Seasonal colour

The days are getting shorter, and it has been dark and rainy lately, so when it stopped raining recently I went out looking for colour. Here is what I found:

Not sure what this bush is but the leaves are spectacular this time of year.

Crab apples I think ...

Again, not sure what this is, but I loved the blue sky in the background, a rarity this time of year.

 Hydrangea turned deep red-purple:

Again I am not sure what this is but it adds a splash of colour.

Holly

A beautiful splash of colour in our neighbours garden:

Red Maple, the last leaves are still clinging to the tree and here are catching the late afternoon light.

A friend showed me a large patch of mushrooms growing in her neighbourhood. I took these pictures on my phone.

This mushroom is found in fairly large groupings. There were about a hundred in the area where I photographed these.

 Amanita muscaria, is a stunningly coloured mushroom; it is generally considered poisonous, but is eaten in parts of Europe, Asia and North America after parboiling and deaths from eating it are rare.

Amanita muscaria is noted for its hallucinogenic properties, with its main psychoactive constituent being the compound muscimol. 

They also appear to be very strong: able to supporting a car in this picture.

Magic mushrooms indeed, I think I saw a fairy or two peeking out from between the mushrooms, but they are camera shy, so you will just have to use your imagination.

 

The last patches of colour are birds. This hummingbird (Anna's) was swooping at me and scolding me for being too close to the feeder in my back yard. He should have figured out by now that it is me that fills that feeder.

There are a lot of birds at the feeders now including Towhees, with their bright sides and eyes, but they have been too quick for me to get a good picture, so I have included this picture I took in the summer instead.

I have a picture in the current exhibit at the Federation of Canadian Artists' Gallery on Granville Island until November 25, 2012. Here is the link to the exhibit.

The bright colours, especially the reds and greens to me are a reminder that Christmas is not too far away. I have been working on my card stocks for the two Christmas Markets that I will be at, the first is this weekend (November 18) and then two weeks after that (December 2). Both are at Delbrook Community Centre, here are the days and times (I am in the gym both times, table on the right as you enter):

2012 DELBROOK CHRISTMAS CRAFT FAIR AND MARKET
Saturday November 17th 10am-4pm
Sunday November 18th 10am-4pm
Saturday December 1st 10am-4pm
Sunday December 2nd 10am-4pm

Anyone who is thinking ahead to Christmas will find some new cards and some old favorites on my website right now too.

Here are the new ones:

"Christmas Cactus"

"Holly Time"

And here is another new card and an old favorite:

"Nutcracker Sweets"

"Three Wise Crackers"

There is a special offer too, get one free card when you buy four cards, follow these links:

New items and specials and my full selection of Christmas cards in Greeting and Celebration Cards.

Well that's it for this week, hope you have enjoyed my look at colour.

Thank you for dropping by, Happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next time ............

Lions and bears ... oh no!

When I say lions, I am referring to Sea Lions. I saw a large group of them (I estimate over 50) on a recent trip to Vancouver Island. They were occupying a floating structure about 150 to 200 metres from the shoreline. It is in an area that has several oyster farms so the structure may have been used by the oyster farmers before the sea lions moved in.

"Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long fore flippers, the ability to walk on all fours, and short, thick hair. Together with the fur seals, they comprise the family Otariidae, or eared seals." (Wikipedia)

The Stellar and California Sea Lions occupy the West Coast, as far as I can determine the main difference between them is size. I am betting these were Stellar Sea Lions.

This one seems to be happily asleep in a very odd position:

Many of them were asleep and I thought some of the expressions were priceless.

See what I mean?

This one seems to have issues! He starts barking ....

 

And then these guys get started ....

... and before you know it everyone is in on the act.

And one ends up getting pushed into the water.

And this big guy gets the last word for now ...

But seeing them is only part of the experience. You need to hear them too, I thought, so I took some videos as well. To really get an idea of watching them up close you should create the right "aroma", maybe open a can of sardines and park it in front of the screen as you view the videos. Here are 3:

When you have an itch ....

... well you just have to scratch.

Here is a view of some the sea lions on their floating home.

Here is an article with more information about sea lions that live and/or visit the coast of British Columbia.

Oh no someone has started again ....

Can't a guy get some sleep!

Oh, please .......... not again

Full song again ....

Many are asleep here but they also eat, and quite a lot too, they have a particular taste for herring at this time of year.

"Sea lions consume large quantities of food at a time and are known to eat about 5–8% of their body weight (about 15–35 lb (6.8–16 kg)) at a single feeding." (Wikipedia)

Some of the sea lions were swimming or just floating in the water, some also appeared to be asleep in the water.

Another short video:

They can be very noisy, and not just in the daytime, and being on the water the sound carries ... a long way.

I made mention of bears too. Well there was a bear making its rounds close to where we were staying, but usually at night, and if it were not for the scat left behind we might not have known.

Still on the subject of bears, I have recently finished a painting of a bear; the teddy bear kind. It is a watercolour called "For Me?"

Well it's craft fair season and I will be selling cards, prints and some original paintings at the Delbrook Craft Fair in North Vancouver on November 18 and December 2, so guess what I have been doing recently?

More details on this next week.

One more thing, my friend Jochi is having a sale (2 for 1) on his large framed photographs. Drop by his website and have a look.

That`s it for this week, thank you so much for dropping by, I love getting your comments.

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