I Never Noticed That Before

     For  forty-five years I have been looking at the mountains that enclose the Robson Valley, but this year I noticed something that I had never noticed before.  If you look at the side of the mountain in the photo above, you can see horizontal lines of snow crossing the mountain mid-slope.  Those seem to indicate sort of terraces on the side of the mountain.  

    I had never seen that before.  I think the reason it is so visible now is because of the forest fire we had a couple of years ago, and the amount of snow we had this winter.  The snow was just deep enough to melt on the angled slope, but still remaining on the flatter areas.

    I am not sure whether those “terraces” are the result of different layers of bedrock, or something caused by the glacier that once filled our valley.  Those terraces are also evident on the slope of the mountain just to the right of this one.

    We do learn something every day.

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

    

Nature's Rhythm Continues

     During these chaotic times when powerful leaders strive to disrupt, I find comfort in the fact that at least Nature is trying keep to an even keel.  Two of my regular water fowl species have returned to my pond to breed in the Spring.  Above is a photo I took of the Mallards.  The green-headed male is pretty evident, and if you look in the lower left, you can see the female.  

    The other day I was also pleased the hear the honking of a pair of Canada Geese as they maneuvered  along their flight path so they could splash down on the pond.   I am hoping to soon see the Wood Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, and Barrow’s Goldeneyes, who also frequent the pond in the Spring.

    I had my pond dug in 1993 to create some habitat for wildlife, and in the thirty years since it has given me much satisfaction, to see the wildlife it has attracted.

You can see my paintings by going to:  davidmarchant2.ca

I Haven't Given Up On The Future

     The future of the world is looking pretty hopeless these days and I certainly feel it, but at the same time, as I look back at my actions, I realize that in the midst of all of the gloom, I am still doing things that show I have not given up.  Maybe it is the gardener in me, but Spring always inspires dreams of a new start and a hope for a better future.

    Above is a shot of some of my young tomato plants.  They look mis-colored because they are under the grow light, but they seem healthy and eager to be put out in the warmth and sunlight of the  greenhouse.  Last year, because of a late planting due to repairs I had to make on the greenhouse and tree roots sucking up all of the water in the soil, I had my worse tomato crop ever.  I have fixed both of those problems, so I am back dreaming of a bountiful crop of big juicy homegrown tomatoes this year.

    Of course, I feel the same way every Spring, and dream about the amazing bountiful garden I will have.  Rarely do those dreams come to fruition, but those dreams do keep me going and sane.  Let’s hope they do the same this year, because if we ever needed hope for the future, it is this year. 

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

My Fossils

     As I look back on my life one thing is clear; I have always been interested in the past.  I have always loved history.  As a child I was interested in the American Indian culture.  I was fascinated with the tribes that lived in North America, as well as the Aztecs, Mayan, and Incas in Meso-America and South America.  I  collected arrowheads and searched for them in the plowed fields around our house.  I wanted to be an archeologist.

    Later, my interest in the past reached back even further; to our stone-age ancestors.  I loved reading about Neanderthals, and those primitive humanoids that came before them.  I was fascinated by evolution and how modern humans came to be.

    Then I became enchanted with fossils, and I began to collect those stone remnants of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago.  I dreamed of becoming a paleontologist.  

    Here are some photos of my fossil collection.

    See the long brown segmented fossil in the photo above?   That is a Calamite, an ancestor of the horsetail plant we see today.  It grew in the swamps 300-350 million years ago.  I discovered the fossil vertical on the walls of the railway underpass on St. Joe Rd. near my home in Evansville, Indiana.

     I had biked there to explore the cut.  I climbed down to the railway and was amazed when I saw the fossil.  I extracted it from the rock, then overjoyed, biked back home.  The railway underpass was a terribly unsafe place to be, but I was glad I checked it out.

    As an adolescent, I was once invited to go to a strip-mine near Terre Haute, IN with some adult fossil hunters.  The strip mine was full of these oval rock “concretions” that you could hold in your hand.  We would hit them on their sides with a hammer which caused them to split open.  Inside you would often find the imprint of a fern or some other plant.  It was an amazing an wondrous revelation, something that I will always remember.  You can see some of those fern fossils below.

    The large ammonite (snail-shaped) fossils and shell fossils, I found near Takla Lake, BC when I was teaching in the isolated one-room school at a lumber mill.

    Sadly, I have never found any “fossil” areas in the Robson Valley, so my fossil collection has remained as it was, for decades now.

    

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

Friends Who Rock

    My friends, David and Pedro both have a wide spectrum of interests, but I have been surprised at how quickly they suddenly joined together to devote time to rocks.  During their younger years they both had been very interested in rocks, but as time passed, their attention in lapidary faded as they moved on to other things. 

    Decades before moving to McBride from New York City, David had packed his collection of rocks into boxes, and all of his treasured rocks were moved to McBride, then sat idle in the basement until a couple of months ago.  That is when Pedro came over to help him unpack those long-ignored boxes.

    Rediscovering those old treasured chunks of stone, sparked and renewed David’s interest in lapidary and Pedro was happy to be able to join in the resurgence.  David immediately set out and bought equipment for cutting and polishing rocks and Pedro was happy to help with the rock work.

    Hearing David talk about the enjoyment he and Pedro have been having with the rocks, reminded me about my long-ignored container of rocks (fossils) I have collected over my lifetime.  On Tuesday I went over to David’s to see what he and Pedro have been up to, and to show them my fossils.  (I’ll show you some of my fossils tomorrow.)  

    It was really interesting afternoon, seeing David’s “raw” rocks and watching how the rocks were  cut and polished.  Over the years, David had collected a wide variety of stones to be worked on, and the ones they had polished were beautiful.  They had so many brilliant colors an designs in them.

    During my childhood I had always loved to see and feel the polished rocks for sale in souvenir shops, when our family went out West on vacation.  Below, is a photo of some of David’s polished rocks.

 

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

     I am sure I have mentioned before how important the seasons are here in Interior British Columbia.  Because they are so important, I am constantly on the lookout for those first signs that indicate the coming of the next season.  Today I was happy to see one of those important signs that indicate Spring:  The ice that has covered my pond for several months has now just about all melted, and I can see open water.

    It is such a joy to see the reflection of the sky in the pond, instead of the boring snow-covered ice.  Yesterday morning when Kona and I did our walk around the pond, a pair of mallards flew off.  I am sure they are the same mallards that nest on the pond every spring.  They too are happy to see open water again.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Remembering Some Old April Fool Fun

  In 1984 I submitted a few photos and captions to the local paper for the edition that comes out on the first week of April.  It featured such April Fools photos and captions showing us growing bananas in our garden, our car damaged by terrorist (actually rust), our damaged root cellar caused by a meteor strike, etc.

    The paper’s editor, did tell us that several people where initially taken in until they realized they were April Fool spoofs.  

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca