A Series of Wonders

I'm back up at my new place for a few days. This time my older son, Jeffrey is with us. He's home on leave for a couple of weeks so of course, he had to come see the place. It's so nice to be with my boy. 

Nature was here a series of wonders, and a fund of delight.

~ Daniel Boone

Shhh... it's just before daybreak. The sky is beginning to lighten but there are still some stars in the sky. A gentle mist is drifting across the lake. What a sight to see upon awakening.








Apples and nectarines in one bowl - tomatoes in the other. Sunlight basted evenly on both.







While snapping a few photos of the rising sun, a tiny hummingbird flew into the glass. It was a gentle impact and it quickly flew away again, seemingly unharmed. But it left its calling card behind - a few of its minuscule feathers.






A the day lightens up, a fishing lure awaits employment. Its task was to catch tonight's dinner. Epic fail. I suppose it might have done better if it had actually been cast into the water...






Frank found this tiny wasp's nest on the deck, one day. Such a perfect creation for such little creatures. I'm just as glad that it was abandoned though. I had a bit of fun playing with desaturating the colour from my hand, but not from the nest.







And this beautiful wonder is my Skitty boy. He's not up at the new place yet but rest assured that he and Zephyr will be joining us when I'm there full time.






And another wondrous day is nearly done.

More in a few days.

Morning Has Broken

The Sunrise. What a way to start the day. How would you like to start a few of them with me?

The following images were taken on various mornings during the first two weeks of August while I was at my new place.

Morning has broken, like the first morning.

Cat Stevens

Know where to find the sunrise and sunset times and note how the sky looks at those times, at least once.

Marilyn vos Savant

Woke up from another dream

With the clouds in my head

Sat down by the window

Watched the sunrise burning red

George Weiss - Blue Rodeo

Climb up on some hill at sunrise. Everybody needs perspective once in a while, and you'll find it there.

Robb Sagendorph

There's never one sunrise the same or one sunset the same.

Carlos Santana

And then I saw the sunrise above the cotton sky like a candycane delight.

Gordon Lightfoot

It's another tequila sunrise,

stirrin slowly across the sky

Don Henley - Eagles

The biggest cliche in photography is sunrise and sunset. (oh well!)

Catherine Opie

And here is a sunrise to set on your sill

The ghosts of the dawn moving near

Dan Fogelberg

Thankfully, sunrises begin much later in the morning for the next several months. I need to get my city house sold and go back so I can enjoy them.

One Touch of Nature

-

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.

~ William Shakespeare

Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace.
~ Kent Nerburn





If carrots got you drunk, rabbits would be messed-up.
~ Mitch Hedberg





I have my own views about Nature's methods, though I feel that it is rather like a beetle giving his opinions upon the Milky Way.
~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle





The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.
~ Ernest Hemingway





And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
~ Anais Nin





There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with.
~ Harry Crews


 


All nature's creatures join to express nature's purpose. Somewhere in their mounting and mating, rutting and butting is the very secret of nature itself.
~ Graham Swift

And now, without further delay, here are the Posts of the Week. The icon below is yours for the taking if if your blog post is named as a POTW.

***
READERS' CHOICE

Recommended by: Joeh
I Am a Tangle
by Therese
at You're Doing it Wrong

***

PHINE PHOTOGRAPHY

Avenue de l'Opéra
by Daryl
at Through My Eyes

Hay and the Dragonfly
by Daniel
at The Pixel Collective

Texas Rat Snake
by TexWisGirl
at The Run*A*Round Ranch Report

The Painted Sky
by Leah
at The Goat's Lunch Pail

A Time of Quiet Joy
by Kerri
at A Little Piece of Me


***

YOU'LL LAUGH

Focus Group Barbie
by Kerry
at Ed and Reub

Lunchbox Love
by Amy
at She Writes

A GOOD READ

The Tree
by Sandi
at Holding Patterns

August 15, 1969
by Cloudia
at Comfort Spiral

instincts, i got them
by Brian
at WaystationOne

Forty is the New Seventy
by Bone
at If You Only Read One Blog This Year

***

CREATIVE FUN

Ingenuity
by Solarity
at Living With the Sun


JUST PLAIN GOOD

How Did You Change Your World?
by Rosaria
at Notes, Tales and Observations

 
A Little Hard Work
by Kat
at Seeking Sanity


What is a Friend? 
by Linda
at Ye Olde Crones Gazette

***

Please drop by their blogs for a visit and leave a kind comment if you have the time. Also, please feel free to add your own choices (for any blog except this one) for a specific blog post in the comments section below, where others can see them.

Thank you

Beautiful Babies

This post was created and scheduled a few weeks ago - before we acquired our new place. Right now, I'm back in the city continuing to ready my house for sale.

You must have been a beautiful baby, 'Cuz baby just look at you now.

~ Johnny Mercer

Spring and summer - the time of year when we see so many babies of every kind. Of course those of the human variety are no longer bundled up, so we can see them in all of their cuteness. Birds and other critters choose this warmer weather to have their young, and we get the pleasure of enjoying them all. I hope you also enjoy some of the baby photos I've taken semi-recently.


This little cutie brought his own balloons and bench to pose for a photos. His parents thought it would be cute if they snapped his picture out in the park. And it was.





Here's a closer look at Mr. Charming sans balloons. You're grinning like a loon, aren't you?






Five little sweet balls of fluff were born on our pond, earlier this summer. I didn't have the lighting or the lens for this but they were still irresistible to me.





Not quite so cute right now but these babies are going to go through a beautiful transformation before long.





Okay, so I'm cheating a bit here. These aren't really all that young but they are baby roses. The blooms were profuse, this year. The plant was a Mother's Day gift from my son a few years back. I'll hate to leave this behind when I move.





Judging by his adult plumage, I don't think this guy was all that much of a baby either but he acted helpless and wasn't overly fearful of me and my camera. My guess was full grown but still with a sense of entitlement, like.. you know - a teenager.





Bunnies are not the smartest creatures on the planet (except for Maggie Mays' sweeties, of course), but they are among the cutest. This little one was nibbling grass in my front yard, one morning. I took a few photos through the glass then dared to open the door and step outside. Of course the rabbit stood stock still, rendering itself invisible. So what you're looking at is a picture of grass only. There is no bunny to be seen here. Let's move along.






Frank and I had just been to see the house that we ultimately bought when he spotted this turtle by the side of the road. She kept a wary eye on me while I snapped a photo from a respectable distance. You don't want to disturb a mama while she's laying her eggs.






I heard a few odd vocalizations while walking with Benny, one day. I couldn't recognize them as any of the familiar birds I generally hear and see each day. Eventually I found the source - this young blue jay calling for its mama. It sounded nothing like the typical adult blue jay calls. It won't be much longer before this passive little guy becomes a loud, boisterous and bold bird.






On to my favourite non domesticated animal - the furry little bandits who have taken up permanent residence in my heart. My neighbour, Caroline called me over to see these quintuplets (the fifth one was further out on a limb) playing in the tree, visible from her back yard. Mama was off somewhere - probably getting a much needed rest from her rambunctious kits.






Tell me, could it get any cuter than this?






All together now... awwwww!





And because I can never get enough of them, I have one short video of a couple of the kits playing on the branch.

More photos in a few days.

The Sun Pours Down Like Honey

As promised, I'm going to post a few photos of our new digs.

I've spent the last ten days up here and each morning, I fall in love with our surroundings a little bit more. The sunrises unfold with their unique mystery each day - changeable with clear skies, clouds, fog and mist. I should be sleeping but first light, along with the family of local blue jays call to me more often than not.

Soon, there will be more chaos around here than I care to imagine. We'll be extending one side of the house for an addition which will include an enlargement of an existing bedroom, an additional bedroom, office area, washroom and closet. That disruption will probably take us well into the autumn though I'm probably being naive as most people who are about to endure renovations tend to be, and it may last into the winter months before the new portion is livable. In any event, I'm enjoying the peace for a few more days before I return to my townhouse in the city, and continue readying it for sale.

The photos below were all taken last week. I have dozens more which I've snapped since then but those are going to have to wait until I have a few spare moments to upload, sort through and select some to post. With all that is going on, that's going to take a while. For now, I hope you enjoy these offerings.



Despite our east-facing view, we still enjoy some pleasant sunsets from the light which reflects from behind. This was taken from the dock - a view of the land across the bay.




Stepping back a bit, we bring the dock into view, along with the purple martin house which remains unoccupied at this time. You can see that we have neighbours nearby. That's their boat off to the right. Frank is still in the process of finding the boat which will take him out into these beautiful waters where the fish are whispering his name.




Standing at the living room window, this was the first sunrise I witnessed. There have been many more beauties since then.




Speaking of beauties, this little gemstone with wings is a regular visitor at the feeder. He and at least three others provide a steady flow of humming, thrumming wings through the daylight hours. They're seemingly fearless of our presence, sometimes hovering right in front of our faces.




They do pause and relax for several seconds at a time.




On a different misty morning, the sun poured down like honey. (Thank you, Leonard Cohen)




With windows on both sides of the house, we get decent light throughout the day. This is morning light just hitting the kitchen. Please excuse the cluttered counters - we're still in setup mode.




A cheap plastic bowl, some fresh fruit and the morning sunlight.

I'll have more photos coming up in a few days but they'll be previously scheduled posts from before the move. Thanks always for visiting.

All Flowers Keep the Light

I know that on my last post there was a bit of confusion about the images. I should have been more clear, since I know how easy it is to skim over a post, collect a few words and come to a conclusion. Those image were not of our new place. Neither are these. I was having a few issues getting Frank's computer to welcome my camera as one of its own. I've since learned a bit of a workaround but it will take some time to go through them all and process some for you. I hope to do that before too much longer. Until then, I hope you enjoy this post.

Deep in their roots all flowers keep the light.

~ Theodore Roethke

I can't possible go through summer and not do a post or three just about flowers. This is going to be one of them.



Nightshade is an interesting plant. Along with their tiny purple blossoms...





They produce little clusters of berries. They turn bright red, eventually but these are still green.





The new growth of this leafy plant evolves from soft purple to pink, red and finally green.





While on the topic of purple flowers, thistles always catch my eye. They remind me of a prehistoric plant.





These purple bell-shaped blooms appear to be ringing out their tune as they sway in the wind.





This near-empty dandelion head stands alongside the creek. The background might look likes its seeds carried by the wind but really it's just foamy bubbles in the water.





Wild chicory are among my favourite blooms in summer.





This simple orchid plant bloomed in Frank's care. We weren't even sure what the plant was - he had inherited it from a friend.

I hope the flowers brightened your day. More photos coming up soon.