johnandlucie

Appy trails

Like for most people, our smartphones have become central in our daily lives. While we rarely make a phone call, we use them for a whole range of purposes from banking to listening to audiobooks. We also bring them with us when we go hiking, mostly to take pictures.

In the last few years, we have discovered six interesting free apps that enhance our knowledge of what’s around us and the enjoyment we derive from being out in the woods. We had fun using them recently on our favourite trail in Charleston Lake Provincial Park (PP), and that inspired us to write this post. These apps are worth checking out, in our view.

Enchanting Taos

For one reason or another, we had failed to visit Taos on our previous trips to New Mexico (NM), although we longed to see it. To make sure we got there during our most recent trip, we made Taos our first stop. Taos is an interesting small town on a high plateau, approximately 7,000 feet above sea level, nestled at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the southernmost extension of the Rocky Mountains.

During our time in Taos, we visited the Taos Pueblo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the home of one of the longest continuously inhabited communities in North America. We drove around the spectacular 83-mile loop known as the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway, stopped to marvel at the Cimarron Palisades and the views from the Eagle Nest Lake State Park, and made a detour to get a glimpse of the Rio Grande Gorge and Bridge. We were there in May, a shoulder season, so the town was quiet, and we almost had the NM roads to ourselves. Everything came together for a relaxing holiday full of memorable discoveries.

A Toronto escapade

In Ottawa this year, there was a long spell of lingering grey weather at the end of March. It made us feel we needed a little break away from winter. We decided on a train trip to Toronto, a night in the Royal York Hotel and a visit to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), world-renowned for its natural history collection.

Some people may know W.C. Fields’s tongue-in-cheek tease about Philadelphia. The Canadian version of the joke goes this way: the first prize in a contest is one week in Toronto; the second prize is two weeks. For many people who commute to work or fly in and out for business meetings, a visit to Toronto may not qualify as a treat, but we have developed a fondness for the city, warts and all, having lived and worked there for years. Our little escapade turned out perfectly.

Daffodils

“When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.“
William Wordsworth

We always appreciate the efforts of neighbours who maintain attractive floral gardens that bring joy to all who stroll through the community. Although we have many trees and flowering bushes, we do not have a flower garden ourselves. Through trial and error, we had come to the conclusion that impatiens are the only flowers that don’t seem to mind our limited sun exposure and manage to survive the inevitable interest of our many voracious garden visitors.

However, since hope springs eternal, we decided to give daffodils a try his year. They bloom before the trees have all their leaves, and daffodils have a reputation for being unappetizing to squirrels, rabbits and raccoons. Our experiment was a success…

About time

Not long ago, time was a constant preoccupation for both of us, with meetings and deadlines filling the calendar, milestones setting the pace, and so many activities and obligations to be fitted into each day. Like for most people, our “free” time clustered around weekends and holidays. The usual complaint was that there was never enough time. At least, that was the easy excuse for procrastinating.

When we retired, we began to carve out a new relationship with time. We now revel in our “do as you will” time; not as a retreat from the concerns of the world but a freer and more deliberate type of engagement.

In February, we made a list of subjects we know truly little about. The list was very long. One of the topics on the list was geology. We began exploring that subject and soon stumbled on the concept of deep geological time. Our notion of time was challenged again in an exciting and awe-inspiring way.

Mission improbable

Sainte-Marie among the Hurons was a short-lived attempt to establish a first French mission-settlement in Wendake (“a land apart”), the ancestral land of the Huron-Wendat People, in what is now Ontario. From 1639 to 1649, Sainte-Marie was a thriving French community. When the mission failed after a decade, it was abandoned and burnt to the ground.

The site remained forgotten for two centuries. In 1920, the Government of Canada recognized it as a National Historic Site and the buildings were reconstructed in 1964. Today, Sainte-Marie among the Hurons tells its fascinating story to all who take the time to visit it in Midland, a two-hour drive north of Toronto, on the shores of Georgian Bay.