Saturday Photo: That Was Some Halloween Party!

 

Saturday Photo: Mangroves Protecting the Coast...

The photo was taken by friends in Jakarta.  It shows part of the remaining mangrove forest that once protected much of the coastline.  Replanting and safe-guarding these wonderful trees that thrive in brackish water sill be a key part of any battle on the effects of climate change.  

I talk about them at length in my new book Against the Seas: Saving Civilizations from Rising Waters that will be out in February from Dundurn Press.  Not a moment too soon...

Saturday Photo: The Beauties of Fall...

 A number of houses around here already have Halloween decorations up, some of which are particulrly ugly. And then there is this tasteful display on steps not far from here.  Very nice, I think!

Saturday Photo: Because It Never Hurts to Stop and Realize How Well off We Are

 

Saturday Photo:

 Just when you think that the flowers have quit blooming, the asters have their day.

Love plant that comes back every year.  I don't know why people bother  annuals in this climate go-around.

Saturday Photo: Stars of the End of Summer

This is the time for asters, whose name reflect how heavenly they are!
 

Saturday Photo: Queen Anne's Lace for a Time When the Monarchy Is in View

Seventy years is a long a time to stay at the same job, but that's what Elizabeth II did.  There is so much about her reign and her successor in the media this week that is hard to not to think about it and her.

My contribution is this photo of the perennial plant, Queen Anne's lace, which is just finishing up its reign as queen of wild spaces just now.  A member of the carrot family, it supposedly is named after Queen Anne, the wife of England's King James II. She wore a lot of lace ,it seems.  

The connection with the monarchy is clear, and so is the beauty of the plant.

Saturday Photo: Showing the Way

When you get to the end of the road at Kegaska, you can continue by going out to sea.  Manypeople must have considered doingtht, becausethe harbourhas many inukshuk, those Inuit cairns, that show the way.  

 

Saturday Photo: The End of Highway 138, a Great Trip

 I'm surprised that it's been so long since I last posted, but here is a photo of part of the reason: our trip to Quebec's Côte Nord.  

This is as far as you can go on a road up the north shore of the St. Lawrence river. To reach the small villages beyond, you have to take a boat, or fly in.

Kegaska is about 1300 km from Montreal, and we took three days to get there and eight days to come back.  Wonderful weather, great scenery and generally a good time.  

More photos to come, as fall approaches and the world closes in upon us.

When a Veil Is Not a Veil: Fashion, Modesty and Evolving Rules

Just as France begins to consider prohibiting women from wearing niqab, or a full veil, fashion designer Riccardo Tisci features a very attractive young woman wearing a sort of pseudo-veil in his new collection for Givenchy, seen at left as shown in The Globe and Mail. The juxtaposition throws a spotlight on the place where fashion and ideas about modesty—religious or not—intersect. As I’ve said before here, wearing a veil may be a signal of Muslim belief in some quarters, but it doesn’t stop women from caring about how they look. And, as I’ve just learned, the veil is not only a Muslim thing. It has been a strategy to avoid harrassment in other places, and has gone through some interesting transformations elsewhere too. I’m reading Louise Levathes’ fascinating When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433 as I research my book about the Portuguese Making Waves. After the great period of Chinese maritime adventure, its defences against attack from the sea declined until its coastal areas were prey for pirates and raiders in the 16th century, frequently called wako. “China’s coastal famers and fishermen...who had been robbed of their livelihood as well as, at times, their wives or daughters, never forgot the wako. Young girls in the Hui’an peninsula ... to this day tie blue scarfs tightly around their heads, hiding their faces...it has become the local fashion,” she writes. “But the stories, passed down for generations in villages, of a time when yong women fled from the lecherous glances of the bandits who came from across the sea in ships with red sails, have not died.” Hui’an women are reputed for their beauty, and now wear very short jackets which show their navels along with their scarves. “Sexy Lady on the Sunny Beach – Hui'an Women” one story about their traditional dress says. Fashion trumps all! Photos of Hui'an women from Chinavista.com and Chinaculture.org. Photo of Tisci creation from onsugar.com Note from March 6, 2011: for more about Muslim women, the veil and female affirmation see "Good News from the Arab Spring Revolutions: "When Women Change, Everything Changes."

Saturday Photo: Resting Rabbit...

Animals often seem to know when they're not likely to run into danger from humans.  This rabbit is a case in point.  We met him last Sunday when out for a walk near the wild space by the airport.  It is more or less protected, and certainly there are not likely to be anyone hunting for rabbits.

So this guy just ambled out, kept a wary eye on us (who had stopped to look at birds) and proceeded to scratch his belly on the sandy soil.  Trying to remove parasites?  Scratch mosquito bites?  Who knows?  Obviously as long as we were still he felt no fear.  But as soon as we moved he took off...
 

Saturday Photo: Monarchs...

If you look closely, the purple cone flower to the left is the launching pad for a Monarch butterfly.  I think it must have been freshly hatched, as it slowly flapped its wings in the morning sun, and made no move to fly.

This comes as the Monarch is being declared an endangered species, in large part because of wholesale destruction of its breeding fields in North America.    Glad to see that some people are still planting those species that Monarchs like. Very unhappy to see that sometimes the fields of milk weed and cone flowers get mowed by public agencies who don't seem to know what they'e doing.

Saturday Photo: Trees and the City

It's hot today, and the trees in this part of town offer a welcome respite.  The shadows are dense in the morning, and people are seeking them out.

Planting street trees and greening parks are  important parts of any plan to combat climate change.  Besides, they're beautiful.
 

Saturday Photo: Sun and Shade and Water

 These are the days of sun high in the sky, and shadows directly beneath the trees.  It has not been really hot here, but gardens with shade are much appreciated in the middle of the day. An island of cool in the busy city.

Saturday Photo: Fathers' Day Gathering

 Scene last Sunday at the Lachine Rapids: a couple of geese families enjoying a picnic while the Old Guy watches.

Geese are quite tame and not at all bothered by our presence.  Young are of various ages. Nice to see on Fathers' Day.

Saturday Photo: The Best Grass Is No Grass

 Just a reminder that a well-tamed grass lawn is a nuisance to keep up, not nearly as interesting as a wilder collection of plants, and less than ideal from the standpoint of the environment.

Saturday Photo: First Rose of Summer

 The first wild roses are in bloom.  What a wonderful time of year when all the flowers are bursting forth!

Saturday Photo: Goslings on Parade

Sunday morning outing at the Technoparc: mom and dad and six goslings paddling around. 

Just a few minutes earlier a noisy flock of geese landing in a nearby pond to feed and splash around. Why were they not with their partners raising more goslings? I wondered.

 Turns out that for the first couple of years young geese don't settle down to raise little ones. The bird books didn't say so, but it looked like the flock must have been a group of rowdy goose adolescents without responsbilities yet. Wonder what they did on Saturday night.

Saturday Photo: Journée des Patriotes

I've run this before, but it bares repeating: in Quebec  this weekend  is not Victoria Day but the Journée des Patriotes.  It commemorates the Rebllion of 1837-38, which was that nearest thing to a revolution Canada has ever known.  

And it wasn't just the French speakers of Lower Canada who were demanding  a larger say in government,  William Lyon Mackenzie (grandfather of William Lyon Mackenzie King) was one of the leaders of the uprising in Upper Canada, not to mention Wolfred and Robert Nelson who were leaders here.

Saturday Photo: Still Life with Morning Light, Flower and Clementines

 Lovely Mothers' Day floers and other nice things