Monday, April 29, 2013

Flower Hints, Birds and a Card

The rain finally stopped at noon today so after lunch Joe and I drove out to Rondeau Park to buy our seasonal pass. We decided if wasn't raining again, we would go for a walk. Yes, I'm still coughing but so far being outside has not made it worse and I'm just not used to being cooped up. I had to get out!

First though, the flower hints. The tulips are blooming along with the daffodils. Hint number one, do not put tulips or any other flowers in with daffodils. The daffodils secrete something that is toxin to other plants and will kill them. Sometimes I put daffodils in a separate vase and then put it inside a larger vase with the tulips so it looks like they are together but they are not.

Hint number 2. To stop tulips from leaning over when you cut them, take a very sharp pin and poke a hole thru the stem right below the flower. I don't know why this works, but it does.

And now for my favorite bird pictures from today.

The very first thing we saw when we stopped at Spice Bush trail - a robin's nest with 4 perfect blue eggs in it.


 So you are probably wondering how I got such a close up of the eggs!!! Well, this is where the silly
robin built the nest - right on lower part of the railing leading to the bush. Hope it survives when all the kids show up. A lot of the parents do not stop their kids from destroying things like they should.
 
 
The next pictures are not very clear but they are the only ones I have of the Hairy Woodpecker. We see about 50 or 60 Downy Woodpeckers before we see one Hairy.
 

The Hairy was quite aways away from me and he was pecking constantly so I'm fortunate that I got any picture at all. He has the same colouring as the Downy Woodpecker but is larger and has a longer beak.

I spotted this female Wood Duck sitting in a tree and Joe did not believe it was a duck as he had never seen one sitting in a tree before. I assured him it was indeed a wood duck and that they lay their eggs in trees but it took the naturalist at the Visitor's Centre to convince him! Now to give him some credit, this bird was quite aways back in the bush and I really had to zoom in to get this picture.
 
 
 

The male American Goldfinches are slowing changing back to their brilliant yellow from their winter blah brown. So nice to see.
 
 
The Red-breasted Nuthatch is one of my favorite birds to see.
 

And I kept the best for last. These are THE best photos of the Black-throated Green warbler that I have ever taken.

Front view.

Having a bug for supper.
 


Posing so nicely for a picture. The warblers seldom ever sit still so I was so happy to get this shot.


And now for the card. Busy day or what! Because it was raining this morning and not cold down in the basement (oops, lower studio) I went down and finished off a few cards. Here's one.



 
The background paper is again from someone's stash that donated it to the thrift store and I was happy to buy it all. I added the ribbon which looks blue, but it is green. The label is from Spellbinders and after cutting and embossing it, I left the die in place and used a shiny pen and draw around it and then stamped the sentiment. The flower was die cut using a Sizzix Tim Holtz die and I sponged some Fired Brick Distress Ink over it give it some dimension. The petals were rolled over the handle of a paint brush to curl them a bit. Quick card to make. I'm so used to spending an hour or more colouring each one because of the image stamps I use that I couldn't believe how quickly this one went together.
 
Sorry for the long post but I didn't want to leave anything out!
 
 

1 comment:

  1. So glad you are able to get out a little....if the sun peeks out ...a little sunshine will do you good!

    I had never heard those hints about the daffodils and tulips! I will file that away in my brain for another day! Thanks so much for sharing the hints AND your bird pictures! Just wonderful!

    Wading my way thru a 90+ degree day here in CA...uughhh....so not ready for summer.....Hugs! deb

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