Canada Day

Well it is Canada Day, and what a lovely day it was. I went out with my camera and was pleased to see even the youngsters getting in on the celebration. A beautiful day for the beach and for a picnic.

 

 

A beautiful day for a relaxing swing, this one under the willow trees at the park.

 

 

Lots of flowers now in gardens and in the park and the bees are loving them

 

 

I love fresh flowers on the table, and these are the "summer" to me.

I hope you had a great day!

 

 Here are a few updates.

First an update on the littlest gosling story. Below is a picture of the little one, not so small now and obviously doing very well. I saw it yesterday with the parents and the rest of the brood, the other siblings now almost fully grown. Today it was with two adults, maybe the parents maybe babysitters, but watching the youngster carefully none the less.

 

 

Still rather downy, but the adult colouring starting to be obvious,

 

and darn cute..

 

 

 

adults are watchful 

 

 

grazing

 

never too far away 

 

tired out, time to rest

 

A happy ending for the little gosling that looked as if it had been abandoned.

 

 

 

Well I am happy to report that my cold is almost gone finally; it turned into a sinus and chest infection and decided to hang around a lot longer than I had planned. I believe I have had all of my 2.8 colds for this year.

 

 

Finally an update on what has been happening in my studio, well not much actually, but I did finish a painting this week. Not a new one but one I have been working on for a few weeks. It is the painting "Out to Pasture", I spent a few more hours on the truck and added some sheep, The logo on the side of the truck is an old Canadian Pacific emblem; thanks to Allan for spotting it and letting me know. This old truck is indeed out in the middle of a pasture on Gabriola Island; how it came to be there I have no idea.

 

 

Here is what the emblem looked like before it faded:

 

 

 

I am now working on a new painting, this is a scene from a small town northwest of Venice. I am using the pouring technique and this painting has two or three poured "layers" and will get at least as many more before I am done, I will show more next week.

 

 

 

That is all for this week, thanks for dropping by for my weekly bit of whimsy,

 

 

until next time, Gillian.

Forest Spirits?

Today I hope you will join me for a walk through the forest on Ferry Island.

Ferry Island is located on the Skeena River in Terrace, B. C. At the beginning of the 20th Century it was serviced by two riverboat ferries until a bridge was built connecting it to the mainland; following that the island was heavily logged. In 1936 the Skeena River flooded, took out the bridge and covered the island in 8 feet of water. Following the flood the island was left to grow back and now boasts beautiful stands of birch and cottonwood trees.

Now the island has a campground and walking and hiking trails. The trails have a unique treat in the form of carvings in the bark of some of the cottonwood trees. The carvings were done by a local artist, Rick Goyette.

So lets take a stroll.



 



 

There are wizards and woodsmen and birds....

..and this rather unique bench...

 

 

 

I imagined I saw some other creatures in the playing in the light and shadow of the forest.

 

I loved this burl and thought this one would make a great face.

..more carvings..

I imaged a number of different faces in this next one, another of nature's creations.

 

 

A beautiful walk, especially on a sunny day.

A bumblebee enjoying the wild roses.

 

 

 

Someone told me this week that the average person gets 2.8 colds a year. If that's so I have gotten one of mine out of the way for this year. You know colds, if you leave them they last about a week and if you treat them they are gone in 7 days -- well that is where my week went!

 

 

So you know it didn't get any painting done, I hope to get back to it soon.

 

 

Instead her is something passed along to me by my pal Judy, an osprey nest webcam with 3 chicks.

 

 

Well that is all for this week, thanks for dropping by, happy Wednesday, with whimsy,

 

 

Gillian

 

 

 





...and bears, oh my!

 

I have just returned from visiting family in Terrace, on the north coast of British Columbia. While there we took a day trip up the Nisga'A highway(#113). We saw many interesting sights which I will be sharing with you, most exciting for me was the wildlife.

We saw a black bear and her cub along the side of the road. They were in a flat area at the edge of the forest. The mamma bear was between us and her cub and did not seem too worried about our presence. We stopped the car long enough for me to take some pictures. No one got out of the car and we did not want to risk angering her so did not stay more than a couple of minutes.

These bears hibernate during the winter months and this cub may have been born over the winter. Her coat is matted and she may have emerged from hibernation recently. She was eating dandelion heads and other vegetation and after briefly considering whether we were a threat went back to her meal.

 

The cub is just behind its mother, and is quite visible below.

 

I caught a bit of the rear view mirror in this picture and the one below.

 

She was about 2.5 to 3 feet tall at the shoulders and about 6 feet long.

 

The cub disappears into the trees.

 

The bear did not approach us, I used my big lens for some closeups.

 

A formidable beast.

 

This area is also the home of the Kermode or Spirit Bears.

 

"The Kermode bear (Ursus americanus kermodei, pron. kerr-MO-dee), also known as a "spirit bear" (particularly in British Columbia), is a subspecies of the North American Black Bear living in the Central and North Coast regions of British Columbia, Canada.^[1] It is noted for about ¹⁄₁₀ of their population having white or cream-coloured coats. This colour morph is due to recessive genes common in the population. They are not albinos and not any more related to polar bears or the "blonde" brown bears of Alaska's "ABC Islands" than other members of their species. Sometimes a black mother can have a white cub." Wikipedia

 

A few years ago I did see an adult spirit bear, an impressive sight, and maybe a once in a lifetime sighting for me.

 

The cub looking back at mamma bear.

 

Perhaps the mamma saying I'll be there in a minute or two. 

 

 

momma with a mouth full of dandelions.

 

 

Bears are all I have of the Terrace area for today. I was quite delighted to have seen them from a safe vantage point.

 

On the news front I received "Post of the Week" award for my post "What's going on here?", the story about littlest gosling. Thank you Hillary!

 

Here is my latest painting "Baldy", an 11" X 12" watercolour: 

 

 

 

That's all for this week. Thanks for dropping by and happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next time,

 

Gillian