Time of Rebirth

Sometime around the second week of May, a magical event happens in Ottawa:  the buds begin to burst on the trees.  For weeks, they have swollen with the lengthening days, drawing sustenance from their roots and the moist, spring earth.  Some smaller trees and shrubs have already sprouted leaves, and some canopy trees will wait a while longer.  But the vanguard of the northern hardwood forest — the maples, beeches, birches, ash, basswoods, oaks — erupt with new leaves.  As they unfold, the grey forest turns a delicate, pale green.  Still translucent, the young leaves glow in the morning sunlight, each like a little flower.  The forest has a momentary gaiety, like a young girl twirling in her first dress.

Pale green leaves unfurl at the end of a twig.
Spring foliage
A tree-clad cliff rises from the water of Pink Lake.
Pink Lake Shoreline

For several years, I have taken vacation during the second week of May.  Sometimes I go camping.  Sometimes I stay in town.  Either way, I spend my free days indulging in the exuberant rebirth that spring brings.  The migratory songbirds arrive:  warblers, vireos, thrushes, flycatchers, swallows, sparrows.  They flit through the tree-tops and scurry in the underbrush, still easily visible in the young foliage.  Their early-morning chorus begins before dawn and ends only with the heat of midday.  Spring wildflowers speckle the forest slopes:  pointillist dreams of white trilliums; lilies, violets and dutchman’s britches; honeysuckle and elder.  A few spring peepers still call, along with the croak of leopard frogs and the trill of american toads.  Reptiles emerge into the sun, still half torpid from winter.  Turtles bask on logs, more reluctant to re-enter the cold water than later in the summer.  Snakes sun themselves on warm, grey rocks or under old boards.  Even fish seek the shallows to warm themselves in the welcome rays.

A photograph of a white trillium in full bloom at Pink Lake.
White Trillium at Pink Lake
An early saxifrage blooms in a cluster of white flowers, emerging from a rosette of leaves clinging to a crevice in bare rock.
Early Saxifrage at Pink Lake
The yellow bloom of large flowered bellwort droops from its limp leaves.
Large Flowered Bellwort at Pink Lake
A close-up photograph of a red trillium shows the purplish petals, large sepals and stamen.
Red Trillium

I’ve spent this past week exploring some old and new haunts by bicycle and canoe:  the Rideau River, Pink Lake, Baie McLaurin, Shirley’s Bay, Poole Creek.  I’ve ridden about 250 km, sometimes with canoe in tow behind my bike.  I recently purchased a canoe trailer for my bike from Wike, mainly to eliminate the need to book a VrtuCar (a local car-sharing business) any time that I wanted to go canoeing.  Already, the combination of my two favourite activities has given me incredible satisfaction… as well as some intense exercise.

A canoe rides on a trailer attached to a bicycle.
Canoe Trailer by Wike
The bow of a canoe cuts through glassy water at Shirley's Bay. A bicycle lies in the canoe.
Canoeing at Shirley’s Bay
Large silver maple trees surround a canoe at Shirley's Bay.
Silver Maple Swamp at Shirley’s Bay
A longnose gar basks in the shallows at Shirley's Bay.
Longnose Gar at Shirley’s Bay
The Rideau River looks placid under a blue sky sprinkled with fair-weather cumulus clouds.
Rideau River Morning
A great blue heron hunts below a bridge over the Rideau River.
Great Blue Heron
A sleepy snapping turtle basks in the mud on the shore of the Rideau River.
Sleepy Snapping Turtle on the Rideau River
A map turtle basks on a log in the Rideau River.
Map Turtle on the Rideau River
Four ostrich fern fronds begin to unfurl on the shore of the Rideau River.
Ostrich Fern on the Rideau River

I look forward to my summer vacation — those full, glorious two weeks in late June and early July.  I can feel the warmth, see the dragonflies dancing over the ponds, feel my fly rod in my hands.  The time will pass slower and more restfully.  But the days won’t bring the same sense of excitement and wonder as my May sabbatical, when all the world’s anew.

An adult milk snake warms itself on the pavement of a bicycle path.
Milk Snake on a Bicycle Path