Yesterday afternoon, I went and did whatever the heck I liked. Who’da ever thunk of that?
I took my new camera, and went down to Cootes Paradise. When Captain Coote first saw this wetland, sometime in the 16th Century, he said it was Paradise. It’s not quite as paradisic as once it was, but there’s a concerted effort to restore what can be restored – safeguard the land from further urban encroachment, guard the native Carolinian forest, remove the carp some fools released in there years ago, and restock with the type of fish that belong there. And they dredged out a lot of toxic-waste-filled muck from the old harbour, and are assisting the wetland to reclaim some of the harbour as well. There’s still shipping, but there’s also parkland, cafés, and a groomed trail.
The first two pictures are at the western entrance to the trail, Princess Point. My feet were in the same place, just shifted from an east view, with the pavement, to a north view, with the geese. You can just see some fence along the top of the hill on the east view – behind that is one of the busiest highways in southern Ontario. There’s a picture of Cootes Paradise next – across the water is preserved forest, and the far side of that forest was right behind my backyard when I was growing up. It was our playground.
Then a water picture, with a bridge on the horizon. That is the Skyway Bridge, beyond it is the western tip of Lake Ontario. A lot of Great Lakes shipping goes through here, and right behind me as I took the picture, a major rail line. The last picture is of a four-man rowing team, practicing. Behind them, you can see some of the cafes and the museum at the eastern end of the trail. There’s park there, and the shipping harbour on the far side of that. I didn’t take pictures of that for you; you can all imagine it.
What I wanted yesterday was the water. Water’s good for me; so is rock, big rock, but there’s not the right kind close by. I did preach on the 23rd Psalm on Sunday – in the Jewish Publication Society’s Hebrew-English Tanakh, it’s translated, “He leads me to water in places of repose; he restores my life.” I walked almost 10km yesterday on that excursion; took 46 photographs. Bird – you might get birds pretty soon – there are LOTS of Canada geese, and I got a nice one of a female American goldfinch. I sat on a bench and looked out at Captain Cootes’ idea of paradise for a while yesterday, where I took the two water pictures – and got my soul a little restored.
3 comments:
Oh my! One of my favorite lines from scripture beckoned to me from the title and the photos, the post! Oh such joy.
I have a special place in my heart for Lake Ontario, having lived upon its rocky shores from 1975-79(Oswego NY) and then again from 1981-1986(Rochester NY).
Thank you Kate!
It looks beautiful. I bet it looks fantastic in late summer.
That's my sort of place.
Fran, when I was little, we used to go to Long Point, on the north shore of Lake Erie, for holidays and weekends. My grandparents had a trailer, and my parents had tents. I still love it there -- white sand beaches, and you can walk out into the lake forever before you get hip-deep.
It's going to be someplace I go a lot, D-P -- I'll post pictures from time to time. And you're right -- it's beautiful in late summer and fall -- there's a lot of sumac, with dark-red foliage and fruit.
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