Procyon

        Procyon is, according to Wikipedia, the 8th brightest star in the sky. My camera caught it before sunrise this morning. I did not see it with my eye but the camera did.

Starting Again?

          It was dark enough and clear enough this morning that I was able to see the stars Castor and Pollux in the constellation of Gemini while I was doing my Tai Chi on the east porch. They almost make up for the fact that the early-morning, before-sunrise birds are not singing so early these days. I did hear a Cardinal a half hour before sunrise but the sun is coming up so late these days . . .

        The blog seems a bit late too. It's been a long time since my last post.

Eastern Comma Butterfly

Photo from August 29, 2018

Taken in our west meadow

Late, Late, Often Late

        If nothing else, I am fairly consistently late with doing activities. I hate being late but that does not stop me putting off events until the last minute and then forgetting too. Sigh!

        My current "late" project is sending out postcards before April 30. Yes, it is May 16 today.
 Anyway, I had planned and still plan, to send out photos of a whirligig that I made  in 2017. It was shown at the You-Me Gallery in Hamilton Ontario and was one of several that were written up in the Hamilton Spectator newspaper and one of few that actually sold from the gallery. It is a "traditional" whirligig that shows a wooden figure chopping wood. Since that is one of my favourite winter activities, I thought it was appropriate. It was adapted from a plan that I found on the internet but adapted enough that I still call it my own.

        Following is a video that I took of it. I am putting the blog site address on my postcard so I should have some extra visitors to this page of the blog sometime in the, hopefully, near future.

Friday Walk Flowers Continued

        I found 24 species of plants in bloom yesterday, Friday, April 6, 2018. Given that it snowed in the morning and again in the evening, I was pleased to find that many. The complete list is below:

These six are native or naturalized to our area. (The * indicates that they are not really native to the area.)

Alder, Speckled (Shrub)

Chickweed, Common *

Coltsfoot *

Maple, Red (Tree)

Maple, Silver (Tree) Skunk Cabbage

Silver Maple Tree Flowers

        The remaining are plants that have been planted and maintained to some degree on the grounds of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton/Burlington, Ontario. The grounds include land in both city areas.

Christmas Rose * (Red Hellebore)

Hazel, Turkish * (Tree)

Iris, Netted *

Snowdrops *

Willow 'Hakura Nishiki'*

Winter Aconite *

Witch Hazel, 'Barmstedt Gold'* (Shrub)

Witch Hazel, 'Brandis' * (Shrub)

Witch Hazel, 'Brevipetala' (Shrub)

Witch Hazel, 'Heinrich Bruns'*(Shrub)

Witch Hazel, 'Jelena' * (Shrub)

Witch Hazel, 'Pallida'* (Shrub)

Witch Hazel, 'Primavera' * (Shrub)

Witch Hazel, 'Rochester'* (Shrub)

Witch Hazel, 'Ruby Glow' * (Shrub)

Witch Hazel,  'Brevipetala'* (Shrub)

Witch Hazel, 'Wisley Supreme'*(Shrub)

Witch Hazel, Vernal * (Ozark) (Shrub)

Willow 'Hakura Nishiki' Tree Flower

Turkish Hazel Tree Flower

Friday Walk and Flowers

        It is Friday, April 6th and we have snow again.

        There was a lot of snow hanging onto the trees.

        There was snow on all the trails at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, Ontario.

        There was snow on the newly opened Netted Iris flowers.

         
       However, in the afternoon the snow melted and I saw the first of the Round-lobed Hepatica flowers for this spring. They are always a special treat.

        By evening, they were covered in snow again and more snow has arrived. (I like my snow in December, January, and February and am less keen the the months go on.)