Sisyphus with a Hat
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sisyphushat.bsky.social
Sisyphus with a Hat
@sisyphushat.bsky.social
110 followers 150 following 490 posts
I survived a lot of things, so I like to talk about what brings me peace and joy - gardening, birds, insects, houseplants, nature, cooking. Sagan Pagan, OBOD member. (He/him)

Geologist by trade. Born at CO2 329.58 ppm

Saskatoon, SK, Treaty 6 Territory
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sisyphushat.bsky.social
I had to dig a bit for this one - the 1920's is not my favourite period in art! However, Krogh's "Five to Twelve", c. 1924 is very striking.
A portrait of an old, mostly bald man with a full white beard in a rocking chair, below a slightly fuzzy clock. All his surroundings are fuzzy, the colours ranging from washed out forest green to brown, gray and yellow.
December 10, 2025 at 12:36 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
If you see this, repost with your positive model of masculinity.

( @rhi.bsky.social )
A picture of a man in Armour, cigar in the corner of his mouth, small dragon under his arm, looking straight at the viewer. It is an illustration of Captain Sam Vimes, from Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards!
December 6, 2025 at 1:20 AM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
So Sisyphus got himself a new hat, from Hats 'n That on Broadway, Saskatoon. Montreal-made too, 100% wool! Needed a hat for events, the precuous having reached a stage of comfortable disreputableness.
A dark forest green hat, fedora in style with a slightly higher than usual crown, lies on a wooden table. It has a green hat band with a small pheasant feather stuck in it.
November 26, 2025 at 10:17 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
A young bald eagle flies into the morning mist at Goldstream Provincial Park, Vancouver Island.
The entire shot is in shades of Grey. An immature Bald eagle is disappearing into a mist covered mountainside, the shapes of fir trees rising in the dense fog.
November 16, 2025 at 5:55 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
Anna's hummingbird, Sidney, BC
A tiny hummingbirds fills the frame, with just a bit of the conifer it is sitting on visible. Its chest feathers are puffed, white with light grey tips. Its head, other than other the chin, is iridescent with a pinkish- magenta metallic sheen. The chin is dark.
November 15, 2025 at 5:01 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
Pelagic cormorant, Sidney, BC.
A green-black cormorant, its feathers having a subtle sheen is sitting on a worn wooden pillar against a pale blue sky.
November 15, 2025 at 4:51 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
An old giant in Cathedral Grove, Vancouver Island. It was rainy in the rainforest the day I visited, surprise! This Douglas Fir is over 800 years old, and 76 m tall.

@irishrainforest.bsky.social
Photo shows most of the trunk of a Douglas For towering upwards, surrounded by other old trees. Another trunk lies slain at its feet, and is glistening with wetness. The slain tree was a victim.of the infamous 1997 windstorm.
November 14, 2025 at 6:30 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
Light in the old forest. John Dean Provincial Park , Sidney, BC.

@irishrainforest.bsky.social , kept thinking of you as I visited some old growth, temperate rainforests in BC.
Picture shows a beam of light on a leave strown path. The sun is obscured by the trunk of a giant Douglas Fir. Younger trees are around.
November 14, 2025 at 6:23 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
Halt! Mandated wallpaper check!
Photo is a screen capture of a locked phone's wall paper. It is a nighttime photo- in the foreground are some tall trees, with the sky filled with green aurora, with touches of purple. It looks a bit like a rearing dragon, looking to its left. The time on the screen is 2:39 AM.
October 27, 2025 at 8:43 AM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
I had a visit from this handsome fellow this afternoon. The white-throated sparrows are so gorgeous.
A sparrow sits on a weathered wooden fence it had a white breast with stippled stripes on the upper part, a white chin,a black eye stripe with a white stripe above it which ends on a yellow spot close to the beak. Its wings have a rusty brown and black pattern.
October 15, 2025 at 1:54 AM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
Said potjie:
A black, cast iron pot on 3 legs are sitting on a small, glowing charcoal fire, inside a metal fire pit
October 11, 2025 at 10:37 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
Well, on my way to my favourite deli this afternoon I happened to spot this modern dinosaur! First Pileated Woodpecker I have seen in Saskatoon.
A pleated Woodpecker sits on a bare tree branch, investigating it with its magnificently long beak. Its body is all black, with a white neck and face, and a awesome, massive red comb on its head.
October 8, 2025 at 11:53 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
A seven-spotted lady beetle clinging to anise hyssop after a light drizzle.
A small rusty red beetle with black spots is sitting on a upright cluster or spike of light mauve and green flowers. A few tiny water drops glistens on its back.
September 13, 2025 at 11:27 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
The first ovenbird of the migratory season stopped by the garden this morning. They are so ridiculously cute. Also, I never knew that they are warblers! Somehow I never cottoned on to that.
Very cute little bird, slightly bigger than an average sparrow, sits on a wooden fence. It has a white breast with blaxk stippled stripes, olive brown back and wings, a short, upright tail, and stripes in its head like a tiny little punk.
September 7, 2025 at 2:43 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
Are you really photographing my butt?

Tennessee warbler stopping by the garden this morning.
An olive green warbler with a black eye stripe, as well as another darker band on its head, sits on a wire, looking over its shoulder at the camera.
September 3, 2025 at 7:59 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
Indiscriminate cuckoo bumblebee on the left, Hunt's bumblebee on the right, feeding on anise hyssop.
2 bees sit on a mauve, lavender-like flower head. On the left is the larger one of the 2, all yellow and brown stripes, with quite a long abdomen. On the right is a slightly smaller bee, with yellow thorax, with a broad rusty brown band across the abdomen, surrounded by yellow, and with a black tip.
August 31, 2025 at 8:08 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
This feather stumps me - I looked at the Feather Atlas and other sources, but can't find a good answer!

It's huge (30 and 40 cm), obviously a primary wing feather. The interesting 2-tone is wrong for a Canada goose, and I can't seem to find anything that really fits.

Found in Saskatoon.
Large feather on a wooden table next to a hamd for scale. It is mostly 2 ton- the top 2 thirds is sort of off-white with a dark grey-brown edge all round, them there is an oblique dark brown line, which greats into a light khaki (?) Colour.
August 26, 2025 at 1:21 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
No new birds today, but a really great looking new fly visitor - a ladybird fly, Gymnosoma rotundatum. It is feeding from my water parsnip.
A small fly sits in a small umbel of white flowers. Its abdomen is orange-red in colour, with black marks on the top. The rest of the fly is black.
August 24, 2025 at 10:56 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
Great start for a garden wildlife weekend: Ruby-throated hummingbird visiting my anise hyssop. It also visited the great blue lobelia.
A hummingbird dominates the center of the photo. The front (chin, neck, breast) is all white, and the back (head, back) are metallic green. The wings are blurred. It is feeding from a mauve and white, tall cluster of tiny flowers that look a bit like lavender. The background is blurry green.
August 23, 2025 at 2:52 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
Saw the cutest insect ever today! A species of bee fly called Anastoechus barbatus, no common name. It looks like a little flying cloud of fluff!
A small bee fly sits on a blade of grass. It is yellowish brown and fluffy/fuzzy all over, with little transparent wings and a small black proboscis This photo of the bee fly is with it sitting on a little yellow aster. All you see of it is a off-white ball of fuzzy and 2 lines , the wings, stretching out from it horizontally
August 17, 2025 at 6:05 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
Are you taking pictures of me??

Downy Woodpecker in the garden just now.
Downy Woodpecker sits on the trunk of a white spruce tree. It is looking over its left shoulder at the camera. It is all black and white, apart from the small red spot at the back of the head.
August 16, 2025 at 8:19 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
With the morning rain, followed by wildfire smoke, I didn't spend as much time outside as I wanted to, but I did spot this little one new to me and the garden:

The Eastern band-winged hoverfly. When it sits to feed, it curls its abdomen in and out, which is rather cute. Arugula flower for scale.
A hoverfly that resembles a mini-dragonfly sits to feed from a white arugula flower. Its big eyes are reddish brown z with the rest of its body mostly black, apart from 2 light bands on the abdomen. The wings are transparent except for a broad dark band midway on each wing.
August 9, 2025 at 11:30 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
A young Cooper's Hawk this morning at Beaver Creek, south of the city.
A hawk sits on a dead tree branch. It has a light brown upper breast, changing to snow white lower down. Small vertical stripes occur on both parts but dissappear lower down. It has a barrel tail. The head is mostly dark brown.
August 8, 2025 at 7:16 PM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
A white banded potter wasp visiting my flattop goldenrod earlier today.
A small wasp is head down among a small cluster of yellow goldenrod flowers. It is black, with one white band on the upper part of the abdomen, and 3 close white bands on the lower abdomen.
August 6, 2025 at 2:24 AM
sisyphushat.bsky.social
I observed these bulbous structures right below the flower clusters on Missouri goldenrod (I think). Anyone knows what they are?
An upright stem carries a few flowers clusters, all pyramid shapes. At the point where the cluster stems connect with the main stem, the latter seems to swell up olin a bulbous shape, about 7cm long and at least 5 cm wide.
August 3, 2025 at 11:06 PM