli professional – his website is at http://www.ronpyne.com) ahead on Rambler, paint horse…
Stopping to take in the scenery, looking across a pond in the woods… Tea Jae felt we were close enough to the edge, no need to go closer!
Later today, I’m going for a walk on my own two feet. Think I might switch to evening walks as the light is amazing and it’s not quite so frosty
Gotta figure out the camera problem too.
Oct. 12, 2010
Yet another beautiful day – and I was able to spend a lot of it outside. Horse TLC, looking for sheep, walking dogs, etc. We also drove up the Opinicon Road at sunset and the fall colours and the lakes were spectacular.
Just one picture, looking down into the valley at Tea Jae and Morocco late in the day when I was looking for the two missing sheep…
The missing sheep were at the barn when we got home after dark. Not very sensible behaviour. Those two don’t stick with the herd, and I think I’ll shut them into a pen from now on. Otherwise the coyotes will have a nice (late) Thanksgiving dinner too.
Oct. 8, 9, 10 walk and trail rides
A great walk on Friday with the dogs and Lacey, later in the day because these mornings have been a bit crisp – ok, frosty!
Beautiful days with blue sky and sun and higher temperatures in the afternoons. Saturday and Sunday we and the horses hit the trails, which are glorious. The leaves are mostly off the trees, so visibility is great through the bush. Still some fall colour here and there and some areas are further ahead than others. Aiming for another ride tomorrow, and I hope to have some pictures taken by my friends, as my camera is still not working.
Here is the beaver pond up at the end of our upper fields… the beavers have a substantial dam at the outlet and so there is a lot of water up there…
…and the sun lighting up the maples on the hill… I tapped a few of them in the spring for maple syrup and hope to do some more tapping next spring…
Hope to have a couple of trail riding pictures later. It’s been a great weekend!
walk Oct. 7, 2010
A beautiful fall day for a drive (oops, I mean a walk)! First we had to go to Smiths Falls via Chaffey’s Lock, so we had breakfast in Elgin and then went to Smiths Falls. On the way back, we stopped in Forfar for some feed at Baker’s.
Chaffey’s Lock boathouses and the tour boat… not much activity in Chaffey’s in October…
But yes, we did get a walk in the afternoon – went up the hill to take some pictures of tractors to upload on Kijiji, then went up the field and came back on the road. I took the dogs. We encountered the sheep, but left them relatively undisturbed.
Here Rufus is a little confused about the whereabouts of the sheep on the other side of the clump of trees and bushes…
Here we are on the road, on the way back. The dogs have run on ahead…
Looking down at the farm in the valley, with the maples still in leaf on the right…
I am so totally unimpressed with how this camera takes still shots (it is actually a video camera that also takes stills, but it can’t handle extremes of light and shadow in the same shot). Bleaaahhgh!!!
morning walk Oct. 6, 2010
Lovely day except for the rain!
The camera can still find a bit of colour here and there.
Rufus and I went down the road, but instead of going all the way to the pump, we stopped in at the neighbour’s for a cup of tea due to the rain
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Rufus and a large puddle with leaves and reflections…
Here’s Nickel nibbling on the hillside, as we look back across the valley… The split maple on the hill is still spectacular…
Further on, a small tree decked out in yellow…
Pictures were taken with the new camera I got a few weeks ago, now that the Cybershot is malfunctioning.
walk Oct. 5, 2010
These crispy mornings are a little off-putting for a walk first thing. Particularly on the Cataraqui Trail, which doesn’t get sun until later – it is in the shadow of the ridge that lines the valley. Besides, we had to go out early this morning.
We went for a walk mid afternoon, west on the Cat. Trail. Pleasant! All three dogs came, plus I line-drove Lacey. When she saw us coming out the door, she came running to the gate. Pretty boring for her in the garden paddock with no friends, but I can’t let her go free on pasture as she would probably eat 24 hours a day. Then I’d have a pumpkin instead of a miniature horse.
Pictures uploading soon as the camera went on the blink just at the end. There was a medium size garter snake next to the road, but the camera wouldn’t function. Hopefully it is just the battery.
Only two pictures… Here is poison ivy looking pretty. I keep getting little doses of it, but I think it is because the dogs run through it and then I pick them up or give them a pat.
Heading home – the dogs dashed ahead and Lacey got pretty strong in the lines. Colour is brown, brown, green, and more brown…
Looks like the glory of fall colours is fading. Midday light is pretty flattening too. Even a dull view can perk up if the light is interesting.
Hope to do a morning walk tomorrow – however, will have to switch cameras as the smokin’ Cybershot will not open its lens anymore. RIP, Cybershot.
walk Oct. 4, 2010
A busy day – we didn’t get around to the walk until it was almost dusk. Dull, dull, dull and not an artistic view in sight. Not one heron either.
Rufus and Lacey and I went down the Cataraqui Trail and saw several piles of what is probably coyote poop. Are they drooling over my sheep from a distance??? I don’t think they can get at the sheep when they’re in the pen by the barn, and I make sure to shut them in well before dark.
I started out leading Lacey on line, but she didn’t understand why I wasn’t line driving her, so I changed the rope to two lines and drove the rest of the way. It wasn’t quite two miles, but it was starting to get dark, and I was wondering where the coyotes were
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Anyways, no pictures from today’s walk, but here are a few nice ones from last year. Obviously taken on a misty summer morning (am I feeling nostalgic already?)
I just went up to take a picture of the trees, but then first the pony (who is now gone to a new home) came into sight…
Then Morocco the arab came wandering over the ridge looking gorgeous…
An artistic shot with the pony on the left, my quarter horse Tea Jae in the middle, and Timber (Canadian horse now owned by my friend Holly) on the right.
A piece of retired machinery (I think it’s a mower and I rode it or one like it for a couple of hay seasons, just about 4 decades ago, haha) overlooks the misty valley where it used to work…
