An Ode to The Meandering Trail
Daytime
Oh would you go a-pedal-ing
Upon this trail beside this lake,
When others a trip to town they take
At the trail gate, we’ll set our brake.
To share the daytime hours wonder
As children explore and parents lumber,
And breathe the fragrant
air now sweet
With lilac blossoms, pine, and peat.
Oh would you go a-pedal-ing
A-pedal-ing with me.
by Eliza Ralph-Murphy
The photo above was taken during a little photo shoot with my Mom & her dog JT playing frisbee in Sydenham Lake. While following JT's frisbee, my eye was drawn across the lake, and there, flying past the Sydenham Point, were the two "heron mates in boundless flight." Still armed with my camera, I began to snap, snap, snap. I could see the herons together, my eyes had framed a perfect photo of their flight, but unfortunately, I was unable to catch the pair in the framed perfection I hoped for. The best of my photos had cut off the rear heron’s feet. I originally published an edited version of this photo; I wish I hadn't, but I suppose I did so because I didn't think my amateurish attempt to catch the two herons together was a good enough representation of what I had witnessed that day. I've learned that life is not perfect, and attempts to make it so diminish the beauty of those imperfections and create a false illusion and example for ourselves and others to strive for. In the future, I will leave "fairytale" photos for my fantasy books and comics and strive to share my imperfect reality here on the Meandering Trail.
JT looking at "our" Mom who is just out of the photo; he never took his eyes off of her. She led him from behind with hand signals, body language, and voice commands. She'd use both English and French because the shorter the word the better, so "come here" was shortened to "ici". As she slowed down she had to figure out a way to keep up with him because he was one of the fastest dogs on the Agility circuit. When she ran beside him like the other competitors did with their dogs, JT could only run as fast as she did. Her competitors were faster than her so no matter how fast JT was, in the end, he was only as fast as she was. Being the great competitor she had always been as a Horse trainer, she learned and adapted a training technique to lead from behind. That way JT was actually able to run faster than his competitors which is why they made the National Team when she was 73. JT was taken from us some time ago, and my Mom just recently passed. Looking at these photos is bittersweet because it reminds me of how much I loved my Mom, how much I miss her, and how much I didn't appreciate her when she was here with me. The photos can't replace her, they are just a reminder of how much she meant to me and inspired me, and how she made me the person I am, and that just maybe she was leading me from behind also.
This is JT on the dirt hill which is just across from the pond on the trail playing Frizbee.
Jane
& JT
My Mom Jane and her dog JT love coming to Sydenham Lake to play
Frisbee and ball, it is a great exercise for them both. They travel all the way
from Gananoque just to play in the lake because of the clean water and clear
shorelines which are unavailable to the public anywhere else, she claims. And
if you think she just comes just to see me you’d be wrong; she comes if I’m
home or not. Luckily this day I was home, so we all took a meander down the
Cataraqui Trail. At the second gate, there is an easy entry point to the lake, with
a second one being approx. 50 meters past. It was a stunning day and I captured
these fun photos of them playing on the dirt hill and a beautiful portrait of
JT in front of the old willow tree. Btw, JT is a champion agility dog who
competed for Canada alongside my Mom at the 2012 World Agility Championships,
in Texas. He was also born in the area, at a farm on Sydenham Road, and comes
from a champion sheepherding family.
