Creating colour

Bird feeder intruder

While some of us have trouble with squirrels getting in the feeder ... ;-)

And here's a shot of the goodies he was after (taken about one minute before the intruder's arrival):



Almonds seemed to be the major delight. He didn't stop 'til he had that house clean and tidy.



Wishing everyone a weekend full of goodies. :)

A bird in the hand ...

... is an honour.

Warmth through photos

As I write this post, it is -22C (-8F) with windchill.



So as long as I don't go outside, I can pretend that the sun coming through the windows means that warm breezes are blowing, flowers are growing and bees are buzzing.

Though the winds are keen and chill
Roses' hearts are beating still,
And the garden tranquilly
Dreams of happy hours to be;
In the summer days of blue
All its dreamings will come true.

~ From Lucy Maud Montgomery's The Garden in Winter

Petal love

White ranunculus petal love. Reminds me of icing on a cake.

Snowy woods

Some good news: I received my D300 back from the shop. And so far, so good. It's like a new camera.

And now for some colour...

... from the cleome patch.





Taken at the Ornamental Gardens this past summer.

Slowly winging my way back

2011 has certainly started out with a swift kick to the behind. I've been down and out this past week with the worst stomach flu I've ever had. In the spirit of fair warning, the following may enter TMI territory: I spent the better part of 3 days laying on the bathroom floor (and I mean literally better; the laying down times were when I wasn't actively dying), and a full week of sleeping for minutes a day and barely eating enough to keep myself conscious. But! I'm back. Yesterday I had my first full meal (which at this point equals a few tablespoons in volume), and last night I slept in my bed for the full night and woke up *not* once! I feel jubilant this morning.

(The above image was taken during a visit to the Camargue in France -- a magical place -- back in 2008.)

The Kitchen Window

Inside



Outside

Post-Christmas Ruminations

Well, all Christmases are over at last. The ornaments are packed away, though the tree is still standing. I'm going to miss the wonderful scent of pine that greats me each morning when I come downstairs. I can pretend that I live in a forest for a few minutes each day, ha!



In other news, the winter weather has returned to snow, which makes for a more pretty scene over the dreary rain. And the days have started to change as well: with each new one I've noticed that they are lasting a little bit longer than the one before. Joy!



And finally, my camera has gone off to Nikon for repairs. They told me it would take 4-6 weeks. So the old camera and I have become reacquainted, and with a wee bit of keeping-a-positive-attitude, we're getting along just fine. ;-)

Raining in January

Happy New Year!

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year wishes to everyone. I've been offline a lot this month -- and it's been a long, long month -- hosting two Christmases, plus dealing with the decline of both my camera and my computer. Gosh, I have so many Christmas photos, but I think I'm having trouble posting them because it's been such a hectic month. So, back to the archives for these chickadee photos. On the upside, earlier this evening I celebrated the finale of my photo 365 project. It brought me a lot of joy to look back through the photos, so I'm happy that I kept at it (though, I did miss a few days here and there). I'm hoping that things will even out in the New Year, and by that I mean starting today! ;-)



My resolution for the New Year is going to revolve around the wise words of Howard Thurman - a resolution I feel confident I can keep throughout the year:

~
Don't worry about
what the WORLD needs.

Ask what makes
you come ALIVE
and do that.

Because what
the world needs
is people
who have
come
ALIVE.
~

Onward!