Watercolour - Fungus

"No spring nor summer beauty had such grace
As I have seen in one autumnal face"
John Donne

Lilac Lane Quilts

Lilac Lane Quilts, a shop in Alliston, Ontario, will be hosting my trunk show and Botanical Art Small Wall Quilts Workshop. The trunk show is scheduled for 7:30 pm, Oct. 31st and the workshop is Nov. 1st from 8 am - 4 pm.

Lilac Lane's owner, Liz Schueler, has gone flat out for this event! She is making up kits for the quilts, and will be selling the patterns and all the related items required to make my quilts. Liz has a bright, bubbly personality and is wonderful to work with.

Liz can be reached toll-free at 1-866-435-1041, or emailed at liz@lilaclanequilts.com.

Some of my quilts on display at the shop.

Joe-Pye Weed

Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium maculatum) is fading now.

Blueberry Lake, Temagami: Old Growth Trail 2

Continued from previous posts:

Mushrooms and fungi were in abundance. I can't identify them - I need a friend to teach me mushroomology.

This one was so bizarre...

Moose poop looks like giant rabbit poop.

Pileated Woodpecker holes in a red pine.

This is probably a Pink Ladyslipper orchid. I saw these orchids everywhere around Blueberry Lake. The wildflower display must be beautiful in May.

This tree was blasted by lightning. Can you imagine the incredible force?

And this is what remained of the top after the blast.

I would love to lead ecology trips to this area. But what would I call the tour - Tiptoe through the Twinflowers? Nibble your way through the Northwoods? This is what Northern Ontario looks like when people haven't altered the landscape. This is my genius loci.

Blueberry Lake, Temagami: Old Growth Trail 1

Continued from previous 2 posts:

After a leisurely breakfast of porridge and English Breakfast Tea, we set off across the lake to the Old Growth Trail.

There are several distinct habitats on the trail. We had preprinted the Guide to the Blueberry Lake Ecology Trails from the ancientforest.org site, and started the hike up the hillside.

The first thing I noticed were the many clumps of Indian Pipe (Monotrope uniflora). This unusual plant gets its nourishment from fungal connections between its roots and the nearby trees. It is a ghostly white colour.

Indian Pipe

The trail was also chock full of Clintonia borealis, also known as Blue Bead Lily. The following photo shows the glossy dark blue beads which are the seeds that originate from pretty yellow flowers in the spring.

Blue Bead Lily

I soon spotted mats of Creeping Snowberry (Gaultheria hispidula), and well as delicious Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens). Wintergreen leaves are yummy to chew on as you hike the trail!

Wintergreen

There was an amazing diversity of trees: Red Pine, White Pine, White Spruce, Black Spruce, White Cedar, Aspen, White Birch, Yellow Birch, Red Oak, Sugar Maple and Mountain Maple.

Sugar Maples - how green can green be?

Huge old White Pine

Red Pine canopy

The next post will continue with the Old Growth Trail.

Blueberry Lake, Temagami: Campsite

Continued from previous post...

We perched our tent on the most level spot of the campsite. (In Temagami, "level" is a relative term that means you probably won't actually slide into the lake.) Then we paddled across the lake to a place where there were several standing small dead trees. We needed the trees for firewood. After loading the canoe with wood, we paddled back to the campsite and I started a fire in the firepit.

I'm grilling steaks and a baked potato for dinner. These were accompanied by a nice Chilean Malbec. There's nothing like a glass of wine to go with your sizzling T-bone steak after a day of paddling!

This 120 year old Red Pine ridge was my view from the campfire. These trees grew here after a forest fire that blazed through in the 1880's.

This little garter snake was evicted from it's home in the firepit while the campfire was going. He curled up on the sunny rock until the fire was put out later that evening.

This is a tiny, gnarly white cedar growing from a crack in the bedrock at the end of our campsite. I can't even imagine how old it is.

And here is our Lily, plum tuckered out after a day of hiking and chasing chipmunks.

The next post will feature our hike on the Old Growth Trail.

Blueberry Lake, Temagami, Ontario

Sid and I just returned from a 3 day canoe and hiking trip to beautiful Blueberry Lake, near Temagami, Ontario. Blueberry Lake is an ecological wonder with old growth forests and pristine water, not to mention millions of blueberry bushes!

We printed the information from the Ancient Forest.org website, and headed off in our canoe with Sasha and Lily, our Golden Retrievers. We parked at the Cassels Lake landing and canoed for about 1 1/2 hours to the portage to Blueberry Lake. The portage is an easy 450 metres.

Wolf scat on the portage.

Bread Loaf Rock

This rock is located beside one of the campsites. The rock is splitting off in slices - doesn't it look like a huge loaf of bread?

Lichen patches above the high water mark. I love the patterns. This may become a stitchery some day!

Water Lily in the wetlands area

We had the lake to ourselves, so we chose a campsite and settled in. Tomorrow I'll show some photos from the campsite.