Packing to leave.

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Hi all
This is my last blog for this trip - apart from when I get home and put a few photos on . Tomorrow evening I fly back home from Toronto and will be back at Gatwick on Tuesday morning.
These last few days have been a nice easy time - no big drives or spectacular scenes - but some lovely local walks in Conservation areas - one was by Lake Ontario to savour the last colours of fall. Also I met up with an old friend and work colleague, Elisabeth, from when I worked in the Psychiatric Hospital here - we hadnt seen each other for 35 years - so that was a lot of catching up to do and we said we looked the same - but different hair dos and a few wrinklles ...that was so lovely to meet up - and to find she has written a book about a journey she made with her family when she was a little girl at the end of World War 2 from Yugoslavia to Austria on foot ...can't wait for her to send me a copy now to read it.
And today I drove out some locks on the Rideau Canal, and to walk in forest by a creek. Walking on carpets of leaves - very diverse - beech and oak, spruce and hemlock nedles and all the colours of maple leaves - with some bright green mosses and in places lots of fungi. I saw a muskrat gnawing away on reeds ( well i think it was a muskrat not a beaver) , there werent to many ducks on the creek or in the ponds ( they are probably hiding - very sensible as it is hunting season) but I saw lots of woodpeckers, orioles , jays and chickadees . So I was thinking as I walked how nice it is to explore some little local places - the peace and quiet you get and the chance to be silent and listen and look carefully ...sometimes these places are better to be than the regular tourist haunts. I suppose everyone wants to say they have been to Niagara and seen the Falls ( well I didnt see them this time but hav seen them several times before) but no-one really know of Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area just north of Kingston. But hey it is well worth a visit.
Well these are my musings for the day - I guess you can tell I have slowed down a bit now and in a few hours I will be all packed and have had my last dinner out with friends.
And I did check today that I have got a key to get in the house when I get home.
Thanks to you all for reading these ramblings and for those who have made comments and sent messages - its been great to keep in touch this way with everyone.
Love Lynne xx

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