Friends of Rouge River Headwaters Park and Trails

2015 Spring Community Cleanup-drive

Date                 : Sunday, 3rd May 2015  

Time                : 2.30-4.30pm

Starting point : Headwaters Park parking lot (opposite Redstone Public School,

                           235 Redstone Rd, Richmond Hill, ON L4S 2E2)

                           Closest intersection is Leslie and Elgin Mills.

Cleanup Area : Rouge River Headwaters park and trails
Contact Info   : Priya (priyaunni@yahoo.com), 416-970-5205

What to bring: 1 garbage bag/family, reusable water bottles, snack (optional), Bring a small plastic bag/reusable gloves for your hands to pick up the litter.

Most of us have sought the calm and peace of the lake, streams and the myriad trails along the Rouge River Headwaters. Our children play here and ride their bikes and scooters along these trails. After a long and windy winter, garbage has blown around neighborhoods, into our parks, wetlands & woodlands. Lets join hands to help cleanup our community so we all can continue to enjoy this natural haven in its clean and pristine form!

Community Service:
As a small group of friends, we can work together to protect and preserve this natural habitat. The clean-up drive will educate us all of the importance of not polluting the place we call home. This will teach children social responsibility and connect them to the land where they were born. We can all do our bit to make the world a better place and develop an appreciation and love for the natural world.

Lets soak in some sun and have fun while serving the community!!!

Adults, kids, seniors ...all are welcome to join! 
High school students can earn "community volunteer hours"
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A big thanks to all who participated in the Clean-up Drive!! Thanks! Joe Agg from Richmond Hill Naturalists for the support and the equipments.  

  

Nesting Goose: Love is at the heart of creation

The same goose making her nest this year

Every April through September we get the great opportunity of watching the Canadian Geese go through another cycle of birthing and rearing the little ones. It seems like I will never ever tire of watching them. Last year, I found four nesting areas alongside the wetlands and the marshes. So this year it was easy to look for them as the goose will choose the very same spot again. Everyday after I pick my children from school, we walk over and check on the nesting goose.

Its been a few days now since I saw her preparing the nest. The mother goose plucks soft down from her own breast to line the nest for the delicate eggs. The last two days were harsh with the relentless rain pouring throughout the day. The mother goose was still there with her head tucked low. She still had a long way to go..almost a month. She will not eat, drink, or bathe while incubating. The father goose is constantly on guard standing nearby so she accomplish the immense job that nature has bestowed on her.

This is the time when extraordinary effort, dedication, selfless love, sacrifice .. all come together to continue the song of creation. From now until October, the couple have only one goal and that is to ensure that their little goslings survive. Do we need any other examples of a great mother, a great husband and a great father? If this is not love, what else is??

Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation - Rabindranath Tagore

Still bleeding ..

Spring is slowing getting here and the earth is warming up under the bright sun. I was walking along the nature trail lined with trees. Some of the branches were chopped last fall because they arched into the walking path.

Every cut is still bleeding..

I noticed that the chopped ends were very wet and the tree had stains all around the cut. I looked closer and saw that tree sap was gushing out from every single cut. I realized that the tree had not yet recovered from last years cuts. The wounds are still raw and bleeding profusely ..

Mother's Notes For Me

My mother wrote down a few Bhagavad Gita verses and their meaning for me on a sheet of paper when she came visiting a few years ago. I am sharing them here because they contain beautiful messages and very valuable instructions for living a righteous life.

My sweet mother's writing

klaibyam ma sma gamah partha
naitat tvayy upapadyate
ksudram hrdaya-daurbalyam
tyaktvottistha parantapa
This shlokam goads one to face life boldly and fearlessly and to never lose heart. We should never run away from the hardships of life. Hardships fall back when we cease to flee from them. It says, do not yield to unmanliness. It does not become you. Cast off such petty weakness of heart and arise.

karmanye vadhikaraste 
ma phaleshu kadachana, 
ma karmaphalaheturbhurma 
te sangostvakarmani 
An action is righteous only if it done without an ulterior motive. It is your right to work only but never to its fruits. Let not the fruits of action be your motive, nor let your attachment be to inaction.

uddaredtatmanaatmanam 
atmana ma va sadayet
atmaiva atmano bandhu 
atmaiva ripuratmana
(This is my favorite) You must love and respect yourself first. You must uplift yourselves. You should never undermine yourself. You alone are your friend and you alone are your enemy.

mattah parataram nanyat
kincid asti dhananjaya
mayi sarvam idam protam
sutre mani-gana iva
These is nothing superior. Like pearls strung on a thread, everything is hooked unto me.
All of creation is connected to the divine.

yathakasa-sthito nityam
vayuh sarvatra-go mahan
tatha sarvani bhutani
mat-sthanity upadharaya
Understand that just as the mighty air is ever present and blowing everywhere in the atmosphere, the divine spirit pervades in all of creation (from the largest to the smallest, in animate and inanimate things). We have to live our life with a constant awareness of this truth.

The last mango tree, the last solace ..

On my recent trip, the mango tree still stood, laden with small green mangoes from every single stem. I didn't expect to see it this time. This tree which once stood in a lush orchard of mango and coconut trees is the last one still standing. As the city grows eating up every bit of free earth, the concrete jungle is closing in fast on this tree.

Sitting in the balcony of my parents apartment in the high rise building opposite this plot of land, I have watched all those who have sought the solace of this tree.

An old man who slept on the bench in the afternoon, poor mothers from the area who tied their saree to a low branch of the tree and rocked thier babies to sleep, the stray dogs that curled up under the bench, the construction workers who gathered there for a brief respite from the toil. The young school boys who plucked and ate the tart mangoes. The squirrels that ran up and down the tree and the pigeons and crows who called the tree home. 

This tree will be sorely missed! Nobody can save it from its doomed fate.....it is only a matter of time ..

Rural life has everything and more ...

I was in awe of the rural women I met this time. Their bodies were fit and agile with not an ounce of extra flesh. They had busy lives cooking, sweeping, mopping, collecting firewood, washing clothes in the stream, daily long walks to get chores done, outdoors under the afternoon sun for several hours grazing the mountain goats in the wilderness, tending to grand children.

I compared them to their counterparts in the city, my parents, relatives, their friends and other folks. Though much younger in age they could hardly boast of a fraction of the physical abilities of these rural women. All of them were overweight from over eating, hours spent watching TV and maids to do the household chores. The city folks were perpetually complaining of aches and pains, various ailments that plagued their bodies, medicines and hospital visits.

The more I see, the more I am convinced that a rural life has in it everything that a human needs to live a healthy, productive and fulfilling life to a ripe old age. The naturally healthy food, pure air, clean water and the daily physical activity keeps the mind and body in top form.

The Joy of Learning

"Joy of learning".. I've heard this many times, but it is only now that I truly experience the joy of learning.

These days the highlight of my week is my violin and dance classes. How I look forward to the tuesday and thursday evening classes. In those few hours I completely lose myself. I forget who I am... that I am a mother, my profession, my age, the chores, deadlines, ..everything disappears!! I am oblivious to the surroundings, the little kids in the class decades younger to me or the frigid weather outside. In those brief interludes time comes to a standstill and I am just a humble student with a simple desire to learn.

There is no pressure, no goals, nowhere to reach, nothing to prove and no one to show. At the end of the day, after I finish all my duties as a homemaker, mother, wife, daughter-in-law and a working professional, I learn if time permits and when the opportunity presents itself.

As strange as it may seem, I have no desires for vacations, restaurants, shopping, movies and other forms of entertainment. I have everything I need in the ordinary routine of my daily life. 

That is the way to learn the most, that when you are doing something with such enjoyment that you don't notice that the time passes - Einstein