Foggy Morning

A foggy morning on our current road trip. This was on the Middle Fork of the Clearwater River headed towards Missoula.

Foggy Hike

Last weekend we hiked to Jocelyn Hill from the McKenzie Bight / Mt. Work trailhead. It was foggy at first, but it didn't rain, there wasn't much wind, and the temperature was pleasant (+12 by the end). It's quite a long way from this end (about 10 km round trip) with a fair bit of up and down (600 m ~ 2000 ft) so it took us about 3.5 hours. The trail was pretty wet, running with water at some points, but that's the nature of this area in the winter. I only took a few photographs.

Arbutus trees are always interesting, but wet from the rain and fog they were glistening.

The Douglas firs were also sparkling with raindrops.

This is a favorite spot that I've taken similar photos of in the past.

I think this is an Orange Jelly Spot, although there are several similar fungus that it could be.

Photos of the Day

We went to check out the Metchosin farmers market and had a walk at the nearby Sea Bluff. I enjoyed the trees covered with moss and lichen.

I'm not sure what this is. I would guess it's an escapee from the farms nearby.

Instead of the Blue Jays in Saskatchewan, here there are Stellar's Jays. Not quite as pretty if you ask me.

Fall Colors

The fall colors have been beautiful as always. I've been so lucky to work at Innovation Place for so many years with their beautiful grounds and gardens. I often eat my lunch on these benches.

And the walk to work is also a joy on a sunny fall morning.

I always have a hard time deciding whether to flip reflections "right" way up, or leave them upside down. What do you think?

Photos of the Week

The jackrabbits have finally lost their white winter coats. Up till recently they still had a lot of white. I wonder what triggers their color change - length of day, temperature? Will they adjust to climate change? This one seems to have made it through the winter with no notches in its ears from frostbite.

I always like to see the larches flowering. If the flowers were bigger they'd be quite showy. But they are small enough that I don't think most people notice them at all. They get three kinds of buds at the same time - the new needles, the pink flowers which are female, and the other less showy buds that are the male flowers. The pink flowers become large "pine" cones, and the male flowers become smaller cones. It's interesting how the flowers are surrounded by new needles as well.

The aspen flowers are out all the way now.

The willow by the Innovation Place pond is not as far along. These buds look a bit like miniature corn cobs.

This smaller shrub's catkins were out though.

And last year's bulrushes are slowly disintegrating.

It's nice to hear the birds singing in the morning as the sun rises earlier and earlier.

Print of the Week

Another Spring Walk

It isn't exactly cherry blossoms, but I'm still happy to see the trees flowering.

And the geese looking for places to nest.

And hopefully the last of the ice photos for this winter.

This Mourning Cloak butterfly was more cooperative than the previous one. It might have been a little sluggish from the cold of the snow. It seemed like a strange place to choose to land.

This one was cruising up and down the back alley. I'm not sure if it was looking for food or mates.

This Ring-billed gull caught a crayfish. The crayfish put up a brave fight. When the gull put it down on the sand it reared up and waved its claws in the air. But a few stabs by the gull's beak and that was the end of the crayfish.

It was funny because earlier on my walk I had been thinking about how years ago I used to see a lot of crayfish claws and remains on the river shore. I was wondering if they were still around in the increasingly polluted river. I always assumed it was probably the gulls getting them, but I hadn't seen a gull actually catch one before. Clam/mussel shells also used to be common on the shore. I would guess  it was raccoons getting them. Nowadays it's mostly garbage on the shore - plastic bags, disposable cups, straws, and masks.

Prints of the Week

All spring, as usual, I've been taking photos of the trees coming back to life, flowering and sprouting leaves. I've fallen behind processing them, but here are a few that I decided to print as I was going through them.



The EM-1 with the 60mm macro lens works great for these kind of shots.



Your eyes wouldn't see a black background like this, just a deep shadow. But the camera can't handle the huge difference between bright sun and dark shade so the background goes black. A mirrorless camera with an electronic viewfinder is great for this kind of shot because you can see the exposure you'll get and easily adjust until it looks the way you want.



When I was taking this last one I was consciously trying to center it between the branches in the background but everything was moving in the wind. I almost got it.

Autumn

After an early fall with cold temperatures and snow, we've had a nice spell of weather recently. A friend has been reminding me I should take some photographs with my new iPhone 11 so I took advantage of a sunny morning. Regardless of the weather, the days are getting shorter and sunrise is getting closer to when I walk to work.



While some of the trees are bare, some are still full of color.



Not much wind and the river was calm and peaceful. (Except when the gaggles of geese went honking by.)



Such bright colors!





I'm afraid the pond is looking a bit stark. But I've still enjoyed a few last days warm enough to eat my lunch out here.



I've never really been into wide angle lenses. I'm more likely to shoot telephoto or macro. But I really should try it more because it gives a very different perspective. Most of the shots above were taken with the iPhone 11's new ultra wide camera/lens (14mm equivalent).

I still prefer my "real" cameras, but there's no question that cell phone cameras are getting better and better.

See all 9 photos in this album