A jaunt up-island

We took a couple of days to drive up to Comox to visit some old friends who live beside a marsh. What a joy to see birds everywhere and to hear a chorus of frogs at night! The weather cooperated and I managed to get some photographs to share.

Evening at the marsh

Peaks seen from Mount Washington (where there was hardly any snow this winter).

Red Wing Blackbird on the deck railing. There were dozens of these beautiful birds with their amazing trilling songs.

A woodpecker tree

The marsh at midday

Aspens just beginning to leaf out

Beavers built this but it had to be dismantled so the water could flow.

Watery abstract

It was so wonderful to be in nature for two solid days.  I realize how much I miss this living in the city.


NOTE:

For Earth Day on April 25th, the new documentary by Rob Stewart, maker of Sharkwater, will be released. You must watch the movie. It's called Revolution and every single person in the developed world must watch it--before it's too late.  To see the trailer, click here

Ice flowers

My friend Jackie and I had such a fabulous time today photographing flowers frozen in ice.  

Something amazing happens when the flower is partly frozen in ice--it becomes very other-worldly.

To give you an idea how it's done, here's Jackie focusing on the upturned ice bowl.  She collected them  from her garden and froze them in water the night before.

You can find her photos and more at her blog:
fromtheothersideofseventy.blogspot.ca

To me these images have a kind of Victorian quality to them, perhaps because of the colours of the flowers she used. Plus the idea of pressed flowers. But there's the added dimension of the bubbles and lines of the ice that give them a magical quality.

And of course there's the bonus of the ice reflecting the ambient light in quite a lovely way.