Category Archives: nature

Commentary, nature, Photography

Evening on the Lake

10 Comments

After a mostly sunny day, the weather became overcast, but it was still about 20C (68F) and very comfortable for an evening walk.

We saw this sailboat heading into the Penticton marina for the night, which seemed a good idea to me as the wind was coming up quite strongly. It seems we are getting some residual effects from the typhoon that just crossed the Pacific and bumped into the coast. That interaction is much farther north in Alaska, but apparently, this is leading to significant weather impacts in the south, wind included.

Happy Sunday.

nature, Photography

Busy Spider

26 Comments

I saw this rather intricate web on top of a bush.

There were lots of bits of leaves and other detritus caught in it, but I didn’t see anything a spider would want to eat.

It’s possible that’s this is the work of spider mites (they actually eat the plants they live on) but I don’t think so. The bush seems to be healthy and growing and the web strands seem much too large to be the work of tiny mites.

Happy Friday.

musings, nature, Photography

Kokanee Power

16 Comments

The kokanee salmon have begun their arduous journey upstream to spawn and continue their life cycle.

Can you spot the little kokanee on the left? This creek is running quite low but it has a strong current. We watched this fish rest behind the ladder before swimming swiftly and energetically upstream.
Uncredited photo – kokanee salmon.

Kokanee are thought to be landlocked, freshwater sockeye salmon that separated from that species about 15000 years ago. It migrates upstream from lakes instead of from the ocean.

It’s a small species that grows to be approximately 2 kilos (about 5 lbs) at most, but is clearly a survivor.

Happy Wednesday.

nature, Photography

Smoky Moon

14 Comments

Right now we have a lot of smoke from a huge cross-border fire in Washington and British Columbia. The sky is literally overcast because of it.

Eerie red smoke moon.

The poor air quality is causing a very red harvest moon.

You can see the smoke even though it was quite late at night.

There seem to be intense wildfires everywhere. Here’s hoping for lots of steady rain, and soon.

Happy Tuesday.

food, nature, Photography

Saturday Market

29 Comments

Penticton has a thriving farmers’ market that operates in the downtown every Saturday from mid-April until the end of October.

One of the flower stalls.

M and I try do our weekly fruit and vegetable shopping there.

The market has an average of 8000 shoppers every Saturday.

We go early to avoid the crowds and we bring along our list and the shopping bags. Since all the produce is seasonal, we have to be ready to make adjustments.

Part of today’s haul!

Today we found beefsteak tomatoes, white peaches (on the lower left in the photo – the best peaches ever!), patty pan squash (in the bags), and honeycrisp apples. We also found mushrooms, basil, yellow beans, plums, and of course, sunflowers!

Autumn is the season of deliciousness!