April, 2009

Some minnows swimming above a lost license plate in a small creek.

Playing with the macro lens again: a close-up of a small centipede (maybe a couple of centimeters in length) who stayed still long enough for the shot.

More macro fun: small bleeding-heart buds against the stony face of our garden gnome-guy.

I thought I was done for the day, and then I heard this Cardinal chirp away in our backyard tree. He posed for this shot and then flitted away.

Labels: cardinal, centipede, garden gnome, minnows

YoBob happily fetching a stick from the pond.

Another male-red winged blackbird claiming territory at Woodbine Park.

The girls playing around with the water fountain.

Labels: Annie. Vanessa, red-winged blackbird, woodbine park, Yo-Bob

Annie at Another Soccer Practice

My youngest daughter at her soccer class.

Love how everyone’s in motion in this pic.

Saw this in a neighbour’s front yard, and I manged to get this shot before it flew away a second later. I have no idea what it is — doesn’t have the right markings for a Black Swallowtail, and it does look kind of beaten up.

Bought some flowers for Erika, and I took some shots while in the store. This one of cala lillies was my favourite.

Still sick with a cold, but the dog still needs his walk, and I need to take my “Picture of the Day”. So we went down to Woodbine Park, where we heard the loud squawkings of Red-winged blackbirds claiming territory for themselves and picking the fluff out of the bullrushes in order to line their nests.

A nice shot of a male red-winged blackbird among the bullrushes. Love the telephoto lens — what you see here is maybe 15% or so of the original size of the shot.

A relatively dowdy-looking female red-winged blackbird. She didn’t like me one bit and kept sending a warning squawk to her mate, who only moved when he felt the dog was getting too close.

Another male red-winged blackbird, this one basically claiming that the tree he is in is his.

Labels: red-winged blackbird, woodbine park

Sick with a cold, so I stayed at home today. Still, I needed to take a “picture of the day”, so I bundled up and went outside to take some pics of the emerging flowers in our garden — in the pouring rain.

Trillium plants just shy of blooming

Labels: rain, trillium

Annie Chasing the Ball

Annie’s started a class at a local recreation center where she is learning to play soccer. She plays with a lot of kids who are bit younger than her, so she is soaking up what the teacher tells her while the rest (mostly boys) tend to fidget a lot.

During the last 15 minutes of the hour-long class they let them play a game. Annie managed to score two goals, for a 2-0 win!

Saw this when I stepped out the door this morning. Went back and got my camera and shot this.

Labels: moon

Up until today I’ve never ventured into the vast scrubland that lies just south from the office tower I work in at 55 Commerce Valley Drive West up in Markham. Partly because I have to cross highway traffic in order to get to it, but also out of feeling I had too much work to do to spare the time.

So today I ventured forth with camera and telephoto lens in hand. Here’s some of what I saw:

A groundhog keeps a wary eye on me.

Wild pussywillows

Dried out teasles.

Labels: Livingstone Park, Markham, pussywillows, teasles

The current window display at the Bata Shoe Museum. At night.

Labels: Bata Shoe Museum, surreal