Many traditional folk songs begin with a line like "One morning I rambled ..." and rambling is a good word to describe my walks by the Credit River. Rambles are walks without deadlines or planned purpose so perhaps in the truest sense of the word my rambles are not as pure as rambles through the Irish or Scottish countryside. While rambling, I'm continually scanning for interesting photo material.
Lost in the Fog?
(click on image for a larger, sharper view)On one recent ramble by the Credit River on a slightly foggy morning, I spotted a group of Canada geese. They had newly hatched goslings with them. I walked down the river path a short distance and when I looked back, the whole family was walking up the path as though lost.
Spittlebug Nymph
(click on image for a larger, sharper view)The river path is narrow and overgrown with plants on both sides which makes it an interesting area for closeups of plants, insects and snails. I found a prime example of a spittlebug nymph which had produced this spittle on the plant. The nymph grows inside until it emerges as a full spittlebug, also known as a froghopper. My OE friends from the UK tell me this is called "cuckoo spittle" in their area.
Snail
(click on image for a larger, sharper view)There's a dense snail population in the plants by the river, mainly these striped varieties. Some, such as this one, grow to a relatively large size while others are very small.
Beetle Larva
(click on image for a larger, sharper view)This little creature stumped me. Our chief insect identifier on OE, Gord, thinks it's a form of beetle larva.
Rugosa Rose with Bumblebee
(click on image for a larger, sharper view)Further down the river path the way opens into a city park area where the local Port Credit branch of the Mississauga Library System is located, so we call it the "library park". Undoubtedly it has a more official name. In the past few years the city has planted along the river's edge, which used to be very stark and bare. The bank is now covered with rugosa roses which bloom beautifully in the spring then provide me with rosehip shots for the rest of the season.
Gene, Marion, Sue, Mickey
(click on image for a larger, sharper view)On the day I took the rose photo, we had guests from the United States, Mickey and Sue Trageser from just outside Baltimore, Maryland. Mickey is another regular on OE (Outdoor Eyes) and a fellow Olympus OM user. Both of us have purchased the Kindai OM-EOS converter that allows us to use our Zuiko lenses on our Canon Digital Rebel bodies. We placed our cameras on tripods and used the self timers to take group shots of the four of us when we reached Saddington Park.
Summertime in the Harbour
(click on image for a larger, sharper view)As summer progresses, I see many rowers while I'm on my rambles. There is a rowing club on the river just opposite to my "entomology" path and the racing kayaks ply the river, harbour, and on calm days, the near lake waters. The harbour itself sometimes gets quite busy with all these vessels, including the motorized craft that dock in the harbour.
Cyclists
(click on image for a larger, sharper view)On most of my rambles I wander to the point of the harbour on the E side to get a good view of the lake before backtracking and rambling to the W side to explore Saddington Park. The paths are nicely set up for walking and riding. These cyclists have started me thinking about getting a bicycle and adding cycling rambles to my walking rambles. I could easily reach more of the parks along Lake Ontario on a bike.
Above all, my rambles get me outdoors into the sun and air and, sometimes, the camera is an afterthought. It's the ramble itself that's the important thing. The camera is an excuse for getting there.
Of course, the resulting photos give me a chance to ramble on my keyboard afterwards as I type in these musings. Does this make it a "double ramble"?
Let me conclude with the opening lines of one of the first folk songs I learned:
I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler
My money's my own
And them that don't like me
Can leave me aloneP.S. Thanks Mickey and Sue for a wonderful visit. You're fun guests! And thanks Mickey for reminding me about the Palm portable keyboard. After your visit I purchased one on eBay and am happily typing this ramble into a Palm IIIxe while sitting at my kitchen table sipping coffee.
(18-June-2004)
www.NorthernJourney.com -- gene@wilburn.ca