Author: donsca

A dabbler in photography, writing and science.

Just waiting for a little warmth

You can almost hear the trees wishing for an end to winter.

I worked for many years as biologist, and much of the work was driven by conifer reproduction cycles. We’d start the year in February to early April, with cedar and Douglas-fir ‘flowers’ on southern Vancouver Island (roughly 148N, 123W). From there, we’d move into the southern interior by May, for spruce and pine around Salmon Arm and Vernon, BC (roughly 50N, 120W). By June, the lodgepole pine near Prince George (roughly 53N, 122W) was shedding pollen and the cycle for us was complete. It was a busy time, only to be repeated in in reverse during the fall, as cones matured and prepared to shed their seed.

That cycle is just starting now. The alder tree catkins around here are hanging out, ready to explode with pollen as soon as temperatures and daylight are just right. Even the undergrowth is forming up leaf buds that are set to burst open in the next month or so. I’ll bet you could find some flower buds at the top of the local Douglas-fir trees as well.

Bring it on!

buds in the undergrowth

First signs of spring in the local forest.

Spring can come early on the south coast of BC, and the first signs are popping up everywhere.

I went on an outing the other day, toting my D700 and a 60mm micro lens. I’ve been shooting with my iPhone a lot lately, so it was a nice change of perspective.

These sporophytes are sticking up on the piles of moss growing on a fence at Green Timbers Park. Lately, the moss seemed more ‘perky’ and alive, and when I took a closer look, I could see the capsules forming on little stalks above the leaves.

Definitely a first sign of spring on this wet coast.

moss sporophytes

We dodged the bullet last night in Metro Vancouver

After a couple of weeks of clear, cold weather, the forecast for last night was for it to cloud up and cover us with snow/freezing rain before morning.

Metro Vancouver got prepared, but in the morning, it was raining and getting warmer by the minute. But that wasn’t the case not far from us.

From what I hear, folks east of us up the Fraser Valley and north towards Whistler weren’t so lucky. They got several hours of snow, freezing rain or both. Same on Vancouver Island, at least from Naniamo north.

No complaints though. Snow around here usually only lasts a couple of days, melting just after it falls and keeping things wet and messy until it’s gone. It’s not pleasant like it is up a mountain, or in the BC interior where it stays crispy and you can enjoy it.

Now it’s back to rain for the next week or so. That’s fairly dreary, but we’re use to it here on the wet coast of Canada. We know that sooner or later the skies will part and we’ll remember why we live in this part of the world.

Rainbow on Boundary Bay

One of my favourite little lakes

The lake at Green Timbers Park in Surrey, BC is just a tiny little thing. It’s man-made as a result of a City plan gone sideways. Back in the early 90’s, they’d cleared the centre of a 640 acre forest to build some playing fields for soccer, track and such.

No way said the folks in the area. When they saw the clearcut in the middle of the forest, all hell broke loose. In the end, the City changed it’s mind, built a little lake, installed some trails and tables, and left the rest mostly in meadow. They stock the lake with trout on an annual basis, and there are always lots of ducks and geese. There were even some double-crested cormorants fishing in it last year. I saw a couple of guys heading home with their catch last year. I couldn’t believe the size of the fish they’d caught, so I zoomed up  my phone camera for a blurry shot to record it.

Heading home with some trout from GT Lake

It took a while, but with more and more people moving into the City’s new downtown, there are more and more people using the park. Some days, the shoreline is chock full of fisher folk, angling for trout.

People also ride and walk the trails, and attend events and programs at the little Nature House during the summer. Oh, and there are plenty of joggers too, so the City’s original plans to facilitate more athletic activity are at least partially met.

While I was out on a walk this morning, I pulled out my iPhone to take yet another shot of the lake. Obviously I was shaking, but hopefully you can see it’s frozen over. That’s the second time this winter. We’ve had a couple of weeks of cooler weather around here, and it’s stayed below freezing during the day. Nasty wind too.

In a few days it will melt, the joggers and walkers will be back, and before long, the fisher folk will be back on the banks angling for that big one.

Ice at GT lake

January Ice at Green Timbers Lake

A view of life’s experiences

I was listening to a radio show this morning. I just caught a bit of it, so I’m not too sure who was speaking.

Anyway, a fellow was being interviewed. They were  talking about a major change in the his life and how people were responding to it. He noted that folks were all over the map in their opinions, but he wasn’t going to let that bother him.

He said: “My life experience is a bit like a Rorschach test, where people look at it and see what they want to see.”

I though to myself, boy, is that ever true. We can’t control what people think about us. They see what they want to see, based on their own experiences and beliefs. For some reason, I found that thought strangely relaxing.

Isn’t it interesting how we pick up these bits of conversation during the day, and they seem to be so meaningful at the time?

Tomorrow, that may have slipped right by.

Game console fail

What a strange launch  this fall for the PS4 and Xbox One. Both were released near the end of November, and both have been basically impossible to find since.

The PS4 game console arrived and sold out in a day around here. Since then, they have not been available anywhere nearby, as far as I can tell.

I was so close to getting one the first day. I was in the local Target store and saw that they had 3 stored under a demonstration unit. Silly me decided to try the demo before asking the clerk to wrap one up. A minute later, two construction guys dropped in; one bought one and the other bought two, right from under my nose. I’ve seen no PS4s around here since.

The Xbox One launched a week or so later. I dropped into Best Buy for something else the day after the launch and saw a pile of new Xbox units in the customer service area. I just figured they were all their pre-orders waiting to be picked up, but I asked about them anyway. Well lo and behold, they had one with my name on it 😉 I’ve been playing a couple of games on that, but most are just reworked Xbox 360 games and don’t take advantage of all the new console goodness available.

A friend, who is also considering picking up the Xbox One told me today that they are still hard to find as well. Guess I just got lucky there.

Still, the Sony PS4 looks intriguing too. If they ever show up again, I think I’ll  pick one up and give it a try. They seem to offer a different mix of games, so there should be some value for me there. I’m not an extreme gamer, but I do like poking through the games in ‘easy’ mode.

I just find it hard to believe that these 2 major corporations could launch new consoles well before Christmas, and then, after about one day, go dark until early the next year. Sad and strange for sure.