Nature

Two weeks of summer vacation – much of it at Waskesiu Lake in Prince Albert National Park – gave me plenty of time for a watercolor sketch or two – or ten! Here are four to share with you.

Beach Brolley Bonanza

I love umbrellas at the beach – even though mine went airborn while I was working on this painting. Misfortune was narrowly averted. Rest assured no people or animals were injured in the creation of this image!

Pastel Pastiche

What to do after the morning juice, cereal and  journal?  Break out the paints and the sketchbook, of course.

Kapasiwin Beachfront

Rowboat, paddleboats, kayaks, canoes, tiki huts. Tiki huts? What’s with that? I thought the boreal forest was a palm free zone!

 

Beach Bush Beauty

When you’re at the beach, you spend most of your time oriented to the sun, gazing out over the water. There’s even more to discover,  if you turn the other way.

Same rose, 10 days later. See earlier posting, Sublime Distraction.

Not the fresh, dewy, picture of youth; but a beauty of another kind – aged and lined to perfection.

You gotta love the circle of life!

Just one of a dozen beauties. A birthday gift from my youngest daughter & my grandson. This one perched on my desktop begging for my attention.

Roses this spectacular I haven’t seen in a long, long time. Stunning color. Petals cool to the touch. The softest of scents.

No wonder I’m having trouble getting any work done this morning – sublimely distracted as I am!

As much as I love the outburst of the crocus on the prairie, my favorite spring blossom is the Buffalo Bean. And, I’m delighted to announce, from my rocky perch on the South Saskatchewan riverbank that they’re baaack! Bright and sunny in appearance – with a sweet, earthy scent – BB’s (or Thermopsis rhombifolia as they are officially known in circles Latin) are tough as all get out. When you see a Buffalo Bean peeking from riverbanks and roadsides, you know that summer is not far behind!

It may be slow – but it certainly is sure!

Spring is slowly crawling its way into existence on the prairies.

I did spot pussy willows along the ditches last week. But here, now, my very own backyard garden is showing signs of life.

The beauties just needed me to get the rake out, dust off last fall’s leaves, trim back last summer’s growth, and show a little faith.

Maybe that’s the way with more things than just the garden.

Could be that to see more of life’s everyday potential, we need to spring into action, dust off the remains of the day, and be ready and willing to look more closely to discover what’s already growing right under our feet.

In the world of curiosities, this definitely qualifies. A strawberry so eager to reproduce itself, that it gives the next generation a head start. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it. That’s for sure. A strawberry plant growing out of the top of a still juicy berry, with another small berry on the plant itself. Maybe it got tired of waiting for spring and warm weather.

Thanks to eagle eyed Mom, for spotting this little multi generation critter.

As someone prairie born and prairie raised, there is a certain set of sounds I associate with the middle of winter. The squeak of the snow under your feet at minus forty degrees. The sound of the wind howling around the corners of the eaves in the midst of a blizzard. The electrical whoosh of the Northern Lights in the still of the night.

Today I find myself on the west coast, enjoying Vancouver, in the deep of winter – learning a whole new set of sounds. As I walk the sea wall around Stanley Park, I am intrigued by a cracking and clacking.

It takes me a while to realize it’s the sound of the crows picking clams off the beach at low tide and dropping them on the sidewalk. The shells crack as they roll, opening up to provide a tasty lunch for the inventive birds.

Now that’s a sound I’ll never hear in wintry Saskatoon.

   Fallen from glory, yes!

   Lost it’s youthful luster, yes!

   Beautiful all the same, indeed!