Cohan Fulford

And then people wonder why more women are choosing to remain single..lol

A single small bird perches on the thin stems of a low shrubby willow against the blurred backdrop of a snowy wetland. Its belly is toward us so we see mostly the underside which is whitish in centre with buff sides, the light grey underside of the tail and a distinct black cap and black throat like two triangles that meet at the tips where the beak is, white triangles extending out across the cheeks between the two black patches. It has a small pointy black bill and a laser focussed black eye.

Two small birds perch on the thin stems of a low shrubby dwarf birch in a snowy wetland area, while a third launches itself from centre toward the right, its wings extended downward as it flaps. The wings are grey and white, undersides whitish to buff and heads have a distinct black cap and black throat like two triangles that meet at the tips where the beak is, white triangles extending out across the cheeks between the two black patches. Farther back there are more bits of dwarf birch and willow with a dark mixed wood farther back still.

We've fed Chickadees on some cold days + they've become very bold: approaching us very keenly to beg for more food. This little bunch actually mobbed me when I was out in the bush to get firewood a few days ago-swooping close enough to land on me #birds #nature #Alberta #Canada 🌿📷 #BorealForest

The low dry stem of an alpine thistle sticks up through smooth snow, its dry flower head covered in a little mound of powdery snow. The afternoon sun is low coming from the left and the thistle casts funny spikey blue shadows. Behind this stem, several thin woody branches - some native shrub that has sown itself into the garden bed- are mostly in blue shadow.

Wintry days come and go- melting days, then fresh snowfall, a return to cold, rinse/repeat.. the time of growth +flowers is still distant, but these days have their own beauty.. details in alt #winter #February #GardensInWaiting #WaitingForSpring #WinterWonderland #MagicInTheMundane #Alberta 🌱

Cool little things (literally, at night..lol). Chickadees up north here also dramatically drop body temperature on cold nights- though they also have larger chest muscles in winter to raise their body temp with spells of shivering! Little birds gotta do what they gotta do :)

A small log lies on the forest floor, almost completely covered with moss- in places an inch or two/several centimetres deep with fine fronds showing, in other spots flatter patches work to cover new areas. Several patches of silver-blue lichen stand out on the green moss. The log is surrounded by faded dry leaves with occasional twigs and bits of larger branches. Most of the view is in shadow, but a shaft of light reaches the middle of the log, making the green almost glow and also lighting several arching stems of dry palest gold grass in front of and also draping over the log.

Afternoon winter sun makes a nearly white starburst in the mostly blue sky, left of centre just above a line of mostly shadowed mixed woods the cross the rear of the image.The camera lens turns the farther rays of light to white dashes in the sky and glowing gems against the trees. In the foreground a melt smoothed set of tire tracks crosses the stiff melted and refrozen snow with more snow behind giving way to low willows and scattered small spruce. In front of the tracks much of the snow has melted showing dry golden grass. At the right we see part of the trunks of several aspens, the bark a mix of smooth grey-white and rough raised black branch scars small and large.

For me it's *always* about the light (and line, and texture!) but that may be even more true in winter when the colours are fewer and the lower sun gives dramatic light much of the day.
#winter #nature #BorealForest #Alberta #Canada #GetOutside #photography #moss #sunlight #light

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congrats! rare/unusual sightings of anything are always exciting :)

Bulerías. Qué no daría yo. Rocío Jurado. 1992 YouTube video by Canal Andalucia Flamenco

Post a banger that isn't in English, they say
-super easy, I could play that game all week and not run out of top faves..
here's one of my very favourite performances in any genre.. #music #WorldCulture #OnePeople
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EEV...

Ha- I saw #SuperbOwl didn't clue in: owls are superb so it seemed reasonable! I wasn't thinking about another use of those letters, cuz, why would I? lol #Birding is a better sport ;)
short vid from last year when I had the luck to see a Great Grey Owl several times on the farm.
#birds #Canada 📷🌿

Glad you enjoyed :) It would be the Latvian counterpart of Imbolc etc. Seems most traditional cultures observed the 8 points of Solstices, Equinoxes and Cross-quarters (or I should say the northern /European ones- haven't looked into others so much though I've seen at least some in China +India)

Waiting for Spring: Metenis, New and Old Pagan Celebrations, Fire and Snow It’s one of those times again- a marker on the solar calendar. This time it’s halfway between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. I pause t...

#CrossQuarterDay was a few days ago- mid-way between Winter Solstice + Spring Equinox. #Latvian #Metenis /Meteņi : 'Waiting for Spring' is Feb 06. Masking, feasting, bonfires are usual things - blog post here: cohanmagazine.blogspot.com/2021/02/wait...
A Blessed Season to all!
#PaganSky

Looking over a snowy field with ploughed clods showing through. Almost halfway across a farmyard stretches across with buildings and rows of hay bales sitting among trees. Beyond the land drops and we seemore snowy fields before the forest begins that stretches all the way to the foothills which rise blue and hazy with ribbons of fog or smoke. These give way to mountains that rise jagged and snowcapped, still catching a little post-sunrise glow, with rolling clouds just above them. Higher up the sky is lightly overcast with ribbons and wisps and strips of blue here and there.

pt 3 The mountains were pretty with recent snow + a bit of morning light hitting the peaks, lingering haze/fog/smoke making them look more like paintings than photographs. (Note: zoomed a bit, mountains are not so close)
#landscape #winter #frostodon #Alberta #photography #RockyMountains #mountains

Pastel frosted morning post sunrise. Looking over a wire and post fence to a snowy pasture, the snow broken by numerous low shrubs- willows and dwarf birch, probably, cattle browsed. Farther back the low mounded willows rise to several metres, with larger (but not large) birch, behind them taller poplars and spruce. Everything is lightly frost coated, making ground, woods and sky all blend in shades of silvery grey with blue hints and a slight remnant hint of sunrise.

pt 2 . A couple of hours later, shopping and car done, back on the way home. Mostly near town it was a bit foggy/frosty
#frost #winter #landscape #Alberta #Canada 📷

Looking across a darkish dawn road in a semi-industrial/service area. The road is half dark with strips of remnant snow/ice/slush mixed with sand. On the other side across a snowy strip is a moderately large commercial building with a narrow warehouse looking rear part and a front area looking rather house-like. A couple of power poles rise from the snow, and there are several vehicles parked in front of the business. Farther on the road curves to the right and we see a few other buildings, whitish and blending with the shadowed snow. Farther still a ling of dark spruce is just visible against the gold of the lower part of the sky, with the brighter gold of the rising sun just visible behind the closer building. Higher up is a band of cloud angling slightly upward to the left across the sky, orangey gold edged grey giving way to darker slightly violet grey then fainter lighter wisps in the upper blue sky.

pt 1 Last week the car had to go in for urgently needed new tires (2/4: 2 more to be done when money permits). While the car was at the shop I walked to a couple of stores to get shopping done- + caught the #sunrise
#RockyMountainHouse #winter #Alberta #CountryLiving 📷

This is why I don't hike, I have 'slow walks'! definitely looking at plants and fungi and critters-also taking photographs and video-- that's another category of slowness..lol

Not what I initially thought! It seems it made the area 'smoother' and more aerodynamic, not what you usually expect from crotch stuffing...😆

Always encouraging :) I find that even though it's still winter outside, the days are getting just a little longer and the house plants notice!

Yes, I don't much care for overdone flowers anyway, but those monstrosities with no viable parts for the pollinators I especially don't like...lol

best kind of Dahlia :)

Well, that's kind of what they are saying-- to target insect pollinator species!

thanks :)

Looking through a rather dense growth of smallish poplars (probably some willows and Amelanchier in there too), we see just the trunks and some branches, silhouetted agains the sky behind. The setting sun is a small glowing amber ball just above centre right, burning through some small branches and highlighting the edges of others.The top third of the background is orangey sky, below that a blur of distant blue mountains, below that a dark band of pasture/fence and then snowy ground with dried grass.

The stems of a native rose arch into view from the centre top of the image. The stems are thin and covered with fine prickle and still hold the leaves from last season, now dry and dark spotted red brown, enhanced by the sunset light coming from left and behind the viewer. Some light fluffy snow clings to the leaves in places. Below the rose stems is ground covered with the same light fluffy snow with occasional long dry grass stems sticking up.

Looking up towards the sky from a forest clearing (in front of my house, basically!). It's near sunset and the mix of bare poplars and snow coated spruce are nearly silhouetted against the sky which is blue with scattered bits of light cloud, highlighted by the lowering sun giving them a silvery (to palest gold) effect.

Foreground is a snowcovered pasture with bits of golden dry grass showing through, in dusky blue shadow. This is broken by the shadowed edges of a dugout (these are dug to catch water for cattle) and beyond that to the left, a windbreak fence of upright weathered grey boards. The shadowed dark of the boards nearly blends into the low dark red willows some distance beyond with some areas of dark mixed woods even farther. On the horizon we can just see some hazy purple mountains with a pale gold sun just showing beneath cloud. Near the sun the sky is bright burnished copper fading unevenly to blue farther out, Most of the sky is covered with tightly packed rows of blue-grey, gold highlighted cloud, bits of blue showing through here and there.

Early in the month we had serious melting weather - not all the snow disappeared. We've since had fresh snow, up/down temperatures + some cold days (mid -teens C days +/- -20C nights) After today should warm again gradually, above freezing daytime by mid-week #winter #snow #Alberta 📷🎴 #weather

I'm sure rolled up fabric would do, if stiff enough, too. You make a band of it, long enough to go around the plant and ends to hold on the other side, so it's sort of a loop.. I'm sure there are lots of photos and videos online :) I really don't go to much trouble for little ones like this.

good gloves might do for this one, but the other classic is to hold it with a rolled up band of newspaper :) I often just go barehand, gripping slowly and carefully on the sides of spines (not tips..lol).

great view :)

cool :) looks very much like our native Ruffed Grouse

I love freezing fog :) We had a nice spell earlier in the month :)

TV and movies- any plants mentioned tend to be nonsense...lol

Frosted but still dark, a handful of spruce boughs dangle into each side of the image, mainly in the upper part. They belong to fairly large trees. Loosely framed by those shaded boughs, we see the upper parts of several poplar trees (mainly 2 in centre, with less of another, lower/farther back, to the right). They are so heavily frosted that you might almost think they had silver-white foliage, and are catching the late afternoon winter sun with a hint of gold. In places the grey-green trunks and near black branches show through, giving more emphasis to the silvery filigree. The sky behind is bluish, covered with thin fluffy clouds that seem not to be very far away.

I've spent more time working on videos lately (still haven't got them all linked here) but I have still taken tons of photos...lol
View behind the house. We had quite a few days of spectacular #frost
#Alberta #GetOutside #winter #CountryLiving #photography 📷🌿❄️

Yes, I did get that it was very preliminary studies, good to emphasise that. I was just trying to grasp what they were suggesting, since it was suggested that it could be a low cost therapy/prophylactic.