We hang the laundry in all temperatures unless it’s precipitating. Yesterday was sunny with low humidity and even with a -10 temperature, this laundry got mostly dry.
Images
Junco
In the middle of a snowfield, this Dark-eyed Junco finds the bit of suet I dropped.
The Colour of Eggs
A co-worker recently gave me a dozen eggs from her mothers’ flock of Ameraucana (sp?) hens. Don’t know that I have ever seen blue or green eggs before. Pretty and utilitarian.
Face plant.
No, not a face plant. Faye busted me stretched out capturing a ground-level view of light and shadow.
Adapting
These ‘weeds’ live in a very harsh environment – on the beach where the wind constantly blows. Thursday it may have been blowing 70 kph or more. The sun bakes down, winter and summer, radiating intense energy. The temperature varies from -25C to +30C throughout the year.
Yet these ‘weeds’ will almost certainly revive, bloom, reseed. They will live, thrive, because they adapt. They live in this environment, they adapt to it. They remind me that life, living, is about adapting to, accepting unpleasant as well as pleasant situations.
Light and shadow
Lighthouse, Goderich
We drive to Goderich today. Among other sights I admired the lighthouse from the beach, an angle I have rarely thought of. The tree’s round, soft, monochromatic shape is an interesting counterpoint to the lighthouses’ right angles and the red of the lantern house.
Playing
I’ve owned Stella for over ten years now and Achilles for almost seven. For all of that time they have gotten along well and been good play partners. Stella is the more assertive of the two so Achilles’ more deferential temperament is a good complement. Having said that Achilles is often the one to instigate play sessions.
Beng older now (Achilles who knows, our best guess is ten with Stella being almost eleven) they play less. It’s interesting to see how Achilles uses his 20 pound size/weight atvantage to push missy dog around while Stella counteracts with her quickness, darting and boxing. Sometimes Achilles would (and still does) simply butt-tuck and race around the yard, zooming up to and past a nearly stationary Stella. I came across this sequence from March 2010.
Chili Dog circles in. Stella waits, hackles slightly raised yet ears and mouth relaxed.
Full speed and flat out he reaches the speed of sound. Zoom zoom. Hackles up but Stella’s facial and head expression was still playful. Achilles swept past and came in for one (or more?) strafing runs.
I’ve learned a lot about canine body language. The unknowing might watch them play and conclude that at times they are angry, fierce, blood is about to fly. I’ve never seen that. They growl, fling themselves at one another yet it’s play. When Stella has had enough she snaps and briefly chases Achilles; he understands and stops.
Bald Eagle
After fruitlessly scanning the treetops on both sides of the St. Clair River I looked up at the right place at the right time to capture this eagle around 1/2 mile away. Am very pleasantly surprised I even got it in the frame at that distance, at very high digital zoom, with a handheld camera. The camera is a Fuji FinePix S1600.
Across the river
I went down to the St. Clair River in search of Bald Eagles recently sighted there. While searching I took this photo across the river to the US. I’m estimating the distance at 1.1 kilometers or 7/10 of a mile. Not bad resolution for a handheld camera.
previouslytexan 