Castor

 Nous sommes allés au Biôdome aujourd'hui, un arrêt obligatoire lorsqu'on est touriste à Montréal. Ou même lorsqu'on est expatrié. Je me rappelle encore de ma première visite. Parmi mes animaux préférés, il y a le castor, parce que je n'en vois guère ailleurs que dans les zoos et autres parcs d'animaux. Mais, même en captivité, ils demeurent timides et élusifs et, quand on peut les voir, ils sont difficiles à prendre en photo. Je n'ai donc pas pu prendre une photo satisfaisante de la bête. Que des clichés imparfaits. Mais bon...

A beaver in Wales

Here is a little bit of wildlife news that made my day yesterday: a beaver has been spotted in broad daylight in Wales. He was discovered, you probably guessed it, because he was making a massacre of the trees in a couple's garden. Antony, as he has been nicknamed by said couple, is the first beaver to have been spotted in the wild in Wales for centuries. Just because of this, I am quite happy. In a time when environment is a concern, it is good to know that some species of animals are (maybe) thriving in a place where they were extinct. Also, I find beavers kind of cute, even though they are rodents. Anyway, give me your thoughts on this news and on beavers in the comments.

Some beavers were there

My father recently sent me pictures of the piece of woodlands owned by my uncles (his brothers). They have beavers dwelling in the lake on their property. They don't always see them, but they can see their work: these trees have been gnawed by them, as you can see. I must say, I find this very impressive, it's like beavers have teeth that do the work of a chainsaw. They look all cute and fluffy, not as cute as otters, but still, yet they are like the ravenous vandals of the forest.

La hutte de castor

Mon père est allé à la pêche hier sur le lot de mes oncles et il a pris quelques photos en plus du poisson, dont celle-ci. Il s'agit bien entendu d'une hutte de castor. J'avoue que c'est très impressionnant. On ne voit pas ça tous les jours, alors j'ai décidé de partager la photo ici aujourd'hui.

Un castor est passé par là

Photo prise par mon père dans le lot de mes oncles. Je n'ai jamais, autant que je me souvienne, vu de castors dans leur habitat naturel. Je n'en ai jamais vu sur leur lot, mais je savais qu'il y en avait dans le lac. C'est la première fois que je vois un signe de leur présence et je trouve ça très impressionnant.

La Légende du feu

Mon père a produit sur YouTube cette vidéo, une mise en images de La Légende du feu, dramatisée par Les petits violons du regretté Jean Cousineau, narré par Albert Millaire. Comme le dit mon père dans sa présentation: "Il se peut qu'il manque quelques lignes à la captation de l'histoire. Le disque de référence a servi plusieurs fois et a quelques accros." C'est peu dire qu'il a servi plusieurs fois: enfant j'obsédais sur cette légende et je l'écoutais sans cesse. Alors forcément, le disque a fini par prendre des rayuresJe veux retrouver le disque original en bon état, afin de pouvoir l'écouter sans qu'il y ait de coupures. Mais d'ici là, il y a cette vidéo.

European beaver

This picture was taken, of course, during my recent visit to the Natural History Museum. It is of a stuffed beaver, but not just any beaver: a European beaver. Or Eurasian beaver. Latin name: Castor fiber. it became extinct in this country for a while, but they have been reintroduced. I find it interesting, because we often imagine beaver to be from North America, we associate the species with it and more specifically with Canada. We often forget that they have an European cousin, a little fella who did not have it easy here, but proved to be resilient. So here's to the European beaver, my thumbs up from the blogosphere.

The beaver's diet again

Remember the beaver's diet I mentioned in January? Twice, actually. It struck me today: I have it again, I mean I crave sugar more than usual during daytime, so much so that I need to control myself. It happened inconspicuously: first it was someone's birthday and he had brought donuts, biscuits and other sweets. I had brought my own breakfast, but of course I had to eat some of course, I mean to be polite. Then today a new colleague, from Germany, came with chocolate cookies and other biscuits and some more desserts, I think I saw some rocky roads. She sent an email, saying it is a tradition in Germany for newcomers in a working place to offer food to everyone. That is one hell of a way to be accepted and appreciated by your peers! The chocolate cookies were delicious. I had them for breakfast with plenty of tea. Everything high in sugar tastes better with tea.

I always have sugaree breakfasts on a working day, but now I am in pure beaver's diet mode. I wonder why, I mean why I crave sugar that much. I think it might be the need to stay awake and alert. Or maybe it is getting colder outside. In any case, I crave it. I think I can keep my waistline under control, if I cut on crisps and I walk a lot, which I do. But I need to remain vigilante. Because a beaver's diet is a very tempting one, but I do not have a beaver's metabolism.

More on the beaver's diet

Well, not exactly. I mean yes, this post is a sort of follow up on this one. It is snowy outside and I feel very much like I need sugar to keep me going, if I don't want to start hibernating out of wintery numbness. I could have caffeine, but I don't like coffee. So I have decided to fall at least partially into temptation and eat stuff high in sugar, like cakes and chocolate. In moderation, if I can (I am somewhat immoderate when I crave something, especially sugar). Sugar keeps me going when I feel tired or sleepy. Sugar gives me endorphin. Beavers must know how to survive in rough wintery weather (they even swim in water during winter), so having a sugar diet right now is a wise idea.

I uploaded this picture from Dropbox. It is a rolled cake that has, like all sweet roulade an uncanny ressemblance to a Yule log. Not too much to be out of place in a blog post written in January. And since it still looks like a log, it is kind of fitting. In fact, this could be the human adaptation of the beaver's diet. Instead of bark, I could get the sugar from the cake and the chocolate icing.

A Beaver's Diet

It has been very cold recently. The snow is mostly gone (for now), but the cold is here, wet, nasty. It is cold enough to prickle the skin like sharp icy needles. Some of my colleagues were complaining about it, they all agreed that it is so cold it hurts. I said what my mother often says: "When you are in pain, it means you are still alive." It is a great unknown line, and a Nietszchean one. But yes, walking outside is an experience in pain.

But winter here does have its bright side: there is Winterwatch. I learned about the beaver's winter diet. Apparently, what they find in the bark they eat is sugar. During winter, they burn all the fat they have accumulated and have a high sugar diet. Suddenly, the label on the Map-O-Spread seems so fitting. I am very tempted to have a similar diet for the rest of the winter. I received another bribe of chocolate today, a small Cadbury bar, so I guess I do have sugar intakes. I know chocolate is not exactly healthy, but I need my endorphin. Maybe that is why beavers have a sugaree diet during winter. For the endorphin one needs to get through.

And on a side note, I promise that my next post will be about something else than food or winter.