Fishies

Among the many things that have blossomed in my back yard garden this year, the little fish pond has been no exception. It too is surrounded by lots of growing stuff - most especially it seems to me, grass. Tall, luxuriant lush grass. Mixed with Queen Anne's Lace, black medic, red clover and a variety of other weeds and grasses that are lovely in the pasture, not so nice if you want to see the pond and the flowers I've planted around the edges of the pond.

But the fish don't care. They continue to breed, and grow fat.

As far as I can count there are 23- 28 of them. Orange, orange and white, white and yellow, and even a little black one whose pigment never got established when it grew large enough to change colour from its protective black.

Many will go to new homes, some I'll take with me, I hope.

One of the things I've enjoyed most about the fishes and the pond is the meditative quality of time spent watching them swim around, nibbling at plant roots, dozing in the shade of a log I've placed  across the pond, dancing in the water pouring out of the fountain or the recycling "waterfall" - not really a waterfall, never got that far with construction, but water does pour out of a pipe, oxygenating the pond.

Another quiet and special time is when there are no cars or other noises except for birds and natural sounds is the water cheerfully bubbling and laughing as it empties into the pond. At night and early morning this joyful music can be interrupted by the deep-throated belling of a frog. That makes me smile.

So I tried to get a video (it won't load onto Blogger for some reason) of the fish that come to the edge of the pond whenever I show up - particularly in the evening when I often feed them. They swim on top of one another mouths pop pop popping open and shut waiting for the little granules of food to land on the water. The biggest ones are the greediest of course, and often I throw a bit further into the centre of the pond for the little guys... and my favourite little black one - the renegade... guess he'll be coming with me, if only to live in a fish bowl.

But the pond has been a joy. Lots of work, but lots of fun. A place for contemplation but also for marveling at nature's wonders - the plants that live in water and bloom with such abandon, The birds that bathe and drink here, the frogs, snails and occasional passing through snake - all part of a small ecosystem.

May you have something happen today, or see something that makes you smile or brings you joy - life is such a wondrous thing!

Enduring species

Walking in the wood lot with the dogs always gives me the opportunity to see many things that I might otherwise overlook, or not pay any attention to.

The other day, in between snow storms, I came across the base of this tree, its roots plunging into the ground from a mound around its base. The base, the ground and the old roots were all covered with moss.

The moss was blooming, or at least appeared to be growing! In December!

It sent me to Wikipedia where there is tons more information than I wanted. Basically mosses (of which there are more than 1200 varieties,) are different from "higher plants by not having internal water-bearing vessels or veins, and no flowers and therefore no fruits, cones or seeds. They are small (a few centimeters tall) and herbaceous (nonwoody) and absorb water and nutrients through their leaves. Mosses have stems which may be simple or branched and upright or lax, simple leaves that often have midribs, roots (rhizoids) that anchor them to their substrate, and spore-bearing capsules on long stems. They harvest sunlight to create food through photosynthesis but do not absorb water or nutrients from their substrate through their roots, so while mosses often grow on trees, they are never parasitic on the tree... They can dry out and be rehydrated... come back to life. They reproduce through their spores, relying on the wind to distribute them.

"It is generally believed that in northern latitudes, the north side of trees and rocks will generally have more luxuriant moss growth on average than other sides. This is assumed because the sun on the south side creates a dry environment. South of the equator the reverse would be true. However, naturalists feel that mosses grow on the damper side of trees and rocks. In cool damp cloudy climates, all sides of tree trunks and rocks may be equally damp enough for mosses. And different species of mosses have different moisture and sun requirements so will grow on different sections of the same tree or rock." And on it goes - there is a whole lot of information, but a lot of it is technical, and I'm not in the mood to translate it to plain English.

All of this contributed to my continuing wonder about all life and how even the tiniest little plant grows. So much of what we see is large, right in our face and easily explained. How wonderful that there are many tiny, hidden worlds that continue despite humankind's considerable effort to control, manage, even exterminate them, knowingly or unknowingly.

I often wondered how Santa's reindeer survived the cold snowy winters of the north pole - and since I know they most often live on mosses, I know now how! Amazing what information we have at our fingertips with technology. So while there are times that technology and I are not on the same page at all - there are many more that I greatly appreciate: the inventors, the outside-the-box thinkers, the geniuses and the entrepreneurs who support the incredible ideas that they dream up.

So here's to the tiny worlds and ecosystems within our wonderful planet and here's to the people who help us learn about them and help us preserve them.

Maybe today you'll discover a tiny ecosystem that will make you wonder? (not in your fridge though!) Have a wonder-filled day.