Colourful walk yesterday with Tom, along our usual route. This is our most common walk, starting in Glenora and ending on 142 Street close to Laurier Heights, with a long stretch along beautiful Ravine Drive. It clocks in just under two hours, and around 13,000 steps. It can be repetitive, but it’s always beautiful. We mix it up by walking down into MacKinnon Ravine sometimes, but generally, it’s just a good, dependable walk.
Along Ravine Drive
Today we saw pelicans flying in V formation in the sky, but I wasn’t quick enough to snap a photo, so I relied on the usual spring suspects: dandelions and lilacs.
Beautiful solo walk in Whitemud Ravine this morning, starting at the Power Line (which is missing a huge swath of trees on the south side), and then into the ravine, up and around, back into the ravine, and then out at the other side of Westbrook.
Whitemud Ravine Creek from the first viewpoint
It’s been a long time since I’ve taken this route, which always reminds me of Maggie. The birdsong was magnificent, but the creek could use some rain.
Whitemud Creek from the ‘second’ bridgeOne of the many frog bogs, which could use some water. No frogs obvs.Life!Ubiquitous chipmunk on the viewing deck, above the boardwalk Bring on the rain!
Guess who’s baaaaaack! On a long and gorgeous walk on Sunday, I found a few dandelions poking their friendly little yellow faces out of some brown grass and a few cracks in the cement sidewalks. It’s no secret that I love dandelions, and it was very cheering to see this lovely and—for bees, very important first flower of spring.
In 2015, I wrote about dandelions in one of my favourite children’s picture books of all time, Sidewalk Flowers by JonArno Lawson, with illustrations by Sydney Smith. Read the review here.
On my two-hour walk a butterfly passed amiably by, as did some sort of buzzing insect. A bee? Hope so. My 12,000+ step walk took me into the river valley, Rossdale, over the beautiful Walt Jr Bridge, and then back again. I may have picked up a bit of a wind or sun burn. By the end of it, I felt like me. I felt like this is exactly what I should be doing on a sunny Sunday. Having said that, it was tiring, and so I took a short nap under a sun beam on my couch after I got home. All in all, a fantastic afternoon.
Bridge in Rossdale
View of the river just past the bridge in Rossdale
I can’t stress enough how wonderful this walk was, simply because this time last April, there was still a lot of snow and being new to the neighbourhood, I had yet to discover some the of paths I took today. This year, the river is far more open, and yesterday, the trails were packed with people biking, walking, and even skateboarding. We deserve this after the winter we had, especially February.
Went for a walk in Whitemud Ravine with Stella and Sharon on Sunday. There is still snow in spots, but the path down the power line is clear, and the creek is running very high and very fast. Stella found a series of giant sticks and amused herself (and us) trying to haul them away.
It was overcast, but warm. Saturday was beautiful with a bright blue sky (like today, Monday) but I was mostly running errands so I didn’t go for a walk.
A gushing Whitemud Creek
I’ve been walking most work days home, and that will pick up now that the hockey season is almost over (thank god). One more home game, and then we are freeeee! I wish the Oilers were in the playoffs, but the regular season is such a time commitment already, so I’m not sad about gaining some more time in my life. More time, that is, to frolic in the woods after work and on the weekends.
This week, we hit peak spring, colour-wise. But it’s also been VERY hot, and it will continue to be hot for the next week (the first week of my holidays), including several days at 30C or higher. It’s like we had no spring at all. Just winter, and then summer.
Yesterday (Saturday), Tom and I went for a long walk in the Glenora area at 4:00 pm. Not our usual walking time, but we wanted to beat the mosquitoes, which we totally did. It was a stunningly beautiful walk. Not too warm, with a strong breeze and an absolutely cloudless sky. Gorgeous.
