Watercolour Cloud Painting

 I challenged myself over the winter months to improve my cloud painting.  I watched several Youtube videos on it and after many attempts I felt this one was starting to get a feeling of fluffiness. 

For anyone who likes watercolour painting, I came across a competition - Women in Watercolour - which has some amazing paintings.  Many of them are photo realism but there were other styles as well. If you Google the name of the competition, you will get to the site and be able to view all the winners for this year and the last 3 years.  I like the fact that they had many prize winners - about 30 I think- and also made a slide show of the 160 honorable mentions. 

I found it encouraging to see so many wonderful paintings.  We get so much depressing news but these women are painting wonderful watercolours and bringing joy to people who see them.

Hope you are enjoying some hobbies these days.  

A Story. "Faulty Connections" and Jewelweed

 Here is another story:

Faulty Connections

Bill wasn't looking forward to his doctor's appointment, but he felt he had to share the concerns he and his wife had about his memory, his problem solving, his word finding and understanding.

"I'm having trouble with my memory," he began.

"Just normal aging, but I'll give you a short assessment."

Ten minutes later, Bill had drawn a clock, identified a camel, recited three numbers backwards, remembered five words, and completed other similar tasks.

"Perfect score, Bill."

He left the office relieved, no dementia.  Driving home, he mistakenly pressed the accelerator at the stop sign and crashed into a car.

Jewelweed is not a terribly common weed in our area but it really likes the damper areas of our property. It has juicy stems like an impatiens and grows 5-6' tall.  It's an annual but it scatters its seeds by popping its ripe seed pods which flings the seeds a fair distance.  The plants are easy to pull out as they are very shallow rooted.  It is a bit of a nuisance in the gardens but it is much better than stinging nettle which also grows here and there.  The flowers are small - less than an inch- but they are interesting if you stop and have a good look at them.

Last Day in the Robin Nest

 Yesterday morning I took this photo. I was pretty sure it would be the last one and sure enough the nest was empty this morning.  We had a thunderstorm and rain early this morning so I don't know if they fledged yesterday evening or this morning just after the rain stopped.  Anyway, no sign of the robin family but I guess they are somewhere on the property just trying to keep a low profile.  I may see them when the young birds are a little stronger.  It's been fun to share the journey with them.  It's truly remarkable to go from a little blue egg to a bird with feathers and big eyes and strong yellow beak. Life is amazing.

More Pictures of the Baby Robins

A couple of days ago, all snug in the nest early in the morning.

Last evening, I heard one of the parents call quietly. I wondered if it was encouraging the babies to leave the nest.  This morning, at least one of them is looking awake and alert. We'll see if they are still in there tomorrow.  It's looking pretty crowded.
 

A Story "Family" - and some red flowers

 Here is the second part of the story "Baby Plans".

Family

Laughing, panting, David called a stop to the soccer scrimmage with his stepson, Ben.

"Time for ice cream," Ben grinned.

"You betcha, kiddo," David returned with a big puff.

David slung his arm around Ben's shoulder as they headed for the house.  Jessica watched them from the kitchen, her heart singing as it always did when those two were together.  David couldn't have a biological child of his own, but he loved and cherished Ben as his son.

Jessica and David had debts; they rented their house; they weren't promoted.

All they had was treasure:  family and love.

This is a miniature rose.  The flower is a bit more than an inch across. I bought this at the grocery store last winter and it's doing well on the deck.  It has collected rainwater in the centre.

Flowers come in so many different shapes and sizes.  Here is some beebalm looking like it's having a bad hair day.

This dahlia is so neat and tidy.  Dramatic in its very structured way.

Probably my favourite daylily.  The lime green centre is such a good contrast to the rich red petals.

I like the glossy green leaves of this begonia. Very bright and cheerful.

Happy gardening.

Three Baby Robins

 The nest does have three baby robins in it.  Today is the first time I've seen all three of them.  They are getting a bit snug in the nest. I think they'll be happy to have more space when they fledge. The parents are being so quiet and I don't even hear the babies squeaking when the parents bring food.

Baby Robins

The baby robins in the nest on our propane heater vent cover are really growing quickly .  I love the way one of them is peering over the side of the nest.  I'm not sure if a third nestling is in there or not.  There were three eggs.

A couple of days earlier, they are just little blobs with tufts of feathers.

The parents are being very quiet as they come and go.  We keep our distance to disturb them the least possible .  I use the zoom on my camera to get some photos.

Robins are such cheerful birds.  I'm happy to have a younger generation arrive.

 

A Story -" Baby Plans" - also Black-eyed Stella and flycatcher

This story is part one of a two part set.

Baby Plans

Jessica and Mark had discussed having children when the time was right:  when the student loan was paid off, when they had a house, when they were promoted.

When Jessica found she was pregnant, she hesitated to tell Mark.  But tonight, without preamble, she blurted out, "I'm pregnant."

Mark was startled but recovered quickly.

"Do you want this baby?  I'll support whatever decision you make," he said earnestly as he hugged her.

Jessica felt like she'd been punched in the stomach.  He was fine aborting his baby.  This child meant nothing to him.

The next morning, she packed her bags.

 

The plain yellow Stella D'oro is a  popular reblooming daylily and it is a very reliable plant, but I find that for my situation, where most of my gardens only get partial sun, the Black-eyed Stella, shown in this photo, is a better option.  It is a slightly taller plant (3'), with larger leaves and it blooms really well even with less sun.  The name isn't particularly accurate as the eye is a deep orange. 

Daylilies in general are very tough dependable plants.  We have large orange ones that grow wild along the roadsides that bloom profusely with no care at all. 

Had a fun thing happen this morning when I had my horse on a lead in the backyard.  I noticed a flash of grey between me and my horse out of the corner of my eye.  When I looked around, I noticed a flycatcher on a nearby tree.  He (she) had swooped in very close or right up to my horse to snag a fly.  I've noticed before that when I am with my horse that other wildlife don't notice me.  I have seen the flycatchers come very close to him before when he's in his paddock.  He is totally used to them and doesn't notice at all.

Geranium and Evening Primrose, Native Milkweed, Victoria Blue Salvia

Sometimes you plant two plants side by side and it really works. I find this combination of perennial geranium and evening primrose is one that I'm happy with.  

The native milkweed is blooming. I've always liked the look of them and they have a sweet fragrance.  The leaves are soft but, at the same time, sculptural. Of course, the monarch butterfly larva feed on them. I hope to see some caterpillars soon.

I tried to grow swamp milkweed which grows wild in some damp places around here.  I was able to start a few plants from seed but the swamp milkweed leaf beetle, a round red and black beetle, ate them.  Last year, I planted some butterfly weed which is the same family as the wild swamp milkweed.  It grew over last summer but this spring when it was about 2' tall, the swamp milkweed leaf beetle totally stripped it  in a couple of days. The beetle will sometimes eat the regular milkweed but perhaps that is more toxic than the swamp milkweed so the regular milkweed never gets totally destroyed. 

It's so interesting how some insects have such specific plants that they eat. I'm glad my whole garden isn't being eaten by beetles.

This is Victoria Blue salvia.  I've often grown it and never had any issues with it.  It isn't in bloom in May so it is a somewhat overlooked plant at the plant centres. I find it pretty and it blooms steadily from June to frost.

 It has very sturdy stems which make it good as a cut flower.