It's a kind of 'meh' day so far at the farmette. Cloudy, not cold and not hot so tepid weather, although we're supposed be getting sunshine and unseasonably warm (17C!) temperatures today. It's an odd time of year in Grey County. A week and a bit ago we had a blizzard. Today it's practically summer. It keeps things interesting.
Rob and I recently went for a hike along the Saugeen River, which flows through the middle of our little village, and it was extremely cool to see everything just on the cusp of breaking into the full-throated growth spurt of spring.
The Saugeen was charging at a pretty good clip with spring runoff. The bridge you see here is right behind the Northern Credit Union and joins 'downtown' to the residential sections of Durham. The history books say that Saugeen is a corruption of the Ojibway word "Zaagiing" meaning outlet or river mouth. Which makes sense, since this waterway empties further north into Lake Huron.
The Saugeen takes so many twists and turns that the first time we drove around the area, I thought we were travelling in circles. But no. There are actually two waterways - the north and south branches merge close to Southampton. Depending on where you are, it can burble along to your right, then zip under the highway and swing back around again a few kilometres further along. Which is why we have so many bridges around here.
Trundling down the footpath that follows the shoreline, we witnessed tonnes of signs of new life and life that had been slumbering for a number of months. Take for example this collection of lichen and moss. I thought the textures and colours were so vibrant, I had to get down-close and personal to get the artsy-fartsy shot. Note the fallen tree trunk in the foreground that anchors a riot of grey-blues, lime-greens and ochres.
In our neck of the woods, the river is kind of mid-sized. It gets much wider as you travel northwest towards where it empties into Lake Huron (as rivers tend to do!)
It looked like a moody and sombre landscape full of dead grass and leafless trees - until I slowed down, wandered a bit off the beaten path, and checked things out at ground level. As I get older, I'm cultivating a real appreciation for savouring the moments.
Anyway, there's where the real action was happening, with green bits popping out all over the place.
Speaking of things popping out...we also took some time at end of our trek to silly it up a bit, and exercise our selfie skills.
Here's Rob's rather fetching result.
So the thought for the day: it's good once in a while to take the time to explore your surroundings.
Consider the whole picture, but make sure you check on the minutiae - there are a lot of delightful surprises in there.
Most important? Keep smiling.