Just once more ..

 

.. could also be "an ode to my dog" ...

Instead of a 'photo of the week' I went back to November of last year when I was able to catch Winter sleeping on the couch.

Snow !

I don't know who was more excited Winter or me.

One more time we were able to walk in a chill morning with snow underfoot, the trails silent except for Winters panting, my huffing and puffing and the occasional bird making himself known.

Through the trails, across the school yard to the pond; following the stream back around. It was then that I heard it, I think Winter did too but chose to ignore it, that unmistakable plaintiff cry of the Kildeer and then there they were, a pair circling above.

A welcome sight but another harbinger of Spring.

A Spring that we had forgotten about on this delightful winter morning...

“I talk to him when I'm lonesome like; and I'm sure he understands. When he looks at me so attentively, and gently licks my hands; then he rubs his nose on my tailored clothes, but I never say naught thereat. For the good Lord knows I can buy more clothes, but never a friend like that”. ~W. Dayton Wedgefarth

Milkweed and Spring

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajn_photography/16345204653/

Birds are arriving daily, the tree's and yards are coming alive with their song but winter hangs on. However, as the sun climbs higher in the sky it's strength increasing daily, it is a futile battle Spring is coming and nothing will stop it.

I walked the woods and for several weeks I have been looking at the Milkweed, their stalks brittle and gray, their pods almost empty, their job done, as the seeds are scattered on the winds.

Still there is an eloquent beauty just as in the old tree's that I love so much.

.”The sun has come out... and the air is vivid with spring light”. ~Byron Caldwell Smith, letter to Kate Stephens

A brief history lesson ..

“One of the advantages of painting over photography is you don't have to be there to record an image”!

I put this as an intro to a painting I did this week, the scene was of the Castlerigg Stone Circle in Cumbria; one of the most spectacular places in what is one of the most unbelievably beautiful regions of Britain and one of my favourites.

This circle stands atop a plateau surrounded by some of the highest and ancient Cumbrian peaks; alone with nothing but the wind and the ravens for company.

http://happeninks.blogspot.ca/2015/03/castlerigg-stone-circle-remembered.html

Thought to have been constructed in 3200bc (5000 years ago) it is one of the oldest circles in Europe.

As I mentioned the surrounding peaks are some of the highest in England; 

 

Helvellyn standing at almost 950 m (3100 ft)

Skiddaw a close second at at 931 m (3,054 ft)

Blencathra, also known as Saddleback, with six separate fell tops, of which the highest is the 868-metre (2,848 ft) Hallsfell Top.(at the centre of the painting).

However they don't look that high, that is because the plateau on which the circle stands is already at 213m (700ft) above sea level

Here endeth the history lesson ;-)

Happy Spring Equinox / Eostre

One of the deepest impulses in man is the impulse to record, - to scratch a drawing on a tusk or keep a diary, to collect sagas and heap cairns. This instinct as to the enduring value of the past is, one might say, the very basis of civilization. ~John Jay Chapman, Memories and Milestones

It was one of those days ...

No photo of the week this week but there is a drawing of the week ...

http://happeninks.blogspot.ca/2015/03/coco-latte.html 

Everyone is watching, looking keen eyed at the landscape and waiting impatiently for Spring to arrive.

Walking the trails with Winter (the dog) this morning you can hear it in the chirping chorus, you can see it in the green sprouts uncovered by the receding snows but you can't feel it in the wind!

Here winter (the season) still reigns supreme, her icy fingers play around the the openings of your jacket, probing for an opening to send shivers down your spine...

At this time of year the promise of Spring has yet to be fulfilled as Winter hangs on in the shady places and everything waits and watches.

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade". ~Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

 

I want my hour back !

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajn_photography/16752324341/ 

My blog is normally entitled “Photo of the Week”

These past few weeks my images have been produced at a much slower rate. Where once they were made in a fraction of a second now they are made in the fraction of a day.

Which brings me to today's rant...

I want my hour back!

Last night I had one of the best nights sleep I have had for quite a while. I awake refreshed at 6:30, that's late for me.

It was even later when I realised it was now 7:30 …

What!

Morning is my time I love every minute of it and while I slept someone stole an hour.

I mean what is the point? I know during the war years it gave the farmers more light to get crops in etc. etc. but now? All it does is disrupt peoples lives ( look at the accident statistics) all because some dimwitted politicians think they are 'extending' the period of daylight.

Well lets look at that for a minute.

If a day was a piece of string, and you cut an hours worth off one end and tie it on the other end it's still the same length!

Only a politician could think or try to make us think that the day was actually longer...

*sigh*

"Methinks I see the wanton hours flee,
And as they pass, turn back and laugh at me".
~George Villiers

What do the birds see that we don't see?

 https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajn_photography/16512438976/

What do the birds see that we don't see?

First, this is not a new photograph, it was taken several weeks ago but my photography has been slacking off in recent weeks as other things come to the fore, like my rediscovering the joy of painting..

http://happeninks.blogspot.ca/ 

 

Last week was hectic, as far as work was concerned but I did manage a few short walks. The one thing I noticed was the woods are louder …. birdsong.

I mentioned this recently that there were more birds but they were quite silent as if they were waiting. Well this last week whatever they were waiting for arrived because they are silent no longer!

I notice the strength of the sun increasing, there is a warmth to it now along with weak glow. I guess the birds feel it more than we do, after all they are out in the cold all the time.

That gentle increase in warmth that is barely noticeable to us is enough for them to start celebrating Springs arrival.

Another Winter endured and for most survived.

Truly something worth singing about …

“A bird does not sing because it has an answer.  It sings because it has a song”. ~Chinese Proverb

all to soon ..

 https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajn_photography/15984068073/

All to soon winter draws to a close..

Not that long ago -13c wound have been bone chilling, but yesterday the temperature rose to a balmy -13c and it felt like Spring!

For a time I was downtown with friends but when I got home I was restless, luckily so was the dog ;-)

So with a lighter jacket and thinner gloves, Winter (our dog, pictured above), Brit and I went for a walk in the local woods.

I was surprised to see flocks of birds in the bare tree's, maybe just mourning doves and sparrows but they were there.

The twittering of the sparrows and the call of the chickadee's added to the silence, the crunch of our boots on the snow added the backdrop.

The day felt lighter somehow and the gently falling snow made for a picture perfect scene.

Yes Spring may only be a month away but its days like this that make me want to delay Springs arrival, just for a while longer..

“A small bird twitters on a leafless spray,
Across the snow-waste breaks a gleam of gold:
What token can I give my friend to-day
But February blossoms, pure and cold?

Frail gifts from Nature's half-reluctant hand...
I see the signs of spring about the land...
These chill snowdrops, fresh from wintry bowers,
Are the forerunners of a world of flowers”.
~Sarah Doudney, "Snowdrops (Consolation)," c.1881