Carburn Park March 31, 2024

Nature:  the portion of existing reality that was not cultivated by humankind, but which originated and developed organically; the opposite of culture.  

from The Great Norwegian Encyclopedia

Getting my fill of nature this long weekend was the top priority with today being the best of the three days.  Both Friday and Saturday gave that feel that winter keeps on keeping on!  Then this morning, with a bluebird sky day in the forecast plus an above freezing temperature, I headed to Carburn Park to get my nature fix.  The sun was up just enough to cast that alpenglow look on the trees across the pond.  

 There is no open water yet. 

After walking the loop around the pond, I headed to the river.  The trails were hard packed snow, ice and frozen mud.  I was watching my foot placement more than I was admiring the scenery.  I bit the bullet and pulled out my spikes to slip into.  That's when my focus for being here became clearer.  This is where the Robins were hanging out.  From the look of the trails, I was the first in this area this morning, that may be why the Robin was giving me the eye!  

Further along the trail, I spotted a bird sitting on the top of a twig.  The sun was in front of me so the lighting was not the best to identify what I spotted.  I thought I saw some blue!  I quickly worked my way to a better angle with a clearer focus.  

Ahhh a Mountain Bluebird!  There were four males, this is a male, along with two females.  If I am lucky, I get to see these birds once a year during birding season.  I patiently stood there in camera ready mode.  They did not seem to be wary of me and stuck around for quite some time, so I did too just to watch them.

This is another male Mountain Bluebird.  

It was time to leave the Bluebirds behind and carry on down the trail.  Then the Chickadees began to send out there warning 🎵chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee🎵 that something was coming, beware!  Hopefully that sideways look out of one eye confirmed there was no need to worry!    

a House Sparrow showing off its colourful feathers

It was time to leave the packed snow and ice which was now slush and now unfrozen mud behind for a stroll alongside the river.  It was full of ducks of all kinds. Numerous birders with their gigantic lenses were focusing on what they could spot amongst the hundreds swimming, flitting and flirting about.  I saw a variety of species, this was my favourite.  It's a Redhead Duck! 

It was upon my return to the pond area that I heard a sweet song then spotted this House Finch.  By now it was a good few hours later and I was feeling fulfilled from my nature fix.  With it being much warmer now, no doubt lots of other birds would be out & about.  I will see them another time!  

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There are a few other types of leaves that I want to macrame.  This was my third attempt at another pattern.  Those spaces between some knots are not supposed to be there, I tried to fix them, doing the best I could, yet still not perfect.  Then again, out in nature, each leaf is unique in its own way!  I may or may not make another attempt at this pattern.  There is another type that I want to try!  My plan is to eventually make a boho bag.  My sense is, that is a long way off, this craft is not as easy as I was expecting and its taking much longer to get the hang of even the easiest knots.  

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I finally finished "The Trail" and now I am ready to start this book!  The page before the introduction contains the quote that I shared at the first of this blog post.  It captured my attention and set my mind to mull its meaning!  We are in for another wave of winter-like weather later this week, that may be a good time to cozy up and get into this book!   

Glenbow Ranch March 27, 2024

The sun was barely up and what was left of Monday's full moon was working its way down through the clouds.  This was the view in front of me as I left the parking lot at Glenbow Ranch.  Earlier this month, I hiked westerly from the parking lot, this time I veered south at the junction and eventually aimed east.  I enjoyed a quick descent along the paved path to the junction for Yodel then ascended on packed snow to the ridge.  

It's at the top of Yodel where I could see forever. 

Two missions I wanted to accomplish today, other than hiking, were to capture photos of my Grand Canyon Virtual Challenge medal which arrived yesterday and also of my third macrame leaf.  

This is the Grand Canyon medal.  I shared detailed photos at the end of this blog post.

This is my third macrame leaf.  I spent more time making sure I had the correct placement and tightness of the knots.  I am pleased with the outcome.  The colour actually leans more towards rusty red rather than the bright red in this photo.  There was so much brightness in the sky today that it was a challenge to dull anything down.   

It wasn't until I focused on capturing the macrame leaf that I noticed the buds on the trees.  

Now with those two missions accomplished, I put the medal and the leaf back in my pack.  As I began to hike along, like I always do I began looking every which way at the scenery.  That's when I spotted a brown bunch of fluff in the tree as you can see just beneath the orange star.   

This is a zoomed in shot of that brown fluff.  It's a porcupine!  I believe it might be sleeping.  The dark brown circle shape on the right would be an ear, the darker brown shape below would be an eye and below the eye it looks to be the nose tucked into the fur.  

This is the view after descending Yodel.  My next destination area is to hike by the river which runs along that tree line in the middle just below the top strip of barbwire.  I enjoyed walking a long easy stretch of clear pavement.  The trail leading towards the river had a few inches of hard snow.  Two people had been, probably yesterday, but they had a long stride which did not work for me, so it was a slow go breaking trail for the next hour or so.  At times it was supportive but as the morning went on, the sun softened it and I sank with each step.   

My hope was to see all the ice along the river but it was covered with all the new snow.  There was no way I was venturing out on it like these animals did.  The ice build up surrounded the trees.

This is another view of the snow covered ice on the shore of the river.  

That dark like behind the snow is where the river is open.  

Further west along the trail is where the river runs wide with very little ice along the shores.  

This is even further west along the trail.  It's at this location where the trail begins to veer away from the river and loop around and then back.  

The whole time while hiking the trail beside the river, I noticed all the animal tracks.  I wondered what was I sharing the trail with.  Most of them appeared fresh.  None looked large enough to cause concern.  I walked beside them, careful to preserve them for other people to enjoy. 

As I was nearing the completion of the great big loop, a train whizzed by.  There was still some distance to cover before I arrived back at the track crossing.  There would be no waiting once I got to the crossing.

I was thankful to be back on clear pavement for the last 45 minutes or so of hiking.  The pathway was lined with snow which was covered in tiny tracks and dirt sections.  It's spring!  The ground squirrels have emerged!

These are the photos of my Grand Canyon medal.

in the face of a wintry spring kick-off

This "wave of winter" created many waves over the past number of days!  The new snow was so brilliantly bright!  It beckoned me to wander through each wave!  On a beautiful spring day like this day, I have never wandered through so much snow at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary.  It was easily swishable and being the first one there, I swished lots!  You can see my faint trail to the left of the sign.  

in the face of a wintry spring kick-off this deer sports flakes of snow on its nose

in the face of a wintry spring kick-off this Black Capped Chickadee sports flakes of snow on its beak

in the face of a wintry spring kick-off this buck pokes its nose into the snow looking for treats

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Staying at home on this day, I planned for my new macrame cord to make its arrival.  Immediately, I knew this would be a better product to make knots with. The colour is called avocado green, it is 3 strand twisted natural cotton.  I was excited to get back to leaf making.  I like the outcome of this leaf but there is still work to be done.  For some reason, just like the first one I made, the right side is not as tidy as the left.  I could see that it was shaping up that way as I went along. I tried to fix it the best I could.  

These three photos show some of the steps along the way.  After all the knotting is done, the tape is removed and so is the clip.  It is turned up right and the ends are pulled to tighten the knots.  Then the loose ends are cut off and I used tacky glue to seal the deal.  

I know the leaf can look better.  

I need to smooth out the rough looking side somehow.  

Another leaf is in the making!  

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I waited a little longer before heading out the door to Confluence Park on this morning.  Local neighbourhood traffic was a nightmare and I was more into dreamy rather than nightmarish!  The new snow was pillowy soft.  On some of the trails, others had been which meant I did not have to break trail and in other areas, I swished along.  In these conditions, its easy to tell where the wildlife went!

others broke trail here

trying to blend in with the snow covered trees while 

wearing my hat with the snow covered trees

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This brings us to this morning, March 25th the day of the full Worm Moon also known as the Strong Wind Moon.  I woke very early this morning when my iPhone dinged to let me know the aurora borealis may be visible in my area if the sky is clear.  I looked out, saw some stars, went back to bed, tossed and turned, got up, looked out and saw the full moon.  I bundled up, grabbled my camera and went out on my deck to admire it. I took 44 photos, this was my favourite.  I did not need full zoom and did not need to make edits.  

Yes, it was just before 4:00am when I first woke.  I checked the forecast after looking outside the first time.  The weather was living up to the reason why another name for this full moon is the Strong Wind Moon!  I was over the moon to be able to capture this photo of the full moon! Another thing I noticed was  the fog notice.  That meant it could be a gorgeous morning to be out and about! 

SO, out & about I went up to Nose Hill!  That strong wind caused drifting of all that snow.  At times I was breaking trail through snow that was a foot deep.  It was not soft pillowy snow, it was hard and crusty.  The sun was trying its best to burst through the clouds.

the wind whipped snow 

what can happen when fog is in the forecast 

tiny delicate decorations

in my happy place both heart and soul

these covered the ice for as far as the eye could see 

By now my calves and thighs were yelling at me and my eyes were bursting from all the beauty there was to behold. It was time to descend the hills and aim for home.  I followed that drifted over animal track that lead me to a trail down through the forest.   

If another winter wave hits, I will be outside in it!  If not, I will be outside anyway!