As the sun lowers, the path entering the little 'quiet corner' of our garden is particularly inviting — the sunlight glowing through the leaves, and the variety of colours dappling the path itself, and one lone vibrant fuschia — It all suggests something of the beauty of the space on the other side of the small archway...
Spending a few days in 'town' offers a chance to walk the paths along Mosquito Creek. The delight of these walks comes not only from the beauty alongside the tumbling creek-water, but the poignancy of recognizing these are likely last days before the green leaves the trees (so to speak). The sunlight shining through the still vibrant green is more precious perhaps because these days are so limited. But its not only the colour and light. For me its also their shadow patterns on the path — constantly shifting, and intriguing.
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The photo above is one of my favourite points on the trail where it diverges around a grand moss-clothed maple. To the left it goes down to the creek itself. To the right, up to the road. The main trail is straight ahead, past the maple, following alongside the creek.
Last week we ventured out to Salamanca Point. The access path opened to a stunning view— the open strait, from NW to SE— but it was the tafoni that was particularly awesome. Galiano's sandstone shores are a great place to study tafoni — the intriguing shapes sculpted in the sandstone— but I think this particular spot is one of the best on the island.
The slant of the afternoon sun called attention to the variety of shapes with patterns of shadow and light, gentle curves and straight lines, the regular pitting and the random swoops and hollows.
Watch for further photos of tafoni in later posts. Its one of my favourite 'subjects'.
I've been asked about the image on my Curious Spectacles Welcome Page, so I thought it best to post a special post to respond to the question.
The photo is a close up of a piece of arbutus bark that caught my eye. It was quite a large curl of the delicate and brittle skin that's characteristic of those precious trees, and I was struck not just by the size and colour, but by its own 'eye' design as though it were looking back at me.
I figured it was an auspicious image*, just the right thing for this blog.
*I've enlarged and edited the photo to simplify the pattern, using Topaz Simplify with Aperture (my main photo app).
