Happy Birthday Canada, 150th Year!

July 1st marks our 150th birthday...!

This photo is of a maple tree, if you look closely....  We have a maple leaf on our flag, as most people know....

My parents came to Canada from Europe many years ago.... When I was around 10 years old, my father had a setback in his business and wanted to take the family back to Europe....  But my mother talked him out of it....  My life probably would've been quite different if we'd left...but Canada has been a good place to live....

Happy Birthday!

Nature Art--52

These scenes are from a walking trail in the North Bay area of Ontario....  There were minnows and things in the creek, and my son had fun catching some of them when he was young....

Children's Summer Camps

Was reviewing my charitable donations over the past year and found I have room to do a little more....  Also, the Scott Mission in Toronto was advertising for donations to their children's camp programs....  My own church also runs a summer camp for various age groups and for the blind.... I decided it'd be very nice to contribute towards underprivileged, city children being able to spend time in nature...!  I know I've had a lot of time to enjoy nature in my lifetime; and I'd like to share with the children....  [Have made a donation.]  Would like to encourage other people to do the same, if they possibly can....  [There are various organizations which run camps....  And there are also some day camp programs in the cities, which can be good....  Will include the link addresses for the programs above:  www.scottmission.com     and     www.campfrenda.com  .]

Have been learning that in life we really need to reach out to other people....  It makes us feel better and feel good....

There was a parable told by Rabbi Haim Romshishok, according to Wikipedia, where people were seated around a banquet table....  They all had extra-long utensils and found it difficult to eat....  In the hell version of the story, the people kept trying to feed themselves and were doing a poor job and feeling miserable....  But in the heaven version, the people started feeding each other and were successful.  They felt satisfied and happy....  And it seems that's how it is in life...!  We can't manage on our own....

Nature Art--51

These are more photos from the Lake Ontario area....  There was an out-of-the-way beach but am not sure it's as accessible any longer...? [We have to enjoy places while we can, right?]

Nature Art--50

These were some grasses and bulrushes along the roadside...near Lake Ontario.

Nature Art--49

These flowers are the common Queen Anne's lace flower.  I'd never seen pink ones before I was out with my camera on this day...?

When I was a young child in school, I think these were the flowers we picked and then placed into containers of water with food colouring...?  The colour went into the flowers.... The pink flowers above remind me of that day....

Nature Art--48

This photo was taken along part of the Lake Ontario shoreline.

Quotation--8

"Man plans, God laughs."
        Yiddish Proverb


Yiddish is a language spoken by some of the Jewish people.

The saying doesn't literally mean that God laughs at us....  But I believe God is a lot bigger than we are and some humility on our parts doesn't hurt...!

If you want to Google this saying, you can find some interesting articles about it.

Guest Nature Art--2

This poster is posted with permission from the Nature Conservancy of Canada and from the photographer, Aaron McKenzie Fraser.

Have mentioned this organization in February of this year and I wish to promote them....  They're doing a good work preserving nature areas across Canada....

This blog post may be shared on social media, as all the posts in this blog can be...but if anyone wishes to share the poster by itself, please give credit to the photographer....  Thank you.