Sweeter, Richer, Louder

Close friends contribute to our personal growth. They also contribute to our personal pleasure, making the music sound sweeter, the wine taste richer, the laughter ring louder because they are there. 
~ Judith Viorst

So now that the chilly month of November is here, I figure it's a good time to reintroduce the balmier days of summer. Mostly, I happen to have a lot more photos from the period of time when I suspended my blog and so I'm going to inflict some of them upon you from time to time. This is one of those times.


A familiar site from the past. A foggy morning in May with the sun just beginning to peek over the hill and a graceful bird on the wing.






And here's the same spot at the end of a different day.






Later in the summer, this is the view from one of the bridges in Peterborough. On this August evening, friends and I were about to head over to a free Kruger Brothers concert in the park. Their amazing banjo and guitar strings weave classical music with bluegrass and folk. I had seen them perform with Steve Martin on Letterman a while back and was looking forward to this evening's performance - minus the wild and crazy guy. The forecast called for a likely rain shower and we were equipped with raincoats and umbrellas. You can see that although it was still dry, the clouds were beginning to form.






It was difficult to take the imminent rain seriously when sun and clouds painted the sky such a friendly shade of pink. The music hadn't begun yet, and neither had the rain. Oh, but both of them did - at around the same time.






I didn't take any photos of the rain because I was trying to keep my camera and myself tucked under the umbrella because it didn't just rain - it POURED! The downpour started early on during the music and only let up a bit before the Kruger Brothers were done. Most of the people who sat around so casually during the pink sunset were long gone. A diminished number of us sat it out and enjoyed the show immensely, in spite of the wet weather. These guys managed to stay dry on stage and neither their spirits nor ours were dampened. The show was fantastic.






A couple of weeks later, I joined the same friends at a different park for a different show - the folk festival. I was tired and didn't stay for very long but enjoyed the music and the people-watching while it lasted. It wasn't any more crowded than this but I still had a hard time finding Carol Anne and Michael. They were somewhere on that hill. And I still can't find them in this picture. It's not them - it's me!






I did find them eventually - seated not too far from this cutie.






This pooch was hyper-focused on his person - waiting to get the signal which would allow him to grab the frisbee.






The view toward the stage was lively. Music was good. Kids were happy. The weather was dry!






The sun bathed the hill with gold as it began its descent.






In between performances, folks chatted, daydreamed or read. Some went off in search of food. Many just enjoyed the last rays of sunlight.






A quick photo on my way out.

More (perhaps even more current) photos coming up soonish.

Silent, Soft and Slow

Out of the bosom of the air,

Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,

Over the woodlands brown and bare,

Over the harvest-fields forsaken,

Silent, and soft, and slow

Descends the snow.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

We've been getting our share of cold, snowy weather. It's been better than last year, so far but winter is well and truly here. All photos were taken through glass -some through glass and screen. And some on different days.


My first glimpse of the sun coming over Blueberry Island, as seen through my bathroom window.






Turning to the opposite direction, you can see her lovely rays landing across the snow of our yard.







Through the kitchen window, across the yard, across the road and up the hills on the opposite side, the trees collected frost and snow which lasted over tend days before we had a warming spell.








And then the snow came in earnest.







It continued to fall despite a few shoveling sessions.







Eventually the sky began to clear and the vague warmth of sunshine tried to burn through. Despite that, it kept snowing for a while.







The wind got creative - making icy patterns on the frozen, snowy lake.







Sunset arrived with huge, cotton candy clouds. This is the view from my computer desk. I just lifted my camera over the monitor.




 


And not wishing to be out-pinked by the sun, the moon did her best to illuminate a lovely sky.

Even for a summer person like me, it's difficult to not love a winter like that.

Summer Afternoon

Summer afternoon-summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language. ~Henry James

These photos from my two weeks up at our new home, early in August.

There are quite a few perennials growing around the place. This black-eyed Susan made a point of catching my own eye.





To the left of the dock, some of our neighbours boats had Frank yearning for one of his own. He was still doing his homework on which one to buy, at that time but has since made the purchase.





I found this butterfly in a puddle in the paddleboat. I thought it was dead, but when I lifted it out of the water, it clung to my finger, so I placed it on a leaf to either recover or live its life out in a more natural setting. It hadn't moved by the next morning. I suspect its end was near - those wings won't carry it far.





This appears to be a young Hairy Woodpecker inspecting the nearby tree for bugs. In the weeks following, a very vocal Hairy (we call her Hairiette) has visited the feeder daily.





A summer sun shower is always a treat, and so is the rainbow that you're sure to find if you look in the sky opposite the sun.





A refreshing salad to serve up with dinner, loaded with blueberries and raspberries.





If that wasn't enough fruit for you, please help yourself to a banana. You might want to pass on the lemon.





As the sun sets, puffy clouds of cotton candy dot the horizon. There isn't much nicer than a mostly-sunny August day.

More photos coming up soon.

Tickled Pink

The colour pink, warm and lovely colour that it is, is rather limiting as far as subject matter goes. At least for me. So for this post, there's an abundance of flowers which make up the rosy end of the spectrum (Frank, I know your eyebrows just shot up at "rosy end." Stop it!).

Judging by your kind and supportive comments in the previous post, about inviting a bit of green into our northern hemisphere winter, I doubt you'll object to seeing mostly floral images as you scroll down through the photos. Please remember to click on each of them to enlarge.

"I fell off my pink cloud with a thud."
~ Elizabeth Taylor'

“Almost all words do have color and nothing is more pleasant than to utter a pink word and see someone's eyes light up and know it is a pink word for him or her too” ~ Gladys Taber

"More pink here, if you please."
~ Franz Liszt

"Pink - it's the colour of passion."

~ Aerosmith lyrics from Pink

The Brain: "Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"

Pinky: "I think so Brain, but Zero Mostel times anything will still give you Zero Mostel." ~from Pinky and the Brain

“The very pink of perfection.”

~ Oliver Goldsmith

"That last kiss
I'll cherish
Until we meet again"
~ Who Knew? by Pink

"When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown,
The dream is gone.
I have become comfortably numb."
~ Pink Floyd lyrics from Comfortably Numb

"We don't have none of this stuff in the boy's room! Wait a minute! We don't got none of this... we don't got doors on the stalls in the boy's room, we don't have, what is this? What's this? We don't have a candy machine in the boy's room! " ~ from Pretty in Pink

And a few fun Inspector Clouseau quotes from The Pink Panther Strikes Again:

"Now then, what do we know? One, that Professor Fassbinder and his daughter have been kidnapped. Two, that someone has kidnapped them. Three, that my hand is on fire."

"A beekeeper who has lost his voice, a cook who thinks he's a gardener, and a witness to a murder. Oh, yes. It is obvious to my trained eye, that there is much more going on here than meets the ear."

"Of course it won't be easy; nothing worthwhile ever is. That is why I have always failed where others have succeeded."

Back in a few days - possibly with another colour.