Some Fun

I ran again today, Peter- However, I think the Lion's Gate start on March 16 is beyond me
Would like to. You and I have had some good times since ESO La Silla, in ...?  1978?

 Were we ever so young?

I guess so - once knew a dog named "Guess". Quetico 1995 I think.

Anyway, I was "playing", today:

Odds and evens, is the challenge - much like croquet with the Queen of Hearts

:
So? What am I counting as even and odd?

I thought today was drab and needed some of Jörg's "Farbe":

The bird has yellow feet and so must be a ______ Egret! No sign of livestock.

W O B   - and enjoy the week.

How does one portray 8C in January?

I stood on the balcony when this question occurred to me:

I saw the reflection of the dock in the water on top of the ice - on top of water again.

I took the middle photo first and then cropped it. Then I played with it:

The sharpening of the branches evokes frost, but is actually just an artifact.

The other thing that struck me while standing bare-foot, was what would a Mayan think? The poor people of Ontario having to live in tents on ice because land is too expensive. And he probably would not have encountered true homeless people. And then that mansion on the hill overlooking the scene. Actually overlooking everything.

W O B

Diamonds on the soles/souls of their feet

When one dances, with wolves or with the wind, one expresses what is in one's heart. But where do these spirits get their diamonds? I went out yesterday afternoon and made some discoveries.

The fountains of eternal Winter.

And now to apply to the dancers' feet:

Will the music play this year?

I hope so.

W O B

An Alvar in January

I had the opportunity to explore some isolated alvars on Sunday. They were offside from cattle and snowmobiles and might be representative of wilderness recovery some 5 decades or so after the last serious attempts of humans to eke out a living from this land.

A burr oak:

Might be beautiful in Spring.
Lichen on overturned stumps - how old?

And a couple of typical(?) scenes of alvars:

There were tracks in the snow as well:

Any help in identifying any of them? Start with the moose and the snowshoe tracks and proceed from there.

W O B

The turkeys and sunset impressions

We saw cattle egrets here a couple of years ago and since that time we often drive by to see what is new. Like on Saturday afternoon we saw some 20+ turkeys:

We drove on to the Uhthoff Line heading down to Division East when we saw these 6, yes completely countable integer turkeys, what a contrast to counting trumpets!

But of course, you cannot see all 6 because they were too spread out to be recognized in the wide angle shots. We then went to Grant's Woods to look for barred owls without success. Still interesting to walk there in the twilight.

It is amazing how much there is to see when one is outside looking for beauty.

W O B

Saturday at the source of the Severn

It was a mild day and Vicki and I thought we'd leave the "cabin" fever behind and get some fresh air. We were expecting Trumpeter swans but not the 100 to 120 we counted - there were 2 other groups of each approximately 20 birds bringing the total to more than 150. And most were banded this year, even the young which might have made up nearly 50% of the birds we saw.

While we were watching the swans some motion on the snow caught our attention:

I then went up on the road bridge and took the next photos looking up river:

Then I crossed the road and looked down stream:

I'll leave the turkeys and sunset impressions for another time.

W O B