Flower Fairies of the Trees: The Pear Blossom Fairy

The Pear Blossom Fairy poem is one of my very favorites in the Flower Fairies of the Trees series. I knew I wanted to share it with you guys, but I was kinda bummed because I don't have a pear tree and I like being able to share real life photographs, as well as the image from the poem.

As I sat contemplating this one night I had a lightbulb moment. My mom has pear trees! Perfect! I suppose I could've snapped a few of my own pictures of her blossoms on one of my visits, but I thought it would be fun to have her take them with her digital camera that we got her a few years ago. Like many of us, she hasn't had a lot of opportunites to experiment with the different settings, but a few weeks ago, I showed her how to use the macro function. So, after my lightbulb moment, I gave her the assignment of taking some macro pear blossoms pics. And she blew my socks off! Her photos turned out so awesome. So here you go...lemme hear some snaps for my guest photograpy contributor 'Kuntry Mom'!

Aren't these spectacular? Just look at the bokeh!

I think she's got a nack for it, huh? Show-off. ;)

And now, without further ado, allow me to share with you...

The Song of the Pear Blossom Fairy Sing, sing, sing, you blackbirds!

Sing, you beautiful thrush!

It's Spring, Spring, Spring, so sing, sing, sing,

From dawn till the stars say "hush".

See, see, see the blossom

On the Pear Tree shining white!

It will fall like snow, but the pears will grow

For people's and birds' delight.

Build, build, build, you chaffinch;

Build you robin and wren,

A safe warm nest where your eggs may rest;

Then sit, sit, sit, little hen!

Wacky Weimy Wednesday: Intervention

My dogs tend to be a little high maintenance when it come to their beverage of choice. While most dogs are content to lap water out of a mud puddle, my dogs insist on hitting the Starbucks drive-through any time we're out and about.

Since Weimaraners are so laid back (snort), sometimes they just need a little caffeine boost to get them through the day. A little "pick me up" if you will.

They usually don't mind sharing...'cause they order the same thing. Ya know, it's just easier that way.

Just look at these eyes! Gimme more! I WANT MORE!!!

I think it might be time to stage an intervention.

Or maybe it's me who needs the intervention. Maybe I need to lay off the tall, no water vanilla chai with cinnamon sprinkles on top.

Nah. I mean, I really wouldn't feel right about depriving these guys of getting to lick the cup. ;)

Footnote: I'm so joking about the caffeine "pick me up". They just lick the foamy stuff left over from my tea at the bottom of the cup.

Spring Evening

Tonight was such a pretty evening here! Not especially warm, but I really do love the unpredictable spring weather sometimes. Well, I guess it depends on my mood, actually. Sometimes I get really irritated when the weather won't make up its mind. Today, though, I decided to just go with it. I had some outside chores that needed to be accomplished so I put on my ear warmer headband and windbreaker and headed out. First up was a walk with the crazies. By the time we got back to the house, my lungs were full of fresh air and I was all geared up to spend the evening outside. Sure, I got a little bit drizzled on, but it didn't bother me today.

Some days I have a hard time motivating myself to be outside when it's not perfect weather. This is why having the wacky weimies is perfect for me. Usually, our walk is enough to get me energized and ready to enjoy the evening. No matter what, I'm usually happiest when I can be outdoors.

In between my chores I slacked off a little, cruisin' around and taking pictures. Here are a few of my favorites from the evening. :)

Red Flowering Currant. This grows native around here & it's definitely one of my favorites.

Loved the seed pods on this Maple. Not sure what variety it is.

Flowering Crab Apple. When the fruit develops, Caspian loves them for treats. I personally think they're a little bitter. ;) Supposedly they're good for preserves though.

Speaking of Caspian, just look at this handsome devil!

Here mom, I'll pose for you...

Does this mean you're gonna come over and feed me now? Please?

How can I resist this face? ;)

Where the Wild Things Are

Did you guys ever read the book "Where the Wild Things Are" when you were young? I did, and it was one of my very favorite books growing up.

Sometimes, living out here in the woods, I feel like I could write a "wild things" book of my own. I've seen just about every wild creature imaginable out here, including...deer, elk, porcupine, bobcat, coyote, and black bear. All of which have either been on our property or in very close proximity. And I know that plenty of these guys are lurking in our forest, just behind the tree line, probably watching me, knowing that I can't see them. ;)

I even had a dream about this one time. I dreamt that I woke up one night and looked out our back window to find all sorts of animal shenanigans going on in our backyard. Like an animal block party.

For the most part, I'm comfortable co-existing (hopefully peacefully) with the creatures that I've listed here. My only exception to this feeling of ease would be related to one animal that I don't have listed here. And I'm not even gonna write its name, 'cause I don't want to put it out there in the universe. I've come to terms with the fact that they're around, but I'd much rather pretend to be ignorant. ;)

As comfortable as I am, I still try to keep a guard up, just in case. And it's always a little startling to walk out the front door in the morning and be greeted by seven pairs of eyeballs staring at me.

Thankfully, these seven sets of eyeballs belong to our resident elk herd! These gals are always welcome! They usually start showing up around September and generally come by to visit about once a month until right around the end of April. Usually, when they visit, they stay for about a week. It's getting to where I can tell when they're about to show up. Mostly, because my dogs can smell them a mile away. But sometimes, I just get to thinking, "Hmmm, I haven't seen those gals for awhile". And then bam! There they are, grazin' away.

Caspian loves when they visit. Even if I can't see them on dark mornings I know where they are in the field, 'cause Caspian will be on the other end of the pasture (next to wherever they are) instead of in his usual spot where he waits for his breakfast.

My neighbor told me he saw Caspian escorting them down the fence line one morning a couple of months ago. The elk were walking single file and Caspian was matching them step for step, nose in the air. Goofy Arab. ;) He probably thinks they're just silly lookin' horses. And they probably think, "what a weird colored elk!"

Anyway, as "wild" as it is around here, I always do love it when these girls stop by to visit. I don't even mind this next guy.

Just as long as his cousin Vinny stays far away. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

It's not easy being green...or is it?

I love, love, love frogs. I love how they sound, I love how they hop, and I love their plump little frog legs.

A few weeks ago, to my sheer delight, I discovered that a little froggie had taken up residence in my backyard pond. There he was, night after night, just a croakin' away, that sweet frog lullaby. I tried and tried to track this little bugger down to get some pictures, but my efforts were met with solid resistance. As soon as I would get in close enough proximity to try to get a good peek, he would stop ribbiting.

Cabela tried to help me out...she started pointing him (someone needs to inform her that she's a bird dog). Even with her assistance, though, this little guy was safely hidden behind one of the many rocks. I built the pond with lots of hiding spots for froggies and fishies, so I guess I can't blame him for utilizing 'em. Smart frog. Darn it.


Recently, I realized that it had probably been about a week since I'd heard my little friend. What?! Surely he couldn't have moved on so soon! Was there something wrong with my pond? Was he already looking for greener pastures (or clearer waters in his case)? I just had to get to the bottom of this. I started doing some online research and came across this page which had a whole wealth of information about the Pacific Chorus Frog...aka Pacific Treefrog...aka Pseudacris Regilla. Turns out, this guy was only hanging out in my pond long enough to attract a "lady friend". Well, looks like he did his job 'cause he's now left the building and these little guys are ALL OVER my rocks!

Yep, you guessed it! Little tadpoles! I think I counted at least 20-25ish.

Unfortunately, I never was able to get a picture of their pappy. So I was super excited when my father in law (who doesn't quite share my love of the "Pacific Chorus lullaby") gave me this little guy to bring home to my pond! He'd jumped out of the grass when my FIL was mowing. He was promptly placed in a Daisy sour cream container with some grass and holes poked in the lid and sent on a one way trip to my house today.

I was so excited to release him once I got home that I had to document the event. I might be a super dork, but that's okay with me! Seeing him hop around from rock to rock, clinging to each one for a bit before moving onto the next was so cool! It was drizzling when "the release" took place, which made it all the more perfect. The bubbles on the water's surface, raindrops plopping down...it reminded me of being a kid, swimming in the rain with my sister, mom knowing that there was no way we were coming out of the water until it was dusk. And even then, it was reluctant!

I'm fairly certain that I was either a frog or a fish in a past life. Or maybe it's just 'cause I'm a Pisces. Either way, I totally dig the water and I could completely imagine how stoked this little guy was to be soaking up the fresh water into his froggie skin.

Hopefully, this is a boy frog (it must be since I've been calling it a him...right?) If so, he better start ribbiting stat...I need something to fall asleep to at night!

In the meantime, tadpole watch has commenced! Hopefully, I'll get to capture some of the transformations before they jump ship! Fingers crossed!

Sunday Stills: Plants and Flowers

Okay, here I go! This is my first week participating in Sunday Stills. I've been lurking on the website for awhile now, as a few people that I "follow" participate. I've really enjoyed seeing each interpretation of the weekly challenge and I've been very impressed with the posts that I've seen.

Being fairly new to this bloggin' thing, I kinda held off, not knowing if I would be able to meet the weekly challenge. However, on the other hand, I'm always looking for new ideas for approaching photography, as I'm quite the novice! I think this will be a great way for me to branch out with my photography. Having said that, this week's challenge was the perfect subject to get my feet wet. I'm a flower fanatic and am always snapping pics of whatever may be in bloom around here!

I'm gonna start this post with some seed starting pics that I've taken over the course of the last few weeks. This is my first time (sucessfully) starting seeds indoors and I've had a lot of fun with it! I tried it one other time a few years ago, but the growing conditions were not quite right, so that project got scrapped.

This is day one of the project. I used one of those Jiffy Greenhouses and labeled the lid with a grid of what I had planted so that I would remember what was what when it came time to transplant. This was an important step as I had a couple different varieties of tomatoes, peppers, and sweet peas planted and didn't want to get them confused.

Here we are about a week into it...I loved watching these seeds spout to life. This here is a little basil baby.

And here we have little roma tomato babies reaching towards the sunlight.

I took these pics just last week, while transplanting a few of the starts into larger pots. I'm a total packrat and save all of my plastic plant pots, much to Kuntry Boy's chagrin. They sure do come in handy around seed starting time though!

Now, indoor seed starting is great and it certainly helps me scratch my gardening itch while I'm still waiting for Spring to...well...SPRING! But lately, as it's started to warm up and days have started lasting longer, my attention has shifted back outside. I'm absoutely loving the way my yard is beginning to come to life. Let me show you...

Here, my tulips are just begging to be cut and brought indoors to adorn my bookcase. Oh, yeah, and my garden fencing is just begging to be finished. But that's a whole 'nuther post. Maybe if there's ever a "never ending projects" challenge. ;)

Ah, now that's what I'm talkin' about! The first cut arrangement of the season. Love it!

This is a hanging strawberry plant that my mom got me for Easter...it's starting to produce fruit already! I have to be patient and wait for these babies to ripen, and it's killing me!

The pink jasmine that will climb my garden fence and arbor is beginning to wake up and sweeten the evening air.

And my lavender lilac is just about ready to join in all the fun!

Thanks for stopping by and happy Sunday Stills day!