Deciduous Slope

    You are looking at the Park Range of the Canadian Rockies.  I was in McBride yesterday afternoon and when I walked out of the train station, this is what I saw; the yellow and green patches of the slope.

The yellow leaves are the Aspen, Birch, and Cottonwood trees, and the green patches are Douglas Fir, Spruce, and Balsam (Fir) trees.

    The main reason so much of the slope is covered with deciduous (trees with leaves) is because back in around 1913 a forest fire swept through, destroying the original forest which was probably all conifer trees (trees with needles), and when the area grew back, the deciduous trees won the race.  It has always been  rumored that the original surveyors in the valley set the fire to make their surveying job easier.

    It is probably a good thing that the slope is now covered with patches of both deciduous and conifer trees because leaved-trees don’t really burn well, and in case of a forest fire, they would hamper the progress of a fire, thus providing some protection to residents in the valley.

You can see my photo-realistic paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

 

Hanging on to Fall

    Please excuse my indulgence, but I know what happens after Fall, and so I am trying to hang on to Autumn as long as I can.  Here are a couple of photos I took at Horseshoe Lake yesterday.  Our brief window of beautiful sunny weather as disappeared and now it looks as if we are into a long period of wet gray and gloom, but thankfully the trees are still providing a bit of color.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

 

Autumn Colors: Slowly Disappearing

    Those brilliant yellow Aspen leaves are gradually falling from the trees, taking with them the beautiful fall colors I have so enjoyed.  Also gone are the sunny skies, replaced by dull gray and showers. 

Take a look at my photo-realistic paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca 

 

Yellow, Green. and Blue

    Here are some more Robson Valley Autumn photos taken on a walk on Jervis Road.  I love the areas of solid colors in these shots.

Take a look at a my photo-realistic paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

 

The Fog of Fall

    Besides getting the beautiful yellow leaves, Autumn also often brings morning fog to the Robson Valley.  Fortunately this morning fog generally burns off quickly as the Sun climbs over the mountains and begins to warm the Valley floor.  Since we generally don’t go anywhere and stay at home, the fog really doesn’t present any problems except for giving a gloomy feel to the start of the day.

    There was a fog most of the way to Prince George, when we made the drive on Wednesday.  It blanketed PG for most of the day.  It was nice to return to a beautiful clear blue sunny day when we got back home to the Valley. 

    Prince George does have a problem with fog.  The town itself is located in a bowl beside the Fraser River with lots of steam coming off of the pulp mill, and it can take a long time for their fog to disappear.  Even though the Prince George Airport is located higher on land land above the bowl, fog can be a persistent problem for those people waiting to catch morning flights out.

    This has happened to us more times than I care to remember.  We did most of our international traveling starting with a very early flight out of Prince George in the Autumn.  The fog would delay the first leg of our multi-leg flights, often for hours, causing us real problems in trying to catch the later flights we needed.   We have learned to avoid early morning flights out of Prince George in the Fall.

View my photo-realistic paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

 

Prime Autumn Colors in the Robson Valley

    The Birch and Aspen trees in the Robson Valley are currently showing off their brilliant yellow leaves.  They are at their prime.  Against the greens of the fields and blues of the mountains, the leaves create a beautiful accent for the eye.   Our walk yesterday afternoon wasn’t much of an aerobic exercise because I had to constantly stop to take photos of the brilliance that surrounded me.  Here are two shots.

You can see my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

 

We Need to do an Inventory

    We drive up to Prince George about once a month to stock up on supplies that we can’t find in little McBride.  Our main destination in PG is Costco.  Walking down the aisles of the store our eyes scan the products searching for things on our list that we need.   We of course see things that weren’t on our list and we ask each other, “Do we need this too? “

      The reply is always,  “I can’t remember, maybe we should get it just in case.”

    By the time we walk out of the door, we have a cart full of things that weren’t on our list.  When we get home and unload our stash  and start shelving it in the shop, we discover that we didn’t really need those things we weren’t sure about.  

    You hear a lot these days of Covid about people hoarding things.  I’m don’t think we are hoarding, it’s more of the case of not remembering what we already have.

    Above are two full bottles of avocado oil (we have another in the house).  Below are three full cases of tomato paste, (I hope we don’t run out).  We bought two loaves of bread, and when I went to put them in the freezer, I discovered three more loaves already there.

    Since we store our extra food in our unheated shop, we face a problem--when temperatures get colder, we are going to have to move all of the freezable items into our already overstuffed house. 

    I think I need to find an app that will keep track of what we have before our next trip to Costco.

    

View my photo-realistic paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca