Sylvia's Simple Shots

 I headed to Beaumaris Lake again this week in hopes of finding Pelicans but no such luck.  I just don't know where they are.

There was not lack of other birds at the lake.

A Wigeon, Red Wing Blackbird, Mallard Duck and a female Red Wing Black bird.  Grackles, Canada Geese and sparrows too!

It was a very nice walk around the lake.  I headed out earlier that the last visit so a bit fewer people at least earlier.  I was there quite a while.

I have photographed pelicans on May 5th in year's past so I will have to keep looking.

The wildfire situation in our province continues to be dire with many people displaced and living in evacuation centers with only the wish to go home.

Rain is badly needed of which we have had very little.

Air quality is very poor.

I say thank you to all those fighting the fires.  The ones who have been injured. Those who have come to provide relief to those on the front lines.

To those who are providing support to evacuees and fire fighters a like with water, food, and a place to rest.

I think of those who have lost their homes and in some cases their livelihoods to these fires.

I had the final white filling on my root canal this week. 

Fortunately, it was not needing freezing and not a really long job.  The hard part is I have run out of dental benefits. Ouch!

The Friends We Keep by Jane Green was a book I finished this week.

Three people met in college.  They lived together for 4 years, hung out, got to know each other very well. After graduation, careers took them to different parts of the country and the world.  There were phone calls and emails, weddings, and funerals over the next 30 years.  Much life experience some good, some great and some not so great.

They had made a pact that if they were single when they turned 50 they would live together. They attend a school reunion and reconnect. Maggie, now a widow,  lives in a large house in Somerset England, Topher's mother is living in England and he in New York, Evvie's son has left home and so a move would be possible for her.  So they move in together, come clean about their secrets and start new adventures. 

It was a good read.

This American Coot couple was very busy making a nest from last year's dried bulrushes.

The male I assume was tugging and pulling to dislodge them one at a time and bringing them back to the nest.  Once the reed arrives she busied herself with the perfect placement of it.

Then the process repeated itself.  I watched for quite a while and it was still process when I moved on.

I guess are a least a few days away so young ones still later than that.

I have seen baby Coots in early June but with taking 21-25 days to hatch I expect it will be later than that this year.

The neighborhood gardens are starting to show off their blooms.

There are Clematis growing the wall in a beautiful light lavender color.

There is a yard full of colorful tulips. 

I found a yellow poppy in another front yard.

The purple Alium is just starting to open.

I have been spending time a thrift shops looking for the perfect tealight candle holder. I would like to have a Fairly Light candle holder but they are quite costly.  Not going to happen soon.