Adolescent Moose

    You may have noticed that I didn’t get around to putting a blog out yesterday.  I had myself a busy day, and just didn’t have the time. 

    Because it was the last day of May, we had to drive up to Prince George and pick up the three paintings that I had on display in the window of Speedee Printers.  During our 2.5 hour drive to Prince we saw 3 black bears and a wolf.

    When we arrived in PG, parked,  turned off the engine, and got out of the vehicle, we became aware of a strong smell of hot oil and a bit of white smoke drifting up from under the hood of the car.  Having just had a major service on the Subaru, and since we were back in Prince George, we quickly loaded up my paintings into the back of the car and headed over to the Subaru dealer.

    They took a look at the engine and tracked down the oil leak to a break in one gaskets that had been replaced during last week’s service.  As a result, we unexpectedly spent the next two hours sitting in the waiting room of the Subaru dealer, trying to pass the time.  We read all the Subaru brochures, and the auto dealer magazines, and a week old copy of the Prince George paper. 

    We ventured outside for a change of scenery, as our waiting dragged on and on.  We walked back and forth comparing the prices and features on all the 2013 and 2014 new Subaru’s on the lot.  The original time estimate of “half an hour to 45 minutes” was grossly wrong, and we were bored out of our skulls, by the time they had finally got done fixing our car.

    We then, did our usual stop and shop at Costco, after which we drove out to Canadian Tire and Home Depot to check out some products.  By 2:30, we had gassed up and were back on Hwy. 16 heading home to McBride.  Back at home, we unloaded all the things we bought, and ate a quick supper.  Then, even though we were both tired from our trip, we decided that we should force ourselves to go on a walk down our trail, for a bit of exercise and to clear our minds.

    When we got to the opening to the field, there standing in the grass was this young moose.  It is the best photo I have ever taken of a moose while walking the trail.  It stood and posed in the open field, allowing me to snap the picture before it ran off.  Usually my moose photos show the tail end of the animal obscured by trees, as it scampers off into the forest.  Seeing this one made me glad that I had made the effort to take the walk.

    I had previously made arrangements to help an acquaintance with a book last night.  She and her husband are originally from Czechoslovakia, from where they had escaped in 1979.  She had written a book about her escape and new life in Canada, which was published and written in Czech.  She wanted it in english, and asked me to help her smooth out the english translation.  So I dragged myself to their house and spent an interesting couple of hours helping her out with the first chapter.

    It was really nice to finally get back home after a long day.   But at least it had been a varied and interesting one, so the day had been worth all the effort it took to get everything done.

See my paintings at:  www.davidmarchant.ca

String 'em Up

    When I was a kid, my grandfather owned a large commercial greenhouse from which, he made his living growing tomatoes and lettuce.  One of my first means of employment was working in the greenhouse for 65 cents an hour.  I had to get up early, because most of the work was done before the Indiana heat set in and made the greenhouse to hot and unbearable.

    When the small tomato plants reached a certain height, one of the jobs I did was to tie the tomato plants up.  Lengths of twine were cut and draped over my shoulder and I would proceed down the long rows of tomatoes, bending over to tie a small loop around the plant then standing up to tie the other end to the overhead wires that ran the length of the greenhouse.  This twine supported the tomato plant and as it grew, we would have to wind the plant around the vertical twine.

    I must confess, I didn’t much like agricultural work as a child.  I walked through the rows of tomatoes, sweat dripping off of my forehead, being slapped in the face with tomato plant leaves, wishing it was quitting time so I could go home and play.  Now, as an adult, I find myself once again, out in the greenhouse, stringing up tomato plants, but knowing how good the tomatoes are going to taste, makes the job a whole lot less burdensome.

    I planted 7 different varieties of tomatoes.  I am really looking forward to tasting “Black from Tula”, which is a dark tomato, with an intense taste.  I also have a couple of varieties with Amerind names:  “Cherokee Chocolate” and “Sioux”.   For years, I have planted “Longkeepers”, whose tomatoes you can pick and just keep on the shelf for months, sometimes we’ve eaten them well into December.

    For big juicy tomatoes, I have “Better Boy”, and for smaller, but tasty early tomatoes, I have planted a variety called, “Matina”.  I also have cherry tomatoes called ”Sweet Baby Girl” planted right beside the greenhouse walkway, for snacking whenever we go in.

    Tomatoes are certainly one of my favorite vegetables, and summer would not be summer without them.  Now that I have all the tomatoes mulched and tied up, all I have to do is keep them watered and wait for the tomatoes.

You can see my paintings at: www.davidmarchant.ca

Tuesday Night Jam

    I have been so enthused about playing music, that I took the initiative and made arrangements with the McBride Library to use the library annex every Tuesday night for a drop in jam session.  It is something I look forward to every week.

    Like most jams, we go around the circle of musicians, and each can suggest a song to play.  This leads to a wide variety of music.  Bluegrass, blues, rock, and folk are the general genre.  

    The photos show the musicians playing last night.   Jake on classical nylon string guitar, Lennie on washtub bass, Bob on dobro, Lelani with her 12 string guitar,   Brad fingerpicking his banjo, and finally, me playing the mandolin.

    A short recording clip of one of last nights songs can be heard on this same blog at my website:

  www.davidmarchant.ca

Pink Mountains

    The Robson Valley / Rocky Mountain Trench has a SE/NW orientation.  During the winter the sun sets behind the mountains, but in the spring it sets further and further to the west, until eventually, as we approach the summer solstice, the sun is setting, not behind the mountains, but at the NW end of the valley.   Now as it begins to set, the sun is shining sideways through the Valley.

    That is what happened last night.  The sun was shining sideways, and giving the air ( and the mountains) a pinkish glow.  I took this photo at 9:00 PM.

Take a look at my paintings at:  www.davidmarchant.ca

Understory

    As we do our daily walks down our trail through the bush, most of the time I am looking down at the understory--plants that are growing low on the forest floor.  This understory changes as the trail travels through several slightly different ecosystems.  In the photo that you could see in the “Wall of Green” blog, you could see that the trail was lined with bushes that are sometimes as tall as I am.  In other places, the ground is covered low growing plants:  ferns, false solomon seal, and thimbleberry.

    Some pine forests and old growth cedar forests in the Robson Valley, are referred to as “Parkland”.  Those are wonderful forests to walk through.  You have the trees, of course, but the ground is only covered with mosses, lichens, or very low ground covers.  They is like a carpeted forest. 

    In the areas of ferns and other low growing plants along our trail, there seems to be a photo everywhere I look.  Above is a photo I took after one of our frequent rain showers.

To see my paintings, go to:  www.davidmarchant.ca

Mallard in the Grass

    We seem to have a lot of mallards on the pond this year.  For some reason, during the last few days, some of them have been waddling up toward the house in the pasture.  Yesterday, when I looked out of the living room window, I saw this male sticking its head out of the tall grass and took this photo.

View my paintings at:  www.davidmarchant.ca

Wall of Green

    Every year during the spring, I am amazed at how the vegetation around here explodes into a jungle.  Everything is green.  It is especially noticeable when it is grey and rainy outside.  For some reason that kind of lighting seems to enhance the color green.

    Because the vegetation is now so thick and high, that we have started to make noise as we walk our trail, so if there is a bear out there, it will hear us coming, and not be surprised by our sudden appearance.  In a couple of sections of our trail, you really can’t see through the wall of green on either side of you.

    The photo shows an area of the trail, that was wet and boggy  I put an old board down so we could get across the wet section.

Take a look at my paintings at:  www.davidmarchant.ca