Sunday, July 17, 2011

Away From Nature

Well, of course I'm never really away from nature. It surrounds me every time I take a few steps outside my front door. But for this post, despite being in my usual surroundings, I'm taking a step away from nature and showing you a few of the things that caught my eye, aside from bodies of water, plants, birds and other wild animals.



garbage can
First up, I'm about to talk trash. Our city has collected the parks' plain black trash cans and returned them full of.. not trash, but colour. They were painted by volunteers at a recent lake stewardship meeting.




spruced up garbage
Here's another one - kind of a before and after concept.




tiedye
This colourful kidlet was strolling along the park path near Frank's place. Her tie-dyed shirt reminded me of a pinwheel. Can you see it?




pinwheel
How about now?



casualty2
Each year, both Frank's community and mine hold rubber duck races to raise money for charity. Each participant buys a numbered ticket which corresponds to the number on the bottom of a duck. In Frank's town, the ducks are tossed into the creek, where they go with the flow toward nearby Lake Ontario. The first ducks to make it into lake wins. I assume there are prizes in his town as there are in ours. When we set out for our walk a few days after the event, we'd wondered if we'd come upon any of the ducks that never made it all the way, as we had in past years. Sure enough, Frank spotted this little casualty down by the dam - nowhere near the lake.



picnic table bolts
Back to my own neck of the woods, this is just a small portion of a picnic table top. I liked the way the light was illuminating the wood and this tiny leaf. You can also see the rusty red bolts which secures the table top.



picnic table edge
And here's the edge of that same table top. Late-day sunlight makes everything look interesting.

If you haven't seen me around in a while, it's because I'm still away from home, enjoying my time up at the cottage. This, along with the previous posts was scheduled before I left home. I'll be back to catch up before too long.

49 comments:

Brian Miller said...

mmm...ok the deck shots are my favs...the trashcans are so cool though...

we do the duck races here as well...it is huge!

hope you had a great saturday hilary

Brandy Marie said...

Awe poor duckie. Love the pictures! I like the garbage cans & the girl with the 'pin wheel' shirt. very interesting. Thank you for sharing _B

Kristina P. said...

YOu really find beauty in everything!

Pierre BOYER said...

I love your two last close pictures...
Greetings from France,

Pierre

Anonymous said...

Poor ducky. Such a tragic end for him.

I always love pinwheels. Such memories they bring up and what simple devices they are to spin with only the slightest of wind in the air.. Just love them!

sage said...

Great colors!

CorvusCorax12 said...

love the tie-dye shirt...great pictures and painting the garbage cans is a great idea.

Anvilcloud said...

Those are not your average garbage cans.

{ T G L } said...

I like the rainbow theme that seems to run through many of the photos. The garbage cans are very cool!

Blessings,
This Good Life

Out on the prairie said...

That first can is a bit jackson Pollack.Some fun shots!

Anonymous said...

poor little duckie left all alone like that. ;-)

great shots! love that one with the leaf.

Dianne said...

I love the trash cans!!

CiCi said...

The garbage cans are so artsy. My younger daughter would like them.
One time she painted the walls of her room a solid wild color and then dipped the brush into another wild color and threw paint on the wall. Looked like the paint on the garbage cans.

The tie dye shirt is awesome. I am going to try that. I dyed some things recently and wanted to get some rubber bands and try the tie dye look.

TexWisGirl said...

thanks for sharing the colors and beauty with us, even while you're off and away!

Anonymous said...

Love the rubbish bins (sorry I'm British!!)... Great idea :)

ellen abbott said...

Love the pinwheel...both of them.

Ruth Hiebert said...

Fascinating images. I wonder if those colourful garbage cans will encourage more people to use them.

Scott Law said...

I really enjoy your eclectic posts. Nice shots. I thought I really liked the top trash can the best, but turns out my fave was the duck.

messymimi said...

Tie die always brings back good memories. Lovely pics.

Linda at To Behold The Beauty said...

I love that first garbage can, the socks on the kidlet, and the angle on the pinwheel image. A fun post.

Grayquill said...

I hope the little duck that couldn't was give a second chance to finish the race.
You found beauty on the end of a 2x4 - impressive.

Unknown said...

What a great idea with the cans! And that shirt takes me back to my flower child days in the late 60s.

Reena said...

love the duck race .... keep having fun!

ds said...

Very cool trashcans--with luck the new look will have more people using them!
Will the duck you found be racing again next year?

Anonymous said...

great shots - love your perspective of things!

Dawning Inspiration said...

Your posts always make me smile... great shots.. very fun.

Unknown said...

I'm a sucker for color! Hope you're having fun, while you're NOT away from nature.

Anonymous said...

love the graffiti's on the trash cans .. also the kids t-shirt
the texture and the bokeh of the wooden table is awesome !

Unknown said...

The picnic table shots are my favorites, but I also love what the city did with the trash cans. So cool!

Hope you're enjoying the cottage.

Daryl said...

Poor little duck ... love these photos as I too love the way light colors what we see

Kat said...

We have the duck races around here too. They call it Ducktona. Huh huh. ;)

LOVE the shot of that first garbage can. That certainly catches your attention and looks MUCH better than plan old black. :)

Suldog said...

The edge of the tabletop almost looks like a rare steak. Maybe I'm just hungry.

Your sense of color and composition always brings me a thrill. Lovely.

Friko said...

scheduled or fresh off the press, your photos are always a delight.

Those rubbish are a delight, wonder if I could paint ours without getting into trouble?

Mental P Mama said...

Poor P79. I hope somebody takes him home....

Melinda said...

Lol ~ that little duck looks very sad indeed! Love the garbage cans, what a great idea! :)

Barb said...

Hi Hilary, What great shots - each seems to tell a larger story. I like when you focus on aspects of your world and let us see it through your lens. Have fun!

Wendy said...

Awww, cute little duckie. I like the deck shots too. And the colourful pinwheel.
Enjoy your stay at the cottage.

yaya said...

You find the beauty in every day events...things I would never even think of photographing...sooo cool. Love the garbage cans too. When I lived in Chicago one of the suburbs was nick-named the "Lilac city"..and they had lilac colored garbage trucks. Your pics reminded me of that!

Jayne said...

Away from home, enjoying the break, and taking fabulous photos! Thanks for these beautiful scenes, Hilary. :)

Joanna Jenkins said...

Hi Hilary, I'm always surprised by what I see on your blog-- You have a knack for seeing soooo much more than I do and showing us your vision so beautifully. These photos are no exception. The picnic table shows are stunning and the pinwheels both made me smile.

Thanks, xo jj

Anonymous said...

Sigh- such lovely shots!

What a great idea to paint the garbage cans - love that!

And I adore that tiny jewel of a leaf.

Shammickite said...

poor little lost duckie! he belongs in a bathtub with Callum and Isaac.

Cloudia said...

touching a deep while seemingly just wandering - wonderful!

You see a pinwheel - I see Spirals EVERYWHERE, LOL


Aloha from Waikiki;


Comfort Spiral

><}}(°>

Shrinky said...

I LOVE that painted trash-can idea, it's so cool! Your photo of the bird with the worm is incredibly detailed and sharp - it's as if I am standing there watching it in the first person! Glad you are enjoying the summer, it is too short to squander indoors.

Cad said...

That last shot of the end table looks good enough to eat. Great selection of my kind of eye candy from start to finish of this post. :)

Betty Manousos said...

well, you just made those garbage cans to look like artwork!
you're really find beauty in everything...as kristina said.

another great set of photos!

betty xx

Anonymous said...

I really like the juxtaposition shown in the photo of the garbage cans.

lime said...

well you know i love tie dye so that girl caught my eye. love the garbage can idea too. simple way to add a splash of fun.

Lisa said...

Oh I just love the girl walking and the texture of the wood. Stunning photography