Ice Swimmer’s here and today he has rocks to show us. Be still my heart…..
Shaped by Ice Age. ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
The rounded forms of the rocks come from the Ice Age. The bottom of the glacier was full of rocks embedded into the ice that was quite flexible under the huge pressure, grinding the rocks into rounded shapes. [Read more…]
Nightjar has sent some wonderful photos of a wee little spider which you will find below the fold.
This month I haven’t been able to go out with the camera much, but today while gardening I came across this tiny flower spider on an African Daisy and immediately thought I had to share it. Later in the day I checked back on it and it had already managed to catch a little fly! Sadly I couldn’t take a photo because by then there wasn’t enough light available to photograph such a tiny subject with my gear. I will surely keep an eye on it from now on!
Big Bob, the largest tree in our small forest, ©voyager, all rights reserved
Conditions in town are still too dangerous for walking so Jack and I set out for the forest again and had a quiet, contemplative walk in the sunshine. I can finally see that the sun is climbing higher in the sky and even though it’s still cold the air carries a promise of spring. This is the time of year that I get the most frustrated with winter. I’m fed up with heavy socks and leggings and just plain tired of hats and scarves, mittens and boots. Why is it that the shortest month of the year always feels like it’s the longest?
I’m a bit weary of big and old trees so this week I thought we’d take a look at something a bit different, the Rainbow Eucalyptus tree (Eucalyptus deglupta) sometimes called the Mindanao Gum Tree
Painted Eucalyptus, photo credit Thomas
The Rainbow Eucalyptus is native to the Philippines and is the only species of Eucalyptus that’s native to the northern hemisphere. Like all eucalyptus trees it’s fast growing and it’s precisely all that growing that gives the tree its colour.
According to research by David Lee, professor at Florida International University and author of the book Nature’s Palette: The Science of Plant Color, the change takes place on the microscopic level. When the bark is stripped away, bright green chlorophyll is readily visible through a thin transparent surface layer that’s just one cell thick.
As time passes, reddish brown tannins build up in the surface layer, changing the apparent color. The chlorophyll beneath also dies down with time, creating the incredible fluorescent display that the tree is known for. The tree prefers wet, humid climates, and although the color can be observed anywhere, the display is brightest in the trees that grow in their native Mindanao.
What incredible trees. They can grow in excess of 60 meters and have been successfully introduced as decorative trees to many places including Hawaii and Florida. The trees like humid weather and do best when they’re their feet are wet. In their native Philippines the trees are used for pulp and paper making.
For more information and photos plus a short video I encourage you to check out the whole story at Treeographer.
Sunshine! ©voyager, all rights reserved
It’s a bright sunny day around here, but the weather remains cold, -7º C which feels like -12º C. I don’t mind the cold as much when it’s sunny, but I do mind all the ice that’s sticking around. We’ve had 2 ice storms in the past 2 weeks with snow in-between. We were supposed to have a few days of warming last week, but we really only had about 1/2 day of above zero temps and all that did was weld all those layers together to make thick sheets of ice that coat the roads and sidewalks. My city has done a poor job this year of clearing ice and snow and our side streets are coated with a 5 – 10 cm. thick layer of ice with deep potholes and grooves where the slush of car tracks froze quickly. They’ve been like this for over a week and the city is doing nothing about it. Driving down these streets is perilous and could easily ruin a car. As for the sidewalks, they are full of thick, slick ice that makes you fall down and go boom. I have cleats for my boots, but they’re difficult to manage because you need to high-step and stomp your feet with every step which is not easy for an old gal like me.
Our river path is also too slick for walking so Jack and I decided to visit our little forest path in the country to check out the conditions and we got lucky. There was packed snow, but ice in only a few places that we could go around. Also, the path has been roughed up by the dozens of people who walk their dogs there and all in all we had a pleasant walk. Best of all we found only minor damage to the trees from the 2 recent ice storms with just a few small downed branches. All of the big grandmother trees fared well. Hooray! I guess this is where Jack and I will be walking for the next little while because ice, ice baby turns out to be dangerous.
Let’s join Ice Swimmer on his walk around the island in the next chapter of his series.
This interlude is about colours, warm and cold, greens, yellows, reds and others.
Warm Cold Colours. ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
It’s another beautiful day on Harakka so let’s join Ice Swimmer on his walk around the island.
Wind Power in HDR ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
A HDR photo is generated using multiple photos with different settings from the same view. It is suited for stationary objects. Or when you want to play with things. [Read more…]
©voyager, all rights reserved
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Make love, not war.
Fresh Snow at the Lake. ©voyager, all rights reserved
Grey skies, grey light, trees in black and white. I’m hungry for colour and sunshine and maybe even just a break from frigging with the white balance on my camera. These softly lengthening days of February have been so dull this year that the extra daylight looks more like daylong twilight. It’s a good thing HappyJack™ has a happy tail to motivate me or I might not leave the house at all on days like this.
It’s time for another chapter in Ice Swimmer’s series.
Pond and The Building ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
An adorable, out of season find from Avalus.
I found this tiny shroom in winter.
I nearly walked past this little guy. ©Avalus, all rights reserved
It is cute’n’ TINY! Look at these splendid colours. ©Avalus, all rights reserved
How tiny? This tiny! ©Avalus, all rights reserved
Another icy day, ©voyager, all rights reserved
What a strange winter we’re having this year. Yesterday we had snow flurries in the morning, freezing rain in the afternoon and then snow flurries again overnight and this morning. It looks pretty, but under that blanket of snow there’s a thick layer of ice that makes walking treacherous. The ice is also still coating the trees and hydro wires which is a bit of a worry. It’s supposed to start warming up tomorrow again with a projected temp of +5 by Friday and after that who knows.