March 31/11

I have taken so many pictures of this wreath (I love the colour of it) that is on our outdoor fireplace.  I've never posted one before, but thought I should since I'll soon be taking it down for the summer.  I love the glass beads against the stone and the trees in the background.  I took the picture so that the middle was focused but the foreground and background are blurred.  Love the effect.

Glass bead wreath

March 30/11

These thistle plants caught my attention...I used to use them in flower arrangements.  Although picky on the outside they added a great texture and beauty to some flower arrangements.  It made me think that humans can be that way sometime.  Although they may look different or hard on the outside there usually is beauty on the inside and those persons would add something wonderful to everday life...just like adding the thistles to a wonderful flower arrangement.  I've always told my children "Beauty is on the inside".... I truly believe that.

Beauty is Inside

March 29/11

I am so excited!  As I've told you before, I'm a certified floral arranger but I really suck at houseplants.  Well this morning I got up and I have a huge hibiscus flower on a plant that I have actually been taking care of and is still alive...maybe I do have a green thumb after all??  I'm thinking though it's more luck than anything.  I went away for over a week to California and forgot to have someone water it.  No matter how the plant made it through my care, it still produced a beautiful flower.

Green Thumb

March 28/11

I actually found signs of spring in my yard today.  The snow has melted enough that I could see my sedum plants coming through the ground. As you can see there is still snow...  but I feel better that I can at least see some sign of spring.  Sunshine tomorrow.... hopefully enough to melt what snow is left.

Spring is on the way

March 27/11

I finally got my picture of a Cardinal this year...I've been waiting all winter.  He was chirping in the tree and I knew right away it was a cardinal.  They have a very distinctive sound.  He was quite far away so it's not as clear as I would have liked but I thought I should post it while I had the picture!!

Cardinal

March 26/11

I'm looking forward to spring and everything it brings.  These are old blooms on some of my hydrangea plants in the yard.  Even though they are dry and brown, I like the way they look against the background.

I can't wait to get my smaller lens back (18-55mm).  It's getting harder to get pictures with only my 55-300 mm lens.  The SanFrancisco Police Dept called and let me know that someone found my camera case and turned it in...and everything was still in it!!  I think the thief was disappointed my camera was not in it and just threw it aside.  Til then, my larger lens is working but it will be nice to use my other one again.

Old Blooms

March 25/11

Today at work it was "70's Day".  One of the big things in 1975 were "pet rocks".  Gary Dahl, a California advertising man came up with the idea and made millions...on rocks...unbelievable...I need to come up with an idea like that!  But wouldn't we all like to do that?  Something so simple...my question is "who actually bought these?"
A very talented and fun girl at work created her rock into a KISS character.  I love it!!  It was my favourite and with all the work she put into it, here's hoping she wins the contest for best pet rock.

KISS my rock

March 24/11

I'm posting a picture of this little kitty I've had for years.  He has made a couple of moves with me...I just can't part with him.  Maybe it's his cute little face, I don't know.  I do really like handpainted items and I picked him up at a craft sale one time.  For some reason everytime I look at him I smile.  I have him sitting in my kitchen window most days, but today I sat him in a little pool of sunshine and took his picture!!  And I promise I don't collect junk at all...but isn't it funny how we get attached to the wierdest little things.

Wierd

March 23/11

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING !!  That's all I can say today...more snow :((

WHERE ARE YOU SPRING?

March 22/11

I love antiques.  Especially whitewashed old furniture.  I know, most people would say to never paint an old piece of furniture, but everything can't be brown!!  I have a dresser I bought years ago that I painted the whitewash colour. I thought I would take pictures of the handles because I love the way the paint just lightly put on the handles brings out the texture and design.  I learned something in the process.  Photography really makes you look at something. Like really look, not just in passing.  I have had this dresser for years and yet until I took the picture today I had no idea there were two mismatched round handles on it.  Which is ok with me...the more original the better.  I like to be different :))

March 21/11

It's the first day of spring!  However it is a really dreary day here, no sunshine at all.  So, I thought I would post something really colourful.  I was cleaning the other day and I came across these pastels that my daughter used to use in art class.  They had actually fallen out of the package and I thought how cool are the colours all together.  So I took them back out of the package today and took their picture!!  Who needs sunshine, when these are so bright and cheerful??

PASTELS

March 20/11

Well, we can tell spring is coming to Ontario because of all the birds in the yard.  We have had at least one to two pairs of mourning doves for at least the past 10 years.  Out of the many birds we have, some of them who can be very noisy, I love the cooing noise the mourning dove makes.  I just took this picture a few moments ago...
Wilkipedia gave me the following information on this lovely bird.  "The Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) is a member of the dove family (Columbidae). The bird is also called the Western Turtle Dove or the American Mourning Dove or Rain Dove, and formerly was known as the Carolina Pigeon or Carolina Turtledove. It is one of the most abundant and widespread of all North American birds. It is also the leading gamebird, with up to 70 million birds shot annually in the U.S., both for sport and for meat. Its ability to sustain its population under such pressure stems from its prolific breeding: in warm areas, one pair may raise up to six broods a year. Its plaintive woo-oo-oo-oo call gives the bird its name. The wings can make an unusual whistling sound upon take-off and landing, and the bird is a strong flier, capable of speeds up to 88 km/h (55 mph)."  I had no idea they were eaten... :((

Mourning Dove

March 19/11

I wanted to post a picture of something I've wanted to try for a while.  I always wondered how pictures were taken where the water looked like velvet.  Since it has been winter here since I started my blog I never had the chance. I saw this water in California and tried it. I knew a longer shutter speed would do this so I set mine to 2 seconds.  If I had of had a tripod the rocks& moss would be clearer but at least I know how to do it now.  Very cool.

Cool Waters

March 18/11

This is our neighbours dog Ruby.  Cute..but I have to say I'm more of a cat person.  A cat doesn't bark, a cat is not really as needy as a dog, and a cat just has the attitude of "whatever".
The difference between cats and dogs was summarized well by a caller to a local radio station when he said, "My dog looks at all the things I provide for her & says, "You must be God.  My cat looks at all the things I provide for him and says, ˜I must be God."  
I just love a cat's attitude.

RUBY

March 17/11

These are hydrangeas that I picked out of my garden last year and dried.  They are my favourite flower.
I thought today I would put up some of my favourite quotes on gardening.

"I never had any other desire so strong, and so like to covetousness, as that one which I have had always, that I might be master at last of a small house and a large Garden".  ~Abraham Cowley, The Garden, 1666


"In my garden there is a large place for sentiment.  My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams.  The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful".  ~Abram L. Urban


"As a gardener, I'm among those who believe that much of the evidence of God's existence has been planted".  ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com


"You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt".  ~Author Unknown

March 16/11

I took some pictures today but none of them compare to the colours I found in California.  It is still pretty drab here in Ontario so I decided to post a few more of my pictures from the Muir Woods.  Which by the way is a another place you should visit if you go to California.  It is one of the most peaceful places I have ever been.  In one part of the forest it is so quiet you think you are in another world.  These pictures are of some fungi that grow on the fallen trees...a beautiful orange colour that looks like ribbon on the green moss.   I absolutely love this kind of environment, where the moss is just dripping from the trees...

Ribbons of Orange

March 15/11

The Muir Woods in California was a wonderful place to take photos.  I took this picture and I think the result came out pretty good.  The colours and sunlight hitting the water behind the plants gives it a nice effect.  It was just a shallow river, so I like that you can barely see the rocks in the water as well.  Sometimes you get a better shot than what you think you got.  That's an awesome feeling.

Greens on Water

March 14/11

When I saw this horse on a merry go round, it made me think of the "simpler" things in life.  This ride has been around as we know it since the 1700's or earlier.  The golden age of carousels, was from the 1860s to the 1930s and today there are fewer than 150 carousels from the "golden age" that exist in the United States.  I always loved this ride as a kid because it was an easy ride, didn't make me sick and I loved the music.  I took my kids on it when they were small and I'm sure one day they will do the same.  It is a staple of amusement parks for it's simplicity and beauty.

Simple Things

March 13/11

As I mentioned yesterday, my camera case was stolen in San Francisco.  My batteries are dead on my camera and I can't get a new charger until tomorrow.  So... I am posting a picture I took a couple of weeks ago that I had on my computer.  Actually though it kind of pictures the way I feel today after coming home from sunny California to a cloudy Ontario....Oh well...spring will soon be here!!

The Lone Tree

March 12/11

All I can say is "I am still on California time" so it's only 9:43pm March 12. We have had an eventful 24 hours.  Drove into San Francisco with the tsunami warnings, had our rental van broken into and my camera case stolen, and on the way home from the Toronto airport had a flat tire. Things can only get better from here on...hopefully.  And we are back in the cold weather :((  But nonetheless, we had an amazing trip to California.  We all just had to laugh at the break in, because really what else can you do?  And we got to visit the San Francisco police department!  I love adventures!!  The only thing now is I have to go and replace a lot of my camera accesories.  Thank goodness I had my camera in my purse....

March 11/11

The blossoms are out in California!  It's so nice to see spring here as tomorrow we will be heading back to Canada...where spring has not sprung yet.  But this trip made our winter just a bit shorter for us.  Nice.

Blossoms

March 10/11

Being with family this week has renewed my faith in "family".  I looked up the word "love" in the dictionary and one of the definitions is " a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend."  I have to say I have come to the realization that the words friend & family are very intertwined.  I will definitely miss the family I have to leave behind in California...

 Family

March 9/11

Went to Carmel Beach yesterday and watched the sunset...beautiful.  The background of this picture is one of the holes of Pebble Peach golf club.  Very exciting for the boys.  And what a nice little town.  We will definitely plan to stay there for a couple of days next time we visit. The closest people in the picture are Crystal, Ashley & Braden taking a walk on the beach.

Carmel Beach, California

March 8/11

Today we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and all I can say is UNBELIEVABLE!!  To see so many species of underwater fish that are in our oceans was amazing. One of the coolest things was a seahorse that actually looked like kelp...and the jellyfish were out of this world.  If you ever get the chance to visit this aquarium it should be a "must" on your list.  I posted 2 pictures again today because I couldn't decide which one was better...also I posted this after 9pm California time, which was after midnight our time which is why it says March 9...

March 7/11

 We spent all day in the Napa Valley wine tasting.  What a wonderful day!  Some of the wineries we went to were Beringers, Robert Mondavi, Valley Gate Vineyards, Frank Family, Visattui...we tasted a lot of wine!! And then sushi for dinner.  I love California!!!!

Sauvignon Blanc

March 6/11

Having a great visit with my sister Cindy and Russell.  We went shopping all day...literally...but found some great bargains!!  This is before we left.  We didn't look quite the same after 9 hours of shopping. 
L-R...Lynda, Cindy, Ashley.

March 5/11

Well, we made it to California!!  Had a wonderful breakfast with my sister Cindy and her husband Russell, and Ashley & Braden that included top shelf Margueritas!  Met Cindy's grandson Austin who happens to be one of the cutest little boys I have ever met.  What a great start to our vacation!!

Austin

March 4/11

Good morning....I'm posting today quite early as I'll be on a plane to California later today to go see my sister and her family!  I got my husband's help last night in trying a new technique.  One of my first posts was "painting with light".  This picture is the same theory but you can manipulate the light so that you can get 2 images of the same person in a shot.  Being the first time I've tried this, it's not a perfect shot, but very cool effect.  I'm going to play with it more in the future.  See you tomorrow from California!!

Double Exposure

March 3/11

I don’t collect things…in fact I believe in the rule that if you don’t use something for a year get rid of it.  Except for these boots.  I have had these for about 12 years and I just can’t get rid of them.  I bought them on a trip to California, wore them until they look like they do now, haven’t worn them in probably 5 years and yet…I can’t part with them.  I don’t know why…maybe it’s the worn look of them, maybe I think they’ll come back in style.  Regardless, I will wear them again…one day…maybe…

Old Boots

March 2/11

Driving home today I couldn't help but take a picture of the beautiful blue sky.  Sometimes I think I would love to live in a city where there would be endless photo opportunities.  However, when I look at this I wonder if those that live in the city would love to be able to capture this.  I think so...

Blue Skies

March 1/11

I was walking around the house tonight and noticed how the sun was giving everday normal items a little extra light and how that light put a little more interest on things.  Light is the photographer's chief resource.
The word "photography" derives from the Greek and means, literally, “light writing.”  A photographer strives to control, manipulate and exploit light.  Photography depends on light,  therefore, an understanding of light, how it behaves and how you can learn to use it - is essential to creating superlative photos.
I can't wait to start experimenting more with light...and yes, that is my unmade bed :((

Light