Cottage Sunset Series #3

Click the pic to enlarge

On our recent vacation at the lake, I sat on the elevated deck of the cottage and watched the sun set every evening. The beauty of the sky held me in awe from the beginning of the sunset until dark.

I watched and photographed from the same vantage point each night. It was never boring!

The photos are not edited other than being cropped and/or resized.

View more gorgeous skies from around the world HERE @SKYWATCH FRIDAY

Look at what's reflecting around the world HERE @WEEKEND REFLECTIONS

Lots of scenery from around the world can be seen HERE @SCENIC SUNDAY

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Wolves - Our World Tuesday/Outdoor Wednesday

We spend our summer vacation time up in the Haliburton Highlands in Ontario. It's a beautiful thickly forested area in the province that has over 600 lakes and heaps of wildlife roaming around.

It's not unusual to see bears, moose, beavers, woverines, deer etc. Sometimes the sightings are a little too close for comfort...like when a woverine shows up on your cottage property, or you barely miss hitting a black bear as it lumbers across the road a few feet from your car.

One of the most elusive creatures in the Canadian bush is the wolf (grey timber wolf). They are often heard howling at night, but rarely seen.

Luckily for us, the Haliburton Forest and Wildlife Reserve's Wolf Centre, is just up the road from the cottage. I love spending an afternoon there, watching and photographing these beautiful creatures.

Click on the pics to enlarge

Mom

Dad

Being lazy in the sun

Pup #1

Just like dad

Pup #2

Just like mom

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"We have doomed the Wolf not for what it is, but for what we have deliberately and mistakenly perceived it to be..the mythologized epitome of a savage, ruthless killer..which is, in reality no more than a reflected image of ourself."

-Farley Mowat

View the many wonders of the world HERE @ Our World Tuesday

Take a look at the great outdoors around the world HERE @ Outdoor Wednesday

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Fuzzy Wuzzy - Macro Monday/Ruby Tuesday

Hickory tussock moth caterpillar

Don't touch this cute little fuzzy muffin, contact with the poisonous hairs or spines can cause a painful itchy rash, similar to poison ivy.

I chose this as my  FAVORITE PHOTO OF THE WEEK because I was happy this little guy posed so nicely that I didn't have to touch him!

You can see more great MACRO shots from around the world HERE @ Lisa's Chaos.

Click on over to RUBY TUESDAY (HERE) to see more shades of red from around the world.

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Nature's Pinstripe - Weekend Reflections

The side of this van holds great reflections, but it was the little strip at the bottom that caught my attention. Wood, sky and trees in a stripe. Nature's pinstripping!

Click on over to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS to see what's reflecting around the world!

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Cottage Sunset Series #2 - Sky Watch Friday/Scenic Sunday

On our recent vacation at the lake, I sat on the elevated deck of the cottage and watched the sun set every evening. The beauty of the sky held me in awe from the beginning of the sunset until dark.

I watched and photographed from the same vantage point each night. It was never boring! Over the next few weeks I will feature the sunsets on my blog for - 

the SKYWATCH Friday photo meme.

The photos are not edited other than being cropped and/or resized.

View more gorgeous skies from around the world HERE.

Take a look at the beautiful scenery around the world HERE

Beached - Outdoor/Watery Wednesday

Click on the pic to enlarge

Haliburton Highlands, Ontario, Kennisis Lake

Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll go canoeing

Henry David Thoreau

Get your eyes wet over @ Watery Wednesday
For more great outdoor scenes from around the world visit Outdoor Wednesday
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Joey - ABC Wednesday

ABC Wednesday is brought to you today by the letter J

Photographed near Victor Harbor, South Australia (Click the pic to enlarge)

Look closely...peek a boo baby roo
AKA a Joey

Check out the letter J @ ABC WEDNESDAY

The Alien Has Landed

A post to MACRO MONDAY/RUBY TUESDAY /PICSTORY

Another example of the weird and wonderful fungi found in the forests up at the cottage, in the Haliburton Highlands of Ontario.

Click the pic to enlarge

This is a Rosy Russula, most often found in mixed wood forests of Red Maple, Balsm Fir, and spruce trees. This mushroom is a favorite food for Red squirrels. They carry them up trees, and hang them from branch forks, or stuff them in cracks in the bark. There, the mushrooms will dry out, and be preserved for eating later in the winter.

You can see more great MACRO shots from around the world HERE @ Lisa's Chaos.

Click on over to RUBY TUESDAY to see more shades of red from around the world.

Check out this week's theme (macros) @  PIC STORY

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The View From Here

A post to Weekend Reflections/Scenic Sunday

Click on the pic to enlarge

"There is a point where in the mystery of existence contradictions meet; where movement is not all movement and stillness is not all stillness; where the idea and the form, the within and the without, are united; where infinite becomes finite, yet not”

~Rabindranath Tagore

See what's being reflected around the world HERE

Great scenery from around the world can be found HERE

The Whistler - Black and White Weekend

Click on the pic to enlarge

Childhood is the most beautiful of all life's seasons. 

~Author Unknown

See more terrific Monochrome shots from around the world  HERE

@ The Weekend In Black and White

Cottage Sunset Series #1 - SkyWatch Friday

Clcik on the pic to enlarge

i sit tranfixed

my soul is sunset dreaming

immersed in beauty

~Karen

On our recent vacation at the lake, I sat on the elevated deck of the cottage and watched the sun set every evening. The beauty of the sky held me in awe from the beginning of the sunset until dark.

I watched and photographed from the same vantage point each night. It was never boring! Over the next few weeks I will feature the sunsets on my blog for - 

the SKYWATCH Friday photo meme.

The photos are not edited other than being cropped and/or resized.

View more gorgeous skies from around the world HERE.

At The Lake - Watery/Outdoor Wednesday

My granddaughter at the lake       

                         Haliburton Highlands, Ontario, Canada                        

Click on the pic to enlarge

We could never have loved the earth so well if we had had no childhood in it. 

~George Eliot

Get your eyes wet with more watery shots from around the world,
 HERE @ Watery Wednesday

Take a tour of the outdoors HERE @ Outdoor Wednesday

Indian Pipe - Macro Monday/ABC Wednesday (I)

While on vacation at the cottage, I spent a lot of time (too much time), photographing various mushrooms and fungi. I thought this little gem was some king of fungus, but I was wrong.

Click on the pics to enlarge

It's a herbaceous perennial plant (Monotropa uniflora), in the Ericaceae family,

AKA - Indian Pipe, Ice Plant, Fairy Smoke, Ghost Flower, Corpse Plant, Ghost Pipe, Dutchman's Pipe, Eyebright, Convulsion Weed, and Fit Root.

This is one of about 3000 species of non-photosynthetic (i.e. heterotrophic) flowering plants. It's white and doesn't have any chlorophyll. Instead of generating energy from sunlight, it is parasitic. Its hosts are certain fungi that are mycorrhizal with trees, meaning it ultimately gets its energy from photosynthetic trees. (Thanks for that info Wikipedia).
It can grow in very dark environments as on the floor of dense forests, which is exactly where I found it!

For more Macro shots of just about everything,

 click on over to Lisa's Chaos - Macro Monday!

Click on over to ABC WEDNESDAY and see what's happening with the letter I

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In The Woods - Weekend Reflections

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Hemlocks reflected on the outside of the window of the summer cottage.

The pleated blind was down inside, creating a rippled effect.

Slow-growing and long-lived, Canadian hemlock trees in the wild may reach 80 feet tall or higher, with a spread of 25' to 30' .These fragrant trees are pyramidal or conical in shape, and their small needles give them a fine texture. The needles are dark green on top and light green underneath. The bark of Canadian hemlock trees at maturity may be cinnamon-red or reddish brown.

See what's reflecting around the world HERE @ Weekend Reflections

Got The Blues - SkyWatch Friday/Blue Monday

Click on the pic to enlarge

En route to the cottage for vacation in the The Haliburton Highlands, Ontario, Canada.

For more great skyscapes from around the world click HERE for SkyWatch Friday

View all things BLUE HERE @ Smiling Sally's Blue Monday Meme

Cottage Road

One of the many back roads leading to the summer cottage.
Click on the pic to enlarge

I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

~Robert Frost

 See more OUTDOOR shots from around the world HERE 
@ Southern Daydreamer

Lots more SCENIC SHOTS can be found HERE @ Scenic Sunday

To see some SHADOWY shots go HERE to Hey Harriet's
Shadow Shot Sunday page

The Pond Hike - Our World Tuesday/ABC Wednesday (H)

We live in an urban setting, a city of about 360,000. Luckily we live in Pond Mills, a suburb that includes the Westminister/ Pond Mills Environmentally Significant Area, which is  also a class 1 Provincially Significant Wetland (no one can bulldoze it and build houses). The ESA is significant for its size and for its great variety of natural habitats. There are six major ponds and a number of smaller ones scattered throughout the forests, wetlands and marsh.

My daughter, granddaughter and I often hike there. It's all about 2 blocks from our house.

Click the pics to enlarge

The boardwalk through the marshy area

Through the forest

Spettigue Pond

Lots of frogs

The frog whisperer

This post is my first to the new meme OUR WORLD TUESDAY

This meme is the second generation of My World Tuesday, which was founded by Klaus Peter of Florida three years ago and which published faithfully every Monday until Klaus's passing.he We honor his memory and each other by continuing this meme.

ABC Wednesday Check out the letter H at ABC Wednesday

Hanging On - Macro/Mellow Yellow Monday

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Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.

~Henry David Thoreau

For more great Macro shots from around the world visit Lisa's Chaos HERE
Visions of Yellow from around the world can be seen HERE @ Mellow Yellow Monday