I remember when trees used to be the biggest things in the landscape.
Family farm and wind farm ©voyager, all rights reserved
Jack’s Walk
Affinity
Art, Fun, & Nonsense.
I remember when trees used to be the biggest things in the landscape.
Family farm and wind farm ©voyager, all rights reserved
How low does a woodpecker go? Apparently all the way to the forest floor if that’s where the bugs are.
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The proper name for this path is the Millennial Trail, but I generally refer to it as the Drunken Forest because of all the tipsy trees growing at odd angles. They’re not all leaning in the same direction and some of them lean over so far they seem to be defying gravity. They all seem healthy and happy, though. It’s a very curious sort of place.
Lean to my right
Lean to my left
Tipsy trees ©voyager, all rights reserved
No Hot dogs!
Just a reminder from Jack and I that it is never safe to leave a dog in a car in hot weather. Even if you are parked in the shade and the windows are cracked. Even if you leave them water. Even if it is just for a minute. It only takes a few minutes on a hot day for the inside of a car to reach 48 – 50° c (120° f.)
Dogs are unable to sweat and their panting can lead to dehydration. Because of this it’s especially hard for dogs to cool themselves, making them quickly prone to heatstroke which is a life-threatening emergency.
If you see a dog alone in a hot car call 911. If you think the animal cannot wait for emergency assistance and you intend to break into the car please advise emergency services about what you intend to do before doing it.
Be smart. Leave Rover at home and pass the word. No Hot Dogs!
Just a few happy, wild daisies to brighten your day.
Happy daisies
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A few photos of the stuff that grows wild around here. There’s lots, so I put most of them below the fold.
Queen Ann’s Lace and a hint of Dame’s Rocket marking the trail
It’s a hot day here so Jack and I went for a slow walk around the shaded pond at the park. We haven’t been here for a while because I’ve been avoiding the swans. They were incubating 3 eggs on the pond’s little island, but the last few times I was here both adults were off the nest and swimming together with no babies in sight. I was feeling sad that none of the babies made it, but I was wrong! There is one cygnet and I found him today with his proud and protective mama.
Proud mama and her cygnet
Feeding together
We also checked on the goslings who are now big, goofy teenagers. The area where they nest also has some younger babies, including one who looked freshly hatched.
Babies of all ages, even a newborn (bottom right)
The goslings are teenagers
Teenagers getting ready to shed their fluff
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I wish I could read insect hieroglyphics. Maybe this message says beware of falling trees.
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At this time of year there are so many beautiful flowers that it’s easy to forget some of the other pretty things in the wild. So today Jack and I are sharing a few small bubbles of bright orange fungus that we found poking their heads up. The focus is soft, but somehow it suits. I think it’s a waxy cap chanterelle, but I’m no expert on the fungus among us.
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One of the reasons that Jack and I started walking trails is because he’s allergic to grass. Walking on the stuff makes his feet itchy and he pick, pick, picks at them until they bleed. He takes allergy pills in the summer which help, but mostly we try to avoid the stuff once it starts to green up in the spring. That’s not easy when you live in a town where most everyone has a front lawn, so we took to adventuring on dirt paths and forested areas. Turns out we both love to traipse around and explore. We treasure hunt for stones and bones and pretty pictures. Sometimes we chat. Sometimes we sing, but mostly we just be together in companionable quiet. We’ve had so many wonderful times and it’s all because of those itchy feet.
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We were overtaken by a swarm of mosquitoes today on our walk by river. We were nearly at the end when the cloud of them descended. Poor Jack got a belly full of itchy, red bites. His mostly naked belly and groin are the only places the buggers can get to him because his fur is so dense. Little bastards got to me too, but my bites are more all over because I am handicapped by not having fur. I don’t know where we’ll go tomorrow, but I do know we won’t be walking beside this beautiful, serene, swampy breeding ground for pestilent, disease carrying, vampire insects who want our blood.
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Our ship traversed most of the Moscow Canal at night so I don’t have many photographs, but I think the story of how the canal came to be is tragic and deserves to be told.
The Moscow Canal was built between 1934 and 1937 under the direction of Stalin. It was a massive engineering project, larger in scope than either the Panama or Suez Canals. The project included 7 concrete dams, eight earthen dams, 8 hydroelectric power stations, 5 pump stations, 11 locks, 15 bridges and the Northern Passenger and Cargo Terminal. This massive system was built rapidly, being entirely completed in under 5 years. It was a huge accomplishment for the fledgling Stalinist regime and was celebrated. What wasn’t celebrated or even spoken of was the forced labour of the millions of gulag prisoners responsible for its construction. Their work was brutish and constant, relentlessly continuing throughout the harsh Russian winters. Food and supplies were scarce. Many prisoners lost their lives. Our group was told that if the project needed more workers, Stalin would simply direct the KGB to make more arrests.
The canal connects the Moskva River with the Volga River and gives Moscow access to the Baltic Sea, the White Sea, the Black sea, the Caspian Sea and the Sea of Azov. Because of this, the interior city of Moscow is known as the port of 5 seas. Today, the canal is an integral part of life in Russia. It connects the current capital city of Moscow with the former capital city of St. Petersburg and it’s vitally important to doing business in the country. It’s also beautiful, passing through areas of forest and farmland and dotted with picturesque bridges and cottages. Our ship slipped through canal at night, but there was still a bit of twilight as we entered the first lock. This was the first time our ship had moved out of harbour and there was an air of excitement on board. Passengers crowded the railings and spoke excitedly about the adventures that lay ahead. I felt that excitement too, but it was bittersweet because I couldn’t stop thinking about the story of the canal and all those millions of lives ruined or lost in its building.
Link to previous Post – Leaving Moscow
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Most of the wild iris that Jack and I find is small and purple so I was quite surprised to come upon this patch of tall, bright yellow plants. I’ve never seen iris this colour or size in the wild and that makes its finding a special treat. Only one plant was still in flower, but I’ve marked the location and next year I hope to get here when the full show is blooming.