Breakfast Phenomenon

    Often, if I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t immediately go back to sleep, I tap a button on my clock radio that will turn it on for an hour, then turn itself off.  Late at night, CBC radio has a lot of shows from foreign countries.  Last night it was a show from the English DW station in Germany.  They were discussing an interesting thing about breakfast.

    While most people demand having a changing variety of different foods for their lunch and evening meals, most like to have the same thing, day after day, month after month, and year after year, for breakfast.  That is certainly true for me.  I have been eating the same thing for breakfast for decades.

    I always have a bowl of oats with prunes and bananas, in soy milk (I eat it cold, no cooking).  Often I also put in some berries, if available.  Today I added blueberries and raspberries.

      It’s strange that I never get tired of having it for breakfast.  In fact, I find it disturbing if I have to eat something else instead, even though I have eaten this same breakfast, day after day, for decades.  I know I would get a upset if I had to eat the same food for lunch or dinner, for even for two weeks.  

    I wonder what makes breakfast different.

You can see my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Visiting a Volcano

    I have always been interested in geology, and certainly one of the most interesting parts of that Earth Science concerns volcanos.  My first time to see an actual volcano was in 1969 when I took Peace Corp training which happened to take place on the Big Island of Hawaii.  While I was there, Kilauea, the island’s most active volcano wasn’t dramatically erupting, but it was fidgeting a bit, enough to light up the ash clouds that billowed above it during the night.

    Years later, on a distance horizon, I saw plumes of ash slowly belching from one of the several volcanos that surround Antigua, Guatemala.  Antigua, which I think once served as the ancient capital of Guatemala, was full of old the ruins of many cathedrals, that had been destroyed by earthquakes in the unstable geological area where it is located.

    One of the most iconic looking volcanos I have ever seen was Arenal, the Costa Rican volcano you see in the photo above.  Arenal was also experiencing some indigestion and we signed up to take a night tour up the volcano.  We piled into a van with a small group of other tourist and were driven up a bumpy road on the slope of the volcano.   When we got out of the van we could see the underside of the ash cloud that had formed above Arenal, dimly illuminated by the lava deep in the crater.  

    We didn’t get anywhere close to the crater, but you could hear a sort of “breathing” sound from the volcano.  One thing that is never mentioned in all the adventure movies that include erupting volcanos is the very strong smell of sulfur.  It is enough to keep a person away.

    After the night visit to Arenal, our tour guide detoured us to experience a special treat.  A friend of his was caretaker on a property close to the volcano.  The property owner was away and so we got to sneak into the place and take a warm swim in a volcano heated river  (Photo below)

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Up On The Roof

    The other day we were having a beautiful mild afternoon and so I decided to take advantage of it by cleaning out the chimney.  Being up on the roof always gives me a different perspective; from up there everything looks just a bit more organized and tidy, so I took took this photo showing the garden, greenhouse, and pond.  

    It was sure nice to get a string of mild weather days this fall, that allowed me to get most of those outside “Before Winter” jobs done with out having to be out there in cold wet conditions trying to do them.

You can see my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

 

Kona, Can't You Find A Bigger Stick?

    I’m not sure why dogs are so fascinated with sticks, but often when we do our little evening parade around the pond, Kona will spot a stick along the edge of the path, pick it up and carry it with her.  That is what happened yesterday, but we were certainly surprised at her choice.  The stick that caught her fancy was so long that she could hardly carry it through the trees that line the path.

    Once she picks up a stick, she is very hesitant about leaving it behind.  We tell her to “Drop it,” and she will, but then when I motion to her to “Come along,” she will start, but then go back and pick the stick up again.

Take a look at my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

 

All the Leaves Are Gone

    The brilliant yellows of the Aspen, Birch, and Cottonwood trees have disappeared from Nature’s palette, so the Robson Valley views are now more subdued and not as colorful as they were.  Still I did find a little color in the red roof of this cabin, along with the greens and blues of the mountains.  Soon most of those colors will too disappear under a blanket of white snow, leaving us with a palette made up of mostly shades of gray.  Hopefully we will get the occasional blue sky.

Take a look at my paintings for a little more color:  davidmarchant2.ca

 

Frosted Bunchberry Leaves

    Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) is a low growing ground cover that is related to the Dogwood, which is a tree in some parts of North America.   It is sometimes called “Dwarf Dogwood”.  It is quite common growing in the forest floors in the Robson Valley.  Its flower is similar to that of the dogwood and it develops into bright red berries that cluster in a clump, thus the name of Bunchberry.

    I have taken many photos of the Bunchberry plant in flower and with its berries, but I think this is the first time that I have taken a photo of the leaves in their autumn coloration.  It is quite a nice subdued purplish color and the frost along the edges make for a nice photo.

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

 

Acrobat Cat

    After our evening meal we have been walking the path around the pond.  It is like a parade, with Kona in the lead, followed by my wife and I, with Lucifer our cat bringing up the rear.  Yesterday Kona brought the parade to a halt when she went down to the edge of the water to sniff around where the muskrat has made an underground tunnel.

    Lucifer wasn’t happy with the halt in the proceedings and was looking for something a bit more exciting than watching Kona, so she gingerly climbed up a leaning fence post, then posed at the top, to show off her daring.  That is when I took the photo.

    As you can see it was a beautiful day with a cloudless sky.  The surface of the pond is now almost entirely covered with a smooth layer of ice.

See my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca