Showing posts with label buds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label buds. Show all posts

Wednesday, 30 April 2014

NaPoWriMo Day 30 –fare thee well

Today, as befits the final poem of NaPoWriMo, write a poem of farewell.  Find some examples in this selection of goodbye-and-good-luck poems from the Poetry Foundation website.

Old Man Winter, fare thee well! 

Old Man Winter, fare thee well
Glad to see you gone a spell
You were a wickedly horrible master
The more snow fell – I shoveled faster

 Knee-deep in snowfall I felt empowered
Our three seasons: construction, bugs, snow
Despite wishing to see things flowered
Rain it falls and wind it blows
Glad it seems: no more snows

 Down in the south tornadoes wreak havoc
No one there lies on a hammock
On the horizon grass will need mowing
Water will run, hurricanes blowing

Construction, snow and bugs; our seasons
Some will say they are our demons
Building character they teach us patience
Canadians cannot have complacence

 In the meantime, spring flowers bloom
Phoebe nest 
Colourful faces erasing the gloom
Birds they have begun their nesting
Bugs, like mad, they've been ingesting

Nature awakens, begins to smile
I'll enjoy it here for just awhile
Leaves and buds begin to swell
Old Man Winter, fare thee well!


Thursday, 3 May 2012

Spring flowers, horse chestnut leaf bud, snake, frogs

A glorious day in the sunshine. Summer-like weather with a 20 C. temperature. 


horse chestnut leaf bud
Tulips raise faces to sun
Leaf buds burst with sweet sap
-Deer snap off a snack



green grass and goldfish pond
Lots of wildlife. The frogs were singing. I worked on the fish pond.
green growth in the wetland

Woodpecker insists on banging on the tower!

nesting!


budding
Tobi Kiesewalter, the Park’s Natural History Education Leader, tells us the black rat snakes are awake in Murphy's Point Park .

Spring peepers, wood frogs, tree frogs; all are singing. 

salamanders predict danger in an ecosystem,
blue-spotted salamander
Our in the wetland the wood frogs are waking and croaking for love! It didn't seem to worry that I was there. He croaked off and on for hours!
I was cleaning out the veggie garden and spotted a blue spotted salamander. She dug herself back in! Didn't know I had to share the garden with her, too! 
The bad news?
Black fly - warning, they are out and about!
black fly




    Friday, 17 February 2012

    Valentine's Day – out with the old, in with the new



    She guards my flowers!
    Why is it we remember the Valentine's Days gone wrong, rather than the good ones???!!! Rhetorical question, I suppose.
    I blame the negative media – they'd sooner bemoan, and enjoy other's grief, rather than celebrate the joy of random acts of kindness, in a world of both love and hate.

    I had fun in school with my students. Cupcake days, parties, childish rhymes of the day, a grand opportunity for word play!

    Our local school sent primary students with valentines for the residents of the long-term care, where I volunteer. These are things we should celebrate.

    February buds wait for Spring
    Horse chestnut buds
    set in October!
    They made little paper plate pockets and each child made a valentine, with their photo on it, for the residents. They hang them off of their walker handlebars, wheelchairs. It was so cute. Should've gotten a photo! I have a bad cold and won't be visiting this week. I was going to do a photo Thursday.

    Meantime, outdoors, the deer are anxious for Spring. Already impregnated last November, giving birth sometime around May, they are surviving winter by eating everything they can.

    Deer nibble the buds, seeking what nourishment they can. Before long, my horse chestnuts will be dripping sap, and I hope my burlap blankets protect them. They were devoured last year by eager deer.

    <=Here they are on the front lawn, nibbling buds and aiming for my rhododendron.

    Closer and closer they come!


    They eat any buds they can. 
    Lilac buds

    Sumac buds are coming along. The deer ADORE them!



    Olive sits on 'Oliver's Lot'
    Instead of languishing, I've been outside changing up my decor. Living in the middle of a bog, the air is so lovely and humid, while I'm coughing so it soothes sore lungs.

    The sleeping deciduous trees look cold and brown.
    Winds whip them and branches fall on the white snow.

    Olive, the other reindeer.
    I changed her red bow for green. Gave her a headdress.

     The pines are a wonderful green, the brown grasses lean over in the damp and cold.

    The crew now sports a hopeful Springtime green!
    Trees in the background in a boring brown burlap!


    Black bear sports a delightful green bow tie!
    I made some shamrocks
    for my old red well bucket.
    I couldn't find a dollar store hat to go over his large head and ears, which might have been less dignified, he seems suitably conservatively dressed.
    Frosty has a dignified tie, with green top hat!

    Saturday, 19 February 2011

    A river runs through it!

    The joys of living in a 'new' house are great. Each season brings new sights, and I like change.

    Hubby has been getting up at daybreak every morn (when Oliver climbs onto our respective night tables and knocks our glasses off of the table) to grind up her pill into food, feeding Oliver in the closet so he doesn't eat the pill/food out from under her! It's complicated.








    Good, old Sady has been reluctant to go outside. We're not sure if it is the BIG critters out there (turkeys and/or deer), or the fact that she's had an infection.

    Well, the purpose of the story is to illustrate the beauty of the beasts, when they ventured out into 11+ C. temps, with the sun warming the concrete steps, luxuriating in the warmth and the apparent spring weather.