Category Archives: Exploring

The Point this morning

click on the file for a larger view
click on the file for a larger view

The days begin with a walk to Flagpole Point before breakfast.
In part it is a necessity, to walk the dog, but equally important is that this outing provides me a chance to appreciate the uniqueness of each morning. Though it is the same place, the variation is infinite:   light, colour and texture  in differing combinations.
The rising sun's position is constantly shifting with the seasons,   tides varying with moon-phase, wind and weather, clouds, fog, rain,  or clear... Add to this, the cast of birds and small animals. I never know just what the morning jaunt will offer: kingfishers, herons, otters, harlequins, eagles, mink, seals...

It has long been my habit to record these first glimpses of the day there with a few photos, usually just on my iPhone, but sometimes with my 'big' camera. Recently it occurred to me to share some of my morning glimpses with others, so I created a Flickr Album Mornings at Flagpole Point  which you can view here.

My aim is to post one a day. Sometimes, like yesterday when we had a power outage I couldn't post. There are bound to be other missed days here and there, but mostly it'll be a daily photo.

Thanks so much for enjoying these glimpses of the world with me.

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driftwood creatures

Driftwood shapes - (click on image for a larger view)
Driftwood shapes - (click on image for a larger view)

Since my early days spending my summers exploring the beach, clambering on logs, playing day-long games and building forts with my friends, the tangle of silvered roots has evoked imagination and stories, conjured images of creatures both friendly and fierce.
I don't clamber quite so quickly now,  and I am exploring different beaches, but my love of the driftwood shapes remains as active as ever— it is simply part of me. (Rooted in me?) Yesterday's walk along the sandstone shore, this marvellous root caught my imagination again, and I've played with the image just for fun, and wanted to share it here.
I wonder what creatures you see? and what stories it suggests?

Chicken of the Woods…

Chicken of the Woods 2016-07-10IMG_1865IMG_1865It wasn't what I was looking for.  I was after a photo of a Northern Flicker. But— as I  carefully crept along beneath the trees to get close enough for a photo,  a flash of a different orange caught my eye.

Nestled in the hollow core of a  very old fir stump was a beautiful fan of orange and yellow mushroom. Turns out it is known as  a ‘Conifer Chicken of the Woods’ (Laetiporus conifericola). I’ve seen it before growing on trunks of decaying fir trees, sometimes quite spectacularly, but the appeal of this sighting was accented by its cozy home low down, inside the empty round of the stump.

If I’d not been pursuing the Flicker, I may well have missed this beauty! I didn’t get the Flicker. He was long gone by the time I’d finished photographing the ‘Chicken of the Woods’.

(Note: The inside of the stump was in shadow in the morning, so  I returned later in the day when the sun was higher to get the photo above.)

a bonus walk

clematis climbing up the carport post (click on image for larger view)
clematis climbing up the carport post (click on image for larger view)

In the course of the day's demands, which today included the simple task of having a brake light replaced on my car, we found ourselves walking in a neighbourhood we hadn't explored before. The repair folk needed us to leave the car with them for a while, so off we set to explore the neighbourhood around the car dealership.  What an unexpected treat. The streets were quiet— almost deserted— and spring gardens were burgeoning with blossoms: japonica, forsythia, hyacinths, daffodils, pansies, flowering trees in full bloom including magnolias and cherries. So much colour. So much design and care and beauty.

The clematis that was climbing tenaciously up the supports of a carport, adorning an otherwise unassuming piece of architecture, was just one of the many strikingly beautiful treats on our walk.

And now my brake light is replaced! (bonus!)

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Photo Notes

Since I wanted to draw attention to the clematis itself, I've adjusted this iPhone photo using Photoshop for layers and masks, and Topaz Impression to add the desaturated  / textured/ drawing effect on the perimeter of the photo. 

 

 

Early Spring at Finlay Lake

Finlay Lake Conservation Area - Click on image for a larger view

Finlay Lake Conservation Area - Click on image for a larger view

We'd wanted to walk in to Finlay Lake for a while, so with the sun shining brilliantly, it seemed a good day to set out for this quiet spot.
The path leading through the forest was bursting with spring shoots, and the birds were singing in the canopy above us, and the winter wrens and towhees rustling in the ferns and salal.
When the path opened to the lake there were a few Buffleheads on the far side, but otherwise all was still. Occasionally a raven's call echoed through the trees, and an eagle flew past. Otherwise, simply stillness— but a stillness that is burgeoning with life.

More forest depths…

Story book forest v2 2015-02-12IMG_3617IMG_3617
- Deep Rainforest - click on the image for a larger view

 

Clearly I have an affinity to the deep mystery of rainforest beauty. The moody grey weather invited another walk along the lower trails of  Bluff Park. Its impossible for me to walk these paths without thinking of stories and fairy tales, and of Ents and Hobbits— I have yet to see one of those, but doesn't this scene make you wonder if maybe... if we waited very quietly ...  ?

This afternoon for a change of pace, I'll go and hunt for some early spring buds, but for now, its deep forest that I want to share.

 

The rainforest in winter

the wonder of the rainforest 2015-01-10IMG_3145IMG_3145 - Version 2I've always loved the forest. As a child I loved to explore trails in the woods, to build forts, and to take a picnic to a mossy spot and sit in the quiet— sometimes with a friend. The forest has always been a place of wonder and mystery for me.
It remains so— and to me it is most deeply mysterious and wonder-full in the depths of winter when the soaking rain and the January mist and fog moves amidst the trees. The strong shapes are softened  and the moss and lichens become almost luminous in the shortened daylight, as though they thrive in the winter, enjoying the relief from the droughts of August.

Some people have told me they find these short darker days with the low hanging cloud wearying. For me, along with the lichen-bearded cedars, soaking their roots in the sodden earth, and the moss that is practically jubilant in its lush growth, this is a happy time of year. It's the season of rest and replenishment.

I'll be ready when the exuberance of spring comes, and I'll  be ready to dry out in the summer. But for now, it's winter, and it is very good.