This is our first native new flowering species for the year. (I am not counting all the flowers that keep blooming all year long.) For more information and views of where it grows, have a look at my earlier Flickr photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ontario_wanderer/3315594393/in/photostream/
For lots more information look at this site:
http://www.natureinstitute.org/pub/ic/ic4/skunkcabbage.htm
I spent many an hour half under a cow with a bucket and tired, sore fingers trying to coax out milk for the family and the cats in this old barn. I was never too good at hand milking and didn't like being there but I was there to the finish, or else. This photo was taken long after I left home and the barn was no longer in use. Now the barn, most of the family, all the cats and all the cows are gone and there are only memories and most of them are mine and fading.
This one is a mystery to me too. It is a lichen and growing on a Black Walnut tree. If anyone knows their lichens and can give a name, I would be grateful. Meanwhile, I will have a look through my lichen book and see if I can find a name. I've not had much luck identifying lichens so far.
We were to do a "quick sketch" for a painting class on Wednesday. 2 1/2 hours later I was still struggling with something I did not like much. Everyone else seemed to like it a lot more than I. I really need to work more on portraits I guess. I feel much better drawing plants and flowers.
As of today, I have seen this species of flower in bloom at least one time in every month of the year in southern Ontario, Canada. It is Periwinkle, an import from Europe, I think. I certainly did not expect any flowers at this time last week and, according to the forecast, it will be buried in snow again by tomorrow or the next day. We've a lot of winter to go yet but it was nice to have this little treat!
I also found three other species of plants in bloom yesterday: Pennycress, Common Chickweed, and Groundsel. There is also a Witch Hazel in bloom at the RBG Woodland Gardens.
This chap was up to the top of the waterfall and back down while two others moved less than 2 metres. I suspect that he was one of the instructors just showing the students what was possible. It was interesting to see 5 sets of ropes set up for climbing on the falls.
Project 365 - Photo # 28 - Low Key #2
I made this papier-mache mask a few years ago using found materials. It seemed a good subject for the "low key" photo project this week. By photographing it in the bright setting sun and stopping the camera down a lot I was able to make the background and parts of the mask quite dark while the sun lit up the high points.
This is part of my running group at 6km of a 23 km run through very windy, snowy conditions today. Temperature was + 1 with a wind chill of - 4 and 40 km winds. (I ran a shorter 14 km distance in the cold yesterday. It was - 9 with a wind chill of - 18 and 30 km winds.) Both runners and snow were on the move both days. This is the last of my Flickr project 365 "movement" photos for this week.
