Here in Ontario’s Deep South we’re enjoying a week of hot, sunny, mid-summerish weather.  I love Autumn.  It’s my favourite season, but I must admit I’m enjoying these glorious liminal days - caught between summer and autumn.

Z2 Intro
1st October - Mill Creek, Kingsville - glorious fall colours, non?

Earlier this summer, I committed to doing two more Joyspotting outings before the snow flies.  The first (tentatively scheduled for this week) was to be “Joyspotting Z2 - Autumn Colours”.  Hah! As if!  Our tree canopy remains (stubbornly) vibrantly green and lush.  There are a smattering of coloured leaves, but almost all of those are vines or Sumac - not trees.  

But...  Every walk is a good opportunity to use the Joyspotter’s Guide which prompts me to look all around and use all my senses to identify little gems of mother nature that bring me joy.  Having a “mission” helps me to be mindful and focussed on the entire landscape, rather than searching out all of my usual suspects.  For instance, I never pass a slow-moving creek, pond or watery marsh without looking for (and shooting) waders.  Indeed, I now have 10K+ images of Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets. After all, and to paraphrase Will, There are more things in heaven and earth, Pamela, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.*

Yesterday, trusty Joyspotter’s Guide in hand, with Miss Wheelie in tow (yes, still), and despite the autumnal colour being AWOL, I enjoyed a lovely long outing and returned home full of joy and pleasantly tired out.
 

#1 - Look Up
#1 Look Up
Wheatley Provincial Park
First glimpse of 2023 autumn colour in Essex County.

#2 - Look Down
#2 Look Down  Black Willow Beach, Point Pelee National Park
I had a lovely, though modest walk, bare toes in the waves, no walker in sight!
I glanced at the Joyspotter’s Guide as I was about the leave the beach and, prompted to “look down”, spotted this beauty!

#3 - Keep An Eye Out For Colour
#3 Colour
Fringed Blue Asters (Symphyotrichum ciliolatum) are - flamboyantly - everywhere just now.

#4 - Follow The Curve
#4 Curve  Point Pelee National Park
(Watching, and being watched by, a black squirrel.)

#5 - Go Where The Wild Things Are
#5 Wild things
Caldwell First Nations’ Boardwalk

#6 - Seek Out Symmetry
#6 Symmetry
Hillman United Church - 1897

#7 - Search For Signs of Abundance
#7 Abundance
Mersea Road D - Leamington, ON
‘Though our county is famous for its soft fruits and tomatoes,
there are many productive orchards that yield a diverse variety of apples each year.

#8 - Watch For Weirdness
#8 Weirdness
Caldwell First Nations’ Boardwalk
“Don’t know.  Don’t wanna know!”
(I was later reliably told it is Heron poo.)

#9 - Zoom In
#9 Zoom
Port of Wheatley
Teasels

#10 - Notice the Invisible
#10 Invisible  Marsh farm - Mersea Road East
Invisible:  Smell
With so much low-lying, moist, fertile land, Essex rivals Bradford (Holland Marsh) for vegetable production.
Beyond the shrubberies is a field of garlic and boy, was it ever pungent! 

#11 - Take the Scenic Route
#11 Scenic Route Point Pelee Drive - Leamington, ON

#12 - Use All Your Senses
#12 Senses  Sugar Creek, Wheatley Provincial Park
Sense: Hearing
Essex County is renown for its amazing birding opportunities.
We are a migratory stop-over hosting hundreds of species each spring and fall.  
Sitting on the observation deck yesterday, I counted at least twenty different bird calls but spotted only half of those.
Still, their chorus was delightfully entertaining whilst I ate brekkie. 

I hope the next time you’re off on a hike or a walk through your local park, or on a rural ramble, you remember to focus on the entire landscape and all of mother nature’s gems - you’ll be amazed at the things you’d otherwise have missed.

‘Till next time, y’all…

*William Shakespeare, Act I, Scene V, Hamlet.