Harvest Time

It's Hallowe'en today. Halloween, Hallowe'en or All Hallows' Eve, originally All Hallows' Evening, is celebrated or observed on October 31. It may have had its roots in European harvest festivals and festivals for the dead.

I thought I would concentrate on the Harvest festival theme today.

We have recently been in both the Okanagan (South central British Columbia) and Comox Valleys (Vancouver Island) and observed the harvest in both locations.

In the Okanagan the grapes were being harvested and wineries were busy picking, sorting, crushing and pressing. The harvest is eagerly anticipated by the birds and animals too.  We saw lots of birds (starlings, robins, sparrows, quail) but deer and bear also have a taste for grapes as well as insects; fruit flies are particularly abundant at harvest time.

Wine grapes are generally smaller than table grapes and range in colour from almost white to very dark blue-purple almost black.

Many of the grapes are protected by netting in the final weeks of their ripening.



But some looters are bipedal:



Once the grapes are ready (the sugar and acid levels are tested prior to harvest) they are picked. Some grapes are hand picked, others are picked by machine. The grapes are sorted and then an auger like machine removes the stems.



The grapes are crushed ....



Then left to do their magic ...




.... and pressed and then allowed to ferment.
The colour of the wine depends on the type of grape, and how long the juice stays in contact with the skins before pressing.

Here is a stray bunch of grapes and a lady bug.

Many thanks to Virginia (Orofino Winery) for taking the time to show me the grapes and allowing me to photograph the new crush and to Michael for organizing a spectacular tasting (La Stella Winery).

Scarecrows are a harvest symbol to me. 

The apples and pears were also ready to harvest.

Artichokes add a splash of colour to large flower planters in Osoyoos .. 

and pampas grass and cacti ripen at the side of the roadway.

Now we skip over the another market on Vancouver Island to enjoy the fall bounty:

On the Halloween theme I am sharing this link to photos of the Dunbar Haunted House in Vancouver; it is quite an elaborate display. Here is a sample  of their decorations from last year:

My Halloween decorations look nothing like this, just a poorly carved pumpkin and some artificial cobwebs, but then after the recent earth quake on the West Coast and the storm on the East Coast the world is quite scary enough for me as it is. I hope everyone has a safe Halloween.

Here is a picture that is almost finished. It is a watercolour and is inspired by a picture I took recently at a farmers market.

Thank you for taking the time to drop by my corner of the blogging world.

Happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next week .....

Chasing Rainbows

Chasing rainbows generally refers to trying to achieve something that is not possible or practical. About a week ago I was away in the Okanagan Valley for a break and to see the harvest (more on that next post) and  while there experienced some amazing rainbows.

The Valley had not had rain for 9 or 10 weeks, allowing for ripening and harvesting of fruit, vegetables, nuts and grapes. So when some storms brought rain (and rainbows) no one seemed to be complaining.

In the first picture I managed to capture two small planes as well:

I photographed two rainbows, the first seemed to shine right down on an orchard, and lit up the surrounding area.

Dreaming of Rainbows

"A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection of light in water droplets in the Earth's atmosphere, resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured arc."

"Rainbows caused by sunlight always appear in the section of sky directly opposite the sun.

In a "primary rainbow", the arc shows red on the outer part and violet on the inner side. This rainbow is caused by light being refracted while entering a droplet of water, then reflected inside on the back of the droplet and refracted again when leaving it."

"In a double rainbow, a second arc is seen outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colours reversed, red facing toward the other one, in both rainbows. This second rainbow is caused by light reflecting twice inside water droplets." (Wikipedia)

I did not see a double rainbow but here is the second rainbow, from much later in the day.

"The rainbow is not located at a specific distance, but comes from any water droplets viewed from a certain angle relative to the Sun's rays. Thus, a rainbow is not an object, and cannot be physically approached. Indeed, it is impossible for an observer to manoeuvre to see any rainbow from water droplets at any angle other than the customary one of 42 degrees from the direction opposite the Sun. Even if an observer sees another observer who seems "under" or "at the end" of a rainbow, the second observer will see a different rainbow further off-yet, at the same angle as seen by the first observer. 

A rainbow spans a continuous spectrum of colours. Any distinct bands perceived are an artifact of human colour vision, and no banding of any type is seen in a black-and-white photo of a rainbow, only a smooth gradation of intensity to a maximum, then fading towards the other side. For colours seen by a normal human eye, the most commonly cited and remembered sequence is Newton's seven fold red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet."

"Rainbows can be caused by many forms of airborne water. These include not only rain, but also mist, spray, and airborne dew." (Wikipedia)

This one seems to rest on the top of a hill.

Then slides down into the valley.












Just after the rainbow was gone:

So apparently one can't actually catch or find the end of a rainbow, well that won't stop me from trying.

Here is "Somewhere over the rainbow" sung by Judy Garland

This little lady followed me as I was taking pictures; I think she thought I had a treats for her, or maybe she was following a rainbow of her own.

The late afternoon light after the rainbows was beautiful.

Here is a little something for Master E and his Grandmama, both faithful followers of my blog. Master E had a severe respiratory infection and spent a few days in hospital last week. He is home now though and getting better with each day.  He requested a video, so here is a chickadee:

I have been away quite a bit lately and although I have started quite a few painting projects, I haven't finished any so I thought that I would share one of my favorites from a few months ago. This is "Path of Light" and it seems to me it contains all the colours of the rainbow:

  

This is a watercolour of a pathway that I photographed while in Italy a few years ago.

Well that's all for this week, Happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next time .............

Leaves for Leontien

An Autumn event to show our support for fellow blogger and farm gal, Leontien, who is battling cancer.




From a A Rural Journey :

"October is National Breast Cancer Month.

With that in mind, I think it is an appropriate time to again show our fellow blogger and farm gal, Leontien, how much we care and are thinking of her and her awesome hubby, Bastiaan, during this difficult time.

Leontien is battling an aggressive form of melanoma (see an update to her status here,) and your support and continued participation in this new event would be very much appreciated."

The blogging community brings people together, we get to share experiences and laugh and cry with our blogging friends and they get to feel like a family. So when I heard about Leontien from A Rural Journey and Run*a*Round Ranch I wanted to add some leaves to the cause ...........

Leaves for Leontien with love ....