.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Friday, October 15, 2010

Fall is rising...

It's autumn in the Kootenays. That means shorter days, low-slanted sharp sunlight, crisp loud air and the process of decay and decline in the natural world. Here are a few photos of these changes underway. It's a melancholy time in some ways...as it feels like we are slipping towards slumber, darkness and a form of 'temporary death'. Maybe it's because melancholy cheers me up by pulling me inside myself...or maybe it's just beautiful - I love this time of year.


On another fall note - a bear or bears are eating the remaining bits of fruit in the yard at night. We hear them, find piles of almost steaming scat in the morning (looking very fruity) and there are broken branches beneath an apple and purple plum tree. Now to see one and take his or her photo! (But not up close...)




These are really fun guys! (apologies offered...for such a bad pun)


Kokanee Creek parking lot rascal


A walk through a section of old-growth forest


Anna tree-hugger


Stump monster - taken from directly above

Kokanee salmon spawning - this species used to reach the ocean in their life cycle (and were huge), but for decades dams have prevented that - they now live their lives in Kootenay Lake and spawn to their birth-streams in the third year of life - turning from silver to the red and green in the photo of this soon-to-spawn-and-die fishy couple. This channel had several thousand this fall.




Comments:
Melancholy is a seasonal time that we Nordic people share, isn't it easier to know, You are not alone. From Canada to Scandinavia we share the feeling, but the white light will soon arrive and we will wake-up from this kind of zombie state ;-)


Lovely pictures, thank You for sharing (both feelings and photos)
 
The pictures are all very nice yet it's the strange and lovely colors in the last that strike my artistic nerve.

I like autumn too but I'm just a tiny bit nervous about what this one will lead to. Spring, eventually, I know :-)
 
Anna Lys - you're nice.

Susan - I like striking your artistic nerve, with any photo...
 
Beautiful photos Gary of the Kootenays to sense from your evocative descriptions the melancholy changing of your season. Like a haunting refrain the tune of nature reminds us of nature’s death which brings forth renewal so that the only real wealth we have is the precious earth and the environment upon which we all depend. Tell Anna to stop enthusiastically hugging those enormous young trees as she risks stunting their growth.
Best wishes
 
I love Autumn. It's my favorite season. I love the melancholy feel of it the most. Anna looks so small! and so cute next to that huge tree. The squirrell looks busy at work. Good thing he let you photograph him in action!
 
i love kokanee salmon. we had them in idaho too. there is a lake in the middle of the state called redfish lake. i think it was named after the salmon that spawn there when the weather turns cold. there is a small creek that feeds the lake- and it is filled with thousands or tens of thousands of those red fish just before the lake closes for the winter.
 
I found a great deal of useful material here!
 

Post a Comment





<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?