A Birthday Stroll

I thought I’d pick some posies from my garden
But when I went outside, I changed my mind!
The weather was so beautifully delicious,
I thought I’d walk to see what I could find.

At first I had a wander in the garden
And saw that Peony had opened wide!




A movement caught my eye. I think he saw me!
He quickly ran away and tried to hide.




The other day I heard the next door neighbours,
(Who seem to own this cat) shriek, “Goodness sake!
He’s bringing something in…Oh, no he isn’t!
Get rid of it! He’s caught a garden snake!”

But I digress ~ I better get a move on…
Wait! Look at Oakley! Now do you recall
I grew him from an acorn? How he’s growing!





One leaf is just as long as he is tall!





Let’s walk together now, and check the ocean!
A perfect time to go ~ It’s only six!
We’ll take some photos on the way and share them,
Especially if we get a varied mix!




Oh look at all the lilac in the gardens!
The darker blooms are opening at last!
Just breathe that scented air. It calms the spirit!
Let’s sniff each one as we go strolling past!




Now, here’s the path that leads down to the beachfront
No vehicles allowed ~ it’s just a trail.



Be careful on the steps! They're rather steep ones ~
Much easier going down ~ but hold the rail!



A glimpse of sunshine lapping at the tideline ~
A rocky shore, the tide still coming in ~
While little rocks are rolling with the water
In rhythm with the ebb and flow within.






Sweet birdsong filters through the trees and bushes,
But why are shorebirds nowhere to be seen?
A heron flies across the open water;



An eagle perches high atop a tree.





Let’s sit upon this bench and sense the wonder
Of nature’s beauty. Sharing this, I send
A wish for many years of love and laughter!
(I loved the post from Nikki, your dear friend!)



Congratulations and Happy Birthday, Roomie!

Duck Hunting

This weekend's weather was the best ever! Thanks to Tricia's blog posting showing some fantastic photos of ducklings and goslings, I decided to do a little duck hunting myself this weekend.

On Saturday I walked along the "Trail to Town" where I had seen the ducklings last year. Well, there was nothing that I could see in the water along the edge of the trail. No ducks, no frogs, no dragonflies, no nothing! I did see a llama sitting among the buttercups, however:



On my way back, I happened to see something swimming in a pond in the distance, in a farm field.







... and that was it for ducks.

On Sunday, I had a quick walk around the garden before heading out on my pursuit! I was joined by a robin:







My son joined me as he was off today so we packed a picnic and off we went. Our first stop was an estuary not far from here.

We walked along a narrow path:



and came across a pool of water! Yay, I thought, now for some ducks.



Nothing visible ~ no ducks, etc.

We carried on and came to a viewpoint from which we could see:



a veritable graveyard for tree stumps, or prehistoric creatures:



The ducks were probably petrified to come anywhere near here!

Although we didn't see any wildlife to speak of, the sweet fragrance of wild roses (new header) was heavenly!

We continued on towards the river, and lo and behold, a couple of ducks!



...with no ducklings.

All of a sudden, a pounding of feet, and



What fun!

We decided to go to another estuary, which was mostly a mud flat today. We found a bench and had our picnic.


In the the distance we could see:







All in all, it was a lovely relaxing weekend, topped off by a couple of steaks on the BBQ ~

The Bird and the Bee

It was a gorgeous day today, much too pleasant to be working indoors! The minute I arrived home, I was out in the fresh air having a look around the garden ~ checking on the very small rose buds, the peas and sweet peas ~ and then noticed some action around the nuthatch establishment! The nesting box is at the far end of the garden and on the top of the clothesline, nearly lost in the tree branches this year. I sat down on a garden chair with my camera, and looked way up to see if I could catch a shot or two.







Here's a little video ~ it's a bit shaky because I had it on zoom and my camera was handheld...would have been much steadier if I had used a tripod. The "neep neep" you can hear is the nuthatch making its usual monotone call.




After bird watching, I headed back to the deck where I spotted a lovely big bee besotted by a white pansy.



A slideshow ~



and a video ~



Sunny warm weather is forecast through until Monday, so roll on weekend!

EDIT to ADD ~ UK Nuthatch ~ info and click on the Listen - Play button on the site to hear how different the UK bird sounds to my "neep neep"!

Long Weekend

It's been a wonderful long weekend so far, weather included, and one more day to go :) On Saturday, one of my sons and his girlfriend came by to check out my underground sprinkler system. There are a few heads that need replacing and some branches that needed trimmed back. We then headed to a Saturday open market and found out that one of our crowd was exceptionally good at using a hula hoop! My gosh, she was amazing ~

Later on I went for a drive and ended up at a provincial park where a fish ladder has been built to assist salmon to spawn. From August to September it is one of THE places to see huge salmon ~ Coho arrive first and then Chinook salmon. Black bears and eagles would also be in abundance!










The Pacific Dogwood, B.C.'s floral emblem, lent a contrast of white in the dense forested area ~

Other lovely white blossoms were visible, but I'm not sure what the tree is called ~

On Sunday, I decided to go and check out a few garden nurseries. At the second nursery I went to, I heard the call of an eagle. On my way back to my car, I looked up ~ there were three, and just as I was taking the photo, one flew off...

I came home with a colourful array of plants for my window boxes. Once home, I put together the ingredients for a loaf of bread in the bread machine, and went out on the deck for a bit of relaxation and to read! I was enjoying the gorgeous day, the birds flitting and tweeting about, and watched the puffy clouds drifting by... one in the shape of a frog...

and if you have difficulty seeing what I did, here's a little help ;)

It was time to clear out the wooden window boxes on the deck and put in the containers holding this year's flowers. When I took out the old insert, I saw....

It was my old friend, Canuck, the Tree Frog. We were both surprised to see each other after a whole year, and I don't know which one of us jumped higher! I left him alone to recuperate from the encounter before adding a few rocks to the bottom of the box. Here's a photo and little video of him ~

Lovely day, with spring fragrances outside, and a bread baking smell on the inside ~ A nice light loaf ~ six inches high!





Here it is Monday, and a slight overcast day, however it is a day off! I'll be out puttering in the garden today, and planting a few more window boxes.