American White Waterlily (Nymphaea odorata)

Porte Photos’ Daily Quote: October 11, 2022

Posted on October 11, 2022 by Porte Photos

A woman is like a tea bag
– you can’t tell how strong she is
until you put her in hot water.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt
American – First Lady / October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962

Porte Photo’s Daily Quote: September 22, 2022

Posted on September 22, 2022 by Porte Photos

Dreams are the seeds of change.
Nothing ever grows without a seed
and nothing ever changes without a dream.
~ Debby Boone
American Singer / Born: September 22, 1956

Porte Musings:

The first official Day of Fall and the weather is going to accentuate the statement with a high of only 12C and a low tonight of 4C (frost is possible).

As I’ve seen in memes on Facebook, the trees are preparing to show us how beautiful it can be to give up.

Last night’s Strathroy-Caradoc Horticultural Meeting was a wonderful slide show presentation by Valerie. She showed us a wonderful International Topiary exhibit held in Montreal several years ago. Some of the displays were over 10 stories high. She also showed us flowers from her garden.

Fall is a busy time for gardeners as they bring in tender bulbs and plants, prepare the beds for winter, then get busy planting new bulbs for next spring. It’s a wonderful time to plant trees and shrubs as they can establish new roots during the winter and then sprout new branches in the spring.

Then gardeners prepare to cocoon during the winter with seed catalogues or travel to warmer places where they can tend gardens in the winter or look for new gardening ideas.

Porte Photos Daily Quote: September 8, 2022

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Porte Photos

I know my strong points:
I work hard,
I have talent,
I’m funny,
and I’m a good person.
~ Pink
American – Musician Born: September 8, 1979

Porte Musings:

Daily affirmations should include the same ones as Pink.

Yesterday’s adventure was a trip to Point Pelee National Park, Leamington Ontario with my sister and my kayaks. The launch there is beautiful, easy to access and easy to use. You can do a short 1 hour kayak along the boardwalk or branch out into the adjoining “lakes”. But be careful, once you get out into one of the smaller lakes, everything can start to look the same with tall reeds all around you. We had a small panic moment, but found our way out and back to the boardwalk for lunch after an almost 4 hour kayak.

Our adventure started with a guided tour along the boardwalk by a beautiful pair of Mute Swans. In the larger Lake Pond we were shown their 4 babies, now adolescents.

The kayaking was wonderful so we thought we would go on the tram to the point. However, we didn’t bring long pants and the flies were biting, so we cut the trip short.

Porte Musings: Kayaking Season 2022

Posted on June 30, 2022 by Porte Photos

Provincial Parks are open and back to almost normal use. Kayaking season is well underway. The Ontario Government was kind enough to extend my Provincial Park Pass until the end of the summer 2022. I aim to go Kayaking at least once a week to make sure I get the most out of my 2021 Provincial Park Pass. At least this year all the washrooms are available (you don’t have to pee in the woods). I’ve learned to get out of the kayak at the far end of the Old Ausable Channel at the Pinery and use the facilities before heading back downstream.

I also bought a 2nd kayak so I can take friends with me. My husband rigged my trailer to accommodate the 2 kayaks. My first outing with the new setup was with my Sister. We counted 159 painted turtles and 2 snappers. I’m certain there were more turtles, but I kept loosing count and need to buy a manual clicking counter. We also were lucky enough to see 2 muskrats, turkey vultures, Blue Heron, King Fishers and King Birds. The slide show below includes photos from my last 2 trips on the Old Ausable Channel. I loved seeing the Juvenile Bald Eagle. The new to me kayak is a fishing kayak and is a bit more stable for taking photos.

Daily Quote: July 14, 2020

Posted on July 14, 2020July 14, 2020 by Porte Photos

Zeal is very blind, or badly regulated,
when it encroaches upon the rights of others.
~ Pasquier Quesnel (French – Theologian / July 14, 1634 – December 2, 1719)

International Non-Binary People’s Day

International Nude Day

Bastille Day

(France and French dependencies)

Freedom in the USA has become the mantra of Americans that refuse to wear a mask in public to help reduce the chance of spreading COVID-19. Hoax is the other call of the Americans that refuse to believe the COVID-19 numbers as those testing positive are reaching daily records of over 15,000 in Florida alone and the Intensive Care units in hospitals reach capacity. USA is still #1 for confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Ontario numbers are dropping and restrictions are being relaxed we are entering Stage 3 (groups of 100 are permitted outdoors and groups of 50 indoors). Canadians are imploring the government to keep the Canada-USA border closed and to not permit the COVID-19 exposed/infected Americans into Canada. One newspaper actually predicted that the boarder won’t be open for at least a year for tourists.

The numbers below are as reported by Google News