We went a wandering

 I've mentioned before that we live right on the edge of Algonquin Park. In fact the road I live on crosses a highway and turns into one of the dozens of access roads. Why so many if not to a campground? Well, some history is needed there.

Algonquin was established as a FOREST RESERVE. There always has been and always will be, active forest harvesting within it's boundary. Lots of people squawk about that, but I guess they need to look at the mandate.

We went up one of the access roads yesterday for a wee tour. It made us sad to see that a large harvest is about to start. I said we need to go back in the fall and see how much the understory has changed. 

A beaver dam had been busted up by some heavy machinery right by the road. In the midst of the rubble, this we patch of red trillium was growing. 

The beavers were hard at work trying to dam it up again! You wouldn't believe how LOUD the frogs and toads were. My goodness you could hear them from quite a distance. 

We saw a LOT of red trilliums but the whites still had immature buds

Trout lily blanketed the ground that was carpeted with beech leaves

Big Cranberry Lake. It's very shallow, so more like a pond.

The girl went for her first swim of the season

We had hoped to walk up the hill to Beechnut Lake while it was still accessible, but it looked like people were camping there, and we did have the dog, so we didn't bother. 

The blackflies were starting to get pretty thick, but we had a jar of Vicks VapoRub at hand. It seems to work pretty well. 

This afternoon we went grocery shopping. Everything is up in price again. Milk was 30c more than last week!

We noticed that the trees have REALLY greened up in just a couple of days. 

Whats on the TV?

Going to be a common thread for awhile on my blog.

I love PBS and TVO (Canadian public television)

A new series started last night called "Maryland" staring Suranne Jones and Stockard Channing. I just forget the name of the other sister. Two sisters learn that their mother has died on the Isle of Man - when they thought she was staying in the family caravan (trailer) in Wales. They turn up to claim her body and discover she has a whole other life on the island! Their mother had inherited a lovely house and had in fact, set up housekeeping. She had a whole different set of friends (Stockard Channing as Kathy being one) who knew all about the girls. The father, in the meantime, seems to be in denial. He won't speak to anyone and shuts the door in Suranne Jones husbands face when he arrives with beer and provisions. 

The plot thickens.

Sunday nights, PBS