Walkies

I forgot to post this last weekend!

Scooter at the Arboretum

Ottawa has many, many places worth visiting. I've written several times about how much I enjoy my commute along the Ottawa River Parkway (recently renamed the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, but it'll always be the Ottawa River Parkway to me).

The Arboretum is another one of those unique spaces in Ottawa, part of the Experimental Farm. I had heard of it many times, but had never been there before this Labour Day Weekend. It's lovely.

We only meandered a small part of it, and the weather was mostly overcast, so it wasn't as spectacular as it might have been, but it was a nice little ramble nevertheless.

This duck was so still that Scooter did not even notice her.

It was end of summer, so many of the trees bore ripe fruit.

And the leaves were just starting to turn.

This was the hugest apple tree I've ever seen!

Oh, how I love willow trees. I just wish they weren't so hard on foundations.

I was fascinated by this tree, so I took a closer look.

It's a larch. Love those feathery branches.

One of my hopes, in becoming a dog owner, was that it would get me out walking more. So far, it's working. I don't walk with her every day, but I do walk more frequently than I have done since the kids were little.

(This isn't a tree, but it was such a perfect thistle specimen that I had to snap a picture.)

Today we're off to the Bruce Pit, an off-leash dog park. Scooter's very good about her "here!" command, so I don't anticipate any problems. In fact, there were plenty of dogs off-leash at the Arboretum, and she was very well behaved with them, so this should not be a problem.