Skywatch Friday

SPRING having a last fling with old man Winter in the Similkameen

An eagle inspects the situation and heads over the snowy mountain tops to the next valley.

In the valley the apples blossom cheekily......

For more spring skies visit Skywatch Friday Here.

ABC Wednesday

The featured letter this week is O

O is for Osprey

The Similkameen Valley is known as the Valley of Eagles, but around the high lakes and along the river  the Osprey is plentiful and calls the Similkameen home as well.

Anatomically the Osprey resembles the eagle, but has narrow wings which are markedly angled, and peculiar structure of feet and claws.  Unlike other raptors the Osprey has four equal toes, with the outer ones being reversible making it a cinch for the bird to grab its prey with two toes pointing forwards and two pointing back.  'A long, sharp, curved claw on each toe, and short rigid spikes on the sole of each foot give the bird a firm grip on its slippery prey, which nearly always consists of fish that the bird catches alive...'

The Osprey patrols over water in its territory several times a day and when it sees a fish it hovers until the fish is in a suitable position, then ' dives from the sky with its wings half closed and claws stretched forward, disappearing under the surface in a great spray of water and reappearing a few seconds later with a fish firmly clutched in its claws'.

The Osprey is somewhat smaller than the Eagle, and despite the advantage of its claw structure it sometimes loses its prey to the larger bird.

photo by Ed Shultz

The Eagle can be very aggresive when in the mood to snatch the Osprey's fish, but the Osprey can be very persistent about hanging on, and it has been remarked that the Eagle sometimes spends more energy in stealing than it would in honestly fishing for its own dinner.

Ospreys have large nests made out of a great variety of sticks and found products interwoven into a vast and untidy structure.  The female usually lays three eggs, and although mortality can be high amongst the young the bird can live beyond twenty years.

Here is a photo borrowed from the internet of an Osprey nest close to the water, perhaps on a stump...

but I have usually seen them high in the trees surrounding a lake or even on the top of poles.......

Bell-Irving has an heliocopter named The Osprey and I presume in its flying ability it has many attributes of this powerful raptor.

Fly on over to ABC Wednesday to see other O 's, thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt and the kind people who assist with this meme.

A little morning music in the Lost Garden...



Come stroll with me down memory lane....

Time for breakfast, - will you come in and have some coffee and a bit of toast?  I have some nice fruit bread...  And we can lose ourselves in Horowitz's beautiful Schubert Impromptu.

The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day.
~Robert Frost

It is Wednesday, and Charles is off to entertain at the Care Centre with the

Senior Singers

Not one of April's best days.  The wind blusters about, intent

on blowing the blossoms from the flowering shrubs, and

causing the garden plants to adopt a decided lean to the East.

Still, I have seen a Magnolia Blossom from the tree

at the big house

and I am impatient to see the whole magnificent sight.

I set off to be buffeted down the lane.

At the turn in the road I stop to admire the glorious soft fruit blossoms.....

and to examine the apple blossoms 

'in the pink'

and eager to release their sentimental fragrance

The magnolia tree is magnificent.

The west wind has scattered the clouds above 

and there is enough blue in the sky to make a sailor a pair of pants

and to provide a perfect background for these delicate blooms.

I stop and chat a bit, discussing the ways of the world

and taking note of the flowering almond, - its branches packed tightly with

tiny tender pink buds.

and the interesting old tree alongside the house

It is getting close to lunch time and I trek back up the lane..

Meanwhile, back in the garden the big celebration is Tulip Time 

and Sweet Honesty and the lemony Spurge bloom along with them

Along the road and in the pasture the dandelions hold their own golden converse.

and a mourning dove waits to greet me home.

Skywatch Friday

Three Similkameen sunrises and one sunset - hard to tell which is which 

but don't let that lovely slender moon fool you.

For more beautiful skies from around the world

visit Skywatch Friday

with many thanks to those who host this meme.

ABC Wednesday


The letter this week is N, and N stands for Niddy Noddy.

Niddy-noddy, niddy-noddy, two heads and one body


The niddy-noddy is a spinner's good friend that enables her/him to wind wool directly from the bobbin after spinning or plying and measure the length of the wool at the same time.


Wikipedia has a very informative article here which explains the use and value of the niddy-noddy to spinners who must remove the yarn they have made from the bobbin into skeins for washing or dyeing.


I can attest to this, having had many skeins of wet wool weighted down at the bottom and hanging from shower heads or pinned to coat hangers, - practically as good as wet nylons in the business of irritating husbands.

A niddy-noddy can be quite elegant when it is made out of wood, lathed and polished, or it can be very practical if made at home from PVC - instructions can be found here in a great blog written by DoctorDirt and entitled As the Yarn Turns.


Are you a knitter?  Do you have some knitted wool you want to salvage or recycle?  A niddy-noddy is your answer.....as seen here on scarlet-zebra.com.

For more interpretations of the letter N pop over to ABC Wednesday - you never know what you will learn.....

A week on the Road

For us stay-at-homes this has been an unusual week - hopping into the car, up and over the various passes that lead out of the valley, taking pictures - snap, snap out the window , and enjoying the drive and the arrival.

Wednesday Charles forewent (is that a word, - forego, foregone, forewent????) his morning singing at the senior's centre to meet for lunch with old friends and schoolmates at the Penticton Golf Club.  Two or three times a year those members of the Class of '42 who live nearby meet to chat and enjoy each other's company.

THE CLASS OF '42 - at least three times I overheard other people at the club say in awe "I wasn't even born then"!  Well yes, perhaps you weren't, but we were, and although it wasn't my own class reunion I have grown to have a great affection for all these dear friends.

The weather was pleasant and the camera kept clicking on the way over the pass.  The tender green of the trees, tentatively unfurling each small leaf,  and the blend of blues in lake and sky combined to speak of Spring.

On Thursday we started off to the south to visit our VERY old friend, a century plus two!  

I took advantage of some clever software to stitch together two pictures of the lower Similkameen valley where the river is wending its way into the State of Washington.

The Olalla (Saskatoon) bushes dotted the hillside as we traveled the road up to the pass, and on the way back the first hint of Black-eyed Susans showed golden amidst the grey of the sage.

Today another quick trip to Penticton to play just one piece in a bell concert that wound up a workshop.

Oh look at how green Yellow Lake is today as it ripples and shimmers in the sunshine.

And at Luscious Lake the willows that line the water are reflected gloriously in the calm water.

It was raining in fits and starts and the countryside was washed clean, her springtime colours glowing and vibrant.

We have one more trip to make tomorrow, to attend a Pioneers' Tea and Reception where we hope to see friends of our youth and our middle years, all grown dear with past associations and friendships.

There is nought better to be 
With noble souls of company: 
There is nought dearer than to wend 
With good friends faithful to the end. 
This is the love whose fruit is sweet; 
Therefore to abide within is meet.
 ~Mahabharata (B.C.400)