The Before and After Effect

Yesterday I actually found an opportunity to get out and take some shots, and I thought I would post this lovely shot I took in June of this lovely Blackberry Flower and show you the results of this fantastic flower. Yep my fav Blackberries they are almost ready to be picked. There are some patches where I'm sure I could fill an ice cream bucket and I might do that this week when I get home from work. I work the early shifts this week, so my posting won't be until night time anyway. So Happy Sunday everyone!!! and pick some blackberries. There are pies to make, jam to boil and Vanilla ice cream waiting for fruit....yummmm.

Feeling Scattered Today!!

Ahhh it's Friday!! But I'm in a hurry...the boys are leaving at 10am to head out for 5 days of camping with their Dad. I have to double check their bag to make sure they have packed everything they need. Once they are gone I'm going to ATTACK their bedroom and get rid of crap and clothes that they have out grown. Which by the way is almost everything they own. I promise that next week I will get back on track with Fabulous Fruit Fridays..I just haven't had the time or when I have the boys have already eaten all of the fruit. I can't win for trying here. LOL So today again it's all about the flowers....enjoy and I will catch all of you on the flip side tomorrow or catch up will all of you in the evening...oh I'm bad :)

Early Signs of Fall

Fall my most favorite time of year. I have always been attracted to warm and inviting colors and fall does that for me. To walk through the leaves, to hear the rain hit the leaves on the ground. Ahhhh and the smell of fall....nothing quite like it. Wood, leaves, the crisp air, seeing your breath on a cool morning all of it just soothes my soul. So now that I have this new camera fall is a whole new future photographic opportunity that I'm on pins and needles waiting for. I don't know about you but fall is fabulous!!

My Fascination With Bees

Bees I have to admit I have a fascination with. Being able to capture the Macro world has really sparked an interest with the small. I know that bugs isn't for everyone, but I just can't help trying to perfect the images of bees. Once fall comes they will all be asleep until spring so my theory is try to get the best you can before they are all gone!! :) The image at the top is my favorite simply because this wee bee is covered in Pollen Powder!! He needs a bath don't you think?

To Think I Went To Whistler To Find This Just Outsid My Front Door!!

As all of you are aware I went for a walk the other day and I have to tell you I sure did get more than I was expecting. To think I went to Whistler to find wild life and all I had to do was walk out my front door and go to my favorite spot!! I caught these great shots of a Mom and her Fawn, who still has it's spots. Born very late in the season I think...but still was a wonderful opportunity. Mom was very patient with me...she let me creep very close. I guess I wasn't much of a threat to her. But there was a limit to my closeness....before she took baby and walked away.

I caught the fawn hiding at one point....I wish that I had gotten a better facial shot...but I like the look of this photography anyways.

Water Effects ~ From our Rain Fall

I don' t know about you but I get excited when it rains....why do you ask? Simply because it adds some dynamic power to things that you would never notice otherwise. Take this gorgeous spiders web strung between these ripening blackberries. It looks like the spider is going to give a party and has decorated it's web with party lanterns!!! This Spider has the best looking pad in town. Now look at these beautiful berries....why they look good enough to eat don't they...I wouldn't eat them though not safe for the Human species that's for sure. But the image is so fresh looking.

This image is just simply put lovely....I love the water effects that just adds to the beauty of Nature.

Sunday ~ Woke Finally To Rain!!

Well I awoke with it raining outside...Wonderful really we are so desperate for the rain...but as I type this wee post this morning the sun is trying to get through the clouds and the rain has stopped. I don't think we got enough rain to really benefit from it...but it's foggy out and the air is fresh. I'm going to head out shortly and go for a walk and check things out. See if there are plump Blackberries to be picked yet, get ready for work tomorrow, tidy the house you know all that stuff that needs to be done. I did some yesterday....but it never ends. These two Cedar Wax wings I caught on a wire just out side before I went on Vacation and I thought I would post them...the sky being so blue and the bird....well simply put Beautiful. Happy Sunday Everyone!!

Sunflowers~ Cool Changes in the Garden!!

Wow the first thing I noticed was the amount of changes in the garden since I was away. For one my Sunflowers are all in bloom!!! I don't know about you but I love sunflowers, there is something about them that just rings true to my heart and makes me smile every time I see them. So why not grow them in your garden too!!! Honestly I can't take credit for these beautiful flowers....do you want to know who planted them? My birds did!!! Sometimes they don't clean up very well under the feeders....and Chabang you have sunflowers! Thanks to all my little bird helpers....LOL

I'm Home!!

Well I just got home.....ahhhhhh...nice to be back. Nice to go but nice to be home. The fires in Lilloett were really bad. Quite frankly just too close to where we were for my liking. Black Comb had some fires too and the air quality up there had gotten really bad. So we decided yesterday to go to Vancouver to see Chris's brother and Sister-in-Law. We had a fantastic visit....just imagine 6 children all having a good time. It was a hoot. As we were leaving Whistler ( Creek Side Village) I got talking to an RCMP officer and he was telling me that there were Grizzly bears on the highway, deer, frogs, rabbits all kinds of poor animals fleeing from their homes for safety...I felt bad for them and for all the people who had to flee their homes as well for safety in Kamloops. Lightning is not Nature's friend in dry season that is for sure. I will something tomorrow and stop by and see all my blogs that I visit to see what you have been up too...I haven't done that for a few days..feel kinda outta the loop! Till tomorrow. :)

Day 12 ~ Peak to Peak Final Views!!

Hello everyone...well this post is massive and the last post of the Peak to Peak series!!! Wow lots of pictures eh? Sorry about that, but it was hard to edit some of the pictures..if I had deleted what I had wanted you wouldn't have gotten the full story or picture of what I was describing to you. So down below are your fast facts about the Gondola and how large it is. So this particular ride takes you from Whistler to Black Comb or vis versa. Really an incredible feet of engineering isn't it.

Below I have some lovely pictures of horses that you can ride and explore the Alpine trails on Black Comb...but I'm not a horse rider, but I truly admire their beauty..Horses are exceptional animals and have been there for humans throughout history...just love their nature.

Now below from this marker on are the images I captured from Black Comb...sorry there are no panorama views I wish there was, but the smoke here is just too thick to get good images of the mountain range. So what I have is unfortunately all I have. Maybe next year will be better for picture taking, if we manage to get up here again.

This completes the trip from Peak to Peak I sure hope all of you have enjoyed it as much as I did. I wish all of you were here with your camera's, it would have been really neat to see what you would have captured while you were here.

Day 11 ~ Part 2 ~ Peak to Peak And Alpine Experience

As posted yesterday here is Part 2 of Whistler's Mountains and Alpine Environment. This moth was just under the sign of Whistlers Altitude and as usual there was horse flies and black flies taking the opportunity when possible to bite you if you dare to stand still... I just can't stand those little blood suckers. They hurt when they bite you....so I feel sorry for Horses and animals suck outside, now I know how they feel. As we got onto another ski lift to get us down to gain access to the Gondola these are the views I saw...rivers of beautiful purple flowers growing between large rocks and ice cold glacier water running among the rocks...so beautiful.

This image was a view from Whistler looking at Black Comb mountain, it's the mountain that we get too by Gondola hard to believe that we are travelling that far on just a cable. The sky looks pink here because the skies are full of smoke. Lilloett has been evacuated to Kamloops....the city might burn down...the forest fires here have gotten out of control and even today there was a new fire on Black Comb no one is aloud on a majority of the mountain because of the dangers here now. So most of my shots are too smokey and I couldn't get any Panorama pictures because of the smoke...just too hazy not even worth trying to get a picture....Well actually I did try and they all were terrible you couldn't even see the mountains.

These are my favorite pictures so far on my trip!!! Just too beautiful ~ Tomorrow I will be posting the Gondola Facts and Ride over to Black Comb ....ya just took too many pictures of this experience so I hope your enjoying the views. So tomorrow will be Part 3 Gondola & Black Comb

Day 10 ~ Peak to Peak Gondala Experience Part 1 ~ Part 2 Tomorrow

Today as usual was a hot day and an exciting day....we headed up Whistler Mountain to explore the environment up at the top...and I have to tell you I was completely amazed. Not only is there beautiful views, but alot of life...flowers everywhere massive purple carpets of them, small delicate flowers of all different colors and sizes, butterflies and hoverflies. I was amazed. So since I have so many photo's to edit still I thought I would post this experience over a couple of days. I will show you life, Mountain views from not only Whistler mountain but Black Comb as we take the Worlds largest Gondola ride from one mountain to another. I have taken pictures of the facts posted about the Gondola so you can read it for yourselves..it is very cool that British Columbia has mastered such a feat!! Very impressive.

Even though these two images are very similar I just couldn't make up my mind which one was better...so I thought maybe I could convince all of you to vote and tell me which one to keep!! This is a view on the ski life taking us up to the very top of Whistler..this is a glacier face and in the winter time when there is tons of snow this run is a Double Black Diamond run. Only a pro Skier is aloud to use this run and you have to show proof before they let you start the run. Very strict here for everyone's safety.

This wonderful images greats you as you get off the Ski lift and walk towards the hiking trails...very deep moment for those that believe in the spiritual symbolism of this rock structure...I'm aware of the proper name I just can't spell it :(

I took this picture to show you the Elevation of the Whistler Mountain..Wow we were really high up today. Nice and cool up here :) I finally was comfortable for the first time this trip and wasn't all swollen from the heat. I could have stayed up on the mountain all day long. Tomorrow Part 2 ~ Mountain flowers, streams, Mountain views and bugs

Day 9 ~ Wonderful day

Well today was wonderful...we had a great day :) Chris and I had a very deep conversation about the costs of being up here and we decided because we never ever do anything and watch our pennies all the time that we would do one awesome thing while we are here. We will be going onto the Gondola tomorrow and experiencing the Peak 2 Peak Alpine Experience. So tomorrow all my BLOGG FRIENDS there will be Panorama views from the top of Whistler!!! I'm so excited I don't think I will be able to sleep tonight...LOL and I'm very excited for all of you as well. So I posted some nice bug, bird and one deer shot for you.

The mountains are a great environment to capture these wonderful bugs....grasshoppers!! I was caught straddling a rock in my long jean skirt.....did I blush when a man made a comment about it..yep I sure did. He said it wasn't everyday that you come across a woman straddling a rock to get a picture of a bug...he said this memory will be forever burned into his mind... LOL

This little song Sparrow was caught with a bad hair day after it's bath. It was too cool to watch it have it's bath and then hop onto a Skunk Cabbage leaf to dry off. Mind you half way through drying it's self it was starting to pant...It was 38 degrees today.

This shot was captured from within the van thus the quality isn't so good...on our way to Lilloett. First deer I've seen since I've been here...nice.