Lilac Way

This morning I hiked down a path that my daughters christened Lilac Way several years ago. It passes over a hillside totally overgrown with lilacs. I wanted to get a picture of them just coming into bloom, but the views are still unspectacular.

The wild apple blossoms, on the other hand, are at their peak. so I started to shoot. Then I noticed lichen crusted on the branches. These symbiotic organisms have always fascinated me, partly because of their importance in ecosystems, partly because of their understated beauty.



Here are a couple links. The first is an article I wrote several years ago. The second is a website devoted to lichens. If you like nature photography, please visit that site; you will be astounded.

Mysterious green crust on a blasted planet, by Van Waffle

Lichens of North America

The great thing about Lilac Way is it leads into countryside. Within a five minute walk from my apartment, I can leave the city limits and ramble through many acres of abandonned meadow along the Eramosa River. A rail line cuts through it. I took some more photos along the tracks that are worthy of posting in texture over the next couple days..

A favourite photo

I just remembered one of my favourite photos I have taken; of a piece of rusted metal found on the beach at my parents' place a year ago April. I posted it in texture but wanted to mention it to everyone else.

On Afghanistan

Troubled hemispheres
dark with the steams of war
wild light flashes across night skies
silent lives slowly submerge
in the blind gloom of television cameras.

The first footage of war
was a black screen
teeming with visual static,
a vague headlight crawling through gel.

It looks like a paramecium in a dish,
my friend said.

The details of a land heretofore unknown
now opened to our dazzled scrutiny.

Somewhere under the canopy of blindness,
children died.

( Background notes )