Early spring in the Kootenays

Spring's popping up :)

I love spring!
The promise of warmer, longer days, new growth popping up from bare branches and peeking up from the ground.




Our snow was gone earlier than usual.
It's surprising how little snow we got here in the Kootenays this winter, unlike our fellow Canadians on the East Coast.
I don't mind at all. I used to love it but the older I get, the less I like snow.

I think this is a pine siskin, he's happy to sit & feed at the feeder.

Many birds have returned from wherever they spent their winter and our quiet mornings now sing with an orchestra of sound.

We've had an early spring here in the Kootenays and I'm thrilled to be able to share it with you - in pictures.

   

Our walnut tree.

Our cherry tree in bud.

I think this is a mock raspberry. 

Finally some crocuses!

I love the fluffy seedheads of this clematis.

Our star magnolia buds.

Larch starting to bud.

A whisky jack or grey jay! I think they like the higher elevations
as we rarely see them.

The Osprey Ferry on Kootenay Lake

The Osprey Ferry heading up the West Arm of Kootenay Lake

The sun sets early behind the mountains. I love this beach!

An entertaining little dipper on a rock in Kootenay Lake.

I love going for walks here, but they've cut down many trees lately.

Catkins? 

One of our little furry friends.
This little squirrel is my profile photo on Twitter :)

Thank you for visiting, 

I hope you enjoyed sharing a few peaceful moments with me, 

in my neck of the woods.

Peace & love to you,

Angie

Saw an otter or two today...

Deer in our front yard

This past week, we've had major snowy mornings melting away by the afternoon.
Makes it hard to get up and go to work.

A pair of Canada geese.

But now it's the weekend and the sun's starting to shine, so Dave & I drove to Castlegar. We made some stops on the way home, to enjoy the sunny day and the beauty that surrounds us.

 I'm so glad we stopped at the Kootenay River bridge, 

I wanted to take pictures of these ice spikes. 

We spied a river otter (or two). They were far away and hard to see, but eventually one swam along the shore line, towards us, and I was able to get a little video and a couple of photos.

River otter

 River otter under the bridge.

Video of the otter swimming.

 Sorry about the poor video & noise. My camera's about 3 years old, and it's time to replace it. I've been shopping around for the past month, and last night finally made the decision and bought a new one. It'll have a better zoom, video, and bigger viewing screen (so I can actually see what I'm filming:)  I can't wait for it to arrive!!
 In the meantime, here's a National Geographic video of otters.

Idaho Peak

The drive up to the parking lot (above Sandon).

Idaho Peak

Aug 2/10

One of the more amazing views in the Kootenays, is from the top of Idaho Peak.

It's hard to express the sense of awe that I got when we finally made it to the top. It was a long, hard climb for me,

but well worth it.

I hope the pictures speak for themselves, with or without the "narratives".

Still going up...lots of switchbacks & a narrow road.

The trail leading to the lookout on Idaho Peak.

Just some of the wildflowers up there.

Almost at the top.

Views from the top.

Me & Peppy at the lookout. It's not foggy, it's smokey from forest fires.

My thought for today:

"Sometimes I think I'm lucky to be naive. If I had known how much time & effort it would take to get to this point... I probably wouldn't be here :) "

The drive back down is no less amazing.

Follow my heart

I'm working on a small group of jewelry pieces
that I hope you'll enjoy.
This is the 1st one.
I call it "follow my heart" because that's what I'm doing.
I love the freedom of making something just for the joy
of making it.
Using earthenware clay, firing it, painting it, then
designing and making it into a unique piece of jewelry has allowed
me to use numerous skills. It's a little wearable work of art.
I hope you like it as much as I do :)
I've just listed it in my Etsy on-line shop.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35452011