Sylvia's Simple Shots

My morning walks have garnered some good flower photos.

This summer I have been heading out later than usual for walks.  Sleep has been difficult therefore getting up at 7am like I used to has not been happening much.

Again, the neighbours have wonderful front gardens.  The pink geraniums, yellow straw flowers at the park, calendulas in the flower bed at the end of the street.

The purple trumpet flower was a new one for my walk.

I will have plenty of flower photos for my annual photo calendar which I have started working and will be here shortly.

I borrowed this book from my sister.  More than a Wise Woman - Elaine Gugin Maddox.

A book set in Ladyslipper Saskatchewan.  Tessy McGuigan is an Irish lass living her best life in Canada.  She has a large garden and grows ingredients for natural remedies. She freely shares her knowledge, time, and enthusiasm.

Some in the town do not understand her way of life, her way of dressing and her down to earth habits.  She is judged quite harshly by some.

She welcomes her new neighbors - The Tuckers. Jim, Penny with their 2 girls - Sarah and Emma and son Matthew.  Jim has come to take over the drug store in town which is a blessing.  The girls take to Tessy in a heart beat.

Their grandfather Marshall comes to visit from Winnipeg before the kids head back to school.  He is widowed and takes a shine to Tessy.  

A very heart warming story and all the herbal recipes are included in the book.  I will return that one to my sister as requested.

I attended the reception for this artist show - Betty Hirst with 2 of my aunts.  The artist aunt had received information and we followed the instructions to find the gallery.  The gallery has moved to smaller space and have had to change their business model to stay in business.  Parking was a bit challenging but we managed.

It was very nice with several large pieces on display. The artist lives in Calgary and was in attendance.

Given the limited space when others arrived we took our leave.  I had researched several places to have a snack.  I visited the Acquired Taste Tea Company down the block earlier and now we headed to find the coffee place.

The Good Earth Coffeehouse was about a block away so we got a bit of exercise.

The drinks and snacks were delicious but a bit on the pricey side.  I had an Earl Grey Decaf latte with a chocolate twist pastry.  Super good.

We had a good visit with a table to ourselves and with just a few tables inside and another few outside it was a very comfortable atmosphere.

We talked art, crafts, upcoming shows, gardens, taking in harvest of veggies and fruit.

It's that time of year! 

Concorde blue grapes are in the store.  My sister shared some with me when we met recently.

I also then headed out to get a bag for myself.

I remember always getting these as a kid.

Love them.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

 The trees are starting to leaf out.  Beautiful spring green colors appearing in many places.  The Fiddlehead Ferns in the small garden are ready to unfurl into wonderful textures. The American Robins are back and looking to make nests I am sure.

The Good Son by Jacquelyn Mitchard is a book I finished this week.  

A young man, Stefan, is in prison for murder of his girlfriend. Thea Demetriou, his mother continues to love him despite now knowing how this happened.  Stefan does not remember. 

After his serving his sentence, he comes home to a town which will not let him move on. The mother of Belinda the girlfriend has set up a movement to bring awareness to dating violence. They are always on their doorstep.

Slowly, he begins to start a new life.  He decides to start a program where people can reach out to ones they have wronged and help to make things right.  It is a soul saving project for him. It provides an avenue for several people in his circle.

The book was surprisingly very positive and uplifting.

Another week of medical procedures. A Pulmonary Function Test for my coughing and shortness of breath in March.   The root canal to save one of my front teeth finally was done, now that I could sit for over an hour and not cough.  The prep was very involved but finally the dental specialist came in and it was a bit tricky he said but went well.

In my search for Pelicans this spring I headed to a large city park on the east side of town.  Someone mentioned that sometimes the pelicans are there.  It has 3 water ponds, picnic tables, lots of parking, woodland trails and biking.  I saw canoes on the water but no pelicans. Where the heck are they?  I know they are here because other photographers are posting pics.

The Journey by Josephine Cox was a gripping read.  I finished it in a couple of days.

The book relates two time periods 1930s then the 1950s with Lucy Baker in her old age.  Lucy and her daughter, Mary visit the cemetery regularly and Ben Morris has seen them before as he walks his dog. One day Lucy falls and Ben comes to help the women and they leave in a chauffeured car.  Lucy has dropped her purse and Ben, later that evening, delivers it to this large Edwardian house.  He is invited in.

The time shifts to Lucy's early life. The man she loved from afar, the one she was seduced by and resulted in a child. How the unwed mother was rejected by her family and taken in by warm hearted souls. How Barney Davidson came to her rescue in a time of need, how he was seperated from his family and how he came to be in the cemetary that Lucy and Mary visit regularly. There is a 2nd book so I will have to keep an eye out for Journey's End.

This week's Macro Mondays Challenge was the onion family.

I chose spring green onions for my close up shot.

You can check out my Flicker Photostream (SMDPics).

Have a great week!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

The critters are starting to stir if they were here all winter.  Others are arriving backs from the southern climes.

The White Squill is a perennial flower that is one of the first spring flowers.

 
Got some news on Sunday that the leader of our quilting group is moving away.  I have volunteered with her on women's ministries for many years. 

They were able to sell their house and will be moving to be near their daughter.

She has liquidated most of her fabric stash.  She brought odds and ends that needed a new home so I was grateful to receive zippers, serger thread, a bit of bias tape and a small box of buttons.

I found the smallest red heart buttons in this box.  They certainly will come in handy for Macro Monday challenges.

Thanks so much for sharing.

We will have lunch with before she goes.

I am so glad to have my tax return done for another year.

Now that I am retired it is so much easier but I seem to forget that and procrastinate.

It took only a few hours and it was done.

I had time to have a walk around Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park with my friend which I had not seen in a couple of months.

The red wing black birds had not returned yet.  I missed their distinctive calls.

The Canada Geese were jockeying for the best nesting places.

The water is very low so I hope all the birds find places to raise their young.

I attended the show where my aunt was displaying here old car watercolors.  They turned out really well. There was over 50 artists on display.

I met my other aunt and her husband at the venue.  We went for a walk along the Sturgeon River while we waited for the reception to start.

I is for Innocent by Sue Grafton is book I finished this week.

It`s always nice to reaquaint myself with Kinsey Malone the private investigator.  She has new work digs and is taking on work on her own.

Lonnie Kingman has hired her to continue work which Morley Shine was doing for him but he died suddenly.  Kinsey thinks it will be just a bit of final work and all the information will be ready for the civil suit.

David Barney was acquitted of the murder of his rich wife - Isabelle.  He is now spending her money - thank you very much.  Finding Morley`s files a but unorganized she needs to retrace some of those steps and redo interviews.

David`s story seems to be corroborated by evidence that he is innocent. 

Mosaic Monday - My Walk

I've put together a mosaic of photos from my walk yesterday.  
Top left is a chipmunk which is the first time I have photographed one.  It is quite small and with the stripes quite different from a squirrel. 
Top right is a thistle in bloom releasing it's seeds to be planted by the wind who knows where.
Bottom left is a Red Breasted Nuthatch which is quite small bird which a photographed near a bird feeder near my place.
Bottom right is a purple flower which I have not been able to identify. It was quite tall.

Sharing with Maggie at Normandy Life who hosts Mosaic Monday #51.
 

Recent Snapshots

Here's a few photos from my walk this morning.

The white bloom from the sow thistle. 

I found these gorgeous dahlias at the park.  They were very dark pink and the petals were perfect.

The bees were buzzing around the Spiraea in several shades of pink and purple.

The small white purple bloom is some type of clover.  It was very tall rather than the low to the ground I am used to.

These are grasses of some sort but I was not able to identify it.
I used one of my out of focus photos as the background for the mosaic.

This was breakfast this morning.
Featuring nice tomatoes, ham and egg. 

A small dish of fresh raspberries  from a friends patch.  It's great to eat whole food picked by me.

These are my tomato plants.  They are yellow pear plants which I have been warned will grow very tall.  As you can see it had quite a few flowers.  Soon there will be tomatoes. 

I will let it grow to the top of the posts then I will have to cut off the top ends so it can concentrate on fruit.


During my visits to thrift shops, I have been looking for one of these bottles for a while. The prices are usually more than I am willing to pay.  Finally, last week the price was right and the bottle gorgeous.  It is 3.5 inches square with a super round ball stopper.  I am not fussy about the discolored plastic on the stopper.  It may have to go.  I removed the labels which were for Essenza Sweet Pea fragrance diffuser oil.  It was sold with reeds. This is the third in my collection. 

The bottle in the center has a Avon mark on the bottom.  The silver lid is plastic so not quite the same level as the others.  I don't know what it held originally. I loved the swirl pattern on the body of the bottle.

The bottle on the right features alternating clear and frosted bands running vertically along the body.  It has a metal lid with embossed pattern on the top with Doulton embossed on the band.  This was an expensive Eau de Parfum bottle. 

These add some flair to vignettes that I create for photography.

Sharing with Mosaic Monday #48 hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.

Through my Lens #102 hosted by Mersad.

Mosaic Monday - My Walk Today

Here are a few photos from my walk this morning. 

Top left - Miniature White Hydrangea
Top Right - Begonia 
Bottom Left - the center of a Rose which as lost the petails
Bottom Right - Female Mallard Duck

Begonias are so hard to find in good condition was they bruise so easily. I was very happy to find this one in nice shape considering the rain last night.
The duck was in a park with no water near but there was a bucket of water where she was so I expect that is what drew her to this locale.

Sharing with Mosaic Monday #43 hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.

Mosaic Monday - This Week

During my morning walk the other day, I had this Magpie bird following me along the trail.

It was sitting there and it looked like it was posing for a photo so I took one.

It was a lovely walk with a very nice temperature.  I always take my camera for just this type of opportunity.









We had a very stormy day last week where it rained all day.  The winds were very violent and cause a lot of damage to trees and other living things.

These three are the ones I saw on my walk the other morning.  It has been almost a week and only one of them had been addressed by someone.  I suspect it was not the city as the branches would have been removed.  It will take a long time to clean up from this record setting storm.





 I started my photo shoot for the 2018 Tea Calendar.  I just love setting still lifes with tea related items.  This year books feature in some of the photos.  I made an effort in the last year to collect book with nice covers so I could include them in photos.


Keep an eye out for it later in the summer.











At card club last night one of the ladies was selling tomato plants for a fundraiser to send kids on a trip to British Columbia.  These are yellow pear tomato plants and are ready for larger pots.  I will pick up soil today and give them a home on the balcony.  I should plant my herbs as well.

This is the ornamental plum tree at the seniors residence down the street.  It was in full bloom and absolutely stunning.

Every branch had clusters of lovely pink blossoms.  Tightly packed they were.

Such beauty fills my soul for another day.

I am linking with Maggie at Normandy Life who hosts Mosaic Monday#42.

Mosaic Monday #9 - This Week

This is a few pics from my walk this morning.  The temperature was nice this am so a light coat was all I needed.

This is a path heading further into the river valley.  It's always interesting to imagine who walks this path.

The foliage is of much more neutral tones at this time of year.

The first on the top right I think might be Vanhoutte spirea.
The centre one is Common Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)
Bottom right is Dried Bull Thistle seed head.

This bench recently appeared at a condo on my regular walk.  It would be under full coverage of leaves in the summer and would offer respite from the heat.  As you can see the leaves have fallen and it's color fit right in with the dry leaves. 

This is whole wheat pancakes with a bit of high bush cranberry syrup and a touch of cream.  Yum!
A cup of chamomile tea rounds out the snack.  The white vase was a recent purchase at the thrift store.  In some of my shots for the tea calendar at my sister's we used hers but I wanted one.  It's been several months of looking regularly to find one not to big and simply white.  Happy with this one.

Sharing with Mosaic Monday #9 hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.

Friday Hunt 1.18

I took some shots on my walk this morning with Friday Hunt in mind.  The prompts are

Starts with R

Favorite

Texture

This is a Ram on the front of a really nice blue Dodge truck.  I love the silver and blue contrast and the graphic quality of the image.
I'm glad it's pretty clean but I have to admit I didn't check closely before I took the shot.

There were several pigeons on my walk but this one stood still long enough for me to get a good shot of it.  I love the way the eye stands out with it's orange coloring.

I love the way each stone block has texture but also the combination of many of them together in this wall also has texture.  The pine spruce boughs also provide a contrast in texture next the to the wall.


Submitting these to Friday's Hunt hosted by Teresa at Eden Hills.

Mosaic Monday - Walk Around the Lake

I took a walk around the lake last week and nature was bursting out of every corner.  Birds of all kinds and flowers were blooming.
The ring billed gull, female mallard duck, blue headed mallard duck. Pink apple blossoms and a well disguised sparrow. I loved this shot of the lake water just fading into white but check out the head of the Canada Goose in the bottom left hand corner. The red necked grebe with a fish in her mouth!!! White apple blossoms.  The sun setting on the mallard duck couple and the red winged black bird playing hard to photograph. 
It was a wonderful couple of hours in nature. Loved it!


Submitting this to Mosaic Monday at Lavender Cottage hosted by Judith.

Mosaic Monday - Canada Geese Story

Here's a few pics from my walk this morning.  I was up with the birds you might say.  I can see that the river is starting to break up and it will soon be flowing freely.  Magpies are one of the only birds here that are familar with people so they don't scatter like the others.  Happy with this shot.  Crab apples from last year dangling against the clear blue sky.  These last for shots of the Canada tell a story.  I heard them before I saw them.  The first quickly landed on the roof of the building but the other made several turns around the area.  The second picture you can barely see it through trees as it makes still another fly by.  Once it had committed to the roof they greeted each other.  Then they sat on the roof surveying the neighborhood.  Are they planning to settle in?  Who knows.

Photo - My Walk Today

A few shots from my walk today.

The sidewalks on average were wet and icy but some were bare and dry. The puddles provided nice reflections.  Wow is that snow dirty in number 2.

I came across a dried up hydrangea plant which still looks pretty good for being dried up.  I thought the color was nice as well.

The sky was wonderful with a bit of cloud.

The temperature was great and I was able to wear my old running shoes and my spring jacket.  That was super nice.

I'm submitting my collage to Mosaic Monday with Judith at Lavender Cottage.

Photo - Walk

Here's what I saw on my walk today. The wind was quite cold so a person needed to be well dressed.
The footprints on the left were from someone who did not stick to the sidewalk, the goose was stoic but cement has that effect, the little birds were feeding, the little brown bird was sitting in a pine tree all puffed up to keep warm, and the large tree down in the valley stood straight and true.