My complain-o-meter is normally even keeled but recent ruses by Mother Nature have seen the dial twisted to coil-breaking settings. Cold, ice, treacherous, bone-breaking…..add your own words to describe our 2023 spring. Measures to reduce the complaints include exploration of the tiny beauty around my house, the constant joy that my avian friends shower upon me and finding beauty in the annoying ice. Here is a short pictorial essay outlining my last few weeks of attempting to push back the dial on complaining about the weather.
Beauty he says… In a mold infested orange ready for the compost?
Or is it the surface of the sun with sun spots radiating magnetic ions to give the Aurora beauty.
Perhaps the surface of an alien planet?
Yeah well maybe it is just mold.
A male Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker leaving my bird bath.
A lone Bohemian Waxwing. These are often seen in large flocks in the winter so it was unusual to see this loner in a spruce tree in President Murray Park.
This Merlin sat on a branch just a short distance from me for about 5 minutes while I watched in awe at the beauty and power of this winter survivor.
Choose your own adventure as you look for colour and image patterns that conjure up other worlds in nature’s ice sculptures.
Is this an ice beaver defying gravity?
A bouquet of flowers was brought to my house. If you can’t have spring outside you can surely create it inside.
My friends the Dark-winged Fungus Gnats keep emerging from the soil in my house plants and occasionally stop long enough to slurp up some debris on my cutting board. Just so you know, it pays to keep a messy kitchen if your goal is to try out your new macro lens.
Some digging around in the soil of my house plants revealed this Rove Beetle (thank you BugGuide) but it disappeared after this one shot.
My wish for all is a spring full of joy no matter what the weather.
10 Comments
Oh Trent,
You have become such an incredibly talented, professional, exacting photographer who delights in the things that are under our noses and constantly missed. Well, except for the orange – not missed in my house – but certainly not photographed and delighted in! I love your creative writing that accompanies these photos too! A complete “banquet” every time!
Such lovely shots Trent. Even the “sunny” green orange! Back to our own ice and snow in a few
Hours. Spring will eventually come- and will
We ever welcome it with open arms —wearing no winter coats!
Love the Rove Beetle Macro shot
Wonderful eye candy for my morning email stroll. Is the blue in the first ice photo a concentration from the blue in the sky?
What a great shot of a Northern Flicker. As for the lonely waxwing.. I’m painting one at this very moment and struggling with their beautifil colouring, which can change so much depending on the light. I love the way the light and your camera capture this one as it hunkers in amongst the branches.
Wonderful as usual
We really need a Full book of your photos and stories
Well done, Trent. I had a lone waxwing of one variety or another at my bird feeder the other day, among the chickadees and sparrows.
Thanks Trent. This is just what I needed this morning.
Beautiful pictures,Trent! Temperatures slowly warming up here. Tulip leaves are just starting to peek through their sleepy garden beds. A Honey bee buzzed past me a couple days ago, One lone Violet has fully bloomed. My enthusiastic excitement for an early Spring was bouncing around ….until today’s forecast….Snow Showers!!
You never fail to make me smile when I get your posts, thank you!!