Lmst

Fantastic light yesterday as a cold/storm front approached. The trees with fresh bright green leaves, were still catching sun against a nearly black sky, making it look as though they were pasted onto the scene. #nature #weather #spring #Alberta #Canada #GetOutside #GoOutsideForMe #SolaceInNature #BorealForest #CountryLiving

Zoomed view, looking across a grassy area, kept more or less low by cattle in summer (not in there yet) with many low poplar suckers in the foreground, just leafing out. This spot is shaded by poplar trees to the left, which we see only part of. These trees are bright green with new leaves, much of what we see in their own shade, though light bits stick out illuminated by the sun off to the left. To the right we see the lower part of a large dark spruce tree, just a hint of sun on the left part of its branches. Considerably farther back some low willows, not fully leafed out with bright green leaves, rise from knee high dried grass, and farther still mixed woods with brightly newly leafed poplars dominating. Lit by the sun, they stand out dramatically against the dark blue grey sky behind.

Across a narrow open area of dry grass, a youngish mixed wooded wetland area of lowish willows, and young to mid-size poplar and birch and a few young spruce rise in a dense tangle of growth. The trees and bushes have young or not even fully emerged leaves, fresh bright green, lit by sunlight. A few poplar branches with small leaves dangle in from upper right and to the left we see part of a shadowed dark spruce. Farther back we see a bit of a more mature mixed wood of poplar and spruce. The sky behind is filled with active cloud, dark and heavy to lower left, white above fading to wisps upper centre and right with bits of blue sky showing.

@plants the video link for #Spectra #Peertube
#GoOutsideForMe #GetOutside #Alberta #Canada #nature #BorealForest #florespondence
https://spectra.video/w/sfNz7aGxjRpXSfCc6mn67z

@plants
video of Shepherdia Buffaloberry now loaded, and the Early Blue Violet is on the way.
Since I already posted stills (above in this thread) I'll include both the #Spectra #peertube link (which will show an image in this post) and the YouTube link below that.
#spring #video #nature #GetOutside #GoOutsideForMe #BorealForest #Alberta #Canada #NativePlants #permaculture #BloomScrolling
https://spectra.video/w/5tBuffdiu78iP1cJzyRLQx
https://youtube.com/shorts/lVnpeqtLw_o?feature=share

☝️Today's walk. This place is a fekkin treasure.
#goOutsideForMe

Running late for #WildflowerWednesday lol I had said these were the very first non-tree wildflowers of the year, but found another contender yesterday (still have to edit those!,stay tuned!)
Shepherdia canadensis Buffaloberry; super tiny flowers on a mid size, open branched, nitrogen fixing shrub. Tasty bitter berries used by native peoples and much loved by birds!
#BloomScrolling #florespondence #NativePlants #permaculture #nature #spring #Alberta #Canada #GoOutsideForMe

Against a blurred dark grey background, a close view of a narrow rain darkened branch, finely nubbly scaly, which angles across the view from lower right to mid left . Two tiny twigs project near the centre with mounds of tiny flowers and ball like scaly buds with leaves beginning to emerge from the tips as well, at this stage they are also brown/scaly, no green showing yet. Flowers are light golden green with fully recurved petals(?)like tiny starfish, and a puff of upright tiny pale stamens with balls of pollen on narrow stems.

Against a blurred reddish grey background, a close view of a narrow rain darkened branch, finely nubbly scaly, which angles across the view from lower right to upper left . Along the stem several tiny twigs project with several or more tiny flowers and a few new leaves beginning to emerge from the tips as well, at this stage they are also brown/scaly, no green showing yet. Flowers are light golden green with slightly textured and faintly red lined edges to the petals(?).Female flowers like these show a single pistil in the centre. In this view the flowers are presumably a bit older, so the pistils are a bit elongated and angled at the tip, projecting conspicuously from the flat/recurved stars.

Two *really* tiny 4 point star flowers and a scaly brown bud emerge from a grey scaly narrow upright branch/stem. In the blurred background several short twigs emerge from the same main stem with many flowers and buds, Flowers are light golden green with slightly textured and faintly red lined edges to the petals(?).Female flowers like these show a single pistil in the centre.

#Sunset from the #commute last #weekend The season when I can see sunsets at home is now gone, mainly- it happens once I'm inside, now, plus it has moved north so it is blocked by the woods on the farm (in winter I see it over the bare neighbours' fields) . Now there is a brief season where I might see it coming home from work.. #Alberta #Canada #farm #landscape #photography 🎴📷 #CountryLiving #Spring #GoOutsideForMe

From the moving car at dusk/sunset looking across a dark, tree-shadowed low mown/grazed field/pasture. At the back of the field is a line of mixed woods, dark spruce and bare poplars.The sun is near setting behind the trees to the right, creating a large white gold mass shining thorugh thin clouds, with another dimmer smaller ball of light on top- like a snow man made of sunlight? Or maybe Bird Goddess- markings on the smaller ball could be facial features. Around those bright zones the clouds are golden orange dulling with distance till they fade into violet grey then blue-grey.The clouds are even and thin above the trees, with a strip of darkeruneven, loose edged cloud above that (maybe dropping some faint bits of rain). Above that faint pinky wisps drift on fading blue.

#FirstFlowers of the year have arrived: Aspens Populus tremuloides are starting to fully open their catkins (willows are just behind, first few open). They may be tiny, but there are millions! Officially wind pollinated, but they do draw insects.
#nature #BloomScrolling #Florespondence #WildflowerHour #Alberta #Canada #BorealForest #photography #GetOutside #GoOutsideForMe

Looking up at a strip of mixed woods, with many aspens in front. The row extends from right to left, seen at an angle so it goes to upper right and beyond, closest, and lower on the left as it recedes. The pale trunks and branches of the aspens, shaded dark in places and with dark markings, bear masses of silvery fuzzy catkins at their twig tips, with darker mixed woods behind and blue sky above and to the left.

Palest green twigs and branches with dark markings against a blue sky. From twig tips hang clusters of aspen catkins. Emerging from shiny brown bud cases, they start as silver brushes, extending to silver/pewter dangling caterpillars with red buds showing throught the hairs, then extending further and paling as the reddish tiny buds open to show miniscule golden flowers casting their pollen to wind. Those hanging in front in this view are fully extended and wind blown slightly sideways; they adorn a branch going from left to right making a band of catkins across the centre. above and below, other branches are a bit farther back with more blue sky showing.

A shadowed knobby twig rises in the centre, with numerous dangling catkins in various stages. Emerging from shiny brown bud cases, they start as silver brushes, extending to silver/pewter dangling caterpillars with red buds showing through the hairs, then extending further and paling as the reddish tiny buds open to show miniscule golden flowers casting their pollen to wind. Tangled pale branches in the background allow glimpses of the blue sky beyond.

A cluster of catkins dangle blowing in the breeze from a knobby pale dark marked twig, against a pale and grey blurred background of twigs and trunks. Emerging from shiny brown bud cases, they start as silver brushes, extending to silver/pewter dangling caterpillars with red buds showing through the hairs, then extending further and paling as the reddish tiny buds open to show miniscule golden flowers casting their pollen to wind. These are half to not quite fully extended.

So,I *took* the photos on #MonochromeMonday lol..I hadn't checked on #aspen #catkins for a couple of weeks- just emerging last time I looked; I knew the cool/snowy weather we had would keep them in suspended animation. It's been warmer for the last week though, a few days into the mid teens C/ even near 20C/68F, so I wondered if they'd matured. Nope! Farther along but still not fully extended/open.. soon though..
#nature #trees #spring #BorealForest#Alberta #Canada #animist #GoOutsideForMe

A black and white image of fuzzy poplar catkins on an overcast afternoon. There are several clusters of catkins at the tips of knobby twigs, and they are only partly emerged from their shiny sticky bud cases, looking silver white almost like pussywillows at this stage before they elongate. The background is muted blurred grey with several blurred dark twigs criss-crossing in various directions, giving an almost geometric pattern. One set of crossing twigs to the right looks like a stick thin figure dancing with one leg positioned with the foot on the ground, the other leg up at nearly right angles, the long arms mirroring this position with the torso nearly horizontal and dark head partly out of frame to the right. A spring forest spirit dancing in the trees and trying to hide from view among the twigs?

Friday was mild- at least 10C/50F in the afternoon, warmer in sunny sheltered spots like this, so Pearly took the opportunity to come over to where I was storing firewood and rolled and kneaded in the warm dry grass. She lounged there for a while as I was out doing other things, till it was time to go in and eat #caturday #cats #spring #Alberta #Canada #GetOutside #GoOutsideForMe
Short video, YouTube link, Spectra to follow.
https://youtube.com/shorts/ZhG_l_Pml-0?feature=share

A chonky senior tuxedo cat- black uppers, white bib, belly, whiskers and feet sits on the ground in a sunny patch (some tree shadows farther away) which is low cut dry grass with scattered spruce cones, twigs etc, some areas of taller dry grass in the background. She is in an upright sitting position, facing to the right, her face just very slightly turned toward me as I took the photo, eyes still forward but one ear clearly monitoring my approach. Next to her lengthwise left to right is an orange plastic sled with a green plastic covered wire pull cable, loaded with firewood of various shapes and sizes. Behind that is a wire mesh fence, more dry grass and a dark blue-green tarp in the background.

Hello, Lovely Peeps! 👋

I have a fun, gentle project for you! 😊

For anyone interested, below is the link to "One Minute Park" where you can see one minute of a park from various places in the world & can contribute your own.

https://oneminutepark.tv

THIS IS NOT A WEBCAM - this is a one-minute video, shot by someone there & uploaded.

Eventually they hope to have enough (1440) to fill an entire day. So far they have 219. 👍

#Japan, #UK, #Italy, #Brazil, #USA, #France, #China, #Slovenia, #Australia, #Finland, #Belgium, #Scotland, #Germany, #NewZealand, #Thailand & more are all represented.

(The location of the park is in small print in white in the lower right corner, sound, browse & info buttons are in white in the lower left corner. (They can be hard to see.))

(from website)

How to make a One Minute Park

Walk around a park until you find a composition. Your scene should be filled with many layers of activity without any dominating elements.

Record in landscape mode on your phone. Keep your shot as steady as you can but don't use a tripod. You could even hold your breath. Check the timecode indicator while filming to make your video exactly 60 seconds. Tap record, let it count up to 60, and tap again. No editing needed!

Upload your One Minute Park to this Are.na channel. Videos should be in .mp4 format. Please include the date, time, park, location in the block's title.

I'm looking forward to this! 🤩

#Park #Video #Nature #Outside #GoOutsideForMe

I mentioned a couple of days ago that we had a #weather forecast for #rain + #snow possibly quite a bit. It stayed rain longer than forecast, finally going white (for a short time) late his morning; stopped for now, but still a possibility of 10-20cm through tomorrow night. Yesterday afternoon when it was just wet / kinda dark I took a short walk on the acreage- I like the #forest best when it's wet! #mosstodon #GoOutsideForMe #GetOutside #Alberta #Canada #SolaceInNature #nature #BorealForest

We see part of the bottom of a balsam poplar tree trunk in upper left, leaning away out of frame. It is medium/dark grey, deeply furrowed vertically and covered in a thin layer of green moss and lichens in silver-green. The base of one large root shows at the left of the trunk and extends toward the lower left of the image, dividing the frame nearly in half, diagonally. The ground is covered with grey to red-brown fallen leaves from last year with a few small clumps of dried grass and fallen dark twigs here and there. Everything is wet dark. We don't see the root itself after the first foot or so away from the trunk, but we can tell where it is just below the surface, since the shallow or lacking soil on top of it has meant nothing is growing there except moss.The moss is bright to reddish green, with a generous sprinkling of dry red spruce needles. It rises just above the leaf litter in irregular clumps and blobs, sometimes touching, some with gaps, higher near the trunk, lower farther away as the root decreases in size/height.

I took #photos on #MacroMonday but just getting some posted today! How about #TextureTuesday ? or #TwiggyTuesday #TranquilTuesday
These are Aspen Populus tremuloides catkins just beginning to emerge.
#nature #Alberta #Canada #GetOutside #GoOutsideForMe #BorealForest #spring #winter #sprinter

Overcast day, subtle light. Fuzzy silvery grey catkins beginning to emerge brush-like from their sticky red brown bud casings. Similar to pussywillows but with longer hairs (and they will stretch out *much* more as they emerge fully). Several catkins cluster at the tip of an upright twig, a couple more blurred in the background. Farther back light coloured aspen trunks form a blurred vertical abstract pattern with the shadowed areas between.

Watched news this morning- Canadian (mostly about coming election: worrying but not full on devastation at the moment) + U.S./International (mostly devastation by U.S. actions and other regional dictators). Yikes. Now YouTube has recommended a woman in evening dress playing a huge harp on the beach for nearly 90 minutes. Sure, I'll take that, along with editing some #nature photos!
#SolaceInNature #love #solidarity #GoOutsideForMe #BorealForest #Alberta #Canada #photography #SelfCare #positivity

Looking over the top of a mixed wood of spruce and bare poplar in near silhouette against a bright sky- mostly smoothly clouded with wisps of cloud blowing over blue toward the right and in centre a couple of larger nodes, soft edged with faintly sunlit upper rims and darker bases blending into the background cloud. Edges of image blurred to enhance the dreamy feeling that you might float up into those soft clouds...

A couple of #morning views, one from yesterday with #frost kissed tree tops and today with fresh #snow #CountryLiving #Alberta #Canada #winter #spring #sprinter #March #GoOutsideForMe #BorealForest (those are wild native spruce trees behind the house) #garden (the mound to the right in second shot is a #RockGarden with a native Aster at the edge) #photography #weather #SolaceInNature

Looking over the roof (out of view below) we see part of the tops of three spruce trees and a bit of a poplar. These spruce trees are a bit skinny- lots of branches, we don't see too much of the trunk, but the branches are a bit long and thin and floppy, especially the two that are one to each side. Those two are natural dark green. The one we see in the centre, farther back is just a bit more compact and since we are only seeing the very top, it is all coated in frost (as is the top of a poplar we see in front of it). This would have been from freezing fog, and clearly it moved through rather high up as only some of the tips of trees were coated. Behind the sky is blue.

Looking down at the ground covered in a little more than an inch, maybe 3 cm of fresh fluffy smooth snow.Left of centre is a path which goes from lower left to upper centre, where it branches off to left and right. It is surrounded by mounds of snow to left, right, and at the top of the frame. The morning sun is from the left, so the left mound is casting a strong blue shadow, the other spots vary from nearly white in sunny spots to soft shadows from trees etc. The mound on the right is the edge of a rock garden covered in fallen and shovelled snow, and just where it meets the path a single dried plant around a foot 30 cm tall sticks partly out of the snow with many dried brown stems and old seed heads, and lightly covered with fresh snow as well.

🦋 A Tiger Swallowtail has recently emerged at a time when there are few preferred #wildflowers for it to feed on. Luckily, a #NativePlants gardener planted Carolina Jessamine years ago and it already has cascades of yellow flowers.

🌻 So the gardener gets to enjoy the flowers and the #butterfly.

The neighbors, however, must treat traditional lawns with chemicals to kill weeds.

#BiodiversityGardening #WildlifeGardening #HabitatGardening #Gardening #GoOutsideForMe

#InsectFriday Police Car Moth (named for a time and place when police cars were black and white!) Gnophaela vermiculata. Not super abundant, but not uncommon here and sometimes a number seen at once. This one was late July last year on Achillea/Yarrow in the yard or #garden (there are wild, cultivated and self sown hybrids around) #insects #inverts #NaturalGardening #pollinators #WildlifeGarden #Alberta #Canada
#nature #SolaceInNature #GetOutside #GoOutsideForMe

Mid size black moth with large white patches like stained glass on its wings and an orange fuzzy area behind-mostly below its head. Long black antennae and legs. It is perched on a flower head of white Yarrow, many tiny florets making up a large flat cluster, with each floret composed of a number of even tinier petal-like ray flowers and central disk flowers with tiny yellow sexy bits. the moth's long 'tongue' is projecting into one of those florets, presumably finding nectar. Background is blurred green to darkly shadowed foliage, with some lighter goldy angular stems to the right.

The birds don't seem to care it's #silentSunday 🤷‍♀️
#sitTogether #goOutsideForMe

#goOutsideForMe #sitTogether

Got the #Spectra #Peertube link- same video, smaller file.
#pagan #animist #nature #GoOutsideForMe #Alberta #Canada
https://spectra.video/w/5Byh9yZHEGKgQ37ZxfsoaY

#GoOutsideForMe

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