Photos of the Week

To someone from Saskatchewan, the idea that spring flowers start in January is very bizarre. Of course, here (in Victoria) there are some flowers that bloom all winter.

They're not the prairie crocus (Pasqua flowers) that emerge from the snow on the prairies, but spring crocuses are still a nice splash of color. Of course, neither the snowdrops or the spring crocuses are native like the prairie crocus.

There were two varieties of Witch Hazel with their unusual flowers.

These seeds (Stinking Iris?) reminded me of The Hidden Beauty of Seeds & Fruits book I've been reading. Their bright color caught my eye.

I liked this unusual fungus. I think it's Hairy Curtain Crust (who comes up with these names?)

See also my sister Penny's blog post

See all 13 photos in this batch

Photos of the Week

I haven't been getting out taking photographs much lately. Here's a few from a recent outing.

There are three types of Mergansers (diving ducks) here - Common, Hooded, and Red-breasted like this one.

There are also Buffleheads, another diving duck.

And of course, reflections.

I like all the moss and lichen.

There were quite dramatic clouds over the Olympic mountains (in Washington state, across the water)

See all 26 photos in this batch

Mountains of Books

I was looking for a bookmark and came across this one. It brought back lots of memories.

The Banff Book and Art Den was a fixture in Banff for 43 years, opening in 1965. My family made our first visit to Banff a few years after they opened. I wonder if we visited the book store? I wouldn't be surprised since my family are book lovers. Over decades of climbing in the Rockies, I made hundreds of visits and bought countless books.

After many years at the Clock Tower Mall they moved to their final location at 94 Banff Avenue, where the Patagonia store now is. They closed in 2009. It's always sad to lose a good bookstore. Amazon isn't quite the same.

Running

I finished up 2021 with my mileage for the last few months of 240, 250, 260, and in December 300 km. That progression was a bit of a surprise. I wasn't particularly trying to increase my mileage. And in December, it was in spite of record rain, record cold, and record wind, not to mention snow and ice. I haven't managed a run longer than 15 km in the last few weeks due to the weather. On the other hand, it wasn't -40 like Saskatoon! My total mileage for 2021 was 2900 km and I'll likely hit 3000 for a 12 month period before too long.

I went out this morning to try for a good time on a Strava segment and managed to set PR's for the kilometer and the mile. Despite getting soaked by the rain, and having to dodge around leftover snow and ice, I would have made top 3 for my age group (55-65) on the segment, but I messed up and didn't start in quite the right spot :-( Oh well, it's good motivation to try again.  (These "PR's" are since I got back into running in my 50's, I was faster when I was younger.) Getting competitive over a Strava segment is pretty meaningless, but on the positive side, it motivates me to do a little faster running to balance out all the longer slower runs.

With no travel because of Covid, and therefore no paragliding or scuba diving, I'm grateful that running is one of the things I can still continue to do.

As always, I am thankful that I am healthy and fit enough to run like this. I know not everyone is so lucky.

Best wishes to everyone for 2022.