Spring wildflowers...........

Trillium, my favourite Michigan wildflower. I love it because it masses the floor of the woodlands in a carpet of white. In England its the Bluebell for me, but here its the Trillium. It tells me Spring is here. There are many more spectacular flowers here but this one is it.
These are in my garden, after a rain shower. We dont really get showers here, not like in England. In England you can be out on a clear day and all of a sudden a quick downpour....that's a shower. Here is simply rains. Well, when the sun came out I took these pictures.



I have several other wildflowers growing in my garden. They came and went quite quickly but the Trillium took awhile to show their faces.
The man across the ally is growing tulips. Mine are not out yet but his are in full sun. They will come and go quickly while mine take their time.

Periwinkles again, so pretty, had to show them again

This little guy came to visit and brought his family. He is a sparrow of sorts, a White Crowned Sparrow. His coat is a lovely soft blue grey. A little beauty.




I am sharing this with Our World Tuesday

Noisy Bird............

Mr C singing his heart out........noisy little begger.








My Forsythia arch coming along nice. Have not had a chance to get out and tidy and secure it yet. Will be sort of nice in a couple years.



The Quince is beginning to bloom



If you look close you may see a birds bum.......I put that wreath temporarily on the side of the arch that holds the swing. I then put an iron pot holder in the center that secured it to the trellis. So.......I thought, maybe some ivy would look OK in it. Next thing I know a flock of Blue Jays claim it and a pair of them are building a nest in it. Well I had to take down the swing. I could just see that, Tristen swinging and the babies bouncing...........I will try to keep this information from Tristen so he leaves them alone. Although I think the Blue Jays will take care of themselves I prefer not to have the hassle. They don't mind me in the garden and as long as there is no eye contact, they carry on, otherwise they pretend they are just sitting in the bush for no other reason.

In fact I was sitting on the deck drinking some water and one of them came to the feeder. He stood and stared at me as if to say "Ya got a problem with this?".....I looked away and he stuffed his face and took food to the Mrs. feeding her in the tree. We must have reached an understanding because he came back and ignored me. He is a big bird up close with a very sharp beak. Meanwhile, on the front porch.......



Mrs Robin is recycling a previous years nest. I cant catch her in it to take a picture but she seems to be already feeding someone. I cant believe she has even laid eggs yet. We have two functioning Robins nests on the front porch in the vines. The Jays nested by our kitchen window last year. I don't know where the Cardinal is yet.
My Dandelions are doing well



Sharing with Our World Tuesday

More Blue......

I was supposed to get so much done this weekend. We have all been sick. Tristen, poor baby was cranky and had fevers and a hacking cough. Gerry and I got it as well. When it goes in my chest, sometimes I just can't catch my breath and it hurts so bad. The very worst thing is (blush) it makes me pee my pants. I changed 4 times yesterday. For that reason I wont go outside.
I did go out today and capture a couple of shots. I now notice I am getting the cold part of the deal. I am sick of being sick. Sort of ironic that I was not sick the entire winter at least since November and that was something else. The weather has been perfect. My garden and house is a mess, so much to catch up on now.
The periwinkles are out and what a beautiful colour they are.




My Parsley is up

I saw Chives too but I like to show those in bloom.
The Forsythia is amazing this year. I have to get out and shape it into proper bushes

So much to do I have to try to get out this week, sick or not.

Welcome to my Garden in May............

Its been a very long time coming but the garden is waking up at last. May, and nothing planted yet. We are not supposed to plant till the end of May but most years I have stuff in by mid April. This year I haven't even finished the clean up yet. I am working on it though a little at a time. This old body needs exercise after the long winter basically vegging. So nice to be out in the air.
Its a miracle what a few days can do. A little rain and then a lot of sun yesterday got things going really well.

My Mini daffs are out and looking happy and I just love this one with all the petals.

Isn't she beautiful?

Primula or Primroses are out now too


Lots of blue too


Then there is the squirrels........Bud next door set his live traps and has captured and (he says) relocated two black ones. This guy pesters me every day, and sneaks up to see if I am looking before he gets into snacking

I sort of hope Bud does not capture him, he is a bit of a lad.
Sharing with Little Red House Mosaic Monday also with Lavender Cottage Garden Cottage Style Party

Outside at last.................

I really should have stayed home and worked in the garden. It was such a lovely day on Saturday. It felt so good to be able to go for a drive. Laura and Reina came with us, that is Gerry, Tristen and me. We have waited so long for this and the kids were so happy to be out. "How long, how long, when will we be there" says Tristen. We decided to go towards Empire. There is a walk that seemed just about the right length considering the kids. It's called Windy Moraine. Off we go


On this post I will talk about what I saw in the woods and then do another post on Bluebell Woods, about the walk itself.
There are so many things popping into life after a very very long winter. In parts we were still walking through snow. The day was perfect in the high 60s, it was windy....Windy Moraine. what would you expect. What I loved was the sound of the wind in the tops of the trees, down where we were walking was calm and warm.
Here are some pictures of new life springing through the dead leaves from the Fall............moss, up close is beautiful.


Fungus.........also very beautiful. A fairy land. The dead wood provides new life, nothing in nature is wasted.


The green shoots are wild garlic/onions. You can smell them as you walk through the woods.

The Silver Birches are beautiful against the sky

There are some lovely views and my pictures do not do it justice.

Look at the snow........in April, would you believe.

No flowers yet, but maybe next week. If next week is as nice we can go for another walk. The view from the top of the Moraine is spectacular. It was hazy and so I could not capture it quite well enough on film.

Garden yesterday, April 24th................

We finally spent a day outside. Woo hoooooo........it was wonderful. My ex son in law bought us a load of mulch and helped my husband pull out all the shrubs under our front window. This year I want to redo the whole of the front yard. Well, we got the mulch down. I moved the bird feeders to under the apple tree. I am going to buy some chairs to sit out there and take pictures. I need to do all the trimming next, cut off all the dead stuff. The daffodils are budding and maybe today, if the sun comes out, they will open up. We had snow again last night. It will melt though once the sun decides to stay out.
Meanwhile a surprise...........I was taking a picture of my fish. I had two........well I have three. For the longest time we only saw the two and was so happy to see they made it through winter. What a lovely surprise to find we have one more. They are growing nicely too.

Look how big they are


The boy fountain is just going to be a birdbath this year. He splashes and drys out to quickly. The birds still love him anyway and the Cardinal was enjoying a drink.

The other birds continue to enjoy the feeder. I have also got some plates that my friend found at a garage sale for free............I am using those as bird baths. One I put on the table next to the feeders and the other on a stand.

I will paint the stand and it makes a great bird bath don't you think?

I had a rather unusual visitor last evening. I have never seen a small red squirrel here in town before. How cute he is. Will have to be sure that one does not get in the attic.

He is either a baby grey squirrel or a red squirrel who are smaller.........time will tell. I have never seen a grey with so much red on it.

Anyway. Today as soon as the snow is melted its back out to work out the front.Set up the fountain and do some trimming and clean up. I should have some pictures later.

Aharing with Adorned from above, always a great party.

also with Lavender Cottage Garden party.

Spring, can it be?.......

Well it did snow today but it has gone now at the end of the day. The icey snow piles have dwindled somewhat and about time too. Tomorrow promises to be sunny the weatherman says.
Meanwhile, some of my Spring flowers are popping their heads up only slightly mind.


Even the daffodils are reluctant and who can blame them.

My pond has been cleaned of surface debri but still needs a good clean out. We have both fish. They survived the winter. I hope that they will do well all summer.


The birds are still coming to the feeders. This little finch was singing so sweet.





The rain was nice. It looked nice on the pine trees.

The rain drops were so fresh hanging on the pines like diamonds.