Willow likes her sticks. Sometimes she throws them in the air and catches them or just has to chase them down again. Sometimes she likes me to throw them but mostly she entertains herself with them. She does like to make sure I can see her having fun. And she likes to make her sticks smaller as she plays with them.
Our local marimba musicians got together at the Grange yesterday to celebrate their music. There are two groups and they mixed and matched and played for two hours. Marimba is joyful music and there were lots of smiles and some singing too.
Mule deer honestly earned their name with ears that rival a mule’s. This small group of four to six does and fawns is often seen on our hill. And they see us. And they are not afraid. They know we, including Willow, will not harm them. In fact, one big doe, in the last photo, has been known to stomp her feet and act threatening to us. We give them a wide berth. This particular day, they were grazing around our parking area and not in any hurry to leave.
November has been mostly gray but Willow and I have done a bit of walking in the hills anyway, searching for color and patterns in the landscape. That’s what I’ve been doing. Willow played with sticks.
So far, I’ve only posted a few photos from my trip to Churchill, Manitoba to see polar bears. Most of the time there was spent driving around the landscape looking for bears to photograph and learning about them too. There was no time to really explore the little town til the last afternoon before the flight back to Winnipeg.
Churchill is the self-proclaimed polar bear capital of the world. The bears spend the summer inland and then move toward Churchill to wait for the ice to form in Hudson Bay. They spend the winter on the ice hunting seals, their primary food. They put on layers of fat and then when the ice recedes, they are able to survive the warm months eating next to nothing. With climate change, the ice season is becoming shorter and endangering the polar bears.
Churchill is also famous for northern lights in the winter, birding in the spring and beluga whales in the summer. There are about 600 year round residents. It has a deep harbor port at the mouth of the Churchill River.
Churchill can only be reached by plane or train or ship so everything that has ever arrived in Churchill is likely still there. It has a harsh climate and many things are in a state of decay. But, all over the small town, there are murals depicting, mostly, the natural history of the place. These murals are on buildings, storage containers, rocks and even a helicopter. They are a colorful reminder of the natural beauty of the place. So join me now, for a walk around town.
My Everyday Photos 