Water, fowl and flowers -- from the Great Lakes Cruise

From the rocky coast of Parry Sound, Ontario, I enjoyed the water, walking on the rocks and the silence. By Day 6 of the cruise, I longed for a meal in quiet, and wished I had followed my plan and got a sandwich to take along so I wouldn't need lunch. I had my customary almond mix and a bar
and was tempted to forgo the afternoon cruise among the sound's many islands, but knew I would
be missed on the count of who was going so I went back. The cruise was fun, and the islands charming and interesting, and I would still have been happy walking along and resting among the shoreline rocks.

The Wye Marsh National Wildlife area is wetlands near the Georgian Bay town of Midland, Ontario, and a place I thought too far from town to see. However, as the shuttle bus took us to the Huron Village, I saw the entrance to Wye Marsh. When I said I was going there first, the driver took me to the entrance. After spending an hour or so walking the trails and boardwalks, I met another woman from the cruise and walked with her to the village. Wye Marsh is known for its recovery center for Trumpeter Swans, though none were there on this visit. The cruise guest I met in the Visitors' Center had come looking for them, and wasn't interested in spending time in the marshes. She was, however, near my age and very fit.

Little Current gave an opportunity to both walk through the tiny town and on to the shore trails. Its harbor was filled with boats and yachts with water fowl overhead. An elderly Englishman ready to head out on his motorized chair plus said it was a great place to retire, and if the election went the wrong way, I'd be welcomed there.

In Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario, I found flowers throughout the village, and loved the hollyhocks and traditional flowers around the Ermatinger Clergue National Historic Site's stone buildings. The gardens were said to have been period from the 1800s. Who knew that was what Mother and her Aunt put together on the south side of our farm house!