Reflections

There is a small pond down by the hangar, en route to the Mountain Lookout Trail. It is a quiet, meditative spot (when not occupied by beavers, who do their best to flood the laneway). The edges of the pond are filled in with wild asters, pearly everlasting, bullrushes, sedges and other wetland flowers.

The bucks come there to rub off the velvet on their antlers. Woodpeckers drop by to drill into the old stump at the water's edge. Ducks paddle about. Small fish jump, leaving the tiniest of ripples.

Being quiet and protected, the surface acts like a mirror, untroubled by the wind on the lake, giving back the reflection of the trees and the sky until it is a 360 degree circle of colour.

And just now, there is a solitary waterlily in bloom. It's very Zen...

and the best part... the deer won't eat it... and it won't get touched by the frost!

Lookin' Good!

It begins in the spring, with the young bucks coming onto the lawn with their antlers just beginning to show. Gradually, they get bigger, covered with thick velvet, like this young gentleman grazing near one of the cottages.

About this time of year, however, the bucks are getting ready for the mating season, and the first rule of that game is to have the antlers polished up and looking good.
As the velvet dries and begins to fall away, the bucks rub the antlers against small trees and shrubs -- down by the pond we have lots of examples of these antler polishing trees. Finally, the last shreds of velvet are gone, and the antlers are ready to be revealed...

This is our same young buck, up by the basketball court, filling his tummy with crabapples, and showing off his antlers for the girls. And for us.

We think him very handsome. Even if he is eating our apples...