From Sunset to Playtime

I am always on the hunt for a beautiful sunset picture. Some evenings the sky is gorgeous and some evenings not so much.

I think I was fortunate to be out on this particular evening,a week or so ago.

There were just enough clouds to make a beautiful sunset.

As I was driving away from the sunset,I noticed that the sky was still quite lovely,so I pulled over to get another picture. What shocked me was to see the Space Shuttle low in my Manitoba sky.

Do you see it?

While washing dishes one day,I noticed a rainbow in the eastern sky.I love rainbows,but from my yard I can never see much of them. I quickly made the decision that the dishes would wait and grabbed my camera and headed down the street to an open lot.Yes,I believe I made the right choice,for not only did I see one rainbow,but two.

My sister,Becky and I each have one granddaughter and the girls,being only six months apart in age,love playing together. The four of us were spending the day together and the girl were getting a little bored. They wanted to play a game that involved water and sponges,so we allowed them to do this.

As Becky and I were watching the game ended very quickly but they decided that the tree and a bird house would benefit from a good washing. Clean fun,yes,they got a little wet,but it was only water and dried soon enough.By the way,Kai,my granddaughter, is in the black tights  and Becky's granddaughter Addy is in the skirt.

No I have not gotten a dog,but I do love this little pooch.Duffy is very special to me and I might add to the family who owns her. You see,Duffy was the one who could get a real,from the heart smile,out of Jake during his last few weeks on earth.I think she is adorable,especially in this pose.She is being held by her favourite person,Claire.

Now I am off to celebrate the Corn and Apple Festival in my home town.

It is supposed to be very hot,so my time downtown may be limited.

Have a great weekend and stay cool.

Animal Babies

My regular blog readers will know that this is a place which often features birds and blossoms,with some occasional scenery shot thrown in.Well,today it will feature animal babies.

I was driving down a back road the other day a came to a sudden stop when I saw these two in the fence.That little baby is about as cute as can be. The sun was casting a beautiful light on these two.

I believe these are miniature Donkeys,but since I am not a farmer,I could be wrong.

I do know what these are.A White-tailed Doe and her Fawn.

Once again they were just on the other side of the ditch.I was very sure they would take off the minute I stopped the car,but they were in no hurry to leave.

Mama,finally had enough of this woman and her camera and so baby had to follow.That's alright,I got my pictures,so I was content.

Ok,so this is not a baby Goldfinch,but he is so cute sitting there among the thistles.I wish I had been able to get closer,but didn't want to trespass on private property and likely if I had tried to get closer the bird would have flown away.

Whether this is a baby or not,I do not know,I just liked how he sat there on his own lily pad,soaking up the sun.

A baby Mallard is adorable.I like this picture for several reason.

For one the little guy is just plain cute and then that perfect reflection makes this a great picture for me.

I hope you enjoyed this visit with some baby animals,likely next time we will be looking at flowers and scenery.

Blossoms,Birds and Reflections

Monday,August the 12th,I had a chance to wander around at St.Vital Park in Winnipeg.

I enjoy going to this park,the ducks and geese are usually quite cooperative about having their pictures taken.The only unfortunate part on Monday was that all I had was my iPhone.

I felt somewhat restricted,but tried not to let that get in the way of capturing some of the beauty.

There were quite a few either immature or in eclipse plumage Wood Ducks.

Despite the fact that they were lacking the bright colours,they still were beautiful.

This one in particular,kept coming close enough for me to get a decent picture.

I like the crossed wing feathers.

A short walk from the pond are a couple of small flower beds.

Again,the lack of a bigger lens has it's drawbacks,but I still like how some of the pictures turned out.

I am not sure what this flower is called,but I thought it was quite pretty.

This picture makes the flower bed look much larger than it really is.

It is a short path,but even though small the  displays are lovely.

Another look at the flowers.The gardeners managed to put a lot of different flowers into a small area.

Here the Impatiens are filling this shaded are with loads of colour.

One more shot of the pond.

Water,trees and sunshine and the result is a beautiful reflection.

It seems that I take at least one,no more like several,reflection shots each time I am here.

This may well have been the first one with the phone.Yes,that water looked very dirty,but I still liked the reflections.

Being forced to use what I had with me,my phone,helped me to see that I can still capture beauty even without my big camera with me.

Having said that,the next time the other cameras are coming along.

Thought for Today:

Teach me,Father to value each day,to live,to love,to laugh,to pray.

Kathi Mills

iPhone Photos

The following pictures are all taken with my iPhone.

I came home today and found this little moth sitting on the doorbell of my house.

I quickly put on the Macro lens I have for the phone and had a little photo session with him.

Speaking of a photo session,my son Steve,asked me to join him at a local nature park for a photo session.I was on the opposite end of the camera from where I like to be.Yes,he was taking pictures of his Mama.I had to get my pictures as well and snapped this shot of him getting ready to take my picture.

This is a small park but is really a lovely quiet place to enjoy nature.

The small creek runs through the park and creates some very pretty scenes.

Looking in the opposite direction as the picture above,I saw this.

Yes,as soon as I get the pictures Steve took,I will be sure to share at least some of them here.

Have a good weekend and be sure to stop and enjoy the beauty all around you.

The Jewels of Nature

Everyone loves jewels and I am no different.The only difference is that I often see jewels I love when I am outside enjoying nature.

Will you come with on a quick walk around my yard,so I can show you some of my jewels? The best part is that these jewels are absolutely free for my enjoyment.

As I watch the rains come down,I am already planning on stepping outside as soon as it stops raining.

No,I don't like to go out during a rain,because I don't like to get my cameras wet.

The rain has stopped,so let's step into some old shoes and check out the yard.

The first stop is the evergreens bordering my yard on both sides.

I love seeing the droplets clinging to each needle.

I tried different angles to catch what little light there was right after the rain.

The bokeh is quite pretty in this picture,in fact almost as nice as the actual rain covered pine needles.

This one caught my eyes,not so much for the foreground as for the background bokeh.

I love how the droplets in the background shimmer.

A simple white Hollyhock bows beneath the weight of the raindrops on her delicate petals.

Such simplicity,yet such amazing beauty.

One last stop before we head back indoors. A small Oak tree has come up voluntarily,or perhaps was planted by a squirrel.Whatever the case,I like where it is and I enjoy watching it grow.

It is now about 4 feet tall and has lovely large leaves on it.Today these leaves are decorated with natures best jewels,raindrops.

Thanks for joining me as we check my yard for beauty. I hope we can do it again,I enjoyed your company.

Thought for Today:

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.

John Ruskin

Flowers to Enjoy

August 1st,already. I can hardly believe it,but it is so.

I recently spent a few hours at the English Gardens again and have lots of pictures to share.

No,I won't share them all at once,but more are sure to follow.

The Poppies are so bright that it is almost hard to photograph them.

I do love how they look and the paper thin petals on them.

The Gardens have benches like this throughout. I love the way they are nestled among the flowers.

I usually do not take the time to sit down,as there are just too many flowers begging me to capture their beauty.

At the Water Lily pond,there are various colours of flowers.Most often one can capture double the beauty with the perfect reflections.

Did you notice the little Damselfly on the flower? I think that is what it is called.I only saw this once I put the pictures on the computer,A pleasant little surprise.

This is such a pretty colour.So far this year I have not noticed too many bugs on these flowers,so they are still a joy to photograph.

Here is just one of the many sculptures in the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden.This is all within the English Gardens.At another time I will show a few more of these sculptures.

I also love those healthy  Hostas. Wish mine looked like that.

Thought for Today:

Character is one of those qualities that takes time to develop.

I thought this fit into a garden post,because the plants also take time to develop and grow into a thing of beauty.

Flowers at Red Deer

I promise,this is the last post from Red Deer,Alberta.

My cousin,who lives about an hour away from Red Deer,came to spend some time with me on Thursday at noon.First we went out for lunch and then she took me to City Hall and a beautiful flower garden there. She knew I love flowers so this was a great place to spend a few hours. We walked,enjoyed the flowers and enjoyed chatting.

What follows are a few of the beauties I saw.I hope you enjoy them.

I won't make any comments about the individual flowers,except to say that this was a  very lovely place to spend some time.

I leave this song with you. It is my all-time favourite song by my favourite quartet.

Enjoy!

On The Road

I shared with you about my trip to Red Deer,Alberta and the blessings while there.

Today I want to share a few pictures of the first day on the road.

The pictures were taken through the bus windows and are definitely not top quality.

I share them only because this was what I was seeing as we headed west.Sure wish we could have stopped at a few places to get better pictures,but that was not part of the plan,so this is what I had to settle for.

Travelling through Saskatchewan can often be boring,because the area is often dry and brown.

This year,because of the rains,all was vibrant and green.

Just another sight that caught my eye as we were driving down the highway.

I was surprised by the number of fields of Canola. The landscape looked like a patchwork quilt with lots of yellow patches.

You all know that I love watching the sky and being a passenger on the bus did not change that.

I love those sunbeams coming down,blanketing the world with warmth and light.

We pulled into the hotel at Caronport,Saskatchewan for the first night.

It was fairly early so I had time to walk around and capture a few shots.

I will praise the name of God with a song;

I will magnify Him with thanksgiving.

Psalm 69:30

Blessings!

Give,and it shall be given to you:good measure,pressed down,shaken together,

and running over will be put into your bosom.

For with the same measure that you use,it will be measured back to you.

Luke 6:38

This verse came to my mind last weekend at Canada's Gospel Music Celebration in Red Deer,Alberta.

I have not given much,if anything to the groups who were performing but God used them to bless me to overflowing.

Here are a few poor quality pictures from that event. All were taken with my iPhone,so not the best quality.

This was the first thing I saw as the bus pulled up.My heart was beating fast with excitement.I would finally be able to attend this event.

Here are two of my traveling companions,relaxing between shows. I was on a Fehr-Way Tours,bus with 27 others,so many new friendships were made.

The show has begun. I have no words to describe how excited I was.The whole event,3 days was filled with the Spirit of God. Many tears were shed,but they came from a heart overflowing with love for my Lord.I felt the blessings washing over me throughout the three days.

These guys are the best!I just had to have one picture with them,to prove I was really there.

Trey,Gus,Matt,Howie and Scott know how to sing,but also know how to minister off the stage.

As with all things,it had to come to an end. I was almost sad to turn that bus east and head for home,but at the same time,since the concerts were over,I was ready to see Steve and Kai again.

This was the view from the front of the bus,and no,I was not the driver. Heading home with a heart overflowing with blessings.I still have to smile when I recall the events of this past weekend.

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Summer Holidays

As  school bus driver I look forward to summer holidays as much as any student.

In Canada we have summer holidays from July 1st to the beginning of September.

I started my holiday time off by watching the local fireworks on July 1st,Canada Day.

These are my first attempts at photographing fireworks and I have a lot to learn.

I know that a tripod would have helped,but considering these shots are handheld,I think they are acceptable.

While waiting for the sun to set so the fireworks could begin,I took this picture.

The scene was so pretty,but I once again was lazy photographer and took this through the windshield of my car.

 At home on my yard,this Grey Catbird has been hanging out around the house.I am pretty sure he has or had a nest somewhere close,but have never found it.

Flowers have been few on my yard,especially on the perennials.

I had to capture this Day Lily while it was there.I hope this plant continues to grow and give me more flowers next year.

I will be away from Blogland for a while,so if I don't leave comments on your blog,that is the reason.

I will be back before long,hopefully with more pictures to share.