First bee photo of the year

The trees in the back are in full blossom. There's been a few bees around but I think they know it's early yet. Still, one was sniffing around what I think is the cherry tree, and I managed to get a good shot of it. I'm not as close as I'd like to be, but there will be all summer for that. Stay tuned.

It's the beginning of another 4 day weekend for both of us, which is pretty rare. There is much gardening planned. Linda just got a box of more lilies, and has been contemplating where to put them. Plus 4 more peonies. And a bunch of bedding out plants that I think will mostly go in the lodge window boxes and the various planter pots.

I want to get a layer of stain along the top of the fence to keep the worst of the weather off. This should be interesting. I was up there pressure washing it last weekend. If it was going to be visible I might go back and do a better job on parts of it, but nobody will ever see it.

If I could count on this Alleum blossom holding still, I'd love to time lapse it. You can see it's just on the verge of exploding. Stay tuned.

I think Linda's work has finally had it sink in that she will be out of there very soon. It's getting frantic. I suspect she's going to collapse in a heap for the first few days of retirement. My work contract is well in hand. I'm waiting for other people to do some stuff, then I'll be busy, then I'll be done. There are some preliminary discussions about involving me in another related project later this year, but we'll see how that pans out.

The swim has been sort of sucky the last month or so. I'm not sure why. Cranky shoulders, maybe in sympathy with the cranky hams. Or maybe it's the hip bone connected to the thigh bone thing. But where a slow 500 m has been about it for the last little while, I was about 600 m in before I noticed, and finished off 1000 m in 18:50, and that's with a parachute pants floatie holding me up while he tried to decide if he was going to stand in my way in the lane, or go somewhere else. He went elsewhere. Then it was 500 m backstroke. All that was after a 20 minute water run in the dive tank. All in all a great way to start the day. 

Not sure what it is, but it's pretty

A new flower showed up today. We're not sure what it's called. I love the ruffled orange centre.

That one is just out of frame on the right in this photo.

Another yellow tulip opening up. I almost love this stage for photography more than the fully open stage. Here you get a hint of a peek at the centre, and there are layers of texture right where you can see them and get lots in focus.

In other news the war on the lily beetles is continuing. I've been spraying a dilute tea tree oil on the lilies and it seems to be working. We don't see many anymore, but we keep hunting them. It's very satisfying to crush their little carapaces with a splintering crunch. I think the ants take away the remains. Pity the ants don't take on the beetles while they're alive.

It's still cold here. All the bedding out plants are safely tucked away. All the geraniums froze to death a few nights ago. They say it might snow overnight. Such is springtime in Alberta.

Similar, but not the same, maybe IOTM preview

Here's some tree buds from about a week ago. Just because.

There had been some similar to this, not quite so far along. They are starting to burst out, but it's been cool and cloudy here, so maybe that's slowing them down.

This one sort of reminds me of the Martian death machines from War of the Worlds. I refer of course, to the 1953 classic, not the 2005 travesty with Tom Cruise.

Lastly, a perennial blog favourite, Curtis!

He had been lying beside me on the desk, lounging as only he can. Every time I reached for the camera to capture this, he perked up and looked at me. Of course he expected me to be petting him, that's why he's lying there and what a stupid human I am not to have grasped this basic fact.

While I was editing that shot and getting the light balanced, I realized he had been holding really still, and the camera caught a good look at his eye. Look at the refection of the window, and the neat bits of cat eye anatomy. This is likely the best photo of a cat eye you will see this year, well worth embiggening, so enjoy.

So many garden photos!

One of the items on my weekend to do list was do a photo walk through Fish Creek. Unfortunately there was a cougar sighting in Bebo Grove. This is the closest place for me to park, but sort of central to the whole west end of the park, and near where all the bridges are. I was told in no uncertain terms I was not to run there, and assumed that also applied to a photo walk.

What wasn't on my list, but has happened anyways, is a ton of garden shots. Flowers are blooming and growing. All sorts of stuff is coming up, and I am loving the macro lens. You're probably all sick of flower shots by now, but that's too bad. If not, scroll down.

There is a little half marathon run a month out now. I admit to having some doubts about the whole darned thing. My hamstrings have been cranky for a while now, and don't seem to be getting better in any significant way. Last week was supposed to be a 13 K run, and I bailed at 11. That was the back up, back up plan. According to the original plan, this weekend would have been 18 or 19 K, and looking forward to taper.

I did 5 and barely made it. The last 300 m my left leg was getting very cranky. 5K in 35:40 as an easy run a month out from a half marathon is not promising. If someone wants my bib for the Millarville half, transfers are allowed by their rules. Email me and we'll talk about it. I'm not going to run this one hoping to just finish without further injury.

And how about that sunset light show last night! Wow! Take a look. This is looking north. For a while I was thinking off to the east would be the show, so I'm glad I was looking over my shoulder every now and then.

Here's the promised flower shots.

Purple, thinking of Susi

I realized today that some of the blooms are a lovely purple, and it reminded me I haven't chatted with my buddy Susi in a while. So the rest of you get purple too. No special order. No, I don't have any idea what they are. I think one is a tulip, and one is a tree peony.

Another full moon

The other day I posted a pair of shots and asked which one was the one I'd worked on. There was a nearly full moon and a peony. Not together, that would take lots of work.

One of my faithful readers suggested it was the moon, and had good reason for thinking so. But, surprise! I'd been out doing some sunset photos. Walking back to the house I looked before crossing the street, and noticed this nice moon. I stood on the street to get the shot with the tree in it just right, and took 6 shots right after the other. No change to the setting, just trying to hand hold the camera still. Total elapsed time about 50 seconds.

The peony, on the other hand. I was lying on my tummy, rolling around like beached whale, trying different angles and settings, trying to get the background blur right, and catch the light glinting off the spider web under construction. I gave up on that last one.

The other night was the full moon and I was out trying again. This time I used a little piece of cedar mulch to prop up the camera lens on the lattice fence. I was playing with settings again for a bunch of shots, and finally ended up with this. Different tree this time.

I got luck and panned an ant

Yes, I got lucky, I admit it. Lucky with not one, but two bug shots. The first is a spider from the other day. If you look carefully you can see it's starting to work on a web. Doesn't it sort of remind you of the face-hugger from the Alien movies? Maybe that's what spiders dream of.

And the ant was frisky, up and down the rose, back and forth. You might not be able to see it in this version of the photo, but if you look at the tips of the thorns, they are a bit motion blurred. I didn't care what of the plant was in focus or not, I was trying to capture the ant. Look at it's little legs. The part closest to the body is almost in focus, and the ends are a blur.