Andrew Trundlewagon's photos

Rutile, Royal Ontario Museum mineral collection. Rutile is titanium dioxide (TiO2). "Rutile has one of the highest refractive indices at visible wavelengths of any known crystal and also exhibits a particularly large birefringence (splits a ray of light into two beams) and high dispersion (rainbow effect)." (FROM en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutile )

Homage to the Highest Power. This is an enormous painting, 306.5 cm high (3.35 yards) and 1042 cm (11.395 yards) in length. I stitched it together from three frames, but as they were not all exactly at the same distance and angle the joints are pretty shaky and not anywhere near as precise as they should be, but this was the only way I could even hint at the scale of the painting. It is one of a pair of wall paintings currently in the Royal Ontario Museum that came originally from a temple in southern Shanxi province. It was created during the late Yuan dynasty, c. 1271–1368, using pigments mixed with clay and plaster. (Information from Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homage_to_the_Highest_Power) . The painting shows “a procession of Daoist deities and their celestial attendants, sometimes referred to as Chaoyuan tu or the 'Heavenly Court'. These deities, whose court is modeled on the bureaucratic structure of the earthly world, are said to maintain the order of nature and to govern the welfare of human beings”. Although it is rather formal, the painting is brimming with action, the character skillfully captured with a facial expression or gesture. The paintings were purchased in 1937 from a New York based art dealer, Yamanaka and Company. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_White_Gallery_of_Chinese_Temple_Art

Possibly of limited interest but here it is anyway. These are the sporing bodies (or perithecia) of the beech blister fungus. The fungus infects beech trees through wounds caused by a tiny insect, the beech scale insect (Cryptococcus fagisuga). The fungus causes blisters to form in the bark. I have read estimates that between 50 and 85% of the trees will die from the disease. The insect is an invasive species that probably arrived in Canada through Nova Scotia in the early 20th century. (If you look closely, there are some small black animals crawling among the fungus. These are some kind of springtail).

A white breasted nuthatch in a very old apple tree

More snow. A spring snow fall. Montreal.

Last Friday morning we had a full lunar eclipse. I had to get up early (3.00 a.m) to catch it, but the moon turned completely dark red for a while, so it was quite impressive. My camera lenses are not ideal for photographing the moon, but I gave it a go anyway.

Apple in warp drive

A white breasted nut hatch (Sittelle).

A very cold rabbit.

Snow day for a blue jay.

A neon coffee press.. Quantum effects.

Hexagon: pomme et pomme de terre.

A very large stethoscope resting in the snow; on the grounds of the McGill University Health Centre (hospital in other words).

Flowers from our Christmas cactus, which, true to form, skipped Christmas and decided to flower in mid-February instead. For most of the year it is a very unimpressive looking plant, but it produces these lunatic flowers. It blooms in response to shorter days and longer nights so growing indoors under house lights probably confuses its flowering cycle. The parent of the Christmas Cactus, (or Schlumbergera), is from Brazil:- Copied from Wikipedia "Schlumbergera truncata occurs only in a small area of the coastal mountains of south-east Brazil, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, located in the southernmost part of the tropics. Sites where it has been found include the Organ Mountains (Serra dos Órgãos) in the Parque Nacional da Serra dos Órgãos and in the Serra do Mar near to the city of Rio de Janeiro. Plants grow at altitudes of 700–1,000 metres (2,300–3,300 ft). Because of their altitude and proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, the coastal mountains have high humidity – warm moist air is forced upwards into higher, colder locations where it condenses. S. truncata usually grows on trees (epiphytic),[3] or on rocks (epilythic)." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlumbergera_truncata

Some shovelling required. A bicycle and a snow storm.

The people you meet in the woods. No comment.

Fresh snow in the woods.

Another winter bird, a white breasted nuthatch