Category Archives: Photography

nature, Photography

In the Duck Zone

18 Comments

During the summer our resident mallard duck flock scatters all over the parks, beaches and gardens. They can be found almost anywhere, especially if there’s a bit of water nearby.

Skaha Lake beach, July

When the sun starts to shine and the days become warmer, they quickly abandon their over-wintering spot in Penticton Creek. Right now, only a few can be found there.

Penticton Creek, August

But when it gets colder, they will occupy “Duck Creek” once more, and lots of people – including the city – will make sure they have enough to eat to generate the calories they will need to make it to spring.

February dinner time.

Have a duckie day!

Photography

August Marmots

18 Comments

I haven’t recently been seeing many of our local marmot colony members. I think it’s just too hot for them and so they’re staying in their burrows where it’s much cooler.

On an early morning walk a couple of days ago – it’s too hot for me, too – I did see a few of them out and about. Someone had left them some fresh cherries which is a healthy food for marmots, so they were busy transporting them inside.

One decided that napping was much preferable to moving the produce, though!

It’s always a treat to see these sweet little animals. They seem so happy with one another and are certainly very chatty and affectionate.

Happy Friday; happy weekend.

nature, Photography

Flower Power

23 Comments

Right now we have beautiful hydrangeas blooming everywhere. They are very sensitive to soil conditions which is why we can find a wide variety of stunningly attractive colours.

This blue and light yellow is caused by a higher aluminum content in the soil.
A lower aluminum content will tend to cause pink flowers.
Red hydrangeas aren’t common, but their gorgeous colour is caused by exposure to iron.
I’ve never tried this, but apparently, adding coffee grounds to the soil will cause hydrangeas to become a deeper blue as this allows the plant to better access aluminum.
The ever-lovely white hydrangea. These aren’t affected by soil pH; they maintain their creamy colour no matter the conditions.

Have a flower power day.

nature, Photography

Inside Passage to Port Hardy, Part Two

22 Comments

You can read Part One here: https://lynettedartycross.com/2024/07/29/inside-passage-to-port-stanley-part-one/

On our return from Haida Gwaii which is off the northern coast of British Columbia, we took the ferry ship Northern Expedition through the Inside Passage to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island.

Our route to Port Hardy.

We had an incredibly smooth passage with one section through open water that was also an easy sail. One of the perks of summer sea travel!

The tranquility allowed the passengers to really enjoy the scenery while on the outside decks.
Although somewhat overcast, the temperature and weather were perfect.
The ship’s passage through the water made very gentle ripples.

We passed other vessels, especially small cruise ships, travelling north.

This one is called Le Boreal, a small cruiser with ice-breaking capabilities.
Exiting the Inside Passage and heading south toward the open ocean on the last leg of our journey to Vancouver Island.
There was a small amount of chop and the wind picked up a bit, but it certainly wasn’t rough.
We passed a scenic lighthouse as we neared Port Hardy.
Port Hardy is small but quite busy with commercial fishing boats, ferries, small cruise ships and many private vessels.

The B.C. ferry system is reliable, comfortable and clean. It’s an excellent mode for exploring British Columbia’s coastal waters as the scenery alone is definitely worth the trip. As I mentioned before, the one drawback is the onboard food services which aren’t great, but you can go a long way to rectifying that by bringing along your own in a cooler.