Fall and Winter photos of Fiddle River in Jasper National Park; now I just have to go again in the spring and summer :)
Natural Circles
Tonight I was really reminded of the circle of life. I know, the song from the lion king is probably running through your head right now, but seriously, have you ever really thought about how connected everything is? What about the natural cycles that govern our world?
Before heading off to work tonight, I spent about an hour, outside and photographing all the new sprouts coming up in my gardens and all the flowers that are blooming outside. These sprouts and flowers are, to me, the very essence of spring time and new life.
I got off work around midnight and left the city, driving back into the country headed for home. Maybe 500 metres outside of the Belleville city limits, I saw the flash of eyes on the side of the road ahead of me, so I slowed down to see what it was (there was no one else on the road). It was a very wet looking red fox, toting a duck in its mouth, presumably to feed its kits back at its den. Yet another reminder of the circle of life in action.
It had been raining quite hard earlier tonight, so as part of my route home takes me past wetlands, I drove slowly because of all the frogs on the road. Tonight there were honestly thousands of frogs on a kilometre long section of road. Some were already squished, but many were alive and hopping across the road. I always drive as slow as possible, missing as many of them as I can.
Just as I think I am in the clear for animals on the road, I get to the end of my driveway and there is large female raccoon, dead on the road. An unfortunate accident, it appears as if a car hit her. There is no visible damage, she could be taking a nap on the pavement. I approached cautiously, but no, she is dead. (I say ‘she’ because she looks as if she was nursing kits). I trek back to the garden shed and grab a shovel, not wanting to leave her to the indecency of the road and gently lifted the body up, moving her over to the woods on the side of the road.
I looked around and listened for kits (since she looked like she was nursing) but couldn’t see or hear anything, so I will have to take a better look around come morning. As much as I wish I could do something, and as sad as it is, this is all part of the circle of life and is a mark of the forces of nature around us that shape the world we live in.
