Peko-chan and Supergirl spend an afternoon at Leamy Lake - June 19th 2020

On Friday June 19th 2020, the host was feeling a little blue, so she decided that a little adventure outside was in order. She took the girls to Leamy Lake (which is only ten minutes away from the host home by car, or about 40 minutes by foot) where they were able to admire fantastic landscapes, bathe in a lake, learn about a few wild plants and observe several wild animals and birds.














Wild Canadian Geese out on a walk with their youngs:





























These wild purple flowers of this plant, which is called "vesce jargeau" in French, are edible (as most Canadian children know!) and taste delicious.

We found several large feathers on our walk around the lake.


The Hilton Lac-Leamy hotel - probably the luxuriest hotel in Gatineau. It is located next to the only casino of the Ottawa-Gatineau area, the Casino du Lac-Leamy, by the lake.












We spotted a young cardinal who atood there and looked at us curiously for a moment (maybe it was expecting food?) before flying away.


Another edible plant, called "lotier corniculé" in French.





There is a marsh on one side of the lake:





The plant with the white flowers is called "vergerette du Canada".

This is common milkweed ("asclépiade" in French). It is very important for nature as it is the ONLY host plant of the monarch butterfly.

The colors of that tree trunk were just amazing:


On this part of the trail, the ground was covered in white fluffy pollen. There was so much of it, it almost looked like snow!







The girls had fun reading about the lake's environment on these information panels:














A trio of squirrels resting in the shade:

This plant, that looks a bit like rhubarb, is called "bardane" ("burdock" in English). It is very good for the bees and in the Fall, it produces little balls full of tiny little hooks that glue themselves to animals' fur and human clothing - they were the inspiration for velcro.

We saw a car from a local TV station : TVA. The journalist may have been reporting on how people were going to the beach in great number, even if it wasn't opened yet, and didn't observe social distancing for COVID-19... Luckily, Leamy Lake is a big lake, so it is possible to have fun and bathe while still avoiding the official beach, which was very crowded. 































If you want to bathe outside of the designated beach area, it's better to wear sport sandals (that can be worn in the water), otherwise, the rocks lining up the bottom of the lake makes it very hard to walk!


Supergirl found the perfect spot to sunbathe!


We saw a lot of Canadian Geese with their youngs all through the day! Did you know that baby geese are called "gosslings". That made the host laugh when she first heard about it a few weeks ago, as it made her think of Canadian actor Ryan Gossling. :-)


Walking back home, on boulevard de la Carrière, by the old train track:






A nice view of downtown Ottawa in the distance:

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