Nature noted

Foliage at the 45th

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• by Lizann Flatt
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According to Santa’s Village, I’m living at about the 45th parallel — halfway to the North Pole. So here at the 45th, this is how the leaves are shaping up this year:

Not too spectacular…yet. Just the tips of branches and some individual trees turning colour. But this is how it began so that’s progress. The colour is easy to see now, not just a subtle hue. More to come!

Friendly Frog?

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I think this is a green frog (Rana clamitans). I was pretty excited when it stood still and let me snap quite a few pictures. How cool, how friendly, I though.

But then it hit me: maybe it wasn’t being friendly at all. Maybe it was frozen, frightened– petrified! After all, this silver box was being shoved at it by some huge, gigantic mammal type being. Uh, yeah. That made more sense.

So I slunk away and left it to its froggy business.

The Change

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There’s no more denying it. It has begun. At first there was just a subtle hue of yellow or orange to the maple leaves, and only this one bunch of leaves was reddish orange. I figured it was an just a mutant branch.

But now there are more–everywhere. I can’t pretend anymore that I don’t see it. The change has begun. Fall is my favourite season, but nevertheless I feel a sense of sadness to see summer winding down.

Blooming Bee Balm

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“Tea: Earl Grey, hot!”

Okay, so bergamot always puts me in mind of Jean-Luc Picard…and my favourite tea. But call it bee balm or bergamot, whatever — I love this plant. It looks and smells lovely.