September 6. I'm in luck. Last September I searched in vain for elderberries. The birds had already stripped the branches. Today on my first visit to the Eramosa River since July, I find a huge bush loaded with fruit. I gather at least four kilograms, barely moving from one spot. While kneeling among the heavy clusters, I hear two cedar waxwings trill in the nearby treetops. I don't feel guilty about stealing from them; there will be plenty for all.
September 17. The countryside is resplendent with goldenrod and white and purple asters (1204 x 768). While driving, I stop to explore some glacial moraines and drumlins outside Guelph. The dry upper slopes are populated with Aster ericoides, while the lower valleys are abundant with several goldenrod species and A. novae-angliae. Along an upland roadside I find the lovely, pale purple A. cordifolius.
September 20. For several years I have been intrigued with pathways and the way people move through natural spaces. We change the landscape with our feet, and inevitably the way we perceive our surroundings will affect them. Threats are removed. Beauty may be enhanced or defaced. People have trouble appreciating anything they can't use. I have begun a project of photographing trails and footpaths. Today a chipmunk scurries along the path ahead, all cheeks and chittering. No problem talking with its mouth full. The air is laden with mysterious fragrances, and a clump of white asters hums with the toil of honeybees and bumblebees. Now they must stock the larder. The river is particularly swollen after this wet summer. Even though we haven't had rain for a few days, it still looks pregnant like a springtime Eramosa. From the far side of the pond comes the low churr of toad song, also unusual for this time of year. Later I stop on the Speed River to photograph the remarkable evening light in massive silver maples that grow behind the flood wall. While hurricanes are striking Florida in record numbers, here we're having the finest weather possible for September.
September 23. I drive to Caledonia to visit the Grand River, to which the Eramosa and Speed are tributary. It is much wider, more unstable and destructive so far downstream. The water is unusually high for September, I am told. The banks have a washed out feeling. Birds are plentiful in the rich bottomland: woodpeckers, flickers, nuthatches, waxwings, chickadees, robins, blue jays, Canada geese and a noisy kingfisher. Black willows and Manitoba maples are prevalent tree species, just as in Guelph. Below the dam in
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