blending an assortment of thoughts and experiences for my friends, relations and kindred spirit

blending an assortment of thoughts and experiences for my friends, relations and kindred spirit
By Alison Hobbs, blending a mixture of thoughts and experiences for friends, relations and kindred spirits.

Monday, March 28, 2011

The deer of Stony Swamp

On impulse, Elva, Carol and I went for a walk on the edge of Kanata on Saturday, in the NCC's Greenbelt conservation area around Stony Swamp. I like the name: all of Ottawa was once a stony swamp, which explains the difficulties John By and his engineers and navvies encountered when cutting the Rideau Canal.

Along the Old Quarry Trail we came upon a herd of white tailed deer, including yearlings, so unafraid as to be almost tame, probably because local people keep coming into these woods with bags of carrots for them. Chickadees hopped around our feet as well. The circular trail was a pleasant one, crossing the swamp by means of a board-walk bridge at a couple of places, but under the trees the snow had thawed and frozen, thawed and frozen, making it very slippery underfoot. We didn't rush.

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