Drink tea? Perpetually. Reheat tea? Naturally.
Check email? Unfailingly. Check Facebook? Intermittently.
Plan meals? Usually. Go grocery shopping? Frequently. Continue reading
In trying to identify some photographic subjects last year, I learned that damselflies mostly fold their wings when they alight, whereas dragonflies hold them straight out, like a biplane. There are, of course, other differences, but none quite so easily observed as the position of the wings at rest.
Their aquatic nymph stage is also quite distinct.
Damselflies have three leaf-like gills at the tip of their abdomen,
while the more robust dragonfly nymphs lack these.
This is less than entirely useful, since it is not the nymphs taking flight and landing prettily on my kayak or a nearby lily pad. Continue reading
Cuter than a bag of hammers?
No, that doesn’t sound quite right, even though it’s definitely accurate.
However they should be described, this is the highest duckling-to-responsible-adult ratio I’ve ever seen. But Minnesotan photographer Brent Cizek captured a mother merganser with 50 ducklings. Some likely born in, the article explains, and some likely wandered in. Lucky mom!
Thanks to Marilyn Smith for the link to Brent Cizek.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone,
“it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master — that’s all.”
– Through the Looking Glass
I must not be in my masterful mode today. I think synchronicity is the word I want, but lose my nerve and look up the definition. Always a mistake.
Synchronicity is a concept developed by psychologist Carl Jung
to describe a perceived meaningful coincidence.
““ Tech Target
Dagnab it. That’s not exactly it. I’m not perceiving any meaningfulness in this coincidence — I get that what’s going on is happening in me, not in the outside world — I’m just taking meaning from it for me. Continue reading
As a non-poet, I find rhyme to be stupid hard; even alliteration is tricky. To keep this series aligned (birdies, butterflies, and something else with a B), the best I could do for these sunrise shots was to invoke “break of day.” If only all three of them had had boats . . .
When I see drab flying insects, I think “Moth.” I expect butterflies to be more colourful, somehow. But the white one is a cabbage white, apparently, and the brown one might be a northern cloudywing. Both butterflies. Not moths.
Having recently returned from four weeks in Scotland and Iceland, I’m a bit preoccupied with overseas wonders. It’s good to get a reminder that there are wonders closer to home: in this case, at White Lake, about 90 minutes NW of my house.
Today, the first of three alliterative posts: Birdies. I’d include the hummingbirds here, if iI hadn’t just posted them.
Who knew that loons, like pelicans, can scratch that spot between their shoulder blades with the back of their head?
This guy was like the Friendly Giant: Look up. Look wa-a-a-y up!
Great Blue HeronAt some point, you’d think I’d have enough photos of great blue herons. Yeah, you’d think so . . .
How the Golden Arches came to be named that when they are clearly yellow is a mystery for our times, I guess.
Why soaring arches lift up not just the roof but also our spirits is a mystery for all time.
Left to right, these photos are of these places:
When the feeder was replenished, the hummingbirds moved in, and so did I with my regular camera. The next day, in better light, I got out my longer lens and tripod. But by then these little beauties were wise to me, and came not at all.
So I got what I got that first day. A good reminder to do what I can, when I can, rather than waiting for perfect.
My favourite? The photo-bombing hummingbird . . .
Posted: 2025 Jun 13
Thanks to John Whitman for this slightly dismayed face from downtown Ottawa.
This space is available for other submissions.
