The Look of Spring is in My Eyes

All photos here were taken by myself in the Vernon area of British Columbia 

the second weekend of May/14. 

forsythia in bloom

forsythia

in the Japanese garden, Harry Lauder walking stick (front left), a flowering tree (variety unknown)

 in the centre of the scene surrounded by topiaried juniper and manicured cedar.

above, flowering almond with tulips and iris

magnolia

tulips, pasqueflower, grape hyacinth

Irises, blue muscari, pasqueflower

above and below, magnolia in bed with tulips and irises

above and below, flowering almond

Japanese maple

Canada goose with three goslings

azalea

above and below, horse chestnut in bloom

The Canada Geese Have Returned

 Taken this Tuesday, above and below.  We had a light dusting of snow that day.  Little did we know what was in store....

This is today (below).... a different field, this one across the street from our place, with a pair of Canada Geese trudging through the snow.  Earlier a coyote crossed the field near where this shot was taken.  Mother Nature seems to be mixed up. You know how it goes... April showers bring May flowers... (I recall very rainy Aprils as a child) well it looks like winter is not ready to give up and has been dumping snow upon us, most heavily overnight.  My son is travelling to Vernon BC with his fiancé this weekend to take care of last minute preparations for the reception there.  I hope the highways are much better than the city roads are today.

On another note, it's Easter weekend, today being Good Friday.  Easter egg hunts will likely have to be held indoors this year.  How would you ever find them in this?  I sure hope the weather is much more spring-like where you are.  

Happy Easter everyone!!

Nesting Season

Last evening, after a wonderful supper with family and friends, we went for a walk to a little lake nearby where we spotted a pair of Canada Geese.  My husband and son got up rather close to the pair, one of which Tyler caught in the photographs above.  Canada Geese can be very protective and sometimes aggressive so caution was foremost in their minds.  Sure enough, there's a nest nearby.  I hope to get there again soon to get photos of the goslings.  They'll be so cute!

Hope you are enjoying this wonderful long weekend!

Seen Around Town

Top two photos were taken using my IPhone camera.  

The bottom two photos were taken by my son Matt.

In another area of the city, I spotted two pairs of Canada Geese at a man made lake near my house.

Summer is just over a month away and we are finally enjoying spring.  My son Tyler just shared with me photos of a black bear that they saw while working on a road crew near Cold Lake.  He said they saw five bears in total, four of which were black and one brown bear.  

Near our house and to the south is a natural area with a fenced in water catch basin.  The last two mornings a light fog shrouded the area and I had to get it on "film," so to speak.

That's the extent of my neighbourhood walks this week.  What's happening in your neighbourhood?

Mallard Duck Visit

Wednesday morning, on my way to work, I saw this male Mallard duck on a neighbour's lawn.  

He flew up to a neighboring roof and then his mate showed up.

The two of them flew to the temporary pond across the road where I captured their morning swim in the sunrise reflection on the water.  We had so much snow that when it melted here, it made a temporary lake.  I'm very glad for that as I've seen Canada Geese here as well as seagulls.  I'm hoping for other wildlife too since we are very near some undeveloped areas that are heavy in trees and brush.