Yellow Crocus

The Last of the Creepy pictures

My mom and dad stopped by today for a coffee and check on the laundry room reno's. For people who dislike getting their picture taken, they seemed awfully keen to take part in the Creepy picture experiment.

Creepy Dad

Creepy Mom

Creepy Kid

Possibly one of the greatest threats to our creativity is self imposed-the individual barriers people place upon themselves. --Richard Martin

Catkins

Gotcha

Happy Guy

Portrait Practice

Last month a few friends and fellow keener learners decided to start a photography club. A prerequisite for joining was a love for sushi as our meetings will be held at our favorite Japanese restaurant.

Each month we have an assignment to work on. The first one being portraits. We have to bring in three portraits to the meeting where they will be critiqued over sake and sushi.

The following pictures are some ideas I was playing with. A little creepy but fun none the less. My husband, neighbor and child humoured me and played along with my idea. My poor child was being a good sport for having a fever and feeling really quite crappy! What a guy!

Boy in the Window 2

Boy in the Window1

Peeping Tom 2

Peeping Tom 1

Yellow Crocus

Yellow Glass

Spiralling Beads

Yellow Bead

Bee

Purple Helebores

Helebore Explosion

Snowdrop 1

Snowdrops

Gardeners! It's Official...Spring is just around the Corner!

Okay, I know gardeners are a different bunch of folk. We get excited over things that most people probably never notice. Today when I went for a garden walk about, I was so happy to see the new growth on one of my clematis. The snowdrops and helebores were an added bonus. I even noticed my lollipop lillies were starting to break ground. Yipee! A light at the end of this dark, wet tunnel!

Winter Garden

Wet Leaves

Baby smells and Sore shoulders

Yesterday I was lucky enough to look after my friends baby for a couple of hours. I love babies. They smell so good. This little or I should say big guy gave my shoulders a good work out. I can't believe how sore they are today.

It is funny though how one soon forgets that you get nothing done with a baby around. Any aspirations of cleaning the house went out the window. I am not complaining though. When my little guy was a baby, I would sit for hours just holding him. In hindsight I probably held the poor guy too much. Those days have gone by much to fast. Nowadays the smells are of muddy clothes and sweat. I still wouldn't trade it for anything and I will still take a cuddle whenever I can get it!

Smiley Baby

Purple Tulips

Tulip Leaf

Purple Tulip4

Purple Tulip3

Purple Tulip5

Anemone'Honorine Jobert'

Sunny Bright

Tulip Tip

B/W Glass Ornament

Rusty Latch

Deer Fern

Happy Birthday Melanie!!! Love Ya!

The Urban Nest Rocks!

Day 26 of wind and rain. Since it wasn't an outdoor shooting day(again), I decided to head down to my friend Melanie's store and take some pictures. This is my favorite store! Lots of cool things to take pictures of.

I went to a talk the other night on portraiture photography. The instructor emphasized on how important it is to step out of your comfort zone and take pictures of subjects you don't normally take. So here goes.... 

Leaves and Glass

Colorful Plates

Robins Egg Blue (Bowl and Pestle)

Faux Flowers

Nice Balls...Glass Balls

Napkin Rings

On Sale

Sushi Plates

napkins

Mahonia with frost

Frost on bench

Goof Balls

Hidy Ho

Serious... eh!

Toothless Wonder

Goodbye Mandy

Being an obsessive gardener for many years, I get very attached to some of my favorite nursery workers. The ones who phone to tell when something cool arrives or lend a helping hand as I'm dragging large trees and shrubs to the till. Today as I was reading the obituary section, I learned that dear Mandy had passed away on her way on holidays. A fluke tragic car accident. I am going to miss her. Rest in peace buddy!

My summer garden 1(click on picture for larger image)

Lazy Bones

The weather was nice so I finally dragged my lazy bones to work today. I'm usually a keener to start after the holidays but this year I just couldn't get excited about it. I'm blaming it on the weather. It has rained for the last 23 days and we are close to breaking a rain record. It hasn't rained this much since the early fifty's. No wonder I've been feeling blah lately. Most winters don't bother me but this one has me dreaming of those nice beaches in Tasmania. Of course it doesn't help when my buddy (Wendy's adventure, link to the right),post beautiful beach pictures. Mind you...that poor baby whale didn't fair too well with those great white sharks.

With that said, it was a lovely day and it felt good to work in the garden. The helebores are up six inches and some are in bloom. One hydrangea has several late blooms on it. That is a first! Mostly though I just raked up thousand of little branches from the wild wind storms we have been having. All in all the fresh air was great and the view is always beautiful! (The resort I work for is on the ocean).

Topaz

Closed for the Winter

Chinese Wardrobe

The Renovation Bug has struck again!

My husband and I have been very lazy lately. We decided today to go pick out some new flooring for the laundry room. Not a huge job and one that has been patiently waiting to be done. After a sucessful day of shopping around, we bought flooring and have begun to sand and prepare the walls for a new paint job. I love doing this kind of stuff. I own various paint fans because I love looking at paint colors! I love progress!

Tulip stem

Down

Up

Tulip Leave1

Tulip Leave2

Pink and Green

Window Pictures

I've been doing a little experimenting with my newly purchased flowers. My house unfortuneatly doesn't have alot of natural light. These pictures are taken on the window sill on a very grey dark day. Some work, some don't. Oh well. Something to fill an hour on a January day.

Soft Pink1

Tulip Leaves

Cheerful

B/W

Sunny Yellow

Indoor Entertainment

The rain and wind is back with full force today and is expected to stay for the rest of the week. This weather makes for long days.

After my run and a ten minute tidy, I decided to brave the storm and go into town and buy some flowers. (After meeting my hubbie for a delicious lunch of sushi). Instant indoor entertainment! I had a lovely afternoon drinking tea and taking pictures of pretty pink tulips and bright yellow mums while the wind was smashing the rain into the windows. 

rugosa2

rugosa1

rugosa3

Finally...A Sunny Day

After days of wind and rain it was so nice to wake up to a sunny day. While out for my run, fellow runners and walkers all had happy faces on. A nice change from the dreary grey.

I actually got to work in the garden to day. It has been so long I forgot how much I love to garden. I finally got around to cutting back the grasses and some perennials that I had left in the fall. I still have to get out and cut back the hellebores. I can't believe how many seedling there are! It won't be long before they will start to bloom. I love hellebore season. I'm still on the hunt for a yellow and a double of any color. All in all a great day! 

55 Chevy

Amarylis Leaves

Gloves

Tech Deck