A true pioneer...

Have you noticed today's Google homepage?

Here in Canada, at least, there is a beautiful naturalist doodle to

celebrate the 366th birthday of this woman...

Her name was Anna Maria Sybilla Merian.

Born in Germany in 1647.

Truth be told I had never heard her name although I've probably seen her work

being a lover of botanical and zoological illustrations.

Not only was she a gifted artist documenting for the first time many creatures and their life cycles...

...but who also travelled to far away lands, living amongst the native people and

even advocating for human rights in the slave populations of South America.

Her work was important enough to be quoted many times by known

naturalist Carl Linnaeus, considered the father of zoological classification.

She travelled as a divorced woman, unheard of in her day, with her daughter to these

strange and wild places to seek out what she had been curious about

since she was a girl and to document the natural world around her in great detail.

Her work is a valued addition not only to science but to admirer's of fine

naturalist art...

I have only posted a few of her pieces and only snippets of her fascinating life but

have a look yourself and read about this extraordinary pioneer woman.



Good morning!

Happy Easter everyone and Happy spring!

It is a glorious sunny morning here on the Island and the

dawn chorus was full on this morning...

...robins, woodpeckers, swallows, sparrows, towhees, hummingbirds

going about the business of spring.

My mom has a cockatiel who, although never had a mate,

continues to lay 'blanks'.

She saves them and gives them to me to decorate some of the

many nests I've found during the winter...

 I don't know how but they never get rotten, they just dry out inside

making them a perfect little prop...

here's a few in a felted 'pea green boat' I made for a project some day...

This glass egg is beautiful with the iridescent light cast through it...

My sister-in-law and I found this abandoned nest one winter full of eggs...

And what would Easter be without a bunny?

Hope you enjoy this day with family and friends and welcome

the new world around you.

p.s

When I came in the house after our walk this morning I heard this song

and had to share it with you...a little song for Sunday...

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06gAdro-62E



Song for Friday...stuck

This is one of those songs that's been stuck in my head all week.

It comes on the ipod and I'm reminded of all those 'mail order brides' who

gave up their lives and families to come to foreign lands,

not knowing what to expect.

It was long before any kind of instant,

 or for that matter, any

kind of quick communication to show you what

another part of the world was like.

You had to trust.

Yup, word of the day...trust.

Sometimes it worked out, sometimes it didn't but you trusted in the world

and you went where you thought you were supposed to be.

So here's a song for some of those long ago young girls

who road The Bridal Train.

Have a great weekend all!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k7OncTVHkI

Wordlass Wednesday...



It's happening!

 It's spring time in the forest!!

Walking down along the creek the signs are all there...
A few pussy willows are still coming out...

The creek is singing...Griffin wishing for stick throwing... 

There use to be a bridge here for bringing the logs down from the hills onto waiting

trucks but has since been decommissioned...

 In the summer this is a great "cool off the dog" pool.

The salmon enhancement society releases hundreds of tiny fish in here

and if you put your feet in the creek, they swim around your toes to see if you're

something good to eat!

The moss has started to show off in thick blankets of all shades of green,

covering the skeletons of logging from long ago...

 When men were men and logging was done by hand, they would cut a notch in the

big tree, insert a long board and then a man would stand on either end and begin the

long process of cutting the tree with a band saw...

Now all that's left are the "mouths" from these springboards.

If only they could speak to us and the stories they could tell!

Looking closer you can see the tiny flowers of the mossy carpets...

The first of the Dog Tooth violets are beginning to bud...

As well, the False Lily of the valley unfurling her delicate leaves...

Coltsfoot...

and Indian plum...

Licorice fern...

Leftover fish bones from spawning days in the fall...

A loose downy feather, surely someone will collect to line a nest...

Speaking of nests...under this bridge I saw a grey bird fly out...

After careful investigation I found something I've never seen before...

The nest of an American Dipper!

Like a big fuzzy bowling ball.

I've seen the bird itself many times fluttering along creeks but never have I seen a nest.

They are so sweet how they stand and bop up and down in between diving. (hence the name 'dipper')

I watched the pair going about their business and got a few shots of them...

 It was hard though because of the low light and the fact that they move

around so quick and they're the same colour as the creek!

Did you know that they are the only true aquatic songbird?

After walking a bit more along the creek, looking at Hobbit inspired roots and trees...

...marvelling at more moss...

Amusing Griffin in between...

I went back near the bridge and just caught a few shots of the dipper

collecting grass and dipping it into water and then mud and taking it back to add to the nest...

How fortunate I was to witness one of natures marvels!!

Here's a little sample of the beautiful song of the dipper...video by Lynn Kelly

Maybe next time you're by a creek you may hear one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNsmksfs_uY