Joy in small things

  Our cousin Robin Tapley has pretty much The Dream Job. He is currently working deep inside Algonquin Park, at the Wildlife Research Centre, a place where the average trekker and camper don't get to go. He has along with him guests who have signed on for Photo classes, and he has his trusty camera...

And he gets photos like this.

If you are patient near a beaver pond at this time of year (which is a challenge -- be sure to wear a bug jacket!!!) you can get to see these busy creatures going about their Beaverly Business.

Pure joy is sampling fresh sapling leaves at the edge of the pond -- a welcome change after a winter of living on the bark of the trees harvested, sunk and stashed for the winter.   The rapture on the beaver's face is endearing.

In Algonquin Park there are several sites right along Hwy 60 with beaver houses.  Our own Damalot -- a collection of five separate dams along our River Loop trail -- is currenty in the process of becoming a beaver meadow and regenerating the trees that the beavers will need for their return. They have pretty much opened up the forest in that area, but it is fascinating to see what is left behind when they stop tending the dams, before it turns back into an open moose-feeding field.  There are canals, channels cut into the pond bottom, the houses, the dams... all there to explore.