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

Kootenay photos

We're having an amazing Indian summer here in the Kootenays.
Since it's a busy time for many of us, I'm just going to post some photos I've taken recently, 

enjoy.

My squirrel photo has become a Cover Squirrel for our  MAKE Team's FB page.
Nov2/12

     Red squirrels... cute but noisey (and nosey).

Kokanee spawning in Kokanee Creek

Clean dog.

Dirty dog... yup, rolled in the dirt right after his bath.

Cruising down the West Arm.

Johnson's landing from across Kootenay Lake.

Swimming in Kootenay lake.

Awesome views on Kootenay Lake.

Kokanee Creek Park.

Feathered visitors.

Osprey Ferry.

Beach day at Queens Bay.

One of our small Kootenay towns was featured on Global News:

Silverton... 

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.

A productive weekend.

I hate to see this weekend end...

 We spent a peaceful morning enjoying the sunshine, birds, and collecting rocks at Queen's bay beach.

(Note: The lake level is really low right now.)

                                     Then the weather changed quickly so we headed home.

 I dived into my studio to start my 3rd clay bird project. This one will be a bit smaller than the others, but only a bit.

         I also made some earrings (and a little pug "window jewel")  with the tiny animal beads I bought recently. 

 Taking pictures and listing them takes some time,

 but I managed to list a couple of them in my Etsy shop as well. 

Back to work tomorrow... time to change gears.

A relaxing Kootenay day...

Dave & I ventured up to a local beach, to enjoy a bit of the sunshine before the clouds cover it up.

The lake level is very high right now, with the spring run-off, so there isn't much of a beach and some of the trees are standing in water. There's lots of snow, up top, that's still melting and the creeks are running full-tilt. Lots of logs and stuff are floating around on the lake and shores, but the fishing seems to be pretty good in some (secret) places, and the golf courses are looking great too.

I like watching the ferry, and thought I'd point out that we have the longest free ferry ride in the world, here on Kootenay Lake. Right now they're on the winter schedule (just one ferry- the Osprey, it's the big one, with a coffee shop, observation area and even wireless internet!)

June 14/11, they'll add a 2nd smaller ferry- the MV Balfour, until Sept 5 2011... here's the schedule.

MY SHAMELESS PLUG: "Buy my buttons"! If you're fortunate enough to take a ride on the Osprey ferry, be sure to stop in at the Coffee shop and buy a coffee and one of my "Catch that ferry" buttons, that have the schedule on them, or at least say you saw their shop on my blog.

When we got home, I took some pictures of the garden in Spike's pen.

My perennials are well established and could use some thinning, while the lemon mint should be perfect to start harvesting…there's always something to do outside.

Right now my little azalea, columbine, lilacs, irises and windflowers are in full bloom, while the bumblebees and friends are enjoying them. I saw my 1st tiger swallowtail butterfly last week,! To me it's the true harbinger of summer, like the 1st robin, 1st swallow, the 1st tiger swallowtail butterfly is a sign of the season's progress.

I hope you enjoy my photos and the links I've chosen.

Please leave a comment, don't be shy... I'd love to hear from you :)

A lovely weekend and a new dress.

I can't remember the last time I bought, or even wore a dress,
let alone got excited about one (for myself).
I'm happiest in jeans, or pants of any kind, as long as they have pockets.

But this past weekend I went and splurged on a lovely summer dress (yah, I know
it's almost over). And "No" it wasnt' even on sale.
I guess now I'll need decent shoes or sandals to go with it :)

I love the colors & it's so comfy, but best of all...it has pockets!

That makes all the difference in the world!
To me anyhow.

I bought it from a small, local shop in Balfour, which is on the way to
Queen's bay beach (where we were heading to take Spike for a swim.)
This was one of the loveliest & fun weekends we've had in a while,
so I took lots of pictures.
Have a wonderful day.

Here's a few of my photos...


Spike loves going to the beach, almost as much as
we do :)

Spike and his big stick.



A small flock of Canada Geese


Sunset on Kootenay Lake.