Thursday, May 20, 2010

Midweek photos and thoughts

A quick post on a windy day.

(For any new readers, clicking on the picture once enlarges it. Click again, and it will become still bigger. The back browser returns you to the post.)

Unidentified flowers taken along 3rd Avenue in Point Grey. Threaded yellow around the centre caught my eye.

Is this Purple Loosestrife? Bill and I admired its beauty during a walk Monday evening at Jericho. Sad to think it isn't good for the park.

More unidentified but beautiful flowers seen during the same walk.

I took another shot of this sailboat at the marina in North Vancouver. Thoughts about my own seafaring heritage, about my friend, Dianne, and her fascination with this boat, and about Martin and Lisa's stories. Their blog is linked at the side of my page. I love the honesty and introspection, as they examine the choices they have made to raise their children to a good life.

I watched these Mergansers swim all the way up the shore, just to hop onto this log.

One of them immediately hopped off again, but the second one celebrated its perch proudly.

Nearby, a seagull floated through a blue sky.

Meanwhile, a crow refused to let Lawrence eat his fish in peace.

The crow finally gave up pestering, and Lawrence got on with the job at hand.

It appears to be hard work to eat while holding a flapping fish still. No malice in Lawrence's actions. Just the way things have to be. Eat or be eaten. Poor fish!

On the way home from school Tuesday evening, I stopped on the Lions Gate Bridge and took this boat shot.

On Wednesday, I again watched Lawrence working hard to build his nest.

Riding his broomstick across the sky.

Behind Lawrence, Perez, a photographer/pilot with nine grandchildren (more about him in another post) pointed out this procession.
By the time I took the second picture, the people had set up lawn chairs between the two trucks.
Then our attention came back to the birds. Lawrence and an eagle had quite a disagreement. I'm not sure how the seagull became involved. As far as I could tell, all (except the prey in the eagle's talons) survived.

This last story tells about a dog that hadn't had a litter in more than two years, but began lactating when she saw a lamb rejected by its mother. Bill's sister, Phyllis, cut the clipping from the Winnipeg Free Press, and sent it to me by snail mail! I was amazed that she found time, in the midst of packing for a huge move, to think of me. Thank you, Phyllis!

4 comments:

  1. Lots of interesting things today. The
    purple flowers are Lupins and are very pretty but do tend to take over,
    but why not. The pink is a May tree I have one in my garden. I thought of you when I read this today, the little things in life - St. Francis:
    I watch the sparrow enjoy just of sip of water. How free are the birds who need so little and yet soar so high.
    XO

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  2. Interesting and informative photos as usual, Carol. I wonder if these were taken before the wind started late yesterday. If so, I also wonder how the various nests made out over night. The merganser sure does look proud. I was particularly impressed with the unique photo of three distinct birds all in the same tight air space. And I loved the one of Lawrence with the cityscape in the background!

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  3. I've never seen that combination of birds fighting over a meal.

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  4. Thanks for the comments, everyone!

    Dianne, great to get the identification help. I spent a few moments this morning comparing photos of purple loose-strife and lupin. Both beautiful, but Lupin is much better for the environment, so I'm happy to know all is well at Jericho:) And, I LOVED your quote by St. Francis. Thanks so much!

    Penelope, those photos were taken before the wind storm. I had an appointment downtown in the late afternoon, and left school earlier than usual. I was happy to have missed that wind on the bridge! I've been thinking about your chick-a-dees and hope they will return home soon.

    Rising Rainbow, it was neat to get that shot, although I did worry for the safety of each of the birds, and most of all, for Lawrence.

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