Autumn in Ontario

Part of my adventure this year has been spending a lot of time -- six weeks worth, in all -- north of Peterborough, Ontario, at my sister-in-law's summer house. Between being given free rein in the kitchen, consuming as much local microbrewed beer as possible, touring around, and just hanging out, I've also spent a lot of time in the nearest town, which is home to Lock 26 on the Trent-Severn Waterway.



I took these pictures on Canadian Thanksgiving, October 8, the last day the waterways locks are open, and prime time for the leaves changing colour. On the downriver side, Wendy, the lock-keeper, set up this lovely planter to brighten up the tie-up area.



It's been fun paddling to the south of this lock, on the Otonabee River, watching the wildlife: in three trips, I've seen an adult loon with chick, and an adult great blue heron -- the latter has shown up every time, in fact. And the reason I don't have pictures of these is because I haven't taken the camera along: my paddling technique found its groove pretty quick, after being unused for far too long, but my ingress and egress need, um, some work.



The sky alternated between dark thundery clouds and flawless blue, depending on where you were and which direction you were looking at.



Just north of the lock, there's a small local beach, a campsite, and a marshland to visit: I only made it to the beach before the weather again started to look rather nasty.



But the wind gave the gulls a chance to flap away in the wind, and I was lucky enough to catch this one. Then it was time to go pick up our other guests for Thanksgiving dinner, and pack up for my adventure in Toronto: seven weeks of peace and quiet out in the Ontario countryside was about to be replaced by three weeks of busy city adventures.