Sunday, September 26, 2010

Opposites Attract??

This is actually an old pic I just found in my archives.

Is this a case of His and Hers? A case of 1 Hummer + 1 Smart Car is equivalent to 2 Normal Family Vehicles?
I thought that if a Smart Car and a Hummer parked in the same driveway, they would trigger some law of physics that automatically converts them both into anti-matter.
They are so totally pretending not to know one another.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Sockeye Salmon Run

Saw a bit of spawning action in the creeks around Adams River (in the Shuswap, an hour past Kamloops) this past weekend--the Big Run hasn't started yet, but will be rolling in the first week of October. (I include Salmon Reports in this blog because of their clear correlation with Life Cycles.)


We walked up Bear Creek and I caught a live-action fish-fight between two males: one defending his territory with a female already digging her nest.


As if ten thousand (?) gill-netters, and five hundred miles of rapids wasn't enough, how about a little sabotage by members of your own species to round things off? Reproduction is a tough gig.


Scotch Creek (below) was awash with dead fish, likely because water level rose with the previous night's rain and dislodged the masses stuck along the banks. This run was almost over, with more carcasses floating downstream than live fish heading up.



The Adams River Run will be something to see for sure...neat how each creek population spawns sequentially. Stinky. Take your fish nose-plugs.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Crazy Beautiful


Here is my lily bulb that finally decided to bloom. For two+ years, the amaryllis-like bulb threw out a few long lancy leaves and remained as such, winter and summer. Finally, this summer I placed its pot in a pan of water outside while I went away for a holiday. When I returned, I left it in the pan another week because it looked happy. When I retrieved it to put it back on my windowsill, I saw this new development...
There is something wonderful about a mysterious plant deciding to bloom. You feel as if it has finally decided to show up for your party. It has accepted your invitation.

The four buds continued to stretch skyward, one pair larger than the other. Then, I happened home one evening and discovered this...
After two+ years transplanted in its foreign home, the lily had the courtesy to choose the certain hour of day that I would be here to watch it unfold...

Have you ever heard a lily bud release the bond between petals and unfold? It is the sound of a silk egg ripping.
As soon as this happened, a scent filled the room; sweet, like a perfume called White Lily should be.
At this point, with the aid of a vintage black wool coat, my camera took me places I'd never been before. I am unabashedly in love with these photos...











Welcome to the Western World, Lily! Here it is in front of a painting I did about two+ years ago, inspired by the lily's origins. Hard to tell where Lily ends and imagination begins...