Aylen Lake

Labour Day Weekend or was it FUN-gus weekend

David_Ryan — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 18:08:17 +0000

Labour Day weekend was great this year. Lots of family including my son, daughter-in-law, daughter, grand-daughters, sister and of course my lovely wife. The weather was warm, if a bit humid. Most of the rain that we got came at night and it seemed like beach towels were never able to dry out because of the humidity.

That may also be why there was such a profusion of mushrooms. I’ve seen some interesting fungi before but I don’t recall a short space of time when so many different species have been fruiting at the same time.

Here are some of the better photos that I (and my daughter) took. As I am able to identify the various species, I’ll update the descriptions in the photos.

It hasn’t always been called Aylen Lake

David_Ryan — Thu, 30 Aug 2018 22:54:19 +0000

I know that for most of us, just saying the words “Aylen Lake” can be an anodyne to a hectic or stressful day. It conjures up memories of beautiful summer days, colourful sunsets, family and friends. But, our little bit of paradise has not always been referred to by its current name.

The First Nations who inhabited this area, the Algonquin, called this lake Obeongo-sis or “little opeongo”. In fact early maps and records refer to this body of water as Little Opeongo.

If you are a fan of old maps, have a look at the site algonquinmap.com. There you can find a map from 1901 that distinctly shows the name “Little Opeongo Lake”. If you want to have a look at that map, follow this link but note that it is a large compressed file (ZIP).

Hello Aylen Lake

David_Ryan — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 17:23:15 +0000

I’m going to have another go at keeping this website current. I’ve switched to a WordPress based content management system so I hope that will make updates easier.

Eventually I’ll open up commenting on the site so if you have suggestions or requests for content, I’ll be able to review them.