It's Trillium Time!

Could Ontario be represented by a more beautiful flower?!?!?! I took these photos while I was visiting my parents yesterday. I didn't want to miss my chance since the next time I'm there they'll likely be done for the season. For some reason, the red ones never look as healthy as the white ones. Apparently, it's not because they're 'unhealthy' but because they tend to turn pink as they age. Who knew?!?!

In case you're interested, there are ~43 known trillium species - I'm pretty sure the ones shown above are of the T. graniflorum spp, meaning they have large flowers. Everyone thinks it's illegal to pick them but according to wikipedia (great source, I know - haha) that's not actually the case, except for one species.

Home Sweet Home

I went home to spend the day with my mom, and she showed me this little treasure. Sadly, she had to remove this nest from inside of their boat lift. Not necessarily because they didn't want it there but it's a dangerous spot for the nest, with the boat being lifted up and down so often. I never thought to ask what kind of bird is responsible for this incredible craftiness but it's pretty impressive! It's full of grass, moss, feathers, twigs, and even has the odd thin little piece of plastic. I love how the outside is completely covered in moss, although you might think it would be more appropriate inside for 'softness'.

Here, you can see the feather incorporated into the nest.
I like how you can see how absolutely perfect the circular opening is, and how the materials are distributed!

Sign of Spring

This is the first tree I've seen so far this spring with buds - I just had to take a picture!

Don't get stuck!

This is slightly better than my first attempt at photographing spider webs; this time I had the sun to use to make the web look more obvious.

Perfect Pink Peonies

In honour of our first wedding anniversary that's coming up next Monday I thought I'd post some photos of the peonies I shot this past weekend. They are hands-down my favourite flowers (except for the dumb ants that seem to always come with....) and I'm sure I've mentioned before that we used them for our wedding.
These first photos were taken in my mother's garden; strangely, I've never seen another peony that looks like these which is probably why I like them so much.

I really love this one, the vibrant colours (thanks to the sun!) and the perspective. I can't take credit for the set-up of this photo though, that I owe to my mom. She's always taking pictures while trying to get the lake in the background so I kinda stole her idea...haha....I'm sure she won't mind. I actually think she got the idea from our wedding photographer last year.....

This next one was taken at Brannon's mom's house. Her peonies are all of this deep magenta variety and I think they're my favourites of all.

For Monday

If all goes according to plan I should have cable up-and-running again on Monday but just in case I get busy I thought I'd go ahead and put up a couple more photos before officially signing off for the weekend.
I found this tennis ball in the garden.....what an interesting spot for it to be :)
I like this photo because I really like the texture of the weathered ball!

It's almost peony season! These are hands-down my favourite flowers and I can't wait until they're in bloom so I can *really* photograph them. We used them for our wedding last summer and I'm so happy to see them coming back. This is a dark variety, unlike the baby pink ones we used and I actually think I like these better. What I like most about this shot, excluding my anticipation of their beauty, is that the late-afternoon sun against a red brick house make the colours look very rich.

Flowers at Fran's

While we've been getting ready to move, Brannon's brother and his wife (Mason and Fran) have been baby-sitting our cats so that they're not in the way. I was in the area yesterday signing lawyer's documents etc., and popped by to visit them (the cats, Mason and Fran were at work). I also took a few minutes to look around their yard and here are a few of the shots that I came up with.

When I was a little girl, Lilly-of-the-Valley was my favourite flower!

I wasn't quite able to get this insect in focus but I like bugs so I posted it anyway.

We're not sure what these blossoms are; it's the first time the tree has bloomed since Mason and Fran have been living at their home.

Hens and chicks

An iris for Kathleen :)

Circle of Life

You may have noticed that I'm a bit of a colour junkie :)
I almost always prefer to look at colourful photographs rather than black and white ones. You can understand, then, why I love these photos! I didn't get a chance to photograph the tulip festival this year but these ones are still in bloom around the corner from where I live. I know there are definitely a lot of photos today of the same flowers but I liked them all for different reasons, couldn't decide which to post, and then decided to just post them all! Also, Jenn's theme, "A Picture is Worth 1000 Lyrics" is sorta stuck in my head and this song (my title) popped into my head when I was looking at the vibrancy of both the living and dying flowers. So, enjoy my happy flowers for today!

I had to post this one too....only because most people want these to die.

Bleeding Hearts

I wish I'd had my camera with me in the car on the way home from work today. It POURED rain this afternoon but it stopped as fast as it started and then the brightest sun came out while the sky remained really dark. It would have made for some spectacular pictures and I would have even had time to take some from the car because I was in bumper-to-bumper traffic...Ggrr...
Anyway, I didn't get to photograph the sky today but I did find some pretty little bleeding hearts so that's my entry for today. I really should take some photos of my house (my current one); we're having the whole place painted and you should see what it looks like. I think it would look better if a cyclone came through......but the walls are looking very nice :)

Buggy

As promised, here are the bug photos I mentioned yesterday. Again, I took these on the weekend. The bees were swarming around this flowering bush but they weren't the least bit interested in me - thankfully :)

My mom is doing her best to get these caterpillar tents out of the trees; she's losing the battle (for now anyway).

Side-by-side dandelions with lovely lady-guests.

I haven't the first clue what the bug is but he seems to be enjoying his trillium hang-out.

Finally a new post!

I've been delinquent for the last week with regards to taking photos, let alone posting them. We've got a lot going on and none of it includes photography. Anyway, on my way home today from picking up my free tree from the city (woot! woot!) I noticed a lilac bush that has buds. I can't wait until they're in full bloom!

I'll try to post again a little more regularly!

May Flowers (almost)

I would have used "Steel Magnolias" as my title as it's my all-time favourite movie but I recall that Jenn used that one once before so I didn't want to steal it :)
I saw some magnolia trees in bloom the other day but it was raining and I was far too wrapped up in getting ready for my exam so I didn't stop to take any photos. I took the day off today and ran a bajillion errands and found some time to photograph my favourite spring blooms. When Brannon and I find 'our house', the first thing I'm going to do is plant a magnolia tree!

Mooney's Bay

I spent the day in my office and took a quick stroll through Mooney's Bay park on my way home. People were everywhere, enjoying the sun. I wasn't dressed for the sunny outdoors today so I didn't last long but I did manage to take a few photos. It would have been a perfect opportunity to sneak some people shots but I only had my kit lens with me so I would have had to have been sitting on top of them to get a shot....hence, no people :)

I like this first shot because you can faintly see the rays of the sun over the beach! I couldn't get much closer to the water's edge because just last week the area was flooded so the beach remains quite muddy.

They haven't cleaned all the plant debris off the sand yet...

Trees that are just sprouting leaves...

Sprout!

It's an amazing day today - twenty degrees and sunny! I came across some plants that have sprung up in the last few days so I took some pictures (and got caught by their owner!). Notice though, that there is still snow on the ground....will it ever go away?!?!

They're Baaaccckkkkkk!

The ground is still snowy but the geese and seagulls have returned! The goose has been tagged; by who, I don't know.....

Birds of Spring

I'm glad I had a few minutes to spare this morning before work to take some photos because it's raining now, after work. I woke up to the singing of the birds so I thought I'd run outside and stalk them :)

A sure sign of spring...

I LOVE this one; not because it's any photographic feat but because it captures the ruffled throat feathers that happens when starlings sing. I'd never really paid much attention to their songs but they're actually quite pleasant :)