Happy Naw-Ruz!
Squirrelling Away
The other morning, I thought the mail lady had come. I heard the mailbox.
I looked. A squirrel dashed away into the small trees near the porch. She left a piece of toast in the mailbox.
Previously, I found peanuts-in-the-shell there.
What a hiding place!
Squirrel you are genius!
Buffleheads
Buffleheads bouncing up and down in the ice-cold
lake.
I never saw you before.
What a treat!
Winter Haiku
Sugar on the trees.
I search for spring in the wind.
It is not here yet.
Spirit of the Season
Ice on Beaver Dams Pond
A thin layer of ice covered Beaver Dams pond.
It looked like a giant creme brulee.
The Fox
Oh friendly fleeing fox; who made a mad dash in front of our school bus to a little patch of remaining woods.
How excited the children were to see a wild animal up close.
Where will you go, when even those woods, are obliterated and a new housing complex, or strip mall springs up?
Frosty November Morning
Oh frosty November morning! Where will we get the warmth that will carry us through till spring?
The Wood Duck
Oh wood duck! How beautiful you are!
I thought you were an exotic visitor from a faraway land when I saw you in the pond with all the other ducks.
How plain the mallards were compared to your beauty!
I hope we will meet again.
The Bodark Tree, (or My Discovery of Monkey Brain Fruit in Welland, Ontario)
Wow! Just when I thought I knew, (more or less), about all the flora and fauna that surrounds me in my general vicinity, I made an astonishing discovery.
On our way for a nice walk on the boardwalk on Beverdams Pond; my husband insisted that we turn back because he saw quinces on the ground.
I told him that we don’t usually grow quince in Canada, as far as I know; maybe in the warm parts of British Columbia.
So, ( we never made our walk that day); we found the monkey brain fruit all over the ground. (It is otherwise known as Osage orange, or hedge apple.)
They looked like quinces, or large yellow apples, but had this weird brain cell-like covering.
So I found out, that they are commonly found in the southern United States, and you can’t eat the fruit.
The wood was prized by the Indigenous people and early settlers for bows and tools. It was also used as a natural fence, until barbed wire was invented.
Anyway; completely fascinating. The seeds must have been brought up to Canada by early American settlers because the trees, bordering the road, were very large.
P.S. Just to make it a little more weird; there is a theory that the only animals that really loved its fruit are now extinct; making it a very interesting anachronism, and history lesson prompt.
P.P.S. The fruit, apparently, also contains latex; so that was important for waterproofing.