Pink dawn

A couple of days ago, I took the highway north to catch the sunrise over the Discovery  Passage, that narrow ribbon of salt water that separates us here on Vancouver Island from the rest of BC. 

The sky was already orange and yellow when I set out, almost an hour before actual sunrise, even a few minutes before civil dawn, defined as the moment the sun's centre lies at 6° below the horizon and its light illuminates the clouds. An iffy calculation here, since our horizon is hidden behind mountains.

The "Official" sunrise for this location, this day, was at 5:55 AM. Civil dawn was at  5:17.

Turning pink. 5:43 AM. Discovery Passage, Menzies Bay (to the left), eagle's nest. 50.11°North.

5:44, looking south from the same spot.

That eagle's nest, against the pink water. With eagle.

Three quarters of an hour later, a few kilometres farther north, the sunshine was coming down the mountain sides.

Looking northeast over McCreight Lake. 50.30°North.

And today, here at 50°N, sunrise comes at 5:58. We've lost 6 minutes of daylight in these last 3 days, 1 hour, 26 minutes since the summer solstice a month ago. Almost 7 hours yet to lose before winter.

A Skywatch post.

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Hace un par de dias, tomé la carretera hacia el norte para ver salir el sol sobre el Discovery  Passage(Travesía Descubrimiento), esa cinta angosta de agua salada que nos aisla aquí en la isla Vancouver del continente. 

El cielo, cuando salí, ya se pintaba de anaranjaso y amarillo, esto a casi una hora antes de la salida del sol, y unos pocos minutos antes de la hora del crepúsculo civil matutino, que se define como el momento en que el centro del disco solar queda a 6° bajo el horizonte. A estas horas su luz alumbra las nubes. Un cálculo algo difícil de hacer a simple vista aquí, donde el horizonte está escondido tras las montañas.

La hora oficial para la salida del sol en este dia y este sitio caía a las 5:55 a.m. El crepúsculo civil matutino era a las 5:17 a.m.

1. El cielo se está pintando de rosa. A las 5:43 a.m., mirando el Discovery Passage y la Bahía de Menzies (a la izquierda). Y un nido de águilas. A 50.11° de latitud.
2. Del  mismo sitio, mirando hacia el sur, a las 5:44 a.m.
3. El nido de águilas y el agua que refleja el color del cielo.
4. 45 minutos más tarde, y unos kilómetros más al norte, y el sol bajaba por las laderas de las montañas. Miramos hacia el noroeste, viendo el lago McCreight, a 50.30° de latitud.

Y hoy, aquí en el paralelo de latitud 50°N, el sol sale a las 5:58 a.m. Hemos perdido 6  minutos del  dia en estos tres dias, y una hora con  26 minutos desde solsticio de verano hace un  mes. Vamos a perder otras 7 horas todavía antes del invierno.

Un post de Skywatch.

It's tomorrow, today.

 10 days. I've been mostly shut in, sleeping or wishing I were sleeping, promising myself to post "tomorrow", for 10 days. I'm awake now, I think.

Outside, the winter's bare branches are clothed in a pale green froth, pink and white blossoms blow in the wind, the sky and sea are blue, blue, blue. At my door, the spring flowers are almost done, and summer's offerings are leafing out. It's time I got my old bones moving. Weeding and planting to do, salmonberry flowers and pink trilliums to visit along the forest trails.

These photos are from 10 days ago.

Bleeding hearts in deep shade.

Heather in full sun.

Pink hyacinths.

Peonies rising from the remains of last year's stalks.

Going out now to see what the day offers. I'll be back tomorrow. Promise!

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10 dias. Por los últimos 10 dias, he estado encerrada, dormida o queriendo estar dormida, prometiéndome que "mañana" regreso al blog. Pues, ahora ya me desperté. 

Fuera de mis puertas, las ramas desnudas del invierno se han cubierto con una gaza delicada, de un verde clarísimo; flores blancas y color de rosa flotan en el viento; el cielo y el mar se han pintado de azul. Las flores del principio de primavera se empiezan a marchitar y las plantas que producirán los colores de verano están cubiertas de hojas nuevas. Hora es que yo ponga mis huesos viejos en marcha; me espera trabajo en el jardín, y en el bosque las flores de salmonberry y del trilio color de rosa se ven a lo largo de los senderos.

Estas fotos las saqué hace 10 dias.

1. Corazón sangrante, en sombra intensa.
2. Brezo, en pleno sol.
3. Jacintos color de rosa.
4. Peonías, brotando desde los restos de los tallos muertos del año pasado.

Ahora salgo a ver qué más me ofrece este dia. Regreso mañana, lo prometo.

Arachtober 2021 is upon us

It's Spider Time! Arachtober! Every year, for the month of October, a group of spider lovers, 299 at last count, post one arachnid photo per day to the Arachtober Flickr Pool.

This is my entry for today:

Cross spider, Araneus diadematus, with lunch, a rolled-up ball of goodies.

Check out the pool; there will be great spider (and other arachnid) photos to see all month.

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¡Es la hora de las arañas! Cada año, en el mes de octubre, un grupo de amantes de los arácnidos, que por el momento suman 299, suben una foto por dia al grupo en Flickr Arachtober.

Esta araña fue mi contribucción para el dia de hoy; una Araneus diadematus, con su albóndiga de moscos enrollados.

Si te gustan las arañas y otros arácnidos, o si quieres conocerlos, hay que visitar la página en Flickr; habrá muchas fotos nuevas todo el mes.

Pink. Just pink.

 So pink ...

Cosmos and bud.

Hollyhock by the staircase. And buds.

A small pink rose. Planted last year; loaded with blooms now.

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Flores color de rosa en mi jardín:

Cosmos, con botón, Alcea, también con botones, y una rosa pequeña. Sembramos este rosal hace un año, y ahora está cubierto de una multitud de flores.

All pink and shiny

In the sand at the bottom of my aquarium, there lives a worm. He's a shy critter, and I used to only see him when I cleaned the sand, sifting through it thoroughly. Even then, all I usually saw of him was his quickly disappearing curves. He moves fast, even in dense sand.

But he's been growing. The last time I caught him, he measured about 6 inches long; he can easily grow to four times that. And he's hungry. So hungry he's forgotten to be shy. When I drop shrimp pellets into the tank for the crabs and hermits, he comes out to get his share, quickly retreating into the sand once he's got a mouthful. But he comes back for more; it takes a lot of food for his long, fat body.

I tempted him with pellets right up against the glass.

Pileworm, aka clam worm. Probably Nereis brandti.

He's a segmented worm. Each segment has two sets of leafy "paddles" which help with movement, and also serve for respiration. On the head he has two fat palps and four sets of tentacles, two small antennae, a huge mouth, and four eyes. With all that sensory equipment, he responds instantly to any movement, or change in lighting. And he smells the food from far away, under the sand.

And his coat is shiny, pink, and iridescent. He glows!

Found a pellet, and opened that enormous mouth. One gulp, and it's gone.

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En la arena en el fondo de mi acuario, vive un anélido, un poliqueto Nereis. Es una criatura bastante tímida; acostumbraba verlo solamente cuando hacía una limpieza completa del tanque, removiendo y lavando la arena. Aún así, normalmente apenas lograba un vistazo mientras se enterraba con toda prisa. Hasta en arena apretada, se mueve rapidamente.

Pero ha estado creciendo. La última vez que lo saqué de la arena, medía más o menos 15 centímetros. (Puede crecer hasta cuatro veces ese tamaño.) Y tiene hambre. Tanta hambre le motiva a atreveserse a salir a la vista en busca de comida. Cuando les doy de comer a los cangrejos y ermitaños, que comen bolitas de camarón, el poliqueto las huele y sube a capturar su cena. Agarra una bolita, y se retira a su hoyo en la arena para tragarla, pero pronto sale a buscar más. Ese cuerpo largo y gordo requiere muchas calorías.

Es un anélido segmentado; en cada segmento del cuerpo lleva dos pares de patas en forma de hojas; estos le sirven para movilizarse, y además contienen su sistema respiratorio. En la cabeza lleva dos palpos, órganos de tacto, cuatro tentáculos, dos antenitas, cuatro ojos, y una boca enorme.

Y su piel es de un color rosa, brillosa, e iridiscente. ¡Resplandece!

Pink again

These are the last of the pink flowers from last week*

Young pink dogwood planted last fall: first flowers.

Asian bleeding heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis. 

Flowers and leaves.

I don't know what these are. They are very small.

*That's just the pink flowers around my house. There are tons more down the block. And more at my doorstep this week.

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Y estas son las últimas de las flores color de rosa alrededor de mi casa la semana pasada. Ya hay más; cuando deja de llover tendré que dar otra vuelta.

Primero, las nuevas flores de un árbol nuevecito de cornejo color de rosa.

Luego, un "corazón sangrante asiático", tambien conocido como "corazón de virgen", Lamprocapnos spectabilis. Este crece en la sombra al lado de la cochera.

Y por fin, unas flores que no conozco. Son muy pequeñas. Las sembró mi vecina.

Petunia pink

And so very pink!

Bee's-eye view

Side view

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Las petunias. Esta es de un color de rosa muy fuerte.

Color de rosa

Pink. April flowers in the swampy forest.

Bleeding hearts

Salmonberry

Siberian miner's lettuce

Miner's lettuce, again

Pink fawn lily, with its blotchy leaves.

A single fawn lily.. The green towers are new horsetail sprouts.

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Flores de abril, que crecen donde hay agua, lodo, sombra.

1. Dicentra formosa (Corazón sangrante)

2. Rubus spectabilis (Mora de salmón)

3 y 4. Claytonia sibirica (candy flower)

5 y 6. Erythronium revolutum (lirio de cervato)

Cherry blossom time

It's officially spring.  The cherries are in bloom!

So pink!

Lots of buds.

And blue skies, to boot!

A Skywatch post.

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La llegó la primavera, y los cerezos están en flor.

Pink and yellow

More orchids. This is the second blooming this year.

Half opened flower. The buds are a strange, curved triangle shape, like a half of a crescent moon.

Taken inside, in the orchid's favourite spot, under a yellow lamp. It grows happily here, not so well anywhere else.

Welcome home!

Hydrangeas, alyssum, and Sweet William at my door.

Up a few steps, so they're just at eye level when I leave the car.

So pink!

For a minute, there, I can almost forget the news.

So pink!

Honeysuckle. In bud.

All tied together with spider web.

I walked on the beach at low, low tide today, with the camera settings all wrong for the light and location. The honeysuckle and a few roses were beside the parking lot, at dusk; at least I have something to show for the walk!

There will be berries

Salmonberries are the first to leaf out, then the first to flower in spring. Now the sides of the highway north are lined with their cheerful greens and pink accents.

Rubus spectabilis. The one in back has already lost its petals, and will start a green berry ripening very soon.

Flower and new bud.

The birds and the bears and I will be happy to see the first red and orange berries.

Pink nursery

In a niche painted in "French Rose", a cellar spider is raising her brood.

Long-bodied cellar spider, Pholcus phalangioides.

In normal light, she's a light, coffee with cream colour; here everything is infused with pink.

Zooming in on the eggs.

These eggs are almost ready to hatch. The white lines in each one are the long, folded spiderlings' legs.

I looked for her a couple of days later, and she was gone, though a few babies were still hanging around. The mother would be off hunting; she gets hungry, carrying all those eggs by her mouthparts for a week or more.

Pink.

A trio of forgotten photos.

Fireweed, near Heckman Pass, Hwy 20.

In the high Chilcotin hills, here around 5000 feet, where the nights are chilly even in August, the fireweed flowers are smaller than those we see in the Lower Mainland, the colours more intense.

Sea rocket, Boundary Bay dunes.

Pink aster in a Beach Grove garden.

Twinned

I've been working with the new toys today, trying out different flash/camera/reflector setups, reading manuals, wrestling with software. I may have a good-ish photo or two; I still haven't processed any.

And then I put everything away. And went into the bathroom to mop the floor, and found a small pink and orange moth fluttering around the mirror.

I ran for the camera and chased him around the mirror, holding that heavy lens and flash over my head, hoping for a focus.

Resting, for a brief moment.

Hurrying to get away from that horrible light.

And then he scurried behind the mirror and the photo session was over.

I'll send him in to BugGuide for an ID tomorrow.

UPDATE: This just in, from BugGuide: it's an Oak skeletonizer moth, Carcina quercana. And when they gave me the ID, and I looked at BugGuide's other photos of this moth, I saw one I recognized; it's one I sent in, back in 2011. No wonder it looked familiar!

Carcina quercana, August 2011, in Strathcona.

(Trapped like this, it gave me plenty of time to get a photo.)

Pink beach

I made a quick run to the beach to pick up goodies for my hermits and crabs, but it's been a busy day, and by the time I drove into Beach Grove, the sun was setting behind me.  The tide was halfway out, and the beach, when I finally got there, was dark grey, except where tidepools reflected the pink of the clouds above. There were a couple of ducks and a heron in the distance, and I could hear gulls arguing over supper, but couldn't see them in the dusk.

A perfect time to try out a new camera, right? I took a half dozen photos, then got to work looking for eelgrass. By shape; I couldn't see colours any more, other than the pink sheen on wet areas.

The ducks. At maximum zoom, in the dusk. The photo turned out lighter than what I was seeing. Yes, the water was pink. What looks like a dead body on the sand is a log.

With the pink light, even mud with worm poop looks good.

I chased down the heron, but he flew away and all I got was a blur of wings. And by the time I'd collected my small bag of seaweeds (mostly rockweed and a kelp holdfast), the first star was out. Time for coffee at Tim Horton's, and the road home.

My hermits are happy tonight, swarming over the seaweeds and peeling the skin off the holdfast.

They are what they eat

It's wet and rainy, and the days are dark. Our weather people tell us to expect 2 hours of sunshine tomorrow. Watery sunshine it will be, at best. My garden is mourning.

Down on the beach, the seaweeds we see all summer are gone, ripped up, dead, or in some sort of hibernation. This last visit, I found one shredded piece of sea lettuce, one rotting rockweed. But the high winter tides and the storms brought in large sheets of Turkish towel, and two different red algae, which I've planted in the aquarium.

And all my critters are eating red veggies, and turning pink, to match their new diet.

One of the red algae, growing on an old clamshell.

One of the little white-fleshed (normally) Nassa snails, between two different red munchies. Only his siphon retains the usual hint of cream.

One of the little orange hermits, now sporting pink and violet tones around the mouthparts.

The crabs refuse to eat that red stuff; they're still green and white. Or grey and black, in the case of the tiny black-clawed crabs.

Deep pink

Evergreen rose, Crescent Beach

This is a huge rosebush, growing wild, towering far above our heads.

We've been taking too many photos. There's just so much to see! I must do an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink post to catch up. Maybe tomorrow, if the weather isn't too beautiful.