#2462 "Singleton Red Oak Crossroads"

The weather was going to turn colder. The cold front had passed through and the northwesterly winds were just starting to increase. I decided that if I was going to do any plein air painting, I had better get out there quickly. 

I took my Kubota Pallet Studio out to the Crossroads. This interchange in the middle of a rather large Provincially Significant Wetland, is very well used by nature. The Singleton ridges run northeast to southwest as remnants of the Laurentian Mountain Belt. 

This ridge of mountains resulted from the collision between the supercontinent Rodinia (1.1 billion years ago) and the ancient continent of Laurentia. The roots of this former mountain belt are known geologically as the Grenville Province which partially explains the name of our county. These ridges cross the walking trail I use to reach Point Paradise. We had watched the female bobcat cross the ice earlier in the morning and she would have followed the path headed toward the southwest. A couple of hours later I used the path that crossed her trail at right angles. There was always something to see at the Crossroads. 

I decided to paint the large red oak. Three large trees are the traffic lights of the Crossroads and the red oak is the probably the largest of those. The oak has a circumference of 114 inches (9.5 feet) at 36 inches above the ground. Simple math gives the diameter of this tree of about 36 inches (3.0 feet). It was old. 

As I painted I heard the trumpeter swans in the open water on Lyndhurst Creek to the northwest. The sound of their conversation carried a great distance. A whitetail doe flagged as she bounded away from me. She must have been startled by my presence although I am very quiet when I paint. I then heard a feline barking sound from a short ways to the northwest. The sound reminded me of the way the family cat will announce that she wants some food or attention. The female bobcat must have been returning from her hunting trip. A flock of chickadees also show up and buzzed around me and landed on the tractor. I will have to remember to pack some bird seed next time. 

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