People on the Street

A "street" I walk fairly often in winter

March 1 is City Daily Photo Theme Day: People on the Street

I enjoy taking photos of other photographers.  Here I was excited to take a photo of another photographer taking a photo of a photographer. (Did you get all that?)

Same "street" but different day

I am linking to City Daily Photo Theme Days  HERE

Burlington Bay Skyway

 Reflections of Skyway on a sunny day #1

Even though this has been a cold winter (compared to the past few, that is), the canal between Lake Ontario and Burlington Bay rarely (if ever) freezes over completely. This bridge connects Hamilton and Burlington.

Reflections of Skyway on a sunny day #2

To enjoy reflections from around the world, visit James at Weekend Reflections HERE

Sundown over East Gwillimbury

 Sunset #1

The top two photos are actually of the same sunset but from two different locations.

Random 5 Friday

1. We are still in the grips of winter here. I'm still embracing the beauty I see, but my heart is moving towards looking forward to spring. For you in the northern hemisphere, does spring start on March 1st or March 20th?

Sunset #2

2. Tim Horton's Roll Up The Rim To Win season: I like my morning coffee and - when I'm out birding - my coffee of choice is found at Tim Horton's. From mid February to early April, Tim Horton's runs an annual contest. The BIG prize this year is a Toyota Corolla (one of 50). I'll let you know when I win. So far, my husband and and I have rolled up 10 rims, all of which suggested we "Try again."

3.  A fundraiser at Wilfed Laurier University (Waterloo, Ontario) collects "Rims to Win" to distribute to homeless people in her area. Last year she collected 600 winning rims, which meant she was given 600 chances for homeless people to sit in a warm place to drink coffee or/or eat donuts. She is hoping to collect 1,000 winning tabs this year. I'm impressed.

4.

Creative flower arrangements at Get the Jump on Spring, Toronto

Last Saturday to beat the winter blahs,  a few friends and I attended Get the Jump on Spring at the Toronto Botanical Garden. To be sure, one of the main reasons to attend was to be surrounded by flowers.

5. Alice Munro - a wonderful Canadian short story writer - has such a delightful, subtle wit that makes me laugh. I just reread her only novel this week: Lives of Girls and Woman.  It's probably the least favourite of the books I have read by her, but it left me wondering how she would describe some of the grumpy people I've met lately for whom life is rarely as good as it could (or SHOULD?) be. 

I am linking to Sky Watch Friday HERE.
I am joining  Random 5 Friday Here

O/Alphabe-Thursday

 ORANGE sunset OVER Lake Scugog

Though we travel the world OVER to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

O is for Over, Orange and Original.

ORANGE sunset OVER hill

 (Believe it or not) ORANGE sunset OVER Port Perry

The ORIGINAL sunset OVER Port Perry

Before I played with the original in PhotoShop Elements

I am linking to Jenny Matlock at Alphabe-Thursday HERE 

Pintail Duck

 Back of Northern Pintail that's stretching in between naps

Isn't he handsome? I was high up on a river bank looking through brush to capture photos of this handsome drake. He was hanging out with mallards and Canada geese with whom he must have felt safe.

 Still stretching

The ice floe he had been (and would soon again be) sleeping on was slowly moving down the river.

Side view taken two days before the top two photos

I had seen him a couple of days before but was unhappy with the photos I had taken (third photo) because I had to shoot  part way into the sun.  But at least he was out in the open and not behind shrubs as in the top two photos. I guess I may have to go back to try to find him again. lol

Pintails breed here and are among the first ducks to return (although I suspect this guy may never have left).

I am connecting to Stewart M's Wild Bird Wednesday HERE

Family Day

 Family at Oshawa Harbour

Last Monday was Family Day in Ontario, a day when many workers had the day off to spend with their families and/or do whatever else they wanted to.

 Photographing (without a glove on her left hand) trumpeter swans in Whitby

Luckily it was a sunny day! And the temperature was quite tolerable.

Fishers at Bond Head

More photos from Our World can be seen by clicking HERE.

Please visit Michelle at Rambling Woods for more NATURE NOTES.
  

Inside Sunshine

When the garden is covered in snow

Thank goodness for supermarket flowers this time of year! They make shopping for groceries almost fun.

I am linking to Sunlit Sunday Here.
I am Linking to Mosaic Monday HERE

Female White-winged scoter

 Female happy with her zebra mussels

Last Tuesday I showed you photos of a male white-winged scoter that I saw swimming in the canal between Hamilton and Burlington. On Wednesday I spotted this femal in Whitby Harbour. They look quite different from each other, don't they?

Washing zebra mussels

I'm not sure why she kept dipping the mussels in water. Perhaps she was washing off some sand that came up with the mussels

I am linking with Saturday Critters HERE.
and
I am linking to I'd Rather B Birdin'  HERE.

Whitby Harbour

 Trumpeter swans

Last Monday when these photos were taken, most of the harbour at Whitby (on Lake Ontario) was surrounded by ice but the harbour itself  was either ice free or covered with a thin layer of ice.

The light on the west side of the harbour entrance

There's a snowy owl somewhere on those icy rocks, but I didn't see it.

Icicles on the east side of the harbour entrance

To enjoy reflections from around the world, visit James at Weekend Reflections HERE

On the Way Home

Sandford Road

I love the reflection of the sunset on the road!

Random 5

1. "In the depths of winter I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."
-  Albert Camus

2. Last Saturday I inadvertently baked a batch of "sink-hole" muffins (the tops caved in when they cooled).  No one inside the house wanted to eat them, so my husband took one outdoors to lure a pesky squirrel into a have-a-heart trap to be "relocated" to a nearby forest. The squirrel wasn't tempted either.

3. Consumerism: There’s a commercial on Canadian TV that bothers me.  A woman is talking to her husband saying “I can’t take it any longer!” What is she talking about? Her refrigerator doesn’t match her stove. OK, I know this ad is supposed to be funny, but actually I think it’s rather sad. I have nothing against matching stoves and refrigerators, but a commercial designed to make people feel unhappy if theirs don’t match is WRONG.

4. I beat the winter blahs this week by attending a digital slide show of Keukenhof (beautiful bulb gardens in The Netherlands), the photos taken last April by friends. WOW! 

5. Question: Does chocolate improve your mood? I've read that for some people it does temporarily but then they feel even worse than they did before they took a bite. How does chocolate affect you?


I am linking to Sky Watch Friday HERE.
I am joining  Random 5 Friday Here

N/Alphabe-Thursday

 Naughty raccoon

Once you begin being naughty, it's easier to go on and on, and sooner or later something dreadful happens.
~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

N is for Naughty and Nice

 Naughty squirrel

OOPS! You caught me...but I'm going, I'm going!

Nice squirrel eating off the ground

I am linking to Jenny Matlock at Alphabe-Thursday HERE 

White-winged Scoter

 White-winged Scoter (Melanitta fusca )

Most White-winged Scoters winter on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts but a few spend the cold months on the great Lakes, a trend that seems to be increasing due to the recent invasion here of zebra mussels. They dive to eat mollusks, small fish, crustaceans, aquatic insects and - in summer - pondweeds.

White-winged scoters breed in northwestern Canada and Alaska

Diving for dinner

I am connecting to Stewart M's Wild Bird Wednesday HERE

Clearing the Tracks

 Crossing signal

East Gwillimbury has  two lines of railway tracks running through it:
1. GO (Government of Ontario) tracks that run from Toronto to Barrie
2. CN (Canadian National) tracks that run east and west from Halifax (Nova Scotia) to Prince Rupert (British Columbia) and north and south from New Orleans (Louisiana) to Toronto.

 CN tracks

When it snows here, the tracks get snowed on too. (Imagine that!)  But have you ever wondered how the snow is cleared after a heavy snowfall"

 Machine that clears the tracks of snow on GO tracks

TaDa!

 Closeup of the  plow end

Closeup of the snow-blower end

More photos from Our World can be seen by clicking HERE.

Mid February

Brown, white, icicles and snow

This winter has been a season for icicles. I'm sure they are thicker and longer than they have been in a few years. They are more like what I remember from my childhood.

Largest square: icicle on our local farm seed store. Moving clockwise: a snowy field under a blue sky; a horde of crows (this is just a tiny square of what was actually there); more icicles; crows in amongst corn stubble; and wild turkeys scratching for seeds.

I am Linking to Mosaic Monday HERE

Please visit Michelle at Rambling Woods for more NATURE NOTES.
  

Blue Skies Over Canal

 Sunlight over the canal between Burlington and Hamilton

Sunlight over Lake Ontario at Burlington

I am linking to Sunlit Sunday Here.

Wild Turkey

 Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)

Handsome he's NOT! Wild turkeys are hungry this year and, in some areas, acting quite bold looking for food, which means it was EASY for me to get close enough to take photos.

 Feathers on back of neck in sunlight

While his face is quite homely, his feathers are gorgeous when they shine in the sun.

The whole bird

Several people mentioned Thanksgiving, but the turkey was in no hurry to move on.

I am linking with Saturday Critters HERE.
and
I am linking to I'd Rather B Birdin'  HERE.

and
I am linking to I Heart Macro HERE.

Sweets

Happy Valentine's Day!

To enjoy reflections from around the world, visit James at Weekend Reflections HERE

Winter Sunset

Sunset with reflection on icy snow

Since it gets dark so early during the winter, it's easy to be out and about when the sun is setting.

A slightly different view

Random 5

1. "Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."
~ Neil Gaiman

2. TV Commercials dupe us all the time.  (But you knew that already,  didn't you?) I'm reminding you because  according to the Mayo Clinic, regular soap is just as effective at killing germs as the antibacterial variety. Hmmmm. Not only do anti-bacterial varieties cost more, but they may actually be causing us harm in years to come by encouraging bacteria to become resistant to certain antimicrobial agents, making germs harder to fight in the future.

3. Recently I had someone visit my blog who told me that a pastime I enjoy is boring. REALLY?? Why did he feel he had to tell me that?

4. I love the power of sunshine and shadows in February. For me, sunshine during the winter months, is magical. The feeling is glorious, hard to duplicate in any other way.  I often take sunshine for granted the rest of the year.

5.  I've just learned two Japanese insult words that might come in useful someday: baka (idiot) and o-baka-san (honourable idiot). Not that I ever come across any overly aggressive baka  or o-baka-san drivers in my travels, of course. And you know (don't you?) that I would only mutter the insults under my breath.


I am linking to Sky Watch Friday HERE.
I am joining  Random 5 Friday Here

M/Alphabe-Thursday

 Morning reflections

M is for morning.

 Morning mist

Morning fog

I am linking to Jenny Matlock at Alphabe-Thursday HERE 

Brown Thrasher

 Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) out on a limb

Brown thrashers don't usually spend their winters this far north...and what a crazy winter to stay here!

"Hiding" in some brush

This bird had discovered a bird feeder near a pile of downed limbs, which it must have felt would be a safe enough place to scurry to in case of danger.

Out in the open

The Brown Thrasher looks angry here but I think I simply caught it swallowing a seed.

I am connecting to Stewart M's Wild Bird Wednesday HERE