Spring Flowers and the bugs are waking up

When I was going through photos I took this afternoon, I was surprised how many featured some kind of bug - little wasp, little fly, bumblebee, the white trillium has some kind of nymph. I was wondering if I should just post flowers with bugs and make it a "find the bug" post but I decided to pare down the pics and so only the white trillium has a bug on it.

The brunnera in this photo has a flower very similar to a forget-me-not but its flowers are always blue - a deeper blue than forget-me-nots.  The buds are pinkish but once the flower is open they are blue.

Anyway, it's a good thing that there are lots of bugs around.  

A striking primrose I grew from seed from Thompson and Morgan years ago.  This was the only colour that lasted and it's been really tough. I am able to divide it and keep growing the patch.

I like the way the  flower veins show up in this photo.  Note the bug at the bottom.

The cowslip primrose faces down and surprisingly I never thought to look inside the flowers until today. They actually have some pretty markings inside.

The usual view.

This forget-me-not has an interesting pattern - it can't decide if it wants to be pink or blue.
 

Practicing some duplicating on Gimp 2.10

 This is not rocket science but I have been struggling to find clear instructions on how to duplicate an image and merge into one image.  

I have finally worked out a fairly simple way to do it - not sure why the techies make it so complicated. So here we have a duplicate image of some merry bells.

I like this photo of the red trillium so I decided to put it on a mug for my zazzle shop :              zazzle.ca/store/purpleasterdesigns .  I did an oval crop and made a reverse image so the mug has matching images. I'm gradually adding wildflower images to a collection of mugs as I think it would be cool for someone to be able to collect wildflower mugs. I also used a picture of dogtooth violets.  Soon the Virginia bluebells will be open and they are very pretty.

Very chilly and windy the last couple of day but tomorrow promises to be better so I will plant out the pansies and some lettuce that has been growing nicely on the windowsill.

Early Spring Flowers

This is the first pansy to bloom from the seeds I planted in January.  We are forecast to get a little bit of snow on Wednesday but after that the night temperatures are above zero.  I'll put the pansies out later in the week so they can establish before the weather gets too warm.  They can take a light frost so no worries if we get one in early May.

The pink, purple and white chionodoxa are really dependable little bulbs and they do multiply.  They don't mind being in a shady spot in the summer if they get the spring sun. The yellow primula is some kind of mutant because it is always just covered in flowers.

I never stop liking this messy combination of blue Scilla, variegated vinca and lamium against the backdrop of dried leaves.

 

Over the years as our bush has matured, the trees have gotten bigger and naturally thinned out.  The dog-tooth violets appreciate the change and we have several good clumps of them now that bloom whereas previously we tended to just have lots of leaves.  The trilliums are just in bud except for one or two red ones that are blooming.  Everything is a bit early this year.

Scilla -Ink and Watercolour Card

I have been trying some ink and watercolour cards.  After putting in the background, I penciled in the flower stems. Then I inked in the flowers, then the stems.  I erased the pencil marks.Then I loosely painted the blue flowers and leaves. I inked around the leaves. Finally I spattered a bit of blue at the top, green at the bottom and some white over the flowers.

With Covid making visiting difficult, I have been sending cards to people just to say hi.  People are often surprised to get something via snail mail.

 

Two Bunny Walk

I have been seeing these bunnies on my morning walks but lately I have not been taking my camera with me.  I decided I better take it this morning.  This bunny, who lives on one side of the road, has a perfect habitat with about 15' of mowed grass on the verge of the road and a dense cedar bush beyond where it can easily hide.  They are Eastern Cottontails, the common rabbit of our area.

This rabbit lives not far along from the first one but on the other side of the road.  A few cedars line the road but then the land opens out into a scruffy field with enough bushes to hide in. This pair seems to me to have more white on their front than some others I have seen over the years.  Perhaps they are related.

This pic is magnified to a point that it is blurry but I wanted to show off the rabbit's really big front feet.  The ears are lovely, not only big, but they have quite a curve to them. A couple of tuffs of winter fur are coming out.  They are not white in the winter but a lighter shade of the grey/brown.  Even with good habitat, the rabbits don't over multiply as they have many natural predators .

They both stayed still for quite a while even though they had seen me and only ran off when I tried to get closer. 

The flycatchers arrived a couple of days ago and are already refurbishing the nest on the porch windowsill. It's like they have opened up the cottage for the season.  So nice to see them again.

 

Head First Bumblebee

 I saw the first bumblebee of the season head down in a crocus. Reminds me of children who think they are hiding if they tuck their head in a corner in plain sight of any observer. Although it was quite mild today, the bee wasn't moving much so I guess it was still half asleep from winter. It has a lovely orange stripe around its middle and I think is a Tricoloured Bumblebee.

I also saw a couple of mourning cloak butterflies feeding on maple sap where a branch had been cut off a small tree I had to cut down last winter. I suppose they could smell the sugar in the sap.  They will enjoy that as it is way too early for any flower nectar. I wonder if they feed on tree flowers, some of which bloom in April.

Dreams - Flash Fiction

Dreams

 "I keep having dreams of flying. Soaring on the updrafts and gently floating down as the breeze wanes.

 

But alas, at daylight it is back to work in my striped suit. Grinding, plodding through my days,  until evening when I fall asleep, dreaming of wings and freedom.

 

Today is particularly constrained.  Perhaps I will take a few days off work.

 

The dream tonight is especially vivid.  When I wake up, I stretch and breathe deeply. I feel peculiar, my back is prickly. Astounded but delighted, I gradually realize the change. Joyfully, I spread my gorgeous orange and black wings. "