Bike Ride 16, Exploring area Creek Sides

I went on a lovely ride last week, and then forgot to blog about it.  I'll do it now.

 I started out on my normal neighborhood route, but when I came out onto Wallace Terrace near Brookfield, I followed alongside the creek instead of taking Wallace Terrace.  It was a rutted, hard packed dirt trail through the grass, very bumpy but lovely, with the creek on one side and trees on the other.

 Then the hard packed earth trail ended and it was just grass, much easier to ride on.

 Huge grey clouds were following me and I thought about turning back, but decided to keep going.  It was warm but not hot; a nice day for riding.

 Toward the bride, a dirt path appeared again, and goldenrod lied the path and the creek bed.

 One section reminded me so much of a scene from the show Little House on the Prairie (above) that I could almost hear the theme song playing in my mind.

 The Bridge was part of Allen Side Road.

The creek side path continued on the other side of the Allen Side Road bridge, but I decided to ride to it's other end via the street, then follow the path back to this point.

 I rested for awhile and then rode down Allen Side Road, to where it turns into Base Line, and followed along side base line until I came to the other end of the creek, seen below.

 The creek was much wider here, and so were the paths on either side.  On the left side of the creek, there was a rutted dirt path, but on the right side, it was all mown grass, so I chose that side to ride on.

 The photo above was taken from the bridge on Base Line.

 The grass was nice and flat except for one area that had a very deep dip going down, and then up again.  I had to get off my bike and walk both down and up, and when I was at the bottom of the dip, I could almost kiss the top of the dip as it was almost parallel with my face. It's hard to see in the photo, below.

 There were several round  cement pools of water to the left of the trail, behind a fence. I googled to see what it is, and it is a Water Pollution Control Plant, where they divert the creek water and test it for pollution, and clean it before putting it back in the creek and sending it to the St. Mary's River.

Water Pollution Control Plant

 The grey clouds were now both in front and behind me and I was sure I'd get rained on, but managed to miss the rain, somehow.

 The creek was lovely but hard to see at this point because of all of the tall grass, taller than me, growing along both sides of the creek.

 I got off my bike toward the end od the trail and took one last photo before I emerged onto Allen Side Road.  I was worried about the clouds so I didn't follow the creek side trail back to Wallace Terrace; I used the roads instead.

When I emerged onto Wallace Terrace, there was a rainbow, but by the time I pulled my camera out of my bag, it had disappeared.

I rode home, tired but happy.  I loved the feeling of being in the country, so close to home.  There are other portions of the creek that I haven't tried yet, that I hope to try soon.

An Evening Stroll with little Benji

We have been having a heat wave for the past 2 weeks, making it difficult to walk or bike or do much of anything until the hour before sunset.  Today it was 105 F with the humidex, something we are NOT used to her in Northern Ontario, Canada.  I had to wait until after the sun went down to go for a walk, and it was still 100 F with the humidex (humidity).

 As the last bit of color started to fade from the sky, we set out.  Benji likes his stroller, but unlike Mac, who lay down and relaxed during his strolls, Benji paces from window to window, looking out.  I'm not sure how much he can see as the poor guy has glaucoma in is left eye and his right eye has cataracts.

Benji in the stroller

 My asthma was bad so we couldn't go far, just for a short half hour jaunt.

 The sky was beautiful, and my camera took some amazing night shots (making it look much brighter in the photos than it actually was.  It was dark out.).

St. Joseph's school (closed down ages ago)

 The photo above shows the remains of my old elementary school, St. Joseph's.

 For some reason, I really like the looks of the old house in the above photo, especially at night.

 This poor dog is ALWAYS outside on a leash, no matter when I walk, bike, or drive by, day or night.  He was very friendly to me, wagging his tail and giving kisses, but when he noticed I had a dog in my stroller instead of a kid, went mad with barking (just like Mac used to).  His owner came out to yell at him but did not let him in.  I'm sure the dog must go inside and it must be a coincidence that he is just out when I go by, because he looks well cared for, and well groomed.

 This is the Bank of Montreal, where I opened my first account at the age of 5.

I lived on the top floor of the house above until I was almost 5.  Then we moved one whole block away, lol.

 The night sky was just gorgeous tonight.

 I love these flowers; I think they are called Mallow.

 I also love the look of the big house on the corner in the photo above.  The church down the street is all lit up.

 I liked the way the trees leaned over the sidewalk here. 
The bus photo, below, didn't turn out, but I love the way it looks anyway; sort of like it's under water, or in a dream.

And there's my house.  My parents house, where I"m currently living until I can get my own place again.