Winter At Last - Etobicoke, Toronto, ON

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It took its dear sweet time, but winter is finally back in my little corner of Etobicoke.

Fairview Farm, Belgrave, ON

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Snow and welding.

Williams Orchards, Fonthill, ON

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Road trip out to the apple stand.

Niagara Parkway, Niagara Falls-Queenston-NOTL, ON

(A lovely fall Sunday afternoon made even better by a long drive along the Niagara Parkway + added side adventures with my family.)

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Heritage!

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Trails!

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Food!

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Water!

This ends what is essentially the briefest possible synopsis of Leaf Beaten.

Brock Beach, Wasaga, ON

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So, I missed going summer cottaging by less than a day. No complaints! The forecast called for thunderstorms, & we got clear blue skies.

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Watching: Canadian Landscape

Via So Sweaty

Hike: Wainfleet Wetlands, Wainfleet, ON

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Bismarck and I spent a couple of hours this afternoon exploring the Wainfleet Wetlands Conservation Area. I've gone swimming in the quarry here more than a few times this summer and wanted to see how long it would take to hike around it. (Answer: Only about 30mins, taking my sweet time.)

On my long meandering way back to the trailhead I passed an older gentleman, dressed head to toe in soft blue denim. "Beautiful day!"  I said, as I always do when it's true.

"Yes." He said with a wise smile. "I didn't think we'd get another one of these."

And then the dog and I went swimming to cool off. And it was pretty perfect.

Change, Every Time.

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Why is there no word for the chemical reaction, that small joy triggered each & every time the seasons change?

Dog Walk: Cherry Beach, Toronto Port Lands, ON

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Sunday afternoons are dangerous without at least one ill-thought-out plan.

So I decided I would investigate a few fellow dog owner reports of a dog park at Cherry Beach. I'm fairly attached to the west end of Toronto: I don't travel east of Yonge very often out of convenience, however, I am sucker for the promise of waterfront, sailboats & clean leash-free beaches, no matter how treacherous the journey.

(It was a fine journey with a lovely end result. The dog beach at Cherry Beach was full of friendly folks and friendly dogs and it was exceedingly spacious. I recommend it if you live nearby, or are looking for new digs for your dog to roam in Toronto.)

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Based entirely on a google map of the Port Lands I also attempted to take Bismarck to Tommy Thompson Park located at the end of the Leslie Street Split, but discovered at the gates that we were unwelcome. Note for incoming googlers: there are no dogs allowed at Tommy Thomson Park, for a list of very good reasons that mostly involve scaring waterfowl.

 

 

Swimming: Quarry Road, Wainfleet, ON

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Finding a place to go swimming is a goal of any given summer weekend.

So far so good.

Camping: Awenda Provincial Park, ON

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I went solo-camping at Awenda Provincial Park this weekend.  It was supposed to rain, back-to-back thundershowers were predicted, but I went anyway. Aside from one loud late-night storm the overcast skies were mostly perfect. (Meteorologists occasionally invent poor weather forecasts to reward chronic optimists.)

Awenda has a beautiful leash-free dog beach! (And Georgian Bay was crisp & clean & cold for swimming.)

 

 

Day Trip: Toronto Islands, Toronto, ON

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It took me three attempts to finally get on a ferry & to the Toronto Islands. And then a 5k walk from one end to another, many many detours, Lake Ontario swimming, beaches, glorious green, ice cream, amusements, animals, bicycles, boats, boats & more boats.
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And the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse. This is important. The oldest existing lighthouse on the Great Lakes (1808!) & the second oldest in all of Canada.

Still shocked that I made it home at all.

Camping!: Six Mile Lake Provincial Park, ON

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Just got back from a long weekend camping. We were lucky, it was the 100th anniversary of Parks Canada & perfectly gorgeous the whole time. (We had a semi-strict no iPhone/electronics rule, so most of our pictures are on a disposable camera, still to be developed!)

Morningstar Mill, St. Catherines, ON

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Of all of the awesome things I did over the Canada Day long weekend, visiting the Morningstar Mill was definetly one of them.

Slowly filling in all of the many many gaps in my Ontario brain map.

Dog Walk: Fog in Bloom

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When I came back from my trip, everything was in bloom. The raw bright greens & multi-coloured blossoms are so vibrant through the grey fog. So that I don't mind at all.

Foggy Spring Rambling

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It has been a damp foggy spring so far. There are thousands of snails hiding out in a field not too far from my apartment, I find them stunning, but I also (unfortunately) find them crushed in the treads of my boots.

Hike: Brick Beach, Longbranch, Etobicoke, ON

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Took a walk along the coast of Lake Ontario (A common occurrence, with frequently suprising results.), and found a beach made almost entirely of red and yellow buff brick, the last remains of demo'd historic homes, dumped, washed, worn and spit out again.

Ice Hike: 4kms out on Lake Erie, ON

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Lake Erie has been frozen for quite a while. My Dad and Uncle have been ice fishing up a storm, apparently it has been a good year. (Over 150 perch so far. What they catch is mostly cleaned, frozen and stored for our yearly family fish fry on Good Friday.)

If there is a place for a long, quiet, undisturbed walk it is out on the ice. Overcast, the temperature hovered around 0*C. Bismarck got to eat whatever minnows he found frozen in the ice. 

Hike: Ball's Falls Conservation Area - Lincoln, ON

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Natural Heritage:

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Built Heritage:

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Cultural Heritage:

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Chocolate:

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The four pillars. Enroute to my hometown, I decided to take a pit stop at one of my favourite places to hike as a kid.

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I also ran into this group of kayakers, the sort who when they see this:

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Think "Let's run the falls."

More on Ball's Falls at Ontario Trails

And at the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority