A storm passes over …
… and starts to clear.
Happy Saturday.
Evening Storm
Tag Archives: countryside
A Lovely Day
We are heading out on Saturday for a big road trip to Toronto and back which will be closely followed by another one around Iceland. Since at the moment we’re so busy getting ready, I’m closing comments here but I’ll still be visiting your blogs and keeping up with your posts.
If you’re in the northern hemisphere, I hope that spring has sprung for you or that you’re getting close. Happy Thursday. 🌺
Creek Walk
We live near the Penticton Creek and I love to walk along its length. The trees, birds and sound of the water are all definitely very relaxing.
The creek is beginning to run quite high at the moment and all the nearby trees and bushes have leafed out or turned green, so it’s beautiful to walk there in the sunlight.
This last section of creek before it empties into Okanagan Lake is lined with cement from the early 1950s when the city leadership thought this approach would help to control flooding. That notion certainly didn’t pan out; all it did was cause a serious problem for our landlocked salmon – kokanee – to swim upstream to spawn.
Most of the creek has now been revitalised and returned to its natural state with the rest to be completed in the next couple of years. With ladders in that last bit of unrestored creek, the kokanee are beginning to return home. The picture above from last autumn shows them on their way to mountain lakes. Unfortunately, not all of them make it as you can see, but that’s how it is in the natural world.
Happy May. 🌼
Okanagan Views
We took a long-way-around drive in the countryside to visit a favourite winery.
We tried a new production year of a wine we have repeatedly enjoyed and also admired the view from the huge floor-to-ceiling windows of their very comfortable tasting room.
Many of their vines suffered in the unexpected January cold snap and they have been severely pruned back so that the plants’ energy can be diverted into root recovery rather than spent on fruit growth.
This particular winery will get past this difficulty because it has stored juice from previous years and they have survived hard times before by creating (and succeeding hugely with) unique blends. Unfortunately, many others, especially the small ones, don’t have that kind of fallback. I understand that the government will be allowing wineries to buy juice from Ontario (and will also subsidise costs) until this hurdle has been cleared.
On the way home we stopped in several places to take a walk and enjoy the views and although we had a couple of sun showers we didn’t see that as a negative.
Happy Tuesday.
Showers and Flowers
We’ve been getting many short, gentle showers recently. They come and go quickly, the sun comes out and the flowers are loving it!
Our April showers are doing well with producing May flowers, especially as they are definitely ahead of time!
Happy Monday.
#ScenicSaturday 27th April 2024:
This continuing series of posts depicts our beautiful world, encouraging viewers to share them and help save our unique home from human carelessness …
#ScenicSaturday 27th April 2024:
A gorgeous photo of the United Kingdom’s Yorkshire Dales, courtesy of Stuart Aken.
Arc-en-ciel
A few days ago I saw a particularly good rainbow. I didn’t have my camera but these cell phone pictures work okay, I think.
We have been having quite a lot of “sun showers,” where there’s a mix of rain-laden clouds together with sunny breaks.
The rainbow was in a perfect arc from north to south.
Rainbows are caused by refraction, the same process that produces sundogs. It occurs when light from the sun changes direction while passing through a medium denser than air, such as a raindrop. Refraction can produce some very beautiful sights.
The picture above shows that there was also a faint, secondary rainbow above the more defined one.
Happy rainbow Sunday. 🌈
Flowerday
I found these pericallis on a mobile gardening prep table that a couple of city workers were using to get them ready for planting in a park flower bed.
They were so beautiful in their colourful profusion.
Happy Flower Friday.
Cedar Waxwings
These beautiful birds are found year-round in southern British Columbia but particularly on Vancouver Island.
With their yellow tummies and bright red wing flashes, they are lovely to behold.
Happy Thursday.
The Okanagan’s Smallest
The Okanagan Valley is home to the cutest little quail that run – they do fly if they have to but mostly they run – very quickly through parking lots, across roads and under low-lying bushes.
More than once I have been completely startled by 20 or more quail bursting from under some bushes because they have been frightened by either me or something else that I didn’t see.
They will also burst out of hiding to distract predators from their chicks. These little birds are very small. They’re about 17cm (6.5 inches) long and weigh about 75g (3 ounces), so you can imagine how tiny their chicks are!
These birds are not native to British Columbia; they are in fact an invasive species brought here about 100 years ago. However, since they have not posed any kind of threat to any other species, they have found their niche and BC is now home.
Except for this species, that is. Every time they surprise me by bursting out of the underbrush, I have to find my heart and put it back!
Happy Wednesday.
In the Net! - Pictures and Stories of Life 