Ditch Flowers

It's nice that I can crawl into something as humble as a roadside ditch and find beauty.

Full Moon

Her eye is fully open tonight, a great white orb casting silvery shadows below. She looks at me in the window when the rain-heavy clouds don't obstruct her view. I look back at her. We admire each other. She bathes everything in an other-worldly glow, so much so that I feel compelled to try and capture the beauty she makes. I fail but she is patient with me. Over the days and weeks to follow she will slowly close her great eye but when her rest is over she will look down at me full of splendor again and give me another chance. One day I will learn the secret of how to showcase her glory day and she will continue to nod off and awaken and share her gentle glow whether anyone cares to look her way or not.

Birthday Bouquet

Kermit and Ukelele

I wanted a still life shot with my son's ukelele, something classy and interesting. No matter where I put that instrument in our home, I could not get a decent pic of it so I trashed the classy and interesting vignette idea and went for silly. Better I think.

Froggy

The love of my life loves frogs so when I saw this cutie at Dollarama I couldn't resist getting it for him. It's a bath toy that lights up when you touch his underside so I planted it in the shower hoping he'd be awake enough to notice it and that he'd pick it up and make it glow. It worked and he loved it. That cute little froggy now sits by his alarm clock and every night he has to pick it up, make it light up and tell me how much he loves it and me. Who can resist such a cutie? Not me or my camera. I just had to try and capture the adorable lil fella.

Farm

Last year the farmer built a fence around his fallow field and this year he plowed it. My hubby spotted the vintage tractor sitting in all that freshly turned earth while on his evening walk and called me to come out with my camera. Of course, I did. I'm always looking for things to take pictures of and these farm shots were too nice an opportunity to pass up.

Daffodil

Twilight - it's that quiet time between night and day where something in me tells me that I should be still and take some time to reflect especially when I find myself responding with the utmost weariness to my children. I probably should have taken more than a few minutes to stop after driving my boy to one of his friend's but I felt it was all I could take. There were items on my "to do" list that still weren't done and just the thought of trying to tackle them all with so few hours left in the day had me in a funk. I pulled up to the water with my camera hoping to see something, anything, to lift my tired spirit. And there it was. A daffodil where there shouldn't have been one. I wasn't strolling in a garden. I was standing on matted down reeds looking out at a lot of uninspired blue. That happy yellow face seemed all out of place in that brown, unattractive, swampy area. I don't know how it got there but I'm sure it was there for me. "Just bloom where you find yourself," it was saying, "even if it's a place where few people will come. One weary traveler might chance your way and see your happy face in the most unexpected place and it just might make her day." Sometimes I wonder why I am where I am, such an out of the way sort of place. Who knows? Maybe one day someone will want to take a picture of me just like I did of that special lonely daffodil.

Mallard Ducks

Mr. and Mrs. Duck visited our road today but sadly weren't very interested in having their portrait taken. They waddled away as quickly as their funny little feet would take them as I crept closer. With any luck they'll decide to hang out for a while in my neck of the woods and I'll win them over with my charm... or maybe some stale bread. They're such a handsome couple. I simply must get a better pic of them.

Rhubarb

Spring is my favourite time of year. Little by little colour creeps back into the world and day by day the miracle of growth is evident. It excites me to see plant spears poking through the garden soil one day only to be sprouting leaves a few days later.

Last year we were given some rhubarb plants from a woman in her nineties. We planted them hoping the dirt out back would sustain life but not entirely certain it would. I'm happy to say that all the plants survived the winter! Each one is sporting the most amazing wrinkled leaves and showing promise of being edible in the not so distant future. I couldn't help but take a few pretty pics. Baby rhubarb leaves are just so cool.

Hair Products

Why did I take a picture of hair products? Because I'm happy I bought them.

There's a young woman at church that I talk to from time to time. She's a single mom, (something I can identify with) with all the difficulties of parenting solo. Normally, she has her long blond tresses pulled up into a messy bun but today she wore her hair down. I was surprised at how long it is and commented to that effect. She went on to tell me that she hardly ever wears it down because her hair is thick, wavy and very prone to frizz. It drives her crazy.

She sat with me in church and I thought about her hair. It has the potential to be gorgeous. I think she just needs some good styling products. When you're a single mom on a budget though, luxuries like expensive shampoos, conditioners and anti-frizz products are the first thing you scratch off your shopping list. I'm no longer a single mom and I'm no longer on such a tight budget and I still struggle to buy good stuff for myself. It becomes habit to look after the kids and necessities and to forget that maybe you need some looking after too.

Wouldn't it be great if others would step in and do some of that looking after? I think so. That's why I went out and bought these nicer hair care products for her. That's what's making me so happy. It's the thought of somehow getting these to her and letting her know that she matters. It's a small thing but maybe if enough people did small things her life would be just a little easier. That's what I wanted when I found myself single parenting and now I'm in a position to give a little of what I once desired. It's a good feeling.

So I have a kooky pic on my pretty pics site. It's pretty to me because of what it's associated with. Happiness. Giving. Helping.

Shells

She doesn't sell sea shells down by the sea shore but she does pick them up when she finds them and she does snap pics of them when she's bored.

Just Because

I can't seem to find anything to take pictures of outside right now so I turned my attention to my open Bible and the decorations I had on my dining room table. The result? Pics taken just because I wanted to take pics.

Lake St. George

I love white, fluffy clouds hanging over blue waters and the reflections they cast. Sometimes the lake is as smooth as glass but today there was a warm wind blowing making all those cloud reflections ripple. Simple but pretty.

Cattails

I hope that these are cattails and not bulrushes. My super smart hubby went into great detail some time back telling me the difference between the two but now I can't remember which is which. Most people think the two are the same but I know they're not. Anyways, whatever they are, they can be kind of pretty all clumped together.

Out Back in Washago

I went for a walk for the first time in months out back this afternoon. The land is still laid waste by the ravages of winter but I've learned over the years not to write off finding beauty because first impressions say there isn't any to be found. As blah and matted down as most of the landscape is, there are surprising hits of colour if you open your mind to seeing them. The fiery red branches of the dogwood tree are always a favourite of mine. Even the shallowest pools of water reflect the blue of the sky and mirror the naked but beautiful limbs above them. And if you look hard, you might even see a tiny yellow coltsfoot poking out of all the dead looking grasses. The tiny nest left behind by a song sparrow didn't even have a hint of vibrant colour to it but it stood out as lovely none the less.

Over the next few weeks, a transformation will happen back there. The grasses will grow tall in every shade of green imaginable and wildflowers in gentle and bright shades will appear. The tiny frogs that are now singing their little heads off will leave behind thousands of tiny tadpoles and I suspect the mallard ducks will find their way back to the shallows where I love to sit and muse. Life will come back to that dead looking landscape and I will feel privileged to see it happen. Each day will bring new surprises and I hope to never tire of finding them.

Candles

I used to put candles in candle holders and not light them. How silly! As nice as candles look in candle holders, they look ever so much better lit. I now light candles for no reason at all but find them especially therapeutic if I'm having a negative day. Turning off the lights and focusing on a burning candle helps me recenter. Everything looks pretty by candlelight and when everything is looking prettier I feel better too.