Another old farm property, not far from our house, is about to be swallowed up by a new development. While it is not particularly noteworthy or of architectural merit, I thought it was worth going and taking a few pictures just to document it having been there, before it is gone forever. 

This last one, although not a riveting photo, was especially poignant for me because of the sad lone tulip you can see in the lower left hand corner. From that and the hints of a few other non-native, non-naturally occurring, plants in that area, I’d guess that this was once someone’s little garden. It made me a little sad to see and to think about the people who lived there, and made their fleeting plans for it, and who have now all moved on. 

I did have plans for a blog yesterday but  life, as it is inclined to do, threw me a bit of a curve ball so here I am today with a blog that is a day late and on a slightly different topic. 

My husband has been off work for a few weeks but is going to be back at the old grind starting Monday so, yesterday on the spur of the moment, he suggested  we just take off for the day, grab my camera and head out to  Niagara wine country to get something new for me to shoot, and some wine from one of my favourite vineyards to bring home. 

Sounded like a fun idea and, since I didn't have anything I positively had to do yesterday I agreed. 

The day started out well and reminded us both of our younger, pre-children  years, when we would often take off for a weekend and head into Vermont or upstate NY to cruise the back roads, stopping wherever and when ever we felt like. 

Unfortunately for us, this time we ran into, or to be more accurate we were run into, by  a driver who must have been momentarily distracted and pulled out from a driveway into the side of our car. All things considered, it could have been a lot worse. No one was injured, we avoided rolling into the ditch , which was touch and go for an instant, and our air bags didn't even deploy but, we were left with a banged up car, and a lot of paperwork and reports to fill in, and a rental car to arrange, since ours will need to be in the shop for nearly a week. Needless to say, my blog kind of dropped in the list of priorities. 

In any case, here I am today, with one of the pictures I managed to take before our day got derailed, and with a renewed appreciation for just being alive and for my husband's driving skills which kept us out of the ditch. 

Sorry if you are getting bored with flower photos...it's what I have most of right now. Mostly peonies and mostly pink.

I usually like to get in close to flowers but, just in case anyone is interested in what these tree peonies look like in the garden, here is a pulled back one of the whole bush (and yes, some of those blasted dandelions, in the corner). 

One of the best things about still photography, to me,  is it's ability to help us focus on the glourious things in life while allowing the less than perfect parts to fade a little into the background. 

Today, the first peony to open in my garden every year, is in full bloom. Despite the corners of shame I still have to deal with,  I intend to enjoy this little bit of heaven that is happening in my yard right now.  

And, with a promise of what is to come next week, and the week after, the ants are feasting on that sticky syrup that leaks out on the fattening buds of the  peonies still to come. 

When people ask me, I always say that autumn is my favourite season. I love the crisp cool days, the fields full of pumpkins and the markets full of the bounty of harvest but I have to admit that, in my garden, the weeks from the middle of May to the middle of June are the most exciting when just about everyday brings something new, and usually, lovely. 

My poor garden has been sadly neglected the last couple of years. A number of things going on in my life took over my time, and my attention, and the garden which, for years before that, had received a lot of tending was kind of left to it's own devices. A lot of my favourite plants still hung on and keep returning but they are not in prime shape and a lot of the area is overrun with weeds. This year is the year that I hope to start making inroads and getting it back to the pleasant retreat it used to be for me.

My mother's day gift should come in very handy in that endeavor. So, marking this as the first day of my garden renewal project, here are a few related pictures.

Mother's Day Gift

Corner of Shame

And lastly,  just in case I get too discouraged or overwhelmed, a reminder that they are, after all, only weeds and have their place on this earth too. (Even if that place is definitely not going to be my garden.)

Does a snail have a nose? And if so, does it run?

I don't really like snails but I have so many around, especially after a morning rain shower, that I've had to get better acquainted  with them than I might like and if they are going to over run my garden they are going to have to contribute something, even if it is only the occasional photo op.

The guy above seriously looks like he has a nose, and a runny one at that! And below, he looks like he is straining to get a good look at something on the branch above him.

Hope that didn't spoil anyone's appetite. here are a few, maybe less icky, things that also resulted from the rain. 

Well, not completely different maybe but at least a little different. These are two photos I took  some time  ago and  have been meaning to try a B&W conversion on for a while.

Today's Texture Tuesday theme, over at Kim Klassen's, finally gave me the push I needed to get the conversions done.

Two totally different types of pictures but both I thought could work well in B&W. I also used a couple of Kim's textures on both.

This photo used 'havana' and 'may' textures and I think their presence is quite obvious in the finished product.

Should I have let her keep her green eyes? Or remained a black and white purist?

This image used 'so true' X2 but in a much subtler way only to give a very slight tweak to the overall effect.

The garden is blooming and, despite the drop in temperatures and the roving bands of rain and (yes!) even brief flurries of snow, that hit over the weekend, I am finding it hard to be at all unhappy this morning.  So this post is all about the joy of going into the garden and seeing well loved plants waking up to the new season and putting out their buds and blooms once again. 

These last three tulips are all from the same variety which produces anything from a pale yellow, with narrow red markings, to an almost red tulip with some yellow patches, and most combinations in between. I haven't figured out yet if the same bulb produces the same colour flower over the years, or if each flower, even from the same bulb, can be different. Any geneticists out there who want to weigh in with an opinion on that? 

Opening soon, at my garden, Lilac Season!

Love the scent and the shades from soft pink to deep purple of these limited time only flowers.

Of course lots of other plants are opening up to spring too. Sadly, by the time I got home last evening, I was losing the light so I only managed to get a few shots. Hopefully this weekend will give me more chance to capture my garden as it wakes up to the light and the warmth of spring.

I'm kind of on the run this week so this post will be fast and dirty. I found some white daffodils in the corner of my garden. I planted them years ago but, in the meantime, that area had become sort of wild and overgrown and it is only since I did a lot of pruning back last year that I actually was able to see and appreciate these again. I cut some and brought them in to brighten up my kitchen.

I added a vintage butterfly image from French Kiss and a Kim Klassen texture to the second picture.