Beautiful Reserve

One of the most attractive things about the flowers is their beautiful reserve. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Just a few summer beauties to brighten your day and mine. I haven't been around enough to collect posts for the POTW, this week so all I have for you are some of my usual photos.




Thistle is a prickly plant but it sure does produce a beautiful bloom.





Here's one unfolding to the sun.





I don't know what this is but each sprig produces all these teeny-tiny leafy blooms - each one smaller than the nail on my pinky finger.





Small, pink roses grew rather profusely on the bush that my boy, Alex gave me for Mother's Day, a few years ago.





Clover is fresh and lovely in its simplicity.





Raindrops dot a broad leaf in the garden.





And more rain collects on the tender petals of the pansy. A plant my other son, Jeffrey gave me for this year's Mother's Day. These droplets are spherical and in the largest one, you can see the reflection of the pine tree we planted when Alex was born.





All that water weighs a poor pansy down.





This daisy doesn't seem to mind it one bit.





Berries make a perfect snack for hungry birds. These are in various stages of ripeness.





Up close and personal with a wild chicory.





The fiery stamens of the tiger lily.


More photos coming up soon.

Cottage Season Ends

I have a few photos left over from when we were up at the cottage for our last visit in October. I hope you enjoy them.

On our way up there, we traveled behind this school bus for a short distance. It soon stopped in the tiny town of Harlowe to drop this student off, and then turned right as we turned left to continue on our way.

We didn't go in search of walleye this time but this little statue on the neighbour's property is perpetually fishing from the edge of the shore. This year, he was sitting there empty-handed, so Frank found an appropriate stick and fashioned a rod for him.

Standing on the dock one day, I noticed this yellow elm leaf with a tiny droplet of water in the middle of it. How could I not photograph it?

The canoe was tucked away against the boat house in a rare shaft of sunlight, between several periods of rain.

Further proof of rainy weather. Water droplets clung to every nook and cranny of this fuzzy leaf.

The fluctuation between rain and sun produced some mighty fine effects. One afternoon, I looked out the window to see Frank standing on the dock snapping photos off to the right of the cottage. When he was done, he gave the sky a big thumbs up for this lovely rainbow. I joined him and grabbed one quick shot while it was fading. I'm sure Frank's photos are far more outstanding than this one but he's even farther behind in posting his images than I am, and it might be April before you ever see them. Thanks for sharing the rainbow, Frank.

One of the best parts of our stay was meeting up with Bubbles, once again. She announced her arrival with a very minor scuffle with Benny. Neither one of them had fighting on their minds - I'm sure they remembered one another from last year when Bubs was still very young. We called her, and gave her a few handouts which she readily accepted, and she returned a few nights later for a repeat performance. She became quite relaxed around us, took food from my hand and allowed me to talk to her and pet her from head to tail while she ate. It was such a thrill to reconnect with this sweet, gentle soul.

Doesn't it appear as if she's having a good laugh over something? Or maybe she's practicing her karate moves. Bubbles is a joy to know and I hope she'll do well once again over the upcoming winter.

As I usually do with cottage pictures, I'll end with an image of the sunset - the only one I saw this time. It sure was a beauty.