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Guelph (and Interims)


These pictures are mainly from July (after I came back from Tennessee, but
before I joined Danielle in Ear Falls); November and December (after finishing up at Long Point); and January to April (when Danielle and I were living in Guelph for her winter semester)
.

A typical Lambton County field (though they usually don't have so many trees!)

An old road in Lorne Henderson

Me and the old man smoking Colts.  I'm the one on the right.


Leaves of Grass with rain

A scene from the Marthaville gravel pits.

I spent several days at my grandparents farm

My grandpa getting ready to do some work

A crazy storm moved in like a train while I was walking down the road

The front as it passed over me.  It was quite menacing and had me wondering whether I should have taken cover

Me and my grandpa.  I'm the one on the left.

This abandoned building stands next to my grandparents' farm and is actually the school house where my grandpa went to school.

Full bloom in Moore, one of Lambton County's best natural areas

A view of my grandparents' farm in late fall

This trail near Alvinston is almost always too wet to walk until it freezes

A rehabilitated gravel pit near Marthaville

Wawanosh wetland

I spent 6 weeks at my parents' home after Long Point, being able to enjoy one of the benefits of nighttime light pollution in towns: surreal winter nights!

Danielle and I went walking through the oil fields at Oil Springs, by this old abandoned cabin

Christmas Day in Oil Springs.  We were dreaming of a wet and foggy Christmas and we got our wish!

The now-traditional winter camping trip to Pinery has become less wintery in the last few years.  Winter camping without snow becomes simply cold camping

Aside from not being able to ski, skate, or go "taboozin", I was very sick and no one else felt very well either.  Reading in the heated cabin was the best option

While I was back in town I worked at Grammies Pizza again.  Danielle came and helped me on my last day.

Danielle painted this large canvas while still in high school

We're finally in Guelph, and have discovered this new 4km trail


The new trail, which is minutes from our apartment, rises to a bluff overlooking the Eramosa river valley

We took a day trip to Rockwood conservation area, where we saw some excellent rock features, both natural and artificial

This building had been a mill before it burned down some time ago

Even more fascinating than the ruins of the mill are the steep cliffs surrounding the water

If only the ice was thick enough to skate!

The scenery here illustrates the difference in landscape after travelling a mere two hours northeast from Lambton County's clay plain

The Guelph Arboretum.  This stand of red/silver maples is inundated for most of the year, making a walk on the boardwalk quite interesting at any time

I was walking one day when I stumbled upon this Mourning Dove that was unusually tolerant of my advances

Just behind our apartment is a small woodlot we can walk to

The Radial Trail, within a 10 minute drive of our apartment

A "typical" winter day on a hike at the Radial Trail

Due to a mild winter, we were only able to go skating two or three times this year

We woke up to a wet surprise one morning when we discovered rain had leaked in onto our floor

We went to the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.  

A trail along the Eramosa river near our apartment.  

Joining with our "backyard" woodlot is another undeveloped area that allows us to walk for a good hour and a half through "forest" (i.e. Buckthorn and Scot's Pine)

This is a marshy area that lies near the Eramosa on the Radial Trail

This is the woodlot behind our house after a large snowfall

The Arboretum after a storm

The Chickadees along this trail were obviously used to being fed.  

Spring finally arrived, with temperatures in the mid-teens and Turkey Vultures everywhere!

We took a trip to Rattlesnake Point to enjoy a hike along the Escarpment.

The view from the top was quite nice

On the North side of the Eramosa is this grassy area with short spruces and isolated Hawthorns

We parked ourselves on a hill near Guelph Lake on a warm afternoon while Danielle studied and I read

The boardwalk in the Arboretum, now free of ice and teeming with active invertebrates (including a frightening amount of mosquito larvae)

Although it looks big in the picture, this snake was hardly 6 inches long and was quite curious about my camera


The first native wildflowers of the spring (Coltsfoot started blooming in early April) that I saw were these Bloodroot flowers

Overlooking a pond in the Guelph Bird Sanctuary, a large area lying along the Speed River

Sharp-lobed Hepatica blooming in one of Guelph's only deciduous forest trails

Bloodroot and Wild Leek on the forest floor

Bloodroot and the leaves of Trout Lily, whose blossoms we will unfortunately miss once again