A Spring Celebration

There are dark skies here this morning.  Looks like rain will be headed our way.  Our plum tree with its blossoms of white looks especially beautiful against the dark background.  It's a sad kind of tree with it's gnarled branches and our makeshift support system trying to hold it up.  Each year we think it might be its last but surprisingly each spring it returns to life and we exhale a sigh of relief.  It lost its mate a couple of years ago and there still is a gap in the yard because of it.

I took this picture of it this morning but it really didn't capture what I was seeing. Beautiful tiny white blossoms against a blue gray sky.

So I took this one closer up. You can see the cluster of blossoms. So Pretty!

A little closer and you notice the slender yellow stamens.  

Little bursts of yellow surrounding the white blooms.

Upon closer inspection it's revealed that the stamen stems are white and it's only the tips that are yellow.

It's like a natural display of fireworks.  The tree is celebrating another spring.

In the last year I have made a conscious effort to pay more attention to the details.  Not the kind that I relentlessly try to organize on my lists. Those types of details actually require less of my attention.  No, I mean the kind of details that I can so easily pass. The little things. Details of nature. Flowers, birds, leaves on a tree, rocks, shells or a fallen branch.  Sometimes I have to remind myself to do this.  It's easy for me to get distracted with other things.  As I get outside with my new camera it has opened up an undiscovered world - even in my own backyard. Learning to use all the settings and buttons has made me stop and look and stop and look even more.

~

 No dance competitions or major driving for us this weekend.  This is good as I have been nursing a bout of sciatica in the last week and a half.  I was feeling pretty good by Wednesday until I started to do some  housework.  Why did I feel it was necessary that day to clean the leather sofa in the family room?  Oh well, I have learned that I just need to take care of it, rest it, ice it, gently walk and stretch it.  It's feeling pretty good today so I'm optimistic I'm headed in the right direction.

Have a good weekend friends!

Charmed Inspirations

I was so happy when I found these gorgeous verdigris patinaed brass balloon charms this morning. I bought them months ago but they somehow managed to evade me in the last while.  As you can imagine I have alot of beads...but that's another story and one I'll share in a future post as I slowly get my studio in order.  After our trip to Paris two years ago you'll find it is a constant source of inspiration for me.

Today I'm working from my kitchen.  With the windows open and a slightly cooler breeze coming in I can hear the songbirds and the inspiration for another necklace.

I should have these new necklaces listed in my etsy shop shortly.  Stay tuned!

Mystery in the Garden

The other day I came home to this. Some of my plants in my front containers had been uprooted.

Using my awesome detective skills I learned while reading mysteries when I was younger, watching the original and early years of CSI and of course being a mom I figured this mystery out.

Upon closer inspection and deductive reasoning (well I actually just lifted one of the plants) and look what I found.  A peanut.  Well that narrows it down.  I have never tried to grow peanuts nor do I tend to hide them for future use.

I know who you are.  I believe you're the same fellow that has recently come to enjoy straddling the pole of my birdfeeder.  You haven't quite figured that one out as well as I watch you reach the top, arms and legs fully stretched out slide back slowly down the pole.  You're left with eating what's fallen to the ground. The sparrows win again.  I know you'll be back but just remember I'm watching you!

In My Backyard

This afternoon I was outside on the patio taking pictures of my jewellery when I noticed a mourning dove sitting underneath our bird feeder. It's a pretty common occurence for us to see this but this time I had my camera in hand.


When I was younger I thought they were called 'Morning' Doves, made perfect sense I often saw them in the morning but when I later learned it was 'Mourning' I always had a strange appreciation for them. Their sombre cooing sound always made me feel a bit sad for them and their propensity for just sitting on the ground always made me a bit worried for their safety.
You wonder if these birds are just so naive that they think they are safe there, confident that they could fly away if danger arose or just hopeful of the world and it's surroundings around them - a trust in the world that they will be safe. Be safe little bird.