Daily life in Colorado - Part 7

I departed RMBL last Wednesday and arrived back in Ottawa past midnight today.  Along the way, I made a couple of detours to visit Mertensia species that are important to another component of my project in the coming field seasons.

Before I share photos from the road-trip, I want to first post some of the photos I took on my last few days at RMBL.

Wild strawberries

Wild strawberries that are still too small to eat.  Sadly, I won't be around to feast on them.

Update for the week

I bought a bike at a garage sale on Sunday, so on Monday (12th), I attempted to bike to school.  There isn't a straight-forward path from where I live to the university, but there is a path along the canal that gets me to school in about 45 minutes (by biking through some neighbourhoods and parks first), which is not bad, especially when the weather is nice.

Biking past Hog's Back Falls - man-made waterfalls.

Taking a short break back at home (BC)

Four days has already passed since I returned back to BC.  Aside from working on my thesis and preparing for upcoming workshop and presentation, I also had other things to do here in BC.

After I arrived on Wednesday morning, I first went out to get a haircut and had my passport photo taken.  And then on Thursday, I went to Taipei Economic and Cultural Office at downtown Vancouver to renew my Taiwanese passport.

The plants in our porch have grown quite well this summer, and my mother wanted me to document all the flowering and fruiting plants.

After dinner, my mother also showed me some of the flowering plants growing around our apartment.

Walking through Parkway Trail - Rose-breasted Grosbeak

As I mentioned earlier, I walked part-way to school today through the Parkway Trail.

Very 'green' nowadays

Recap of the week - new macro technique and critters saw during Enrichment camp

While experimenting with my Nikon P&S lately, I found out that if I hold my small hand lens (for plant identification) in front of the P&S lens, then I can get a pretty decent close-up photo of the critter/flower (but I need to get very close).

I took photos of this spider just outside my office window on Monday.

On Tuesday and Thursday, I assisted with two of the mini-course programs held here at Trent.  One was getting elementary students "Wild About Nature!", and the second was teaching students about "Habitat and Organisms".  It has been a while since I worked with children, but it's quite rewarding especially now that I am teaching them about nature.

For "Wild About Nature!", we first made a field kit, consisting of a clinometer, a plant press, and an insect-collecting container.  We then took the children outside to measure tree heights using the clinometer.  We also played games with the children - one called "Predator & Prey" (three trophic levels - grasshoppers, orioles, and hawks) and one with three different feeding apparatuses (modified plastic knifes, spoons, and forks) to collect different prey types.  We also took the children outside to collect plants and insects.

Back to biking in Richmond again

I patched up another puncture in my bike tire today so that I can finally go out and get some exercise.

My first stop was Garden City Community Garden.

Hungry Cat, Vole Alive

Let's start of today with some photos of the delicious strawberries that my mother bought today.

Very yum and sweet!