June update - Assorted

After all that snow and rain in May, June pretty much provided the best conditions one can ask for in terms of doing fieldwork - sunny, dry, and warm.  I did fieldwork almost every single day in June, except for last Sunday and a couple of rainy days, which explains the lack of posts until now.  Now that many of my plants are done flowering and starting to set seeds, I can slow down for a tiny bit.  I have divided my all of my photos from June into six different topics.  This one is just an assortment of different photos.

Full moon on June 2nd.

Wrapping up 2014

After the school semester ended in mid-December, I continue to stay in Ottawa to work on my research, as well as taking care of Mertensia seeds and bumble bees for myself and others in the lab, and helping another graduate student with her project on spiny lizards.  I did the same things even in Christmas and felt I needed to get out of Ottawa and take a break.  Thankfully, a friend from Trent kindly invited me back to Peterborough for a few days and I had a great time there (I just returned from there this afternoon).

I bought a tripod this Boxing Day and will use it to stabilize my moon and macro photos in the future.

Winter Uplands

I went out for two short walks around my neighbourhood this past weekend.  I didn't see much of anything, but I did come across this poem that perfectly described the feeling during my strolls.  The poem is titled Winter Uplands by Archibald Lampman.

Long way back to Ottawa

On Wednesday (July 23rd) when we left RMBL, we drove through Cottonwood Pass trying to get to Arapaho National Forest where Mertensia perplexa is found.  Unfortunately, we didn't make the correct turn past Taylor Park Reservoir and wasted at least an hour going the wrong direction.

Taylor Park Reservoir

Cat and walk around neighbourhood

I am currently reading the blog posts by a Flickr photographer Crusade., who produces some of the most beautiful images I have ever seen.  This just makes me want to pick up my own camera and go outside and take photographs.  All the photos below were taken today with the OM 50 f1.4 lens.

My landlord's cat, or his nose to be more specific.

Field course day 2 - Bancroft & Eels Creek

On the second day of the field course (two weeks ago), we drove to Eagle's Nest Trail in Bancroft and then Eels Creek near Stoney Lake.  The weather was more of less overcast throughout the day.

At the lookout where we had our lunch.

Ivvavik National Park - last upload

This time last year, I was waiting for my flight to Ivvavik National Park so that I can get my second field season started.  I won't be going back this year, instead I will be here in Ontario trying to finish my degree and move on to another chapter of my life.  This will be the last batch of photos that I took last field season, and I am always reminiscing the time I spent at this beautiful place.

Some landcape photos from Ivvavik

Despite this week being a reading break, I am still busy with my research - lots of playing around with R trying to perform the right analyses and creating the correct figures.

While working on my project from Peterborough, I can't but help think of how beautiful the landscape is up in Ivvavik.

Snow-capped mountains at the end of May.
 

Walking along Jackson Creek

This semester ends in about three weeks, but there are still so many things need to be done!

An outing once a week will help me clear my mind a bit, I hope. This afternoon, I went to Jackson Park and walked next to the creek in the Red pine forest.

Autumn in Jackson Park

Yesterday I spent my entire afternoon in a coffee shop trying to complete one of my assignments for school. I did pretty much the same thing this morning, but in the afternoon, I decided to go over to Jackson Park for a nice stroll.

This is a great time to be out and enjoy the trees changing colors.

Beautiful bokeh

Inspiration Point of Ivvavik National Park

Inspiration Point is one of the three popular hiking destinations around Sheep Creek campsite. It is a ridge that allows hikers to marvel the bends of Firth River and the mountains.

My first time going there was on June 1, a snowy day and made me feel like an explorer conquering a mountain while battling a blizzard.

Back to civilization

I am back to civilization (since Tuesday evening)! Field season ended earlier than expected this summer so I am back from Ivvavik National Park, Yukon after 52 days in the field. I am currently in Inuvik and probably won't be back to BC until beginning of next month.

Ivvavik is beautiful and I look forward to coming back next summer. Here are some of my photos so far.

Views from the (Sheep Creek) campsite.

The beautiful landscape that I get to see every morning.

Soapberry searching

To familiar myself with identifying soapberry (or buffaloberry or Shepherdia canadensis) in the field as well as collecting flower samples to count the pollen grains, my supervisors and another student and I drove north of Peterborough to look for this particular plant. My supervisors had a particular place in mind, I don't, so I just tagged along and do my best when we arrived and started searching for this plant.


The creek you saw on the left drains into Stoney River, that's all I know. And the middle photo is a beaver-formed lake. Anyways, in the end, we found the plant (actually I did) and it is the only one in the area and not in flower. So we collected flowers of other plants and took them back to the lab for some staining.

Life is very very busy at the moment, but in a good way, I think. Tomorrow's Friday, and I am leaving Peterborough on Sunday morning to go to Edmonton, and then to Inuvik on the following day. So right now, I am just in the process of sorting out all the equipments that I am going to need to bring and hammering out all the details as to what do I do when I get there.

Wish me luck.