Spectacle Lake Musings

 

Lady Grantham said in Downton Abbey, "What is a weekend?" Although both of us are retired, we still try to make weekends different than the other five days of the week. We tend to get together with friends for dinner, have family get togethers, attend church, and I like to take a break from housekeeping duties on Sundays. 

This time of the year usually has significant rainfall. In a wonderful bit of serendipity, Sundays have been very sunny. We've hiked for the past three weeks, choosing a different destination each time. This week was another new place - Spectacle Lake. 

The trail goes all around the lake, just 2.8 km, but the bridge at the end of the lake was closed due to construction. So we walked to the bridge and back to the parking lot on one side, then to the bridge and back on the other side. It was such a lovely day in the forest with the sound of water trickling everywhere in small streams and rivulets. 

Not too far off the path a vernal pool lay still in a clearing with sunlight filtering through the trees. These pools dry up quickly in late spring and summer, but they are important for the life of the forest. Frogs love them. They can lay their eggs there without being concerned that the tadpoles will be eaten by fish. By the time the pools dry up, the frogs are hatched and can make their way to wherever they want to go. 

Another interesting thing was the design on this fallen log. It's natural, created by branches that have died off and the tree trunk continuing to grow around them. 

Spectacle Lake was the site of a sawmill in the 1920s and 30s, and much of the lake bottom is sawdust. There is now a swimming beach just below the sawmill site, and the base of it is sawdust, too, with sand brought in from somewhere else. 

Spring light is beautiful seen through moss-covered branches. 

I've been starting the Spring clean up in the garden with pruning the roses and hydrangeas. A few seeds have been started, some in the unheated greenhouse and some in the house. I had hoped to work outside this morning, but rain is dripping steadily down. So perhaps I'll sort out my sewing room which is quite untidy!