The last hurrah of summer with our daughter and our grandchildren was on Labour Day at Cavendish. School started the next day. We had a picnic lunch at Cavendish Grove which was in its late summer beauty.
The picnic area was busy but we had a great picnic table in the shade where we had a leisurely lunch safely distanced from others.
After lunch my husband and I played hide and seek with the family. The children love this game and we often play it when they visit our house. It is a favourite of our three year old grandson but the girls enjoy it too. This setting was perfect since it gave us space to run. We limited our hiding area to the trees within a certain boundary. The adults had to hug the trunks or kneel behind them to hide. This past spring, I hid behind a tree trunk here in an effort to photograph the birds in the pond below. Now, as usual, the pond is dried up and has been for months. This time the whole family hid and had fun. Everyone ran around including Nanny and Poppy which the kids loved.
I leaned into the trunk of one huge maple as I hid behind it. Hearing the wind in the leaves, I looked up where light illuminated various areas of the trunk.
Movement to the right caught my eye as a woodpecker hopped upward. I couldn’t capture a good photo. However, it was impossible being that close to a tree without noticing the trunk which provided a home for moss and lichens and who knows what lies beneath.
This tree is a natural wonder.
While we played, our daughter saw a frog jump near one of the girls and told the kids about it. All were interested in the little Wood Frog which their mom captured to show them.
The middle child held the little frog too. She always wants to hold the creatures we find. The other two were curious but not eager to hold it. The brave one placed the little creature on the lower part of a tree trunk where it was camouflaged.
We checked later and it was gone.
Afterwards we went to the beach where the water temperature of 16 C and the wind made it too cold for the children to swim so they played in the sand. Everyone enjoyed the last grains of summer.