Triangles

Triangles

April 1st is City Daily Photo Theme Day and we are celebrating triangles.

I am still spending a lot of time inside our local hospital but the last day of March was such a lovely day (note that BLUE sky) that I took walk at lunchtime on the road behind the hospital where there are several interesting older homes.

I am linking to City Daily Photo Theme Days  HERE

Snowdrops

Snowdrops!

I realize that many of you have already this year had snowdrops bloom in your gardens, but these are the first ones I have seen in East Gwillimbury in 2014 - not in my garden but in some friends' garden. Yep, they pushed their way up through the ice and snow.  And this IS what they looked like this afternoon on the last day of March.  It looks like spring is finally arriving here!

Me, messy??

NOT ME! 

I didn't make this mess. I'm just the handy little picker-upper!

Update March 28

Red-bellied woodpecker

This photo is from the beginning of March as I haven't been out taking photos for a while.  My husband's health is a lot, LOT better now so I plan to get out with my camera a bit. And I hope to be posting a couple of times a week from now on. (If I can get my act together.)

Meanwhile, my goal is to get around to see what you have been doing for the past couple of weeks.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Hello There!

FYI: Just to let you know that I'm not ignoring you on purpose.  All of my posts this week have been pre-scheduled. A family member has been in hospital and so I have been there instead of out taking photos or sitting at my computer.  I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

White-tailed Deer

 Deer in the middle of path

The deer must be very hungry to be out during daylight hours.  Clearly, this one knows I'm there with my camera.

Pondering the situation

Wondering if it should stay and munch on some yummy red-osier dogwood or follow the rest of its kin.

Turning off the path

It chewed off a few stems and then followed its family.

I am linking with Saturday Critters HERE.

Morning Light

Sunlight reflected on icy snow

Morning light forcing its way through some clouds over Lake Ontario.

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

Sunset over cornfield

Orange sky over snowy cornfield

1.  What a difference Daylight Saving Time makes! The sun will set over Toronto today at 7:20 p.m.

2.  Colourful sunsets are caused by tiny particles in the atmosphere that scatter the direction of light rays. (Hey,  maybe air pollution is not always all that bad.) When the sun is low on the horizon, light rays travel through more molecules that scatter blue and violet rays, allowing yellow, orange and red to reach our eyes.

3. To make orange-coloured paint, you mix red with yellow - not GREEN and red, right? Well, did you know that in the system used to create colours on a TV or computer screen (RGB colour model) orange is made by combining a GREEN light with higher intensity red light?  The blue light (the B in RBG) is turned off. You can learn more by clicking HERE.


4. Cursive writing has been removed from the school curriculum in at least two Canadian provinces and some forty U.S. states.  Does that mean future generations won't be able to read old postcards found in antique shops and letters found in the attic?

5. Sadly, I cannot think of anything else to say! 

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

Q/Alphabe-Thursday

 Quackers crossing

Q is for QUACK.

 Quack

Quack, quack, quack!!!

I am linking to Jenny Matlock at Alphabe-Thursday HERE 

Greater Scaups

Female (left) and male (right) Greater Scaups (Aythya marila )

He's got zebra mussels and a female follower.

 Male and female

She's got zebra mussels and a male follower.

 3 females and 3 males

He's got zebra mussels and five best friends.

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

Keswick Millworks

 Cook's Bay Lake Simcoe, Mid 1800's

Written on a plaque beside the mural: "The Lake played an important role in the development of communities along its shoreline.

Left side of mural

... There were few suitable roads for shipping and receiving of goods to early pioneers so large sailboats and steam barges stopped at communities when they raised their flags at the shoreline.

Right side of mural

...Lumber was a main stay of the commerce as the virgin forest along the shore line were cut down and shipped overseas to Britain to be used in the busy ship building industry. Slowly with the development of better roads and the coming of the RAILROAD, the shipping industry died and a new ERA began."

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

Sunlit Cardinals

Female cardinals last Friday

I am linking to Sunlit Sunday Here.

I am Linking to Mosaic Monday HERE

Milkweed

Milkweed pod

The seeds and dried pods of this plant are needed by monarch butterflies. They lay their eggs on this plant - the sole food of monarch caterpillars.  The monarch population has declined from between 80 and 90% since 1996,  one reason being  the herbicide that kills milkweed. In this photo, the seeds are ready to be released to fly away on silky parachutes.

I am linking to I Heart Macro HERE.

Seed Store Kitties

 Kitty #1 sitting on a shoebox (boot box?)

Our local farm seed store is "manned" by these two kitties. OK, they hire humans to deal with customers, but these two are the ones in charge.

Kitty #2 doesn't have time for cameras

Something way more interesting is over THERE!

I am linking with Saturday Critters HERE.

Coffee, anyone?

Reflection in coffee shop window

If you look carefully, you might be able to see Tim's name written in white on the window.  (Tim Horton's, that is.)  I wanted to show you a reflection of a sunny beach, but this was the best reflection offered by this window.

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

Winter morning

Pinkish sky and swans

Random 5

1. On some winter mornings when the sky to the south is ALMOST totally obscured by clouds over Lake Ontario, the light has a pink, coral, or yellow cast. It's probably pollution...but it's pretty, especially when the landscape is mostly whites, browns and greys.

2. Hooray for honest car mechanics! Last week our car was stuck in PARK in a local grocery store parking lot. Our long-time mechanic drove my husband to where the car was stuck, determined the problem was a burnt-out fuse, and charged us for a couple of fuses and his time.  A dishonest mechanic could have claimed the car needed a new transmission.

3. I bought a small bunch of tulips last week. Did you know that you can keep them upright in a vase by pricking their stems with a pin just below the flower?

4. The Monarch butterfly population has declined from between 80 and 90% since 1996. The main culprit appears to be the herbicide that kills milkweed, the Monarch's main food source. Recently the presidents of the U.S. and Mexico and the prime minister of Canada agreed at a NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement) meeting to study the situation - the Monarch is a symbol of cooperation  amongst the three countries. I hope cooperation on the monarch decline is not too late.

5. I'm reading a collection of short stories by Russian author Anton Chekhov. If you're looking for stories with happy endings, these are NOT for you. Chekhov's stories tend to be open ended in that you have the feeling much has happened before the first chapter and that the characters live on once the story is finished. If you are curious about what life was like for Russians during the last two decades of the 20th-century (a few years before the Russian Revolution and communism), Chekhov's works are goldmines.

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

P/Alphabe-Thursday

 Purple columbine

I am feeling so starved for colour that I am reaching back into my summer archives for this week's challege: P (as in PURPLE and PINK)

 Pink bindweed

Pink and purple (and orange) sunset

I am linking to Jenny Matlock at Alphabe-Thursday HERE 

Common Goldeneye

 Male Common  Goldeneye swimming amongst ice floes in Whitby Harbour

Although swimming in icy water looks frigid to us humans, common goldeneyes often stay as far north in winter as they possibly can.

Swimming to and fro, occasionally diving

It all depends on whether they can find open water as they dive for their food: aquatic invertebrates, vegetation and small fish.

Ice floes

Some spend the winter in marine waters, but quite a few visit the Great Lakes until the ice melts further north..
I am connecting to Stewart M's Wild Bird Wednesday HERE

Weathered Barns

 Barn and  crumbling silo

I sure was hoping by now to show you gorgeous crocuses coming up in my gardens, but if they are emerging they are doing it below the snow cover.  However,  these photos are an accurate reflection of what I am actually seeing these days.

The barn in the above photo appears to be in good shape but the silo....

 OOPS!

Kinda pretty frosted in snow

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

Late Winter

East Gwillimbury horse farm

Eighteen days till the first day of spring! We've had snow cover here all winter. A little melts - but not all - and then it snows again. Soon it all magically melts, right?
I am Linking to Mosaic Monday HERE

Please visit Michelle at Rambling Woods for more NATURE NOTES.

Fresh Air 2

 Pooch out for a walk on a sunny day

Gull performing for peanuts in the sun

I am linking to Sunlit Sunday Here.

Exact Edge

 Weird-shaped icicles

Around Ontario, this has been a winter for icicles, that's for sure!   Not Macros, I agree, but they are closeups.

Even weirder when you read the sign

I am linking to I Heart Macro HERE.

Fresh Air

 Out in the cold

...but not alone

I am linking with Saturday Critters HERE.