The trees are bare in the forest behind my yard so I can once again see the beautiful autumn sunrises.  The colors have been brilliant; red, orange, yellow, purple.  I marvel at how quickly the scene can change.

Last week was spent enjoying lots of outdoor time with my granddaughters.  We explored the spruce bog at the Strathcona Wilderness Centre.  The squirrels were entertaining.  The girls brought their magnifying glasses to examine tree bark, spruce cones and spongy green moss.  We brought some paper and crayons along to do leaf rubs.  On the way back to where we parked they looked for large leaves, had a leaf fight, balanced on rocks and found hiking 'sticks' so they could pretend that they were hiking trails in the mountains.

We visited Elk Island National Park on another day and were lucky to see the bison crossing the road in front of us.  The girls were smitten with the one bison calf that was still reddish in color.  "He looks so soft and cuddly."

It was windy the day that we were there.  The wind created foamy waves on Astotin Lake.  We watched the waves roll onto the shore.  The trail to the boardwalk was not too far away so we headed there.  The girls read all the interpretive signs and watched for feeding ducks.  

Over the course of five days we visited playgrounds daily, found trails to explore almost every day, had a picnic at the Blackfoot Recreation area, visited Elk Island National Park, traveled to the farm and had a

scavenger hunt in the backyard.  The girls watched the birds at the feeder and listened to the flocks of geese overhead.  When we were exploring, time flew by.  It was easy to lose track of time and find out that we were outside for 4-5 hours at a time.

We had a bonfire on a clear evening.  That night we cuddled under a blanket and watched the colors of the sunset and saw the starry night sky begin to shine.  We found the big dipper and the north star.

The weather cooperated and we got to spend many glorious hours enjoying the last warm days of autumn.  Soon the snow will be falling and we will be waiting for enough of it to cover the trails so we can pull out the x-country skis and the kicksled.