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
Yesterday was such a gorgeous day. The sun was shining and it was so wonderful, I decided to share with all of you. So instead of my usual “regular” (cough, cough) posts, you’ll get a different animal or group of animals every day.
Let’s get started:
© Giliell, all rights reserved
We’ve got many cute or interesting creatures here, but none as beautiful as our snow leopards.
© Giliell, all rights reserved
© Giliell, all rights reserved
© Giliell, all rights reserved
Enjoying the sun like the rest of us.
As I predicted, nothing very much happened for about a month. The only visible change was that the leaves got more and more dark green and opaque, as the tree ramped up its chlorophylls supply. And the stem got a stiff wooden core and thickened again, gaining back the volume it originally had when it was all bloated with water. Subtle changes, they only could be observed up close and if you knew what to look for, but they are vital for the tree.
Last weekend the tree started to grow again and during this week it sprouted a new leaf and at the end of it there already is budding of another one. What will happen next is that the tree will sprout one long(ish) shoot upwards and one long(ish) root downwards. This first year I will leave it grow more or less uninterrupted to get a strong sapling. However the seed was fairly big, and the tree already is nearly as big as some of my current bonsai trees and I expect it in first year grow at least a few decimeters in height.
The growth rate and pattern will later on decide on what kind of bonsai it will be, but it seems that about 50-80 cm height in Chokkan or Hokidachi style will be about right for this species. I have no experience with persimmons (and I choose to not look it up), but plenty with other species. So far it does not look like it would be suitable for the more “dramatic” styles – its growth pattern this first month is very similar to that of sycamore maples and the leaves are fairly big too. The distance between the nodes is very short, and if it stays so, that would be excellent.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
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…]
The snow is melting now and the weather is sunny and moderately warm. But when it was snowing and freezing, I had a bit of luck and a few goldfinches visited the feeder, which does not happen very often. Pretty pictures that illustrate a very, very grim story.
©Charly, all rithgs reserved. Click for full size.
I seem to have seen a lot fewer birds on the feeder this year than previously. Almost no greenfinches, no bramblings, no woodpeckers, just very few blackbirds and siskins. I am not alone in this observation, it is scientifically documented trend across the whole of Central Europe, so much so that it was even reported in evening news in TV.
Then I have read that bird populations across Europe are collapsing, following a collapse of insect populations due to overuse of pesticides that kill both the insects and the plants they feed on.
And nothing will be done about it until it is too late, because not overusing pesticides would mean lower corporate profits.
©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.
Phil O´Sofy Toobe is great leftist channel. I do not agree with everything in his videos, but that is not because I disagree with him on principle – I disagree with him on practicality. In short, I think we are fucked beyond hope, because human race as a whole is irredeemable and this prevents sensible implementation of leftist policies on greater scale.
In this video he tackles some of the whats and whys behind science denialism. I recommend many of his other videos – and there realy are many. I still haven’t seen them all.
It’s time for another chapter in Ice Swimmer’s series.
Pond and The Building ©Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved
Right now temperatures change extremely between -5°C in the night and 15°c in the afternoon and the days, they’re getting longer. And all the hazel is blooming so I tried to claw out my own eyes because fuck allergies. So it’s time to for (hopefully) one last look at winter.
© Giliell, all rights reserved
© Giliell, all rights reserved
© Giliell, all rights reserved
© Giliell, all rights reserved
© Giliell, 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.