A different view

Not sure that I've ever taken a photo of "the Famous Five" from this spot before - usually, I turn up the road you can see and park along there. Every once in a while, I can't resist taking yet another photo if I happen to be driving in this area. This land has had a For Sale sign for a long time. When it does eventually get new owners, hopefully they will leave this well known row of five red granaries standing. Feels a little strange to be looking at bright, summer colours, knowing that we are part way through fall already and some of the trees have already lost their golden leaves.

Yesterday evening, 19 October 2013, I went to the annual "Banquet" for our local nature group, held in a church hall across the city. I had only ever been to one of these, a number of years ago, and found it was a very formal affair, with some ladies even dressed in long gowns - not my kind of thing at all! However, friends persuaded me to go this year and so I went : ) Turned out to be a far more casual thing, with good food and many familiar faces that I hadn't seen for ages. It was most enjoyable, marred only by my right eye that wouldn't stop watering the whole time. By the time I went to bed last night, it was painful and still watering and this morning is half swollen shut, so I guess I'm going to have to make a doctor's appointment. I don't think I'm going to be able to be on my computer much today, at all, as it's difficult to see properly and really unpleasant.

We were very honoured to have Jon Turk as our guest speaker. He came to talk to us about some of his travels, including his circumnavigation, on foot and by kayak, of Ellesmere Island, which earned him (along with Erik Booner) one of the National Geographic's ten top "Adventurers of the Year" awards for 2012. Jon was a most entertaining speaker, with never a dull moment, inspirational and motivating. His underlying message really was to forget the material world and go out and do what you really want to do. He is 66 years old!

jonturk.net/