Rockin' in Paxton's

This post will be a little different than usual. But of course things we are all dealing with these days aren't exactly typical!

Some of yours and my favourite places to explore are closed, so I have to choose other places to enjoy the outdoors, all the while practicing physical distancing. The closest place, and within less than a ten minute walk from home, is Paxton's Bush. I featured it in a series of Natural Areas in Chatham-Kent a few years ago. You can read about it here.

With the woods being so close to many urban residents, it is not surprising that it is getting a lot more use as people are strongly encouraged to limit travel, but if one is not suffering from the coronavirus, to get out and get some fresh air and exercise. Fortunately the trails, official and otherwise, are extensive enough that folks can stay physically distant.

May, 2017

One of the things that some people have been doing is to paint rocks, and place them along the trail. I didn't really pay a lot of attention to this for awhile, but fortunately someone put out a rock with some helpful bits of information.

So I began to follow the signs.

They are usually placed low down, presumably to get the attention of the numerous young kids who are out walking with their families. The rocks disappear fairly quickly. The idea is apparently to find them, and if you take one home, replace it with one of your own. Unfortunately, some people just focus on the collecting part, and sometimes with the encouragement from their parents it seems, so the nicest ones get snapped up very quickly.

Nonetheless, I have been able to collect rocks with my camera. Not sure how many I have missed by not being out as often as others are.

Some rocks are mostly colourful or have a pleasing design.

Some rocks have cute/funny messages.

I hadn't seen this species of bird in Paxton's before.

 But I have seen this one. In fact the family of Great Horned Owls is one of the highlights for many trail walkers these days, as the young continue to hang out in their replacement nest basket. This next rock was on a log quite close to the nest tree.

Other rocks have messages of encouragement.

And just to end on another note, literally, while Easter has just passed a couple of weeks ago, the message is something that lives all year around. Here is an entertaining and very creative collaboration on one of Easter's best known hymns, which you can listen to here.