January greys

Another grey, windy, wet day, with half-hearted attempts at sunshine.Gulls and eagles were soaring high above; they do love the wind!

And below, bouncing waves, and bouncing wigeons.

The white line of surf is all that shows of the breakwater at high tide. Rotary Beach.

Gull, taking a one-footed break atop a purple martin nest post.

The greys of winter

November. Here on Vancouver Island, that means rain, mist, fogs, and the colours leached out of the landscape. Grey days.

The view from Saratoga Beach. Grey, blue-grey, blue. The line of green along the shore is torn seaweed, tossed up at the high tide line.

Lonely young gull, waiting for the tide to retreat. Her colours are muted, too; grey-browns, palest of pinks, a hint of blue on beak and knees. Notice her painted toenails, though.

A Skywatch post

Ahhhh! Grey again!

The Vancouver Island paint box relies on blue, green, and grey. Mostly grey. But over this dry, smoking summer, that has changed. Lawns are yellow and crispy; the air has been brown, the sunshine orange. Distant mountains, instead of blue and purple, were a smudgy mud colour.

When the rains finally started last week, I went out to the woods to rest my eyes on the new greys.

From Race Point, Looking across to Quadra Island

Mist over a valley. Near Brown's Bay Road, Hwy 19.

Muted rainforest greens

"The woods were lovely, dark and deep ..." (Robert Frost)

It was pleasant there, wandering in the slow rain, under the evergreens. The air was cool and damp; it smelled of moss. The only sounds were the quiet tree conversations; creaking and whispering; and the gentle pattering of falling fir needles. Far overhead, eagles circled, crossing and re-crossing the patches of visible grey sky.

Farther north, the rain had been and gone, but the mist remained.

Deciduous trees, blasted by unaccustomed heat, basking now in a blue-grey mist.

Not everything is grey. Blackberries, still green, are red.

The blackberries this year are ripening slowly. I've tried a few ripe ones; they're acid and hard. They need water, lots of water, and sunshine; this summer has been missing both.

A bit of wind

I wanted a few grey weather photos. It was raining again, so I took a couple through the open window of the car. Then I walked down to the water's edge, just a half step above the level of the highest waves, hunkered down for a low shot, and a freak wave pounded in, soaked me to the knees, and almost bowled me over. End of session.

Wet and windy. (Fresh breeze, 33 km/h.) Near the 50th parallel. The only boat out there is the Quadra Island ferry.

I'll try again another day.

The northern palette starts with grey

Add in a tube of blue, and a dab of green. And just a smidgen of something warmish.

Upper Campbell Lake, from Strathcona Park Lodge, halfway across the island.

Wood, stones, water, all in shades of grey.

And then there's this:

Startling yellow branches, still without leaves or buds. Unidentified tree.