it's been a bit, have a #naturespam

happy new year from #naturespam world

this little waterfall that's usually no wider than the length of my hand does something magical every winter. it transforms slowly into a 20 foot wide and hundred foot high art installation - one tiny drop at a time. it was too windy to get audio of the gentle crystal ting sounds it makes - a kind of ice music as the weight of it all grows and shifts.

i feel like treachery - as defined by idiots who don't understand the concept - is your duty as a global citizen.

but what do i know? i hang out in the woods away from humans much of the time.

have a #naturespam.

hey, can you do me a favour and just look at this larch?

#naturespam

proof of life #naturespam

the cold is coming. it was a swift overnight change to orange crunchy leaves on the ground. i think i had my last swim of the year and didn't realize it. in the distant background of this image is a glacier-striped mountain lightly wrapped in fog. talk, thin conifers cling to a narrow ridge of stone at the crest of a waterfall. in the foreground, the edge of a steep canyon, with dry grasses turned gold and a handful of orange leaves strewn about by the breeze. the time for staying indoors is nearly here.

here, have a bite of waterfall
#naturespam

some tibetan prayer flags are strung on a branch jammed into a rock pile at the top of a mountain. the sun has set and leaves only a crimson blur at the horizon of more mountains. the sky is hazy from light snow and wildfire smoke...a strange combination.

rocks, paper...
#naturespam

some rough brush grows next to the waterline. the tide is out. there are small white flowers clinging to life on the branches amongst the fallen trees and sand.

here, have some flowers
#naturespam

once again, i am posting a picture of mountains and trees and clouds and some kind of water. today's flavour is glacier-capped mountains stretching off into the distance like some kind of sugar-topped pastry. there are two layers of clouds. one, fluffy like cotton balls hugging the mountain peaks, ready to drop snow on them. the higher level of clouds are wispy like an overactive spiderweb. in the center of the image is one of those unreal blue lakes made interesting by the mixture of sun and shade from the cloud cover. it's a calm day, so the lake is perfect and still like a glass coffee table top. sure, i got mildly snowed on, but as the kids are currently fond of saying at the moment, i am rich because i've seen this with my own eyes. the alpine air smelled sweet like the tiny wildflowers that valiantly cling to the rock and earthy and slightly metallic from the clay that permeates the lake and gives it its unbelievable colour. something something reynaud's scattering - the same effect that makes some eyes or blue jay feathers appear blue. as i was drinking my mug of hibiscus tea and looking out at all this, i was thinking about how that unholy blue is really the nothingness of space being reflected back. my eyes aren't really blue and neither is that lake or the sky, for that matter. but blue is what i experience of it. one perception is that something is nothing and another is that it is a wonder to behold and stand in awe of it. i think both are useful, in varying degrees.

here, enjoy some lake #naturespam

i didn't follow the ridge all the way to the end because the wind gusts were so intense, i would have had to scooch there on my behind to keep from toppling off. for anyone who struggles to see, this image is the ridgeline of a mountain in the centre foreground. it's just wide enough for two boots side-by-side with a sheer drop of several hundred feet on both sides. in the distance, the grey-blue peaks of endless rocky mountains unfold until the horizon. a small valley, verdant with a winding river, nestled in the distance to the right provides contrast to the wildfire hazed peaks dotted with glaciers.

have another #naturespam

it's some rocks and the sky...a subject i post a lot. these ones just had slightly more interesting shapes than many of the others i saw that day. the sun is setting, the sky is starting to turn golden-orange. i think those are cirrus clouds, but i fear to type that with certainty in case the weather obsessive discover me and freak out. but the clouds are whispy and undulate like a horse's tail waving as it runs. in the middle ground is a series of mountaintops that stack like shuffled cards. perfect and even. in the foreground are the chunky rocks of the mountain ridge i was standing on as i set up my tent for the night. in case you've never had the pleasure, i discovered it's time to buy a new sleeping mat because good lord, the one i have simply is not sufficient for sleeping on gravel. this was also my 12 or 13 year old tent's final journey. the wind wasn't particularly violent, but it was persistently gusting enough that the rain seals gave up the ghost and the seams are ready to die as well. i have no interest in hand-stitching an entire tent. it's okay to let go of things, sometimes.

here, i took a walk so you didn't have to.

#naturespam

anyway, here are some cool spheroid rocks in southern alberta

#naturespam

it's just a mountain viewed from the bottom. at the centre of the image is one of those deliciously droopy conifers that i don't know the name of but enjoy a great deal

here, enjoy a big rock

#naturespam

it's too hot out. have some snow to look at. #naturespam

a green frog with round brown dots on its body hides itself under a sparse patch of grass as it rests on a soft clump of moss. you can see the look in its bulging eyes that it thinks it's really slick and getting away with it...we see you frog. we see you.

hey. i saw this frog and now you have to look at it too.

#naturespam

a group of six pelicans sit in the middle of a saltwater lake in big quill lake, saskatchewan. it's a weird little detour on a gravel road to take off of the yellowhead highway east of saskatoon but for several kilometres there are two saltwater lakes - one on each side of the road and the water goes as far as your eyes can see. after driving in endless prairie grassland for almost a full day, it's a surprising thing to discover. the saltwater attracts interesting species you wouldn't expect to take up residence in...saskatchewan. but here they are, just a few members of a thriving colony of sea birds relaxing in the middle of a prairie.

here. have some pelican butts.
#naturespam

thank you for sharing my #naturespam! 😂

thank for sharing! i try and post a little #naturespam regularly for a ten second break from time to time.

any time! i mostly post #naturespam.

i mostly post #naturespam, so come back any time!

dunes with dried grass clusters along the undulating waves of sand.

here, i haven't done a #naturespam in a minute.

this is from sandbanks provincial park on the day of the eclipse last year.

in varying shades of grey this image is of a cloudy, foggy day in the rockies. the foreground mountains are jagged and toothy at the ridge, crocodilian and blue. the ridge of peaks fade into the distance resembling the line of a shark's maw. the sky, laden with cottony clouds, has the tiniest patches of bright blue attempting to peek through. i sat on the peak across the valley for a few hours watching the low fog glide across the valley swaddling and enshrouding the evergreen treetops barely visible across the bottom of this picture. i didn't see it and i didn't hear it but there was a large predator nearby as evidenced by the silent forest. perhaps a remnant of my pandemic lockdown trauma, i didn't leave. even with this most obvious sign of danger, simply feeling, "if i die, i die". i boiled water and slowly drank three cups of coffee while chainsmoking in the gloom. nothing happened in those hours of no bird song. i remain alive for some reason. even if it's just to share these views with you. that's something.

here. i hate everything right now. have a #naturespam.

a mostly white water mountain stream violently dashes over rocks with several steep drops. the river looks as though it could be crossed on the multitude of fallen old trees, but that would only be attempted by the reckless or those with a death wish. the water was thunderous and no other sound could be heard.

today's #naturespam is from duffy lake provincial park. it's a good place to be when all you need is the trees.

hey it's been a minute. here's a #naturespam from kananaskis country. mountain sheep are huge.

today's #naturespam is this seagull that really likes curly fries from arby's.

youtube.com/shorts/JMHC2...

a closeup of water on a street that is nearly the same height as the sidewalk. you can see ripples in the water mimicking waves in a lake. divots from falling rain slamming into the deepening water spot the surface. the clouds were so thick they blocked the midday light so intensely that this image almost appears to be black and white. you can see a slight bit of orangey red at the edge of the ripples from the kitkat sign from dunn convenience store across the street. the store isn't visible in the image, i just like to include little extra details in these alt texts because it amuses me that perhaps one day, someone will stumble across my feed and actually use alt text and discover that all this time, i'm telling little extra stories only for them.

from the #naturespam vault, this photo is from like...2015? in parkdale. a lightning storm swept in off the lake with little warning and just opened up on everyone. i took shelter on the porch of a closed dry cleaner as i watched the street flood at the corner of dunn & springhurst.

hello! i try to drop some #naturespam for a break from dread skeets

everything remains horrifying so uh, here are some floating chunks of wood #naturespam

a closeup of the inside of an open orange tulip. the petals are slightly out of focus but the inside stamen/pistle? flower sex organs are in sharp focus. at the bottom of the flower cup is a thin layer of liquid reflecting the sunlight like a miniature pond. in case you feel the desire to inhale the sweet polleny scent of hyancinths and cherry blossoms and daffodils and you're in the hamilton, ontario vicinity - the annual springtide bulb show is happening this week at the gage park tropical greenhouse.

here is a #naturespam inspired by @monicarooney.bsky.social

here, i haven't done a #naturespam in a minute.

this is the tooey's lake picnic area on the side of highway 41, south of pembroke, ON. in case you ever need to take the scenic route to northern quebec. it's nice to go for a swim on a hot day and lovely to explore on a paddle board...