A Walk Around the Pond

    In the evening yesterday, time got heavy on my hands; I was tired of reading, I didn’t want to watch TV, so I decided to walk around the pond to see if I could find anything to take photos of, and since it was spring and most of the plants are approaching their prime, I found a lot of photo opportunities.  Here are two:

    Above is an orchid called Striped Coralroot.  It is not uncommon around here, last year I found one growing in my lawn, but it is always nice to come upon a splash of unexpected color.

    Below is a Mountain Ladyslipper I found growing amongst the horsetails.  Both of these plants were right beside the path going around my pond.

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Fields of Dandelions

    The Robson Valley is certainly “Dandelion Country”.  Dandelions always get a bad rap, mostly from lawn fanatics who hate to see their monocultured lawns disturbed with a bit of variation.  I admit it is frustrating to see all those lanky flowers and fluff balls sticking up in a lawn that was just mowed 3 days ago, but dandelions do help the bees and grazing animals because they are rich in nutrients.

    As someone who really enjoys color, I love to see the yellow of the Dandelion flowers added to the blues and greens of the landscape.  

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

The Greenhouse Garter Snake is Back

    The other day when I was checking out my tomato plants in the greenhouse, out of the corner of my eye I noticed some unexpected color on the bedding straw I use for mulch.  It was my greenhouse garter snake.  After the initial instinctive panic of seeing a snake, I was filled with happiness, knowing that the garter snake was still around and was once again back in the greenhouse.

    I had seen the garter snake (the only species of snake native to the Robson Valley) for several Springs in a row, five or so years ago, but I hadn’t seen it since, but there it was once again, looking a bit older, but still alive.  It is about 2 ft. (60cm) in length.

    I am sure it is probably likes to be in the greenhouse because it is warm.  This morning it was laying on the cement floor which held the heat overnight.  It eats slugs and earthworms in the greenhouse.  It usually disappears from the greenhouse during the summer.

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

Community Garden Potato Planting

    For the past few years, McBride’s Community Garden group has been growing potatoes to sell as a fund raiser.  Last night, potato planting volunteers gathered at Vern’s to put the seed potatoes into the ground.  This is the second year Vern (that’s him on the left) has volunteered the use of his land for the potato growing.  Not only did he allow his land to be used, he also had taken the time to hoe out the trenches, so that all we had to do was to drop in the potatoes and cover them up.  It took less than an hour for the group to plant over 500 spuds.

    The planting was originally planned for last week end, but rain had caused a postponement, and we were called to say that the planting would happen on Weds. evening at 6:00.  So on Wednesday, I loaded up my hoe and rake and headed out to Vern’s, but when I arrived (ten minutes early) no one was there, not even Vern.

    Thinking maybe I had gotten the time wrong, I sat there in the truck until 6:30, and still no one showed up.  Rather peeved, I drove back home.  The next day, I learned that a message had been sent out again postponing the planting until Thursday evening.  Unfortunately, it hadn’t been sent out to me.

    At any rate, there was a good crowd on hand for the planting last night, and things went smoothly and quickly.

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

Jeweled Horsetail

    Yesterday morning I walked over to an old spruce stump to see if the ferns I had planted there had survived the winter.  They had, and were fiddleheading up through the other growth.  While I was there, I noticed this young Horsetail covered with dew.  It was exquisite, decked out with all of the small droplets of dew.  The world is so full of beauty that is so rarely seen.

You can view my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca

Frost

    I knew there was a possibility of frost last night, but being lazy, I just took faith in the weather report that said it would stay above freezing with a 1C (34F) temperature.  I gambled and lost.  

    Our thermometer showed  -1C (30F) this morning, and when I went out to check, sure enough frost had hit our garden.  (Photo of frosted strawberry leaves)   It’s too early yet to see if anything was killed in the garden, things like peas, cabbage, strawberries, and lettuce are pretty tough and can usually handle some frost, other things are safe because they are still underground (potatoes, and some bean seeds), but I worry about whether my zucchini, and pumpkin plants survived.  Luckily my unheated greenhouse with my tomatoes and peppers stayed above freezing.

    Our long winter had delayed my planting the garden for a couple of weeks, so I figured I was safe from a frost.

    Gardens are always a lot of work and it is often frustrating when something like a frost comes around and destroys much of it.  Keep your fingers crossed that there wasn’t too much damage.  

Check out my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca

Rain Deer

    Yesterday I got up to a miserable looking day; dark, cloudy, and pouring rain.  After dressing, I was about to head downstairs when I happened to glance out of the balcony window.  I noticed an unexpected brown spot in the grass near the trees.  My half-asleep brain finally started firing on all cylinders, and I realized it was a deer sitting there in the rain.  Actually, there were two deer, but the one you see made the best photo.  

    I thought that the deer would have found a better place to shelter so that it would be out of the rain, but I guess it would have moved on to a new location if this rainy one was objectionable.

Check out my photo-realistic paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca