Sylvia's Simple Shots

I visited one of the man made lakes in my city this week.  It is large enough to have a good selection of birds and sure enough I found a few.

Here's a male Mallard Duck going by behind the bullrushes.  I managed to capture him in focus!

I saw Red Wing Blackbirds, A Hooded Merganser,  & Red Necked Grebes as well.

It was a great day and the weather was perfect at 7:00 am.

This is a blossom on the Sakura Flowering Plum bush.  The branches generally have very close together clusters but I found this one a bit by itself.

Beautiful bush with a riot of pink blooms on it.  Welcomed sight in this grey time.

The neighbourhood has plenty of these so there were many bushes to choose from.

 Love the soft feeling to this photo.









I finished this book this week.  It was a great story about a black maid serving in a large house set in South Africa.  The lady of the house is Cathleen Harrington. In 1919, she has moved from Ireland to marry a man she has not seen in 5 years.  She now has grown children, a son and daughter. The maid Miriam has a daughter, Ada without a husband.  The apartheid is a background to the story.  The story is told from Ada's point of view - how she learns to read, to play the piano beautifully, to serve in the house as her mother does.  Cathleen has nurtured Ada, then upon returning from a long absence from the house Cathleen is broken-hearted to find Ada has disappeared.  They are eventually reunited and the truth about the circumstances of Ada's leaving are revealed.  Highly recommend this book.

More bizarre behavior by the Canada Geese.  This one landed on the railing of a balcony on a high rise building.  It looked like it was going to jump down to a nest.

I know that they ran a story on the news about 4 weeks back indicating that if Canada Geese are eyeing your property for a nest best to discourage them early.  They are a protected species so if a nest is built you will have to leave till the goslings leave it.

Last week I saw a set  of adults walking their goslings down the back alley.   Headed in the right direction for the river.  I guess with less traffic the road offer a clear path.

The perennials are blooming.  I have not seen Siberian Squills before but I found 2 this spring. Very small flowers which could easily be missed.  Beautiful color.  The tulips in the front yards are showing their color.  The apple and plum trees are in full bloom.

The challenge this week on Flickr Macro Monday is Wabi-sabi - The Art of the Imperfect. Wabi-sabi is a Japanese word roughly translating as 'imperfect aged beauty'. It is used to describe a particular philosophy that beauty can be found in the old, the everyday, the imperfect. And that everything is in a state of transition from or to nothingness.

The photo on the right is pieces of broken tempered safety glass.  I found them on the boulevard where a panel along stairs had been broken.  I gathered several pieces because I thought they were beautiful.   You can check my SMDPics photostream to see the photo I submitted this week.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #80
and with Mersad hosting Through My Lens #241