Dusk ~ Dynamic Sky Images When Warm Air Meets Cold

My Wonderful Husband fixed my computer!!! Whoo Hoo...so my post today is quick and simple. I was coming home from work the other day and these images where just too hard to resist. Enjoy some lovely Dusk shots!!! I will catch up with all of you tonight to see what you have been up too. Have a great day!!

Identification of the Mysterious Pink Flower In My Post From Yesterday

Goodmorning everyone

This morning it seems I'm having some serious computer problems. I keep all my pictures that I take on a Sony 16GB Microvalt. I do this because my computer is very old and can't store the amount of photo's I take on the computer memory...plus I'm afraid that if my old computer should ever crash I will loose all my photo's as well. This is my little safe guard against problems like this....but for whatever reason my computer refuses to recognise my USP port today...I've tried everything but it won't work. So I thought I would share with those of your who are wondering about those lovely pink flowers you saw in yesterday's post. These flowers come from a SILK TREE. These tree's do very well in our environment here on the Island and they are a very striking tree simply because come the end of August into September they are full boom the whole tree turns pink with these blooms. It attracts beautiful birds and bugs. Plus it's a lovely addition to any one's garden....just a stunning tree. Google it and you will love what you find out about this wonderful tree. Maybe you should add it to your garden,it will bring you joy as you watch it grow and provide lovely living environments to your local birds and bugs!! :)

The Last Of The Summer Flowers

Victoria B.C has been very blessed this year...we are deep into fall yet our temp has reach highs of 19-20 degrees still even in October. So it has prolonged the life of our summer flowers by about two months. My hanging baskets are still in full bloom and my roses are now on their third set of flowers after trimming them back. We still haven't had our first frost and the temp has only gone down to 6 at night. For those of you who are getting snow now...sorry to hear that...so here are some lovely summer flowers for you to see. Don't worry our winter will come...just later than yours if your season now is winter. I know that in Africa and Australia they are currently in spring and should be seeing their spring flowers now. Have a wonderful day everyone.

Reflections of Canadain Geese ~ How Many Days Since I Posted Last~ Oh Dear

Wow I can't believe I haven't been on since Thursday last week!!! Well not really I've been struggling with a virus and working two jobs is very tapping on my time. I haven't had the energy to do what I love which is photography. Exhaustion has been the problem as of late, but I'm feeling better now and back on line!!! On Thursday I posted some lovely duck reflection shots I took at Swan Lake and the same day I took these lovely shots of our Canadian Geese. These guys were enjoying the muck just too much and I loved all the green that is attached to their beaks and feathers...looks like they are getting ready for Halloween!! LOL Tonight I'm going to sit down and catch up with all of you too see what you've been up too since I don't have time this morning before I head out to work. Until tonight I will catch all of you on the flip side :)

Female Anna Hummingbird ~ Swan Lake Find

I had a very successful day out at Swan Lake the other day....so many little birds I captured. This little female Anna Hummingbird for one was hiding in one of the trees. I heard her singing away and crept as close as I could to her without frightening her away. I got really close as you can see in these shots. What I'm not happy about is the background it's very bright with the sun coming through the leaves of the tree...but what can you do. I caught her stretching and fluffing out her feathers as well...I really enjoyed my time this close to her. It was great!!!.

Shore Birds and Their Reflections ~ Swan Lake

Goodmorning everyone...well today I'm home sick and I was home yesterday as well. I'm not one to be couped up in my house for days on end.....unfortunately as much as parents look forward to having the children go back to school after the two month off for summer. Children have that extra special way of coming home and sharing their germs with the rest of the family. Kenton my oldest within being back to school came down with a lovely cold..you know the kind fever, chills, heavy cough, swollen glands, snotty nose...yep and as much as I disinfected the house guess who got it next. ME!! Love the way children share...hmmmm NOT. Hopefully I can head back to work tomorrow in the mean time fluids, fluids and more fluids. But for today I thought I would post these lovely shots I got at Swan Lake another of my favorite places to go. My focus was on the REFLECTION not the duck I wanted my bang for my shot than just the birds. Enjoy everyone....back to bed I go HIGH HO :)

Turkey Vulture Spotings In Victoria BC!!!! The Lost Bird

First I would like to say WOW!!! for what ever reason these Turkey Vultures have shown up here. Some how they have gotten lost or caught an outflow that brought them up here. Apparently this happens from time to time. According to local birders they are patiently waiting for the proper outflow again to get back home to the Mexican area. Are they lost I would say so. So when I was walking the other day I saw them in the sky about three of them. I'm so sorry for the quality of these shots...but I don't own an SLR so this is it. Look at their wing span amazing and you can see their white beak and red face. I did try to track them to see where they would land...but they just flew even further away. So what I got is what I've posted. I did go out the next day...there had been sightings at Cattle point but I couldn't find them.

Dew Drops Part 2 ~ The Dynamic Dandelion

Well I'm very pleased with the results of my Spider's Web pictures. Thank you everyone they definitely look like the spiders during the night decked out their webs with special jewels!!! You can only see them if you get up early enough in the morning to catch the decor. Well for my follow up encore of the same them......right within the same location actually I took these shots. I at first just zoomed in to see if the detailing of the dew would even be visible to see... or if you just had a soaking wet Dandelion. WELL to my amazement you could actually see every individual dew drop. I was totally stunned and awed with the beauty in what I was seeing again through the lens of my camera. I have to tell you I just love my camera it's like my third eye into a world I would never ever see or notice. If I was just going for a walk without my camera I would have never ever have notice this.

The Morning Dew ~ A Spider's Dew Jewels

Well I took a day off on Friday...just because I needed one now that I'm working 7 days a week. I wanted to capture some of the things we at times don't notice or even see. I wanted to capture dew on many different forms of nature...the sure sign of fall with all the wonderful moisture in the air that naturally collects on a variety of things. Like these spider's webs. I wanted to show you what the sun can do to make these wonderful works of art just explode with excitement. The Spider's Web....stunning...so stunning.

Fabulous Fruit Friday ~ Fall Apples Harvest Time

There is nothing more appealing to me than coming across an Apple Orchard in the fall. Looking at these trees reminded me of my Grandma and Grandpa. They had 5 apple trees in their yard when I was growing up. Fall time was time to make apple sauce, apple pies, apple dumplings and apple crisp. Ahhhhhhhhh the smell was a piece of heaven......I will never forget the way my Grandma's house smelled during September. I simply loved going there and licking whatever bowl was offered to me. :)

Victoria's Beautiful Birds ~ The Peacock

Today I wanted to show all of you the wonders of our fabulous peacocks. They live in two locations around Victoria. One location you will know right away being Beacon Hill Park. The other location is out in our rural location at Hatley Park. These wonderful birds are stunning and so beautiful when they dance around it is such an eye candy that everyone stops to admire the show. The males and females are extremely loud with their calls...you can hear these birds literally from a mile away wow!!! You know when it's breading season that's for sure. I'm hoping come spring time to find a nest and do a small feature on them and their babies. A goal I would like to achieve. But for today enjoy the beauty in the Peacock.

When Plants Go To Seed ~ The Next Phase Of Beauty

Another find in a Field......Now that fall if officially upon us, the plants realize this as well. Going to seed is that beautiful final stage of life for the majority of plants on earth. Their reason for existing to reproduce oneself is a high priority. Or as we know it the plant will cease to exist. As I take the time to look at things from a different perspective with my camera, I have come to notice the small things. The simple things in life and I'm finding I'm more and more interested and intrigued I become. This is just one plant I found very interesting as it prepares to release it's future to the wind. Do you notice the small...if not walk around your yard with your camera...you might be amazed.

How Do They Do It? ~To Walk On Water Would Be Glorious

These bugs I'm posting today have been a wonder of mine since I was a child. I was very fortunate as a child to have the fortunate attribute of living only 10 steps from the lake. All summer long I would watch them walk on the water fascinated with what they could do and could not. Just think if we could walk on water....what a wonderful concept that would be. I took the time to really get a close shot of these Water Skaters on how their legs are shaped and how they can just sit on the water. Amazing little bugs (animals) I'm not too sure what they do or their purpose but I'm sure it is something amazing and important. All life has a purpose...it's just hard to determine what that can be sometimes. This is one example of that.

The Forest Floor ~ The Beautiful Gastropod

Morning everyone.....A one time before I had this many followers I mentioned in one of my posts the wonders of the Natural recyclers. The animals that we miss that work so hard in our forest floors cleaning up decaying debris and helping the ecosystem take care of the break down of large materials can turn into natural compost. Compost that our forest floors rely on for nutrients to sustain all levels of life. From the growth of plants that feed our larger animals and birds to the small. The animals we don't notice like ants, bees, centipedes and other small living things we tend not to notice. This silent Gastropod or slug as some of you would call it plays and important roll in the forest...I love them. So shy, so quite they go about their business in a very determined manner. Which is to help decompose matter and help make compost. A very important animal in our forests. So the next time you go for a walk take a blook at your feet. You will me amazed at what you find.... Happy Monday everyone

Out Of The Mist ~ My Attempt At A Scenic Shot

As all of you know scenic shots are the shots I need the most practice with. Here is a shot I took at Beacon Hill Park last week. It was the same day I captured the Red Breasted Nuthatch shots. As I explained before Beacon Hill Park also butts up to the Ocean and sometimes you can see the Cruise ships either leaving or coming in. Here is a ship coming into the Harbour...but what I found so lovely is the mist or fog just hovering over the ocean. As summer merges into fall the warmer water and the cooler air meet and sometimes the images are quite mystical with the mist just above the water. I also like the images of the mountains behind not quite clear but part of the mystical scene.

Fabulous Fruit Fridays!!! ~ A Day Early ~ Squash Are Fruit

Hey everyone I know I'm a day early with the post. But it's Thursday evening and I thought that since I'm up early and don't have time to post before I go to work that I would post instead before bed. Some of you who are in Europe are still asleep anyway so I don't think the early post will matter in the whole scheme of things.
Did you know though that Squash are actually classified as a fruit!!! Yes it's true. I had a little niggle and thought I would investigate my thought process. I knew that Tomatoes are a fruit because they bare seeds.....so that lead me to believe that foods that we call Vegetables who have seeds could actually be a fruit. So foods like Pumpkins, Squash, Zucchini's and Tomatoes although we associate them as Vegetables they really are a fruit. Cool isn't it!! So since I have such a lovely fall theme going here I thought I would throw this into the mix. Happy Friday everyone. Oh and before I forget....I had a hard time deciding which photo to post I like them all. So I posted them all even though they all look very similar, I just couldn't decide :)

The Forest Floor With Fall Images

You can tell that the weather has definitely changed and things are progressing into the Fall season. For one Victoria has received some rain fall and with that comes changes on the Forest floors. Yes something you don't see allot of in the Summer...mushrooms have popped up everywhere. They are not small at all......so large are they that they topple over with their own weight. I call this photo: How the Mighty Have Fallen. I took this next photo in Beacon Hill Park on the same day I took the pictures of the Red Breasted Nuthatch posted below. The light in this shot is what I like the most about it. Catches your eye.

This Little Bird ~ Red Breasted Nuthatch

On Sunday my family and I went out for the afternoon when I got home from work and headed out to Beacon Hill Park. Beacon Hill Park is one of our more popular parks that is located down town Victoria. The park also boarders onto the sea side walk way which would take you down to the break water where the Cruise ships dock when they come into town. My objective was to try to spot some birds before they start to migrate to warmer locations for the winter. I didn't really have much success, but I did spot this little red breasted Nuthatch up at the very top of a tree all fluffed out and making it's usual beeping noise that they make. They sound like little broken horns don't they. I like the sound and was drawn to it's location because of it. My husband though will argue that this isn't a Nuthatch but I'm positive that it is....if I'm wrong let me know guys...some of you are expert birders and would know in a heart beat if I was wrong. In this first image I was having a little fun and wanted to give this bird an aged look. It's the same image at the bottom. Just wanted to add a little texture into this shot...mainly because the bright blue sky was just so intense that I wanted to tone it down and show off a little more detailing on the bird. Rather than featuring the sky. I really like the effect.... Warm feeling.