As most folks in the valley know, the Birchman has been wandering these woods for ages. He’s the quiet sentinel who startles anyone foolish enough to scar the land. Legend claims he rose from the ashes of a colossal forest fire, and let’s just say—you don’t want to end up on his bad side.
Cooper and The Birchman.
This year, though, a new hero sprouted onto the scene: Kaleman. Kale is a super-green, and Kaleman is—naturally—a super man powered by it, devoted to making sure everyone gets their daily dose of vegetables.
Kaleman.
My granddaughter Scarlett knows these characters well. She also happens to be the unrivaled champion of spotting the biggest, sweetest carrots in the garden.
At some point she decided the Birchman and Kaleman might need backup. And so, Carrot Girl was born. She’s bold, unafraid of a little dirt, and blessed with extraordinary eyesight—useful, since Birchman and Kaleman’s vision seems to fade a little more each day.
Carrot Girl!
Scarlett used an AI program to create the movie poster above, which is rather delightful. After a few experiments and nips and tucks, she looked at it proudly and announced, “Now this is a movie I’d watch!”
Clouds catching last nights auroras make for an unsettling sky.
The sun has been very active with many coronal holes or sunspots stretched across its equator.
Several of these coronal mass ejections hit earths magnetosphere last night, causing aurora that could be seen into the southern United States.
Here it was cloudy but it is always worth a look. Willow and I took off for the creek and followed it around to the backside of the mountain. We walked to the bottom of Lisa’s trees.
It had rained, and was muddy and slippery hoovering around freezing. The cloud covered sky was odd looking, bruised in places, glowing here and there. I could tell something was going on above the clouds. We walked around, Willow seemed equally taken back not making a peep. We waited around peering above the trees until I was sufficiently damp and cold.
Today, the truck is covered in mud, especially where Willow sits. She is close to the ground and acts like a shaggy mop head in such weather. Reports say it was a fantastic display of Aurora, seen as far south as Florida. Tonight could be the same. It is still cloudy without promise of letting up. Willow and I will probably stay in close to the fireplace.
Comet Lemmon, you are going to have to take my word for it!
C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) is quickly fading from view. Since it was clear Willow and I thought we would give it one more go to spot it.
This time I took my 20mm wide angle lens knowing that if the comet could be seen it would appear very small in the photos. This is the lens I am most comfortable using for night photography because it gives such a large view of the sky. It also allows me longer exposures before the stars streak.
The sun went down and the full moon came up behind us. It dipped quickly to -4°c, which felt chilly. I am going to have to toughen up if I plan on making it through winter. We walked around where Slinky and Ara are buried. It is truly a beautiful spot. As the sky turned blue and darkened we spotted flashes of white as we jumped several White Tailed Deer. They were quick not to stick around. It reminded me of hunting with Dad. Seeing the best game when it was too dark to shoot. Both because you couldn’t see the far sight on the rifle, and more importantly, it’s against regulations.
The full moon illuminated the mountainside. Only the brightest stars could be seen. Of course, the moon also washed away the comet. Still I had faith and pointed the camera in the general direction of where it should be.
Moonlit night.
Both Willow and I were glad to get back to the warmth of the truck. We picked our way along the back rounds, through frozen puddles, staying the best we could above the ruts. Such a pleasure in my life to putter along old and overgrown roads. I used to do it with a beer in my right hand, now it’s a coffee if anything. We stopped at the lake. It was calm and the moonlight reflected the mountains. I listened for fish jumping. Willow heard something and gave a bark. Her echo barked back at her and then the barking match was on. Willow looked at me seriously, ‘there is another dog out here’.
Time to head back to the valley bottom and the warmth of bed.
An enlargement of the top photo. Due to moonlight, even blown up, Comet Lemmon is hard to spot.
Bad weather with no chance to see Comet Lemmon again.
The garlic is in the ground. Four rows, I hope they come up in the spring. You can never be sure.
Very strange year, weather and otherwise!
***
It would be great to have Dougie Ford and Wab Kinew running the show. This ad sure got under the skin of the Whitehouse. I know we are going to have to back down, but it was fun while it lasted.
Another beautiful morning. Deep blue skies. The moon is closing in on the sun as it wanes to a thin crescent.
It is time to get the carrots out of the ground and plant next year’s garlic. The garden is getting too big for Lisa and I. Not so much the looking after it but the food it produces. I may have to reevaluate it next year.
Orion is beaming in the mornings. Wintermaker, as a good blogging friend calls it. A much more apt name. It is tough to not be drawn into all it’s mystery, legend and science that accompanies it rising and setting in it’s own season.
No chance to see Comet Lemmon this morning through the cloud and snow.
Some big juicy flakes fell but didn’t amount to more than a skiff. Still nice to see.
***
This year while working as a manager I had the misfortune of dealing with quite a few troubled workers. There is more and more people racked with anxiety every year. Mostly young Canadians who didn’t make it through the Covid lockdowns unscathed. It is a shame to see. It makes you wonder how they are going to make it.
But the worst was a 50-some-year-old alcoholic. Drinking on the job, late, cranky, emotional, miserable, complaining, missing days, injury prone, sloppy, hungover, driving drunk, fucking up and lying at every turn. He also has done a turn for beating his kid, wife and mother. All despite a three month stretch in rehab paid for by the government. An absolute pain-in-the-ass to be around. A complete dysfunctional boozer!
Now I come from a long line of functional alcoholics. Guys who wake up and make it to work on time. Keep putting one foot in front of the other regardless of headache or sickness, putting in an honest days work usually for themselves, raising their hands first for the tough jobs, keeping their mouth shut, they don’t drink until after the shift and laugh it off. Granted they are not easy to live with and they’re their own worst enemy, but they don’t fuck up at work. Guys like this are a dying breed as we all become a bunch of snivelling whiners.
I felt like grabbing this worker, smacking the shit out of him and teaching him how to be a goddamn man. Of course that would have been a trip to HR. It made me more angry that he couldn’t handle the booze than what a complete fuck-up he was at work. Hopefully the government will spring for another session in rehab as some people just shouldn’t drink.
Just a reminder to step outside and try to spot Comet Lemmon, now brightening in northern skies. It may not reach the brilliance of Comet NEOWISE—seen here in 2020—but with comets, you never really know how bright they’ll become.
It’s finally starting to have a chill in the air. I found a home for most of my giant red cabbage. Sophie from Sophie’s Choice Pickles took it to make fermented sauerkraut. Her pickles are incredible and she sells out every year.
***
The good neighbour Larry has been enjoying the carrots. I left a bag of them on his doorstep the other day. I didn’t stay to talk as I was in a hurry and figured he’d find them as soon as he came out the door. They are Chantenay carrots. If you know your carrot varieties you know Chantenay have short thick tapered bodies.
Later that day a friend stopped by who is quite religious. I behave myself in his company. As we talked outside, Larry came out and found the carrots. He grabbed them by the stems and walked to the edge of his property, celebrating the gift raised high, yelled across the road, ‘Thanks for the buttplugs!’
I looked to my pious friend and sheepishly said, ‘They are carrots.’
But I couldn’t resist an answer to my good neighbour as he expects it from me, and yelled back across the road, ‘They are various sizes so you can work your way up!’
He didn’t miss a beat and yelled back, ‘I’m no amateur!’
***
If it clears a little, Willow and I may head out tomorrow morning to look for Comet Lemmon in the coming dawn. Hard to know if it will clear however as some are calling for snow.
It seems every summer takes a little more out of us. It has been a zoo. This year has been especially trying, balancing work and life. It came down to not much life and a lot of work.
We haven’t had a frost yet. I remember having frost on occasion at the end of August. Those days are gone I suppose. There is kale, cabbage and carrots left in the garden. Even a few tomatoes.
I am looking forward to short days and a chill. We have plenty of wood. The freezer has some meat, a couple of pies and plenty of huckleberries to remind us of the best of summer, playing on the mountain side, away from the ruck of the crowded valley bottom, picking berries and watching the dogs munching them right off the bushes.
A stunning night sky filled with stars over Waterton, showcasing the Milky Way above the illuminated village.
The Prince of Wales Hotel.
Thirty-nine years ago we visited Waterton Park on our honeymoon. The Prince of Wales Hotel looked abandoned. I took a few pictures with the 2.25 Yashica. Once I developed the B/W film all the negatives were blurry from the wind. The negatives were also bad because the film was expired. I didn’t print any of them.
Mt. Vimy between the Lakes of Waterton.
This time the pictures turned out better. The Hotel was a lot more expensive. We even got out under the stars for a wander around.
The Milky Way on a backroad away from light pollution. Waterton Park is known for dark skies.
The wind still howls at The Prince of Wales. The skies are dark in Waterton. A piece of The Milky Way is still bright before midnight.
A scenic view of wind turbines standing tall against a clear blue sky. These are prominent at the start of the mountains where the wind blows continually.
It was nice to get away even for a short time to celebrate our anniversary.
The moon, Venus and Regulus at 6am shot through a 200mm lens handheld.
A magnificent sight this morning with the waning crescent moon beside Venus and Regulus.
A few things to consider:
The moon is about 385,000 kms away from earth. It takes 29.5 days to orbit earth. Amazingly the same time it takes to complete a rotation or day.
Venus is close to the same size as Earth. It is the second plant from the sun. Earth is the third.
Both the moon and Venus have been observed through history and have important cultural significance to humanity.
Regulus is part of the constellation Leo. It is 79 light years away from us. It is actually four stars in a star system. The largest of the four is four times larger than our sun. It is a dominant star in the night sky.
I could go on with more facts. The point is, we know all of this from observation. I consider this fantastic. Think of the speed, time, math, angles and experimentation needed to prove what we now take as fact. It has been figured out by people like us (smarter than me I concede). Of course, it has taken generations. Something is learned and it gets added to, and so on. It is amazing to me.
It also shows what humanity is capable of when we collectively work together. Of course it takes time.
Most of the time on this blog I speak of the spiritual importance of nature. There is something I do in my head; I use the word nature and science interchangeably. I mentioned this to a teacher in high school long ago and was told how wrong I was. I took his word, but didn’t change my mind. I know I don’t understand either. Somehow that gives me peace. The same way watching wild orchids appear shortly after the snow melts or watching The Milky Way reappear, rising sideways in the east, curving above the Rocky Mountain Trench. I get the same feeling considering distance and time working out the trip in light speed to Betelgeuse or The Andromeda Galaxy.
I will leave this earth without contributing to the great pool of knowledge needed for the next great discovery. But shouldn’t the wonderful discoveries we already have be honoured. Shouldn’t that be enough to inspire us to do our best and treat our fellow humans with kindness and respect. It is not a jump from marvelling the brilliance of Regulus to loving your family or even pointing out the moon or sharing a mountaintop to someone interested.
Palliser Pass 