Last Month's Phenology Calendar

Day by day I continue to create monthly phenology calendars. In them, I note:

• the weather 
• events that fill my day, and
• birds and animals I encounter

The most satisfying part for me is looking out the window and trying to re-create the sky I see before me at that moment. I try to do that sometime during the day.

As any sky-watcher will tell you, the sky looks different in every direction. And it is constantly changing.

Is there such a thing as a "sky painter"? If there is - that is what I aspire to be! 

(... Among many other things, I might add!!)

Family Birthday!

Today is Terry's birthday!

I wonder what adventure we can find to do today! I guess the "birthday boy" gets to decide...

I'm always up for an adventure!

You Never Know...

I bought this book for my daughter...

She is a fan of the author and often sends me links to the author's podcasts.

I started to read it... and now I can't put it down! A lot of wisdom from someone my daughter's age...

(Now I may need to get a second copy - one to give away and one to keep!!)

You never know when a book will grab your attention! 

New Look!

I've been moving plants around...

Even though the weather is still cool at night, I hope the spider plant, geranium and palm tree will survive outdoors.

(Thanks to my neighbour, Diane, I have an array of large outdoor pots.)

I need indoor space for my two surviving amaryllis bulbs that show signs of budding.

The indoor garden in the sunroom is taking up more and more space!

Oh, That Sky!

A few evenings ago, at sunset, the air suddenly turned pink...

Then red and purple...

It was magnificent!

In every direction - north, south, east and west!

Did the neighbour carrying his recycling to the road notice?! What about the kids playing soccer in the field?!

Such an amazing sky!

The next day, social media was full of photos taken by people all over the city.

Later, when I sent a few of my photos to my daughter in Toronto - she replied that Toronto residents were also posting their pictures of the sunset there...

What a sight that must have been from the air!

How often does a pink-red-purple cloud cover span several hundred kilometres  - or more?!!

Snow Mound Still Here!

My son and I walked past the college snow mound a few days ago. All the winter snow covering the parking lots was bulldozed into this one giant heap!

It actually didn't look any smaller than the last time we were here... But then, we did get a lot of snow!

The west side of the pile had partially disappeared.

But it was the high part that caught our attention. How did they bulldoze it up so high? They must have a very large snowblower to do that!

Early Spring Flowers

We don't have a lot of early spring flowers in our yard - and they don't bloom for long...

But they give me so much pleasure... 

Probably because they are suddenly there...

... right after the snow disappears!

A miracle!

I'm particularly pleased to see that this bunch of red tulips is still perfect. Every time I pass by, I count them. Six blooms.

The flowers are often snapped off by a squirrel as soon as they bloom. But it's now day 2 and they are still intact - so I'm hopeful they may be left alone.

Terry and I admired these flowers when we were walking in a neighbourhood called "Old Ottawa South." 

Terry noticed a bee buzzing around even though the weather wasn't warm..

I haven't noticed bees in our neighbourhood yet. Hopefully we'll see some too!