Monday, April 6, 2009

That's My World Tuesday...

No Rolling Stones Here...

I live on Vancouver Island in BC, Canada. The climate is a 'temperate rainforest' climate meaning it's fairly mild, it doesn't get too hot or too cold and it has two seasons: rainy/winter and dry/summer with blurry bits between the two that are called spring and autumn/fall. It's not the stereotypical climate that is often associated with Canada (thank god).

The winters are moist to put in mildly, although this last one was quite dry, relatively speaking. All the moisture and lack of sunlight, though somewhat depressing for the psyche at times, makes for a very lush winter environment that I find very cosy. One of my favourite forms of plantlife that flourishes in winter is moss (although this winter was not a mossy as most).

So, before all the moss shrivels up, a walk down a street in my neighbourhood, appropriately called:



Yes, that's moss on the sign. Moss gets everywhere on Moss Street. On stone walls and on wooden fences...







On roofs, on bits of housing foundation and along lanes...







This might look like a 'golf green' neatly trimmed area of grass...



But no, if you look closer, it's moss...



It's on the trees...



And up the trees...



And there is a park just off Moss Street, called Moss Rock. And guess what? Surprise! It's a big rock that's covered in moss...





Finally, (I know, I can go on and on, can't I) a bit of mossy trivia... sphagnum, also known as peat moss, is comprised mainly of decaying moss and is used during the making of single malt whisky (maybe other types too, I don't know... ?). After the barley is malted (soaked in water til it germinates and does something chemically), the grains are dried using smoke. Sphagnum, or peat, is often added to the fire to give the drying malted barley grains, and the resulting whisky, an earthy flavour. So, three cheers for moss!





For more 'That's My World Tuesdays' - click the pic:



18 comments:

  1. We love moss. My husband loves it so much he waters it in the summer. I is one of the nice things about the foggy winters here in Sacramento.

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  2. What a celebration of moss. The mossy tree looked like a running woman to me, which was cool.

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  3. Wow!.. moss every where.
    Great theme for my World Tuesday.

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  4. interesting! living in a tropical country, I rarely see moss if at all and to see it everywhere like you do is really new to me. I only see moss when I up the mountain:)

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  5. I like moss. We have moss here too but only when it is wet or in very shady ,moist places. When it disappears because it is to hot and dry it reappears quickly again ones the conditions are right again. I salute your interesting mossy post and I like your pictures very much.

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  6. Moss Moss everywhere....:) We also have here in rainy seasons..:) Beautifully taken shots! BTW I have started a new blog dedicated to my sketch work — Art on Sketchbook

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  7. I'll drink to that! I have a way of taking lots of photos of moss too.

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  8. Beautifully mossy photos. I lived in Wales for three years, which was also moist and mossy, and I miss the effect it has on the natural world.

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  9. That is so cool. I love the moss photos...and the area you live in is so pretty!

    If I'm not mistaken the company I work for here in the States has an office in Vancouver. And my most favorite singer in the whole world is Sarah McLachlan and she is from Canada somewhere and you guys rock just for the mere fact alone you permit same sex marriage.

    I'd love to have a mossy backyard and with all the shade I have back there, I could probably do it!

    Thanks for sharing those neighborhood pics...really nifty.

    And...no penis's today :-)

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  10. Dont you just love moss? It is so earthy and a wonderful place to grow suff! I am currently planting out a stone wall with sedum plants and the moss has really helped get the early plants started.

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  11. Not sure how familiar you are with single malts, but the 'peatiest' ones (and very probably the finest) are Laphroig and Talisker. Can you get these in your area? Talisker is made on The Isle of Skye and I've visited the distillery many times. You get a free dram when you do the tour. Fantastic!

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  12. Thanks for your comments everyone. :-)

    jelly, Sarah McLachlan is from the east coast but lives and got famous on the west coast. Yeah. Canadian gov't is fairly tolerant... unless you're a British MP who has worn spandex on national tv.

    Neil, I'm not sure! I suspect so but I will look and maybe have a taste. How many times did you do the tour in one day? ;-)

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  13. Great post and lovely post and oh how I am missing my temperate rain forest...21 days and counting! Thanks for sharing your part of the world.
    Smiles

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  14. I like your moss. We don't have moss here. I grew up with moss and miss it (only sometimes because I don't miss the rain and grey). We used to go into the woods and cut it out of the ground and make moss gardens. It was so fun to see who could find the most varieties. This is a fantastic post!

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  15. Cute post for MW. Clever way of building up to it as well. Moss is beautiful but I still prefer the lawn to be grass and not moss :) I'd also like it to stay out of the flower borders which it doesn't even when lime is supplied in autumn. However the different coloured mosses on that rock were superb.

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  16. Goodness, the moss is really everywhere - almost looks like New Zealand :)

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  17. A wonderful mossy series. The moss-clad tree looks like a lady, a bit. I love the "grass" that's really moss. I wish my hubby would see the advantage of going with the flow on that. Green is good!

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  18. Great post! I'm a desert rat (grew up and live in the American SW). Not much moss, lots of lichen. I found the post very interesting...

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