like sands through the hourglass.....

 .....these are some days in my life!

Ice, lots of ice!  Water, lots of water!  That's been the local weather theme lately and this watercolour painting is my ode to that!  It also represents my thoughts on how I see "Blue Monday"! A little while ago, I was searching for ideas and techniques on watercolour painting methane bubbles in frozen lakes.  What popped up in that search were numerous photos and tutorials of painted icebergs. Then, just like that, I became a quick change artist!  I followed a few videos on how to paint a realistic iceberg, then with brush in hand, I went to work.  I incorporated a background sky that I learned how to do before and added a boarder which is a new interest I am playing with.  This boarder was done by laying puddles of various blue hues between the taped off space, pressing scrunched plastic wrap on top and waiting for it to dry.  This border is the look achieved when the plastic wrap is removed.  There is much beauty in blue and that was what I choose to look for and I feel I found it, on Blue Monday! 

A visit to the Weaselhead area was beckoning me yet finding a right time eluded me, which was the case until this day.  I planned the visit so I could see the sunrise before heading down into the Weaselhead.   It was a gorgeous dawning of a new day especially with that orange glow in the ice.  The route covered a wide circumference that followed the creek, wound through a forest and crossed bridges. The trail was at times bare pavement, packed snow or icy in sections.  There were lots of opportunities to veer off trail and get closer to the winding creek where I could check out the frozen water droplets in the ice.  My hope was to see various bird species but that would not be the case, I did see a few chickadees and it was this determined one that entertained me.

In keeping with the ice theme, today I skated The Canal and The Lagoon instead of The Ice Trail!  Early mornings are best before the temperature rises. The ice was rated as rough, I went for it anyway and yes it was rough in scattered areas.  I can only imagine it must be a challenge to maintain given the warm weather we've been experiencing this month.  When it is rough, the etching sounds are more like carving sounds.  That being said, I like the feel for the videos of skating rather than the photos of me skating so here you go with some sights and sounds of etching/carving original designs.   

view along The Canal

when the sun shines bright on a blue bird day shadows steal the show 

On a frosty morning, the fire is nice to sit by!

Resolutions are not my thing but having goals are!  Creating a "Vision Board" is new to me.  This cork board was hanging empty after I completed the Conquer 2022 Virtual Challenge.  It was on this board where I pinned the map of my route of the east coast of Australia.   A while before 2022 concluded, I already had an idea of what I wanted 2023 to look like. I painted a variety of backgrounds on pieces of watercolour paper then wrote my visions on them.  One is blank as there is always room for learning and growth.  While no vision will be removed, more may be added.   The plan is to post progress reports through out the year.

• I am making good progress on the kilometre coverage. 
• I signed up for a bird coarse and just passed the first quiz,  after the second try. 
• I wrote one letter which a friend should receive any day now.  
• I started a book which is a light read called "Montana". 

Today's outing was geared towards birding and also to get caught up on the kilometres I needed to cover to stay on track with my Virtual Conquer Challenge goal.  Weekend days are more user friendly for getting to Carburn Park for early visits, that Deerfoot 500 has not been pretty lately on work week days.  There was much to enjoy from wintry scenes to the spring-like sights and bird songs.  I came away with success in both of my goals for today.  Another thing I brought home with me was a false sense that spring is around the corner!  It looked like it, it felt like it and it even smelled like it!  I know better though!    

The birding courses I am taking are through The Cornell Lab Bird Academy.  This course called "Think Like A Bird" is my fourth course.  The 20% off coupon has been sitting in my mailbox since mid last year, so I finally put it to use.  I completed the first section then needed two attempts to pass the quiz.  This first section was on behavoir including social, foraging, maintenance, parental and anti-predator.  Some of the material I was already familiar with but the majority of it was new to me.  The more I am learning, the more I want to be out there being a bird nerd!