May 2-4 Weekend approaches...

About a month ago, the back garden looked like this. Most of the colour came from bulbs, and some early spring plants.

Scilla

Mini Daffodils

Anemones

Crocus macro

A few weeks later, the garden was much greener, and some other favourites had made themselves known.

Brunnera

Hellebore

Forget-me-nots and Epimedium

Cut Tulips in front of painting

Success!

Sometimes I get very frustrated with technology. When it works, it's a dream, but when it doesn't, it can be a nightmare. This was no nightmare, just an irritatingly bad dream. My "cloud" wasn't properly transferring images between devices, so I missed posting the following...

Unwinding

Was walking home from the gym one early evening, when it started to snow. This little shortcut looked inviting. The accumulation on the bench reminded me of pillows and I was mesmerized by the falling snow under the lamplight.

Underbridge

Closer to downtown, I passed under the train bridge, by the market building. The plows had dealt with the roads, but the sidewalks were still covered. Two other trudgers were ahead, on the other side. The light, again, made it almost cozy.

Underbridge noir

The same shot as above, but black and white, which gave it a somewhat more sinister tone.

Hidden courtyard

When I went exploring downtown stores this past Sunday, I checked out an upstairs vintage store that I had not yet visited. I came out into an interior courtyard that I had forgotten even existed. It looked like something out of the eighties, which was probably the last time I had been here. Lots of lines to entertain my eyes.

CLEARANCE

The Old City Hall building reflected in the window of Acker's furniture store on Carden Street. I like the superimposition of the CLEARANCE sign on the stone building, and the car reflections interspersed with the store interior. The red bowls are amusingly reflected onto the pedestrian entering from the right.

Our Glorious Dead

This war memorial is just beside the train station. Black and white makes it more sombre. I like how the cross in the foreground is repeated, on a smaller scale, in the background.

Avian shelter

The wing-like top of one of the bus shelters, with a security camera-head!

Colourful Commerce

Always liked the barn-like look of the distant red brick building. Pumped up the colour of it and the plastic bins in the foreground.

LOVESiCK

Graffiti on the back of a red brick building that overlooks the Speed River pedestrian trail. I was always an admirer of the blue Che, but  LOVESiCK is a great new contrast and addition, especially with Valentine's Day approaching.

North on Bay

Taken from the 19th floor of the PGCRL, looking north. The sun had just risen, so there's some early morning golden light in there amongst the cold, shiny blue.

Recent activity

Hot and Cold 

This photo was taken one cold but sunny morning from the 19th floor of the building I work in. It's looking south and east at sunrise. The cold created a lot of steam from the roofs of the surrounding buildings, which lit up nicely in the morning's first light.

A Place for everything...

Another Toronto shot from up on high, but this time looking north. Am always intrigued by the changing of everyday objects that we don't always notice until they start to disappear.

Reflections over Bay

It was morning, but still dark outside. A fresh dusting of snow on the city streets helped illuminate the scene. I was having my ritual tea and oatmeal before starting work and looking out over the cityscape. I liked how the window directly in front of me reflected the table and chairs behind me, while the exterior of the building reflected the structures facing it. The dark vertical line is a window washer's rope.

Monochromatic texture

Taken today, in the backyard, when we had some sunshine on this unusually mild winter's day. It's now raining! The neighbour's fence cast a long shadow across the snow and part-way up the bark of the Black Walnut. The foreground, slender bark creates a nice contrast.

The Second Coming

Actually, the second flowering of my yellow Christmas Cactus. This is a favourite because the yellow ones are harder to find. I also have orange, purple, white and red ones but this is the only one in flower right now. Love the contrasting pink pistil.

Farewell 2015!

We have had something of a quiet Christmas break, but have both enjoyed the peace and relaxation. We were starting to crawl the walls though, as we had been spending a lot of time watching Netflix and iTunes shows and movies, and invitations to friends' were few and far between.  So, today we headed out in the car down to the RBG in Burlington/Hamilton.  It was a grey day and we thought the proximity of plants would be uplifting. We toured the Mediterranean gardens and the following are a few pictures that I thought would be worth sharing. Happy New Year!

Red Berries

White flowers ready to bloom

Koi pond

Bird of Paradise

Aloe flowers

Ready to bloom

Fuzzy Succulent

Barbed stem

Orchid macro1

Orchid macro2

Ottawa Visit

Antique store window

Last weekend, we took a four day break to go to Ottawa.  We were going to visit my dad, just outside of Ottawa, on the Friday, but he had the flu unfortunately.  We decided to go ahead with our mini-vacation as we both needed the time away. The weather was mostly pleasant, although there was quite a cold wind coming off the Ottawa River - we counteracted that with eating out and going for long walks.  We had some memorable meals ,especially at Beckta and Town, both on Elgin Street.  We also checked out the Antique area on lower Bank Street and the Glebe, just further north from there.  No Museums this time around, as we wanted to be outside as much as possible. Here are some of the better pictures from that trip...

War Memorial

Rideau Canal Still Life

Chateau Laurier Reflection on the Rideau

Above and Below

Elgin Street at night

Architectural spine

National Gallery

Rideau Canal colours

Rideau Canal in action

Backlit Parliament building

Oh Canada!

Under construction

Pagoda detail

Sun lamp

Heading home

Sun and clouds through my sunglasses