WTD#22 - A New Year

Suddenly the holidays are a distant memory, it is mid-January and the days are getting longer.  We have been blessed with a mild winter (so far) and some beautiful sunny days in the past few weeks.  Before all the snow came Dawg and I did one last hike in the Brilliant Terrace area, above Veregin's Tomb.

It seems that no matter the time of year or weather, there is beauty to be found, as in this cluster of maple seeds in the sunlight.

This is the bud of a cottonwood sapling, waiting for the warmth of spring to burst open.

Ponderosa Pine bark glowing in the sunlight.

Once the snow arrived we shifted into our routine of skiing, almost daily, on the Slocan Rail Trail.

One late afternoon we noticed a flock of almost twenty wild turkeys traversing a snowy slope above the trail.

Then, one by one, they flew up into the crown of a Douglas Fir tree to roost for the night.

I am always impressed when I see these big birds flying - it seems to defy the laws of physics.

Flying into the sunset.

The colours in the river are pretty spectacular these days.  This is the "whirlpool", near Kosiancic farm.

Some sunset reflections - same spot.

Etc.

Etc.

Looking north from the same spot.

Facing north, along a back-channel of the river.

Cottonwood skyline

Reflections in a pool in the back-channel

Cottonwoods illuminated by the afternoon sun.   What a joy to be out here on a beautiful winter's day, hey Pup?

"Why are we stopping again?"

WTD#21 - Falling Into Winter

It's been a rainy fall, but there has been the odd sunny break to brighten things up for a while.  The low angle of the sun this late in the year makes for warm, rich colors on the landscape.

This is some moss along the Selkirk College loop trail.  I have been reading Patrick Lane's beautiful memoir, "There Is A Season", and in one chapter he identifies some nineteen mosses and as many lichens which inhabit his half-acre garden in Saanich.  So now I've been shamed into learning my mosses, and have added "Some Common Mosses of BC" to my Christmas wish list.

These tiny mushrooms were growing among the mosses.  I may have to wait until my next lifetime to learn the names of all the mushrooms and fungi.

Rose hips provide a reliable source of rich colour in the late fall and winter.

I'm not sure what this plant is - seed heads from a vine of some sort, growing along the Selkirk College trail.

I was amazed to still find buttercups in bloom on November 26, also along the Selkirk trail where it follows the Kootenay River.

These Barrow's goldeneye ducks apparently overwinter here at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia rivers.

Some fall leaves against a very dark background.

Slocan River, late November.

These cottonwood trees by the river seem to be dancing or gesturing.

Thimbleberry leaves.

Snowberry, aka waxberry, along the Slocan rail trail.

Snowberry with a droplet.

Wet Oregon grape leaves.

Bracken fern.

Cottonwood leaves with frost.

Cottonwoods and conifers along the Kootenay River near the canal.

Beaver pond near the Kootenay canal.

Ice crystals are forming on the pond.

And on these wetland grasses.

A bulrush silhouetted against a rare blue sky.

"We'd best soak up some rays while we can!"

WTD#20 - Fall Again

Yes, I guess it is still fall, technically, and we are enjoying a mild spell for early December, but I'm sure the snow is not far off.  Dawg and I have been enjoying our walks in the hills and valleys around home, when we can find time between those last minute chores that always seem to pile up against the impending winter.

These trembling aspen were in full autumn regalia on a hillside in the Pass Creek area.

Aspens provide a brilliant backdrop for a solitary lodgepole pine sapling.

Inside the aspen grove.

Aspen leaves with water droplets.

Ocean spray with seedheads and a few remaining leaves.

More ocean spray.

I'm a sucker for backlit thimbleberry leaves.

Like I said.

The elders have lost their leaves but not their berries.

Leaves and berries along the rail trail, with the Slocan River in the background.

Poison ivy on the edge of the rail trail.

The trumpeter swans have returned to the Slocan River up near Lemon Creek.  This family of two adults and four juveniles allowed me to get quite close for some photos.

It was encouraging to see that four cygnets had survived in this family.  Altogether we estimated forty or fifty swans in the river here - just a guess though.

There is something magical about these birds - they figure so prominently in our mythology and art for a reason, I suppose.  Something almost archtypical about them that reaches a deep region of our being.  What do you think Dawg?

I think you must be some kind of swannabe - arf, arf, arf!