Sun at Last

At last we have sunshine. This is the first day of 2006 that we've had sunshine in the morning. Other days we've had a few seconds of the sun almost showing through the clouds on maybe two occasions.



Catching the light of the sun, here are a few snow crystals that landed on newly frozen ice.

Winter Flower Remains

This is all that's left of a Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) that bloomed until late fall.

Sunflower House Book

I don't remember if I mentioned the sunflower house project that Églantine set up last spring for her late husband's grandchildren and our neighbour's child but it was a fun project for the spring, summer and fall. To help commemorate the events, I, with editing help from Églantine, wrote and printed up a small book for the children which I presented to them this past Christmas. We also printed up books for two other young visitors which they will get soon. Here is what the book looked like:
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Oops, I guess I should have put borders around the pages. I hope the lines in between will suffice as I am not going to spend any more time on this blog. It's been about a week in the making.

Winter Flowers and Insects

Églantine and I found the last flower of December and the first flower of January growing in a crack of the sidewalk next door to our place. The plant has been there since late summer but stopped blooming in November, I thought. Anyway, when Églantine and I went next door to deliver a present to our neighbour we found the plant again in bloom on December 30th. It is still blooming today although it's not showing itself in a wide open manner. Mind you, the temperature is just above freezing so I'm not too open outside either.



Also on December 30th we had about 5 minutes of sunshine. I just happened to be outside at the time and found this Praying Mantis egg case on a grass stem.



Note to KR - It's +2 C (35.6 F) with rain, fog, and cloud again. We saw the sun for most of the day on Dec. 19 and about 10 minutes since then.

Book Study

During the Month of January the Blog Reading Group, of which I am a member, called Whorled Leaves is reading and commenting on Bernd Heinrich's Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival. If you have any interest, feel free to join in on comments on the Whorled Leaves blog. Here is the introduction that I put up yesterday. (I chose the book for January.)

I first encountered Bernd Heinrich in his book Ravens in Winter. It was a wonderful look at raven behaviour and Bernd behaviour too. His approach to the world of nature is unique, interesting, and enlightening. I am sure that you will enjoy his shorter notes on the variety of animals he looks at in Winter World.

I found it interesting that Bernd starts his book with references to Jack London's "To Build a Fire" on page one of his introduction. If you've missed reading that short story by Jack London, try to find it and give it a read. It's a fine introduction to an attempt of human survival in bitter, biting cold. It was the cold of the Yukon and much colder that I have ever tried to endure. I think that I, like Bernd, was a bit obsessed by Jack London when I was a youngster. It never occurred to me that I would ever face cold like that but it has happened to a lesser degree. I took part in a winter survival course and spent the night outside in a snow shelter at -30 C on one occasion and was out cross-country skiing at wind chills of -40 C on another. I am not sure that Bernd's book would have helped much on either trip but it would have given me more to look at and think about during those times. Bernd looks at kinglets, weasels, squirrels, turtles, beavers, frogs, insects, bats, bears and butterflies among other animals in this book. Some of the methods of staying alive will astound you and you may find yourself out in the woods looking for some of the animals in the near future. Happy reading and let us know what winter adventures you have had and what interests you about Bernd's studies.