Reflections on Ice and Water

Towards the beginning of the month we were walking down by the bay looking for wildlife. My husband took this lovely photo of the trees reflecting in the water on top of the ice.

I'm sharing with Weekend Reflections.

Thanks for visiting. Have a great day.

A Great Week for Skywatching

It has been a great week to keep your

It was a wonderful opportunity to capture the events through my lens. First we had the big Super Moon.

We were so lucky it was a clear night to give us the perfect view of it.

And as the week has gone by we have been able to see clear partial views of the moon as well.

Yesterday morning there was a gorgeous sunrise.

I immediatley thought of the old saying about the red sky in the morning and taking warning.

Some snow had been predicted but lucky for us we didn't get a flake of it.  Other parts of Ontario didn't get off so easy though.

If you love sky photos as much as I do be sure to check out the other participants in Sky Watch.
Thanks for visiting. Have a great day.

Splish Splash I was Taking a Bath

Yipee ... the robins are back.

I even managed to capture the robin's shadow.  Perhaps it was co-operating because he knew he would be featured in the Shadow Shot Sunday post for this week.
After hopping around the garden for a little while the robin headed over to the big puddle and decided to take a bath.

Wiggle that tail a little bit.

Splash the water everywhere.

Make some more waves and splash some more water around.

Don't I look pretty after my bath?

I'm joining in with Shadow Shot Sunday. Stop by and see some great shadow shot photos.

Thanks for visiting. Have a great day.

Chips is Back

It's always exciting when the chipmunks are spotted in March.  Our local residents made an appearance this week and I was there to capture these lens friends with my camera.  They scurry very quickly from spot to spot so it was a game of I spy.

I spy you in the dried flower stalks under the windmill.

Now I spy you on top of  Inuky checking out the view.

I spy you at the edge of the path with those cheeks stuffed with seed that fell from the feeders over the winter.  I think they live under this part of the path.

I know there is a pair of them because we spied them one morning sitting on the fence beside the back door.  The second chipmunk isn't quite in focus as I had the camera setting on portrait and must of had it aimed at the first chippy.  You can see the digital cameras that I use, and today I was using the Canon.

I'm sharing these lens friends with  Camera Critters.
  Thanks for visiting. Have a great day.

Oxalis for Friday's Flower

I purchased a small oxalis regnelli or shamrock plant yesterday.  This is a great houseplant that will bloom in bright light with some direct sun.

Shamrock is derived from the Celtic word trefoil which means 3 leaves.

These plants are related to the wood sorrel family and not related to true shamrocks.

 These plants go dormant in the summer months and should be left to regenerate themselves in a cool, darker spot.   When you notice the leaves dying off move it out of the bright location.  When new growth is noticed the plant should be moved back to the sunlight where it will grow once again.  You can even give it a bit of fertilizer then to encourage new growth. I hope you have some Friday flowers to enjoy.  Why not stop over to Tootsie Time and see lots more.  Thanks for visiting. Have a great day.

My I'ds on the Ides

Beware of the Ides of March.  Was it a warning to Julius Ceasar?  or just the way of saying March 15?
I know I've got some I'ds for March.
I'd rather be walking around the garden looking for signs of spring.

I'd rather see the lovely blue sky as I look up at the emerging pussy willows instead of a gloomy, cloudy sky.

I'd rather see the snow disappearing and revealing the Egyptian Walking Onions.

I'd rather discover the new shoots on the daylilies than seeing them die off at the end of the season.

I'd rather discover buds on the lilac bush than see the branches bare.

I'd rather walk slowly and look carefully in the garden and discover some fungi growing on an old fork handle than walk quickly around the garden missing all the little things that are happening.

It's March 15th - the Ides of March. It is also Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and this is my first time participating in 2011 as up to now the garden hasn't been visible because of the snow.  I don't have anything blooming yet but I'd bet that this is the start of something beautiful.

Thanks for visiting. Enjoy the Ides of March.

Tea for One

It's time for tea.
It's just for one this week as I have a bit of a head cold so didn't want to invite guests and share my germs with them. So I'm sharing my little teapot and cup with butterflies and bugs on it.

I love the way the teapot sits on the teacup.

It makes the perfect pot of tea for one.
Can you see the bugs and butterflies between all the flowers.

Stop by Rose Chintz Cottage and share in the tea party.
Thanks for visiting. Have a great day.

Gulls in Flight

Do you think of gulls as those annoying birds that frequent parks and parking lots scavenging for food?
On our walk down by the bay I captured some of the gulls in flight.

Look at that wing span as it prepares for take off from an icy surface on the bay.

About to lift off.  Isn't the colouring on the wings lovely?

The wing span looks even greater while in flight.
Gulls can be fascinating to watch in the air even if they have a bad reputation on land.
Thanks for visiting. Have a great day.

Swaning Around Down by the Bay

This afternoon we went for a lovely walk on the waterfront trail down by the bay.  We were on the hunt for the swans that my husband saw on the Moira River last week.  The first stop was to look at the ice chunks at the Moira River where it meets the Bay of Quinte and photograph some Canada Geese.  The next stop was along to the place we saw all the mallard ducks just over a week ago.  There was more open water there and the ducks were swimming around having a good time.  The third stop was the lucky stop as we spotted the 2 mute swans floating close to the shore.  There was still quite a bit of ice on the bay but some nice big open stretches close to shore.

These swans are so graceful and elegant.  What gorgeous lens friends they are.

Mute swans are native to Eurasia and were introduced to North America to beautify ponds on large estates.

Some of these swans escaped and started living on the lakes and waterways around the country.  They have set up their own breeding populations in various locations and we are lucky to have a pair of them (and perhaps more) on our part of the Bay of Quinte.  I've also seen them at other locations in our travels.

I took quite a few photos today, in fact about 200 of the geese, ducks and swans.  I couldn't resist sharing these ones with their wonderful reflections.  Especially the last 2 shots of the swan standing up.  I think that is the first time I've ever captured one in that position through my lens.

I'm sharing with Weekend Reflections and Camera Critters.

Thanks for visiting. Have a great day.

Plant Markers

Over the years I've tried various ways to mark all the plants in the garden.  I wanted something more permanent than the venetian blind slats or painting words on rocks.  I also tried using old cutlery.
 I purchased a set of letter punches last year and tried out some markers on wooden stakes.

It's a bit of a slow process as you have to choose each letter of the plant name, place it on the stake and hit it with the hammer to make the indent.  I had to practice at the beginning to make sure I hit it just right.

They were then hammered into the ground by the plant.  Over the winter they poked out of the snow so we knew where not to step.  They will also be a good indication of where plants are located in the spring.  I know I'm getting a little forgetful as to what plant is where.
I've also been saving the lids from tin cans to punch onto.  These plant markers will be a great project for me to work on this gardening season when I can't do a lot of digging and bending due to my knee surgery.   I'll be able to work at the garden bench outside and bang all my frustrations out on plant markers.
Thanks for visiting. Have a great day.

A Different Perspective

Here it is into March and it is time to start dreaming and planning the garden season for this year. I have to look at things from a different perspective this year.  Sometime in May I will be having knee replacement surgery and it will affect the way I do my gardening this year.  Recovery time is about 3 months, which means a lot of the digging and re-arranging of plants won't get done this year.  Well, not by me at least, or unless I have a really busy April.  And of course it all depends on whether the weather co-operates. I have many perennial plants in the garden that will be the backbone of the garden.  So all that will be required will be some deadheading. I'm hoping that it will be a lovely spring and I can get a lot of the jobs done during April,  like my "pot garden".  I know that I could be pushing the seed packet a bit early, but one can live in hope.Last year I worked hard establishing a newly extended front garden after extensive digging to fix a leaky basement.  I filled it with lots of hostas in the shady end of the garden and lots of perennials in the sunny end.I'm looking forward to relaxing more in the garden, taking more garden photos (is that possible?), and watching more birds in the garden.What is your perspecitive on gardening this year?

Are you H"app"y?

Are you h"app"y? Is your gardening being enhanced by the latest technology?

We recently added an ipad to our technology and one of the first things I checked out, after playing Angry Birds, was all the garden apps available. I also discovered some birding apps and that makes me really h"app"y.

You can finds apps named Flowerpedia, iZen Garden, Garden Design, vegetable gardening guide, garden insects, Audubon Wildflowers and many more. Most of these require you to purchase them but if you do a bit of searching you can find free versions to try out first. That's what I'm doing. So far I've added Flower Garden, Garden Tracker and BG Birdwatch Log.

The list is endless and you can find apps for butterflies, bugs, herbs, indoor plants and more. Of course there are all the game apps to keep you h"app"y when you can't be gardening. Another app that I have downloaded is Good Reads. I have this on my blog and it keeps track of all the books I've read but now I can use it on the ipad as well. There are also free ebook readers you can download as well.  I can see this will keep me busy while I'm waiting for gardening season to arrive and even when I'm sitting in the garden and relaxing. If you have an app you would recommend please let me know.
 The last photo I took of the ipad shows the reflection of the ceiling fan above so I can join in with Weekend Reflections.  If you have time for a blog hop over there you can see some other photos with wonderful reflections in them. Thanks for visiting. Have a great day.

It's Raining,

Today is the kind of day that makes you remember all those rhymes you sang as a child. The ones about the old man snoring and the rain is pouring and the one where we want it to go away and come back another day.
It certainly is a dull and dreary day. But I'm not really minding the rain because it is helping to wash away some of the dirt and grime from the roads and the snow piles are getting smaller.
It's not a great day to go out and hunt down shadow shot photos, so once again I'm digging back into the archives to find one. I didn't have to go far as just over a week ago it was lovely and sunny and I had snapped a photo of the strands of garlic chives left poking out of the snow.  Pretty soon I'll be seeing those garlic chives poke through the ground once all that snow is washed away.

What wonderful shadows those seed heads made on the snow.

I'm joining in with Shadow Shot Sunday. Stop by and see some great shadow shot photos.

Cottage Teapots

It's time for tea on Tuesdays.  I'm a bit late in posting today as I've had problems with my computer.  It was into the repair shop to have the power source replaced as it wouldn't turn on.

Here are 5 little tea pots that I have on various shelves in the china cupboard.  These were bought at a bargain price of 49 cents each a few years ago.

Each cottage pot is about 8 cm. tall.

 And yes, the lid does lift off and ...

the tea would pour out if I were to put tea inside them.Wouldn't these make cute little hostess gifts with a couple of tea bags tucked inside?If I come to your teaparty perhaps I'll bring you one. Won't you stop by Tea Time Tuesdays and share in the tea party.