Friday, August 28, 2009

Okanagan Beauties

Lloyd and I spent a beautiful half day exploring around the off-roads in the Osoyoos/Oliver area. It really pays to get off the main road and see what treasures of nature you can find.

Like these apples. I love seeing fruit on the trees - don't know why, but it pleases me in a very basic earthy way.


And these apricots...I had noticed the trees with the long slender leaves but couldn't identify them until we got up close and could see the apricots (or nectarines, I'm not sure which) peeking through the leaves.


More apples I think, or maybe peaches??? I'm not a very good naturalist but I know what I like!

A close-up of the above picture. I guess they're apples after all.



It was amazing to me to see how heavy they were on the trees - great large clusters of the fruit just waiting to be picked.

I really loved how the grapes looked hanging on their vines...


...especially this bunch which contains the whole spectrum from green to red to mauve and the lovely blue/purple color of ripening grapes.


In the midst of the orchards we found this quaint little church. The sign on the front of it said "The Little Brown Church". It was beautifully kept with well tended gardens surrounded on all sides by fruit orchards.



We went down a non-road, a trail really (thank goodness for a 4-wheel drive truck) which led to this lovely lake. And this fellow who's been following me around this week was there so I took his picture too. Hi Lloyd!



And then I gave him the camera and he took my picture as well.





Across the main road from, and surrounded by orchards, we found a desert reserve. This valley is Canada's only desert - an extension of the Sonora Desert which extends from Mexico, through Arizona, California and up into the Okanagan in BC. There was lots of prickly pear cactus growing there, although smaller than the variety we have in Arizona. We did a very interesting self-guided tour there.





It's interesting to see the desert give way to the orchards, with the lakes, vineyards and mountains in the background.


We would have liked to have had more time to explore this fascinating part of Canada, and now with a daughter and her family living there we'll have more reason to come here to visit and explore. It's no wonder Mary and Greg love it so much.

6 comments:

Kath said...

Fresh fruit!!!! So delicious looking.

Looks like a beautiful area but you visited it at the most beautiful time too!!

I did not know Canada had a desert. I found that to very interesting.

We have those little cactus in WY. I plan to dig them up and transplant them around the cabin as my "flowers".(And pretend I'm in AZ!!!! LOL) Hubs agrees with me as it will get them off the dry land so we dont bale them up. Also they can be hard on tires. And I wont have to worry about watering them either when we are gone.

Kath said...

Grilled tomatoes with cheese? I want to try them. Can you share how?

Greg said...

Great fruit photos...but no cherries? They're my favourite fruit tree!

jq said...

Howcome you never took pics of our gooseberries? They're so cute.

Sara_HB said...

and your 4 little cranberries, JQ.

looks like you're having a nice time. You wouldn't have been able to do all that backroad exploring with me and my kids there so that's a plus, I guess.

Lloyd MacKenzie said...

I sure love the pic of Mom sitting on the rock by the lake. She's so beautiful!
Dad