This past week I went to Ottawa to visit my mom for Mother’s Day. I had gone last year at the same time, and I think the year before. It’s a nice time of year in Ottawa, with spring just starting. The weather cooperated, too – no rain and lots of sun. It was 24C the day I left.
While I was there I went for walks in the Bruce Pit, a large park and off-leash dog area that many people use, but it still manages to seem uncrowded. I found lots of things to take photos of, always something new on a new trail. Just like when I go to Cobble Hill Mountain.
This is sumac, which grows into nice leafed out trees as the season progresses. For now they just look weird!Trillium! These are Ontario’s provincial flower, and it’s forbidden to pick them as they take a long time to grow and flower.This log full of shelf fungus was just begging to be photographed. Love how they’ve collected along the grain of the wood.A field of ferns just coming out. My mom had some fiddleheads in the fridge, but we never did end up eating them. There’s a pond in the Bruce Pit with a surrounding wetland. If you’re lucky you’ll see a beaver or a muskrat or a heron or some turtles. We just saw a baby turtle, about the size of two toonies. But they were moving fast! Also LOTS of red-winged blackbirds, and a geese couple with a nest on top of a beaver lodge.
It was neat to explore a different ecosystem and see the similarities and differences between Ontario and the coast. Not sure when I’ll be back again, but would be nice to go in a different season, to see different things.
