Gary and I have been back at plogging which means collecting garbage while on our walks throughout Churchville this spring.  People (Can I call them pigs?) must be very lazy and self-centred if they can’t walk a few steps to throw their refuse in the garbage cans in the parks instead of on the ground.  Oh well, I guess we are not going to change them.  And it is...

Spring is here and so are the cherry blossoms.  The Japanese have celebrated cheery blossoms for hundreds of years as a symbol of new life.  Viewing these pretty flowers is a special event in spring for them.  In 1959, the Japanese ambassador to Canada presented 2000 trees to Toronto as a gift of friendship from Tokyo.  Many of these can be seen,...

A path at the back of our property between our neighbour’s lot and ours is well worn by feral cats, squirrels, a periodic raccoon and then one day we watched a very slow, wobbly Virginia opossum saunter on by on it.  What a surprise and very unusual for an animal that is generally awake throughout the night scrounging for food!  I think this creature...

A new visitor surprised us in our backyard recently.  She was hanging upside down and pecking away at the suet feeder attached to one of our tree branches.  At first Gary and I thought it was a black squirrel that likes to do that too, but this winged creature was sporting a red crest or hoodie – so not a squirrel.  We were gob-smacked to realize it was a giant...

What will he think of next?  A bunch of feral cats live out of our neighbours’ barn because they feed them to keep the mice population down.  One young white and black cat awakens each day looking for trouble. We watched him one morning scampering up a very tall tree after a black squirrel. The next day we saw him easily climb up a tree to sniff out the suet...

We all love seeing decorated Christmas trees, no matter how big or small, inside or outside our homes, inside churches or outside in public squares.  This annual tradition can be traced back to the 700s when Monk St. Boniface in Germany wanted to find a symbol for the Christ Child.  He also hoped to try and stop the people from worshipping the oak tree...

Early Christmas Greetings Everyone! Gary came huffing and puffing through the front door early one morning from his regular walk around our village. He reported that he had seen about four water animals swimming and diving near the bridge that spans our Credit river.  He couldn’t determine whether they were otters or muskrats – a common misunderstanding.  So, I...