Quilting and other Things

This past Saturday was the second of the Nature Sketching classes.  This time we meet at the Toronto Botanical Gardens (Edwards Gardens) and went down to sketch beside Wilket Creek in the ravine. Our naturalist talked about invasive species and how important the ravines are to the ecosystem.  The beautiful grasses that I love to take pictures of are an invasive species -- they grow quickly and with a deep dense root system that really takes over and area.  Since the seeds are so light in the feathery heads, it also spreads like wildfire.  Its not native to this area so nothing or atleast not many animals will eat it so there are no natural predators.  I hadn't thought about plants having predators to help keep them under control.  Invasive grasses (different location) In the last century many ravines were filled in, often with garbage, without thought or understanding of their importance.  Ravines are carved by rivers.  In this case, r...

I saw a Facebook ad for a nature sketching class run by the Bateman Foundation.  It runs for 8 Saturday's between now and the end of June.  The class was s described here:   https://www.naturesketch.org/naturesketch-club/adult-naturesketch-club-toronto/ As is my custom, I debated for a while then decided yes I did want to sign up so registered on Thursday.  Yesterday was the first class and we met at Allan Gardens in downtown Toronto.  I'd never been before and will need to make a return visit.  The class was in the children's greenhouse.   The talk this week was about cacti and succulents.    The first exercise was to study a plant for 30 seconds then go back to the table and draw from memory for 3-5 minutes.  The 30 seconds seemed long but when I went to sketch, I found that I'd studied the shape but not counted the leaves or looked closely at how they related from one round to the next.    Mine turned ou...