You can’t be unhappy in the middle of a big, beautiful river.
Jim Harrison
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A day on the river
You know it is finally really spring when….
Around here, one sure sign of spring is the appearance of that rare mushroom, the Amanita chip-bowlius.
Fishin’ in a windstorm
Just recently I switched up whirligigs in the front yard, removing the lumberjack for repair and installing the newly renovated fisherman. That was good and fine until the windstorm. When the big gusts started, he was compelled to catch fish with ridiculous gusto, until finally a screw popped attaching the mechanism to his back, but that was only after his wire fishing line became fatigued and broke.
These whirligigs are low-tech wonders. They can function remarkably well, but they each have their own delicate balance. Ideally, I would remove the fisherman from his post prior to big storms but I never seem to think about it until I notice it has succumbed to the ravages of what ever storm was passing through.
He’s up and working again now. It didn’t take me long to get him happily fishing. The day was perfect for it too. The fisherman would stay still until a little gust got him catching a big one.
Community Housing
Nature Walk – Marie Curtis Park
Today’s nature walk with Miles Hearn was close to home – Marie Curtis Park. Living in Long Branch, we’re very fortunate to have two fantastic parks – Col. Sam Smith Park on the west and Marie Curtis Park on the East. It was a beautiful day to be out, with temperatures in the mid-20s and a bright sunny sky.
Double-crested cormorant
Our leader identified 30 species of birds today. Here’s his list:
I think without help I might have been able to find and identify about 18 of these, so I have a lot of learning yet to do.
For the first time on these walks, we saw snakes – two little brown snakes (yes that’s what they are called). 
I learned two butterflies, but failed to get photos of either. They are the cabbage butterfly and the mourning cloak butterfly. Next time maybe I’ll be faster with my handy-dandy point & shoot camera.
There were two beavers swimming about in Etobicoke Creek. Here’s a shot of one of them.
Miles identified so many plants today. I was able to recognize some from previous walks, and I felt pretty good about that – I’m managing to retain at least some of the identifications. I think it’s going to take some repetition as well as seeing some of these plants in the various seasons before I really get the hang of what’s what.
Here’s one I know now, or at least I know it when it is in bloom, and that’s Coltsfoot.
There is a lot of Japanese knotweed around Marie Curtis Park. It’s an Asian plant and an invasive species here in Canada. Here are some new shoots.
Trout lily is one plant I didn’t need any help identifying.
Field horsetail is an interesting plant. The tan stalks are the males and the green ones are the females.
There was plenty of garlic mustard around and in some areas we could see last year’s growth beside new growth. It’s an invasive plant brought over from Europe for use as an herb. Each year I pull loads of it from the woodland part of our back yard. It’s very difficult to get rid of once you’ve got some established.
The next shot shows a plant called Virginia Waterleaf. Although not in bloom now, it’s an Ontario wildflower and I hope we’ll see it in bloom on future nature walks.
I’ve seen these wooden structures many times in the area known as the Arsenal Lands, attached to Marie Curtis Park. During WWII, there was a munitions factory making machine guns and out back they had a shooting range for testing. The wooden structures were apparently sound baffles, to take the edge of the machine gun fire.
The first Heritage Tree in Long Branch
Long Branch is a community known for its fantastic tree canopy. Those who live here know that canopy has been under attack from intensification, in particular lot-splitting. Today, our first Heritage Tree was dedicated. It’s so great to see the community celebrate the importance of our old trees around here!
The Heritage Tree, known as “Big Red”, is located at Long Branch Ave and Park Blvd, right near the Cenotaph. It’s a Red Oak and it’s approximately 200 years old.
At one time this was a popular resort area located west of what was then considered Toronto. It was once overlooked by the Long Branch Hotel, which burned down in 1958. The tree survived. It’s one of the few remaining old red oaks in our community.
Plenty of local students, along with Councillor Grimes, folks from the Neighbourhood Association, a rep from our MP’s office, and people from TD Bank, who sponsor the Heritage Tree program, and a bunch of local residents were all on hand for the dedication today.
Local kids help Councillor Grimes unveil the Heritage Tree plaque.
Live, dream, laugh
Spring is in the air
Hopefully the ice storms are behind us and the spring we’re feeling today is real. We spent much of the day cleaning up the gardens, and even though we only made progress on the front, it really was progress and the gardens up front are beginning to look alive.
One quick way to celebrate some nicer weather is to add pansies. 
They provide an immediate shot of colour and they’re pretty much indestructible. I topped up the potting soil in the barrel beside the book box and we got that mini garden near the street going.
It’s nice to have a place to sit in the font garden so I set up a couple benches, and when that was done, I planted an old pillar. For now we have some flowers on top, but I think eventually we’ll put a nice birdhouse up there.
Our neighbour to the south lost a spruce tree on his property a few weeks back. I feel bad that he had to cut down the unstable tree, but on the positive side, the whole area on the south side of our property is now decidedly sunny. In fact it’s the sunniest area we’ve got. We’re going to take advantage of that with more containers, more tomatoes, some hot peppers and a few other things. We even planted some lettuce and onions in the cement train garden.
Fishin’
Our lumberjack whirligig suffered the ravages of winter and is down for repair. Fortunately, we have a back-up. I gave the fisherman a tune-up today to get him working well and installed him up front on the pole.
Line & Pole
Manitoba Hal.
27th Street 