Part III of this week’s Mill Creek Ravine walks. Part I, on Monday, I attended a class and then headed over to Mill Creek under cloudy skies. It was a cool walk, but beautiful. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of juice. It’s not a bad thing to walk without a camera. Instead of looking for that perfect thing to shoot, I can enjoy the intrinsic perfection of everything. But then, the moose. The day I walked in Mill Creek, and I came alongside a moose, and I’d left my camera at home. It’s my security camera. To prove the miracles.

Part II was yesterday. Met a friend for lunch, attended yet another class, in shorts, with the intention of hopping into the woods afterward. Deep in the interior of the building, I was hoping for sun, but when I emerged, it was POURING rain. Took the train home. Things started to lighten up. Thought I’d at least walk home from the train. I could see the dark sky at my rear, but I thought I could outwalk it. 10 minutes later, I was still walking, and the thunder started, and then the intermittent drops exploded into sheets of rain. Good thing I brought my umbrella, it kept the centre of my head dry. Everything else, soaked. OK though. I love the sound of rain as it’s falling on me.

Today, part III, I met another friend, had a great lunch, and was able to watch the skies as we drank our minty refreshments. Not a lot of sun, but no rain clouds. Headed toward Saskatchewan Drive after a few canopied blocks of green, then down the soft-wet stairs into Mill Creek. Simply glorious. I can’t help compare Whitemud and Mill Creek. The trails of Mill Creek are narrower, more enclosed. I feel surrounded, wrapped up in green. The creek is also narrower, almost parallel to the trails, so it’s more audible than the wider and deeper Whitemud. Depending on the chosen trail, the sound of babbling brook is never far away. On this last day of May, the effect is sensual overload. Everything is stimulated at once. So, so wonderful.

I did find it incredibly humid, uncomfortably so, which was weird because I didn’t feel it earlier, or later in the afternoon. By the time I got back to the south side of the city, I was almost cold. Well, as my grade seven science teacher said, ‘evaporation has a cooling effect.’  This is all I remember of Junior High Science, other than potassium permanganate is pretty.

3:45PM/22C

I love spring. The part of spring when the green is intense and the smell of growing things is knee-wobbling. (Makes me wish I had a scratch n’ sniff blog.) Maggie loves it too. I can only wonder at the complex scents sucked up through that long snout of hers; noted, registered, deciphered in a millisecond. It’s all I can do to pull her away from the moist grasses and muddy creek beds of Whitemud Ravine. It must be blowing her mind, the stories they tell. Come to think of it, she has been extra distracted lately. Those canine brain cells must be bursting with all the sensory data flooding in. Over the last few days, I’ve been trying to capture her nose at work. It’s difficult if not impossible. Even if her body is still, her snout is not.

Yesterday was beautiful and shimmery after 24 hours of rain. Our two hour walk through Whitemud Creek was wonderfully smelly, but full of mosquitoes. Today, under a threatening sky, the day-mosquitoes were just as bad, but we spent less time in the grass waiting for me to take a good picture (a futile exercise) and more time on the trails. Let me rephrase that, I spent less time in the grass, Maggie wandered in and out, following her nose, reading her molecular treasure map.

And then I remembered this picture from last year. Thankfully, Maggie was just interested in a sniff of fat caterpillar, not a meal.

Oh to be a dog for one hour. Sniffing the fragrant air and the just come to life foliage. No dog asses, please, and no humping either. The other stuff. The myriad smells of spring. And then I’d have a nap. A snack. And then a nap.

 2:30PM/20C

Walked all three days of the Victoria Day long weekend. Whitemud Creek on Saturday in the blazing heat. Terwilliger off-leash on an overcast Sunday, and today…back in Whitemud Creek but along the trails closer to the ski hill. Also overcast, and humid. Maybe we’ll get a spot of rain. Did a lot of monkey trails today. The sand bars running parallel with the water remind me of Mill Creek. Can’t wait to get back there next week, during my holidays. As for Whitemud, the creek is sporting a rust colour these days. Not mud, something organic, or so the person who knows such things tells me. As per usual, Maggie doesn’t discriminate. She got thoroughly soaked today, and then rolled in something. So, back into the water. So far, all I smell is wet dog. Nothing ‘organic.’

2:58PM/18C

Things are greening and warming up. One week until my holiday, so the apple trees better hurry up and get their blossoms on. Once again, Maggie refused to go for a long walk, so we just fooled around down by Whitemud Creek amongst the bees and tiny blue butterflies. She availed herself of the cool water a few times, while I stood on the ‘shore’, taking bad photographs and watching my skin turn red. Wrong part of the day to take pictures. Too bright and washed out. Nevertheless, an enjoyable, if short amble for us both.

2:30PM/22C

Absolutely stunning day. Humid, which bodes well for a thunderstorm tonight. After such a wet winter and early spring, we could use some rain. Sharon, the dog and I went down to the muskrat swamp and indeed, found a muskrat, and it was alive! Got a blurry picture of his tiny, beavery face, and a detailed, in focus picture of his not so beavery ass. Such is my luck with photography. However, it was a mini-wild kingdom down in the slough, with about 15 geese, assorted ducks, red-winged blackbirds, and a lot of chirping frogs. Beautiful!!! Could have stood there all day watching the wildlife and listening to the soul-soothing pond sounds, but the sun was pretty intense. About a 90 minute walk.

2:46PM/27C

Walked for about 50 minutes on my lunch break today. Awesome. Hitting the trails is so much better than hitting the internet. Started on Saskatchewan Drive and then into the woods near the hill, and finally into Emily Murphy Park. For some reason there was a lot of police cars, and a few people lugging camera equipment in the area. Even down by the entrance to the trail, there was a policeman and several cars. I asked Officer Friendly what was going on, and he said he couldn’t tell me. “But…no baddies?” He smiled. “No baddies,” and so I carried on. Probably some government goober having a hotdog at the Faculty Club.