Urban jungle

June 18, 2016 by Created by RCW

Despite being the urban capital and largest city of Canada, Toronto is much more than a collection of steel, concrete and glass. Sure, we host the CN Tower, Rogers Centre and a vibrant business core, but we also have a wide array of green spaces, where within minutes of almost anywhere, citizens and visitors can leave the social world behind and relax with Nature.

This past week, I spent a full day exploring such sections of Toronto, wandering along Taylor Creek Park and down the Don Valley Trail. Here’s some of what I saw.

With the walk home, my entire circuit for the day was 18 km (roughly 11 miles). Enough to leave my camera full, my body exhausted and my soul refreshed. All proof that you don’t have to journey to the hinterlands to experience Nature; it’s all right here if you but look for it.

Rip Van Winkle lives here

April 27, 2016 by Created by RCW

While visiting Louisiana last week, my friend Mike and I visited the Rip Van Winkle Gardens, an estate turned tourism site founded by Joseph Jefferson in 1870, in large part funded by his success in turning the story of Rip Van Winkle into a world-traveling stage play. And that’s where all references to Rip Van Winkle end.

The estate is beautiful, although the weather and time of year conspired to make the gardens a tad underwhelming. That being said, I did manage to grab a few photos.

The trip offered a bonus, however, for my friend Mike, who is into what I call “disaster porn”.

The estate abuts Lake Peigneur, the site of an incredible engineering disaster when an oil rig on the lake drilled accidentally into a salt mine. You have to watch the video below to truly appreciate the scale of the disaster.

: Everywhere, you heard the cries of excited peacocks

: A beautiful yellow crown adorns the prickly flesh

: There were just enough blooms to keep the bees busy

: A few frogs hid below the lily pads

: The gardens had an Asian flare with gods and bamboo

: Distinctly Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors

: When you least expected it, geckos would leap from trees and walls

: Another god laughs at the tourists

: An oddly small mansion adorns the grounds

Louisiana swamp – part two

April 26, 2016 by Created by RCW

Some more photos from my travels through the swamp outside Breaux Bridge, Louisiana with Cajun Country Swamp Tours.

: 10 feet of teeth, claws and scales

: A great blue heron lurks beneath the tree branches

: Another tour boat heads away from shore

: Spanish moss coated every tree along the shore

: An alligator rests atop a fallen log

: Three yellow-bellied sliders sun themselves on a log

: Little blue heron seems a little ruffled

: Almost lost in the tangle of branches, a great blue heron stands regally

: A lazy alligator dozes on its favourite tree

: Black-crested night heron perches in the shade

: A lone turtle – aka gator popcorn – watches the tourists

: Our motor conking out mid-lake, we were lucky to get towed to shore

: A snowy egret soars above the lake

Louisiana swamp – part one

April 25, 2016 by Created by RCW

This past week, I had the luxury of visiting New Orleans on behalf of a magazine for which I write (DDNews). And not one to let an opportunity pass, a friend and I decided to take a swamp tour in Breaux Bridge, a small town outside Lafayette.

My thanks to Cajun Country Swamp Tours for what easily has to be the most enthralling two hours of my life.

: Only 5 of 30 original siblings had survived the Spring

: Our boat overstayed its welcome as mama slowly rose from the water

: Not even close to the biggest dragonflies I saw around the swamp

: The little blue heron watched us take off from the jetty

: The eagle was so high above me, I was surprised to get this much detail

: The red was so much deeper than that on the cardinals back home

: It was so still, I wondered if the guides posted it there

: The great blue heron is complete focus as it watches for its prey

: The cormorant dries its wings under a canopy of Spanish moss

: The great blue heron launches from the shoreline

: The snowy egret does a dance across an island of weeds

: The sun was too bright to capture the green plummage

: Any square inch of water surface could hide a predator

: The great blue heron practically skims the water in flight

Early birds of Spring

March 21, 2016 by Created by RCW

Just over a week ago, I took a few days to wander through different parks and nature trails crisscrossing Toronto…and even with a warm spell melting the snow, I was surprised at how many local birds had already started to make their presence known locally.

: Dazzled by its own beauty, the swan feeds slowly

: One of a cluster of robins feasting on last autumn’s remains

: Emerald shimmers greet the day

: A sparrow finds refuge among the tangled branches

: A national symbol not too proud to beg

: A gull awaits the first sign of food or threat

: Securely out of reach, a female mallard rests

: A wary robin watches from the underbrush

: Deep-diving ducks do their best to elude the photographer

: A sparrow tries to fluff dry after a bath

: Balletic moves by a swan on a lake

: A chubby sparrow waits its turn at the creek

: Mallard drake dries its wings after a bath

: Grabbing a quick snack among the shrubs

Visiting the Rouge Valley

October 12, 2015 by Created by RCW

Last week, I spent the day on the eastern edge of Toronto in a large conservation area called the Rouge Valley, which basically extends from the north end of Toronto (near the Metro Zoo) down to the shores of Lake Ontario.

And yet, for the 6 or 7 hours I wandered, I can only really say I explored maybe 10 percent of the region. Perhaps, I’ll get back before the snow flies…I know I’ll be back in the Spring.

Memories of Iceland

September 4, 2015 by Created by RCW

Can’t believe that it is has been four years since I first set foot in that bizarre otherworldly island paradise.

To stand where the Earth is wrenching itself apart, to walk along cracks in million year old lava flows, to feel just a smidge of the planet’s inner thermal turmoil is to be humbled.

Seeing this photos again reminded me how badly I need to go back to Reykjavik and those wonderful lava fields, the juxtaposition of life and death.

: As though the town was pulled from a toy railroad set

: Seems like everyone in Iceland is connected to the sea

: Downtown Reykjavik centres on a public pond

: The city is dotted with beautiful gardens

: An artificial geyser set up in town

: The island country is slowly torn in two

: The icy waters slowly erode the mossy stone

: An old volcano slowly fills with water

: AS the planet comes apart, its cracks are filled by nearby lakes

: Life clings to every surface in Iceland

: The sweat of distant glaciers slowly finds the sea

: Tour buses flock to the gap between tectonic plates

: Scuba divers flippered their way through these channels

: Geothermal energy is the name of the game here

: A chance to walk right through a rainbow

: Wasn’t too keen on looking for the pot of gold

: The 4-terraced waterfall was so beautiful and powerful

: The salts are so thick, the water takes an unearthly hue

: Tourists and locals bask in the Earth’s embrace

Colourful interludes

August 27, 2015 by Created by RCW

After completing my day at The Ex (see Back to visit the Ex), I still had to get home and because the weather was so cool, if grey, I decided to wander along Toronto’s waterfront.

Back to visit the Ex

August 26, 2015 by Created by RCW

My annual pilgrimage to the Canadian National Exhibition, an end-of-summer ritual in Toronto. Sadly, The Ex is our national fair that seems to get smaller and smaller each year.

The grand old lady has definitely seen better days, but she still entertains the crowds.