Weekly photo challenge – Summer

May 28, 2012May 28, 2012 / Dee / 10 Comments

This photo always makes me smile and says “Summer” to me.

I love being near to water and walking along the beach with the sun shining down is one of life’s simple pleasures for a life lived in the northern hemisphere, and more used to rainy than sunny days.

Unfocused – weekly photo challenge

May 12, 2012May 12, 2012 / Dee / 8 Comments

I don’t usually keep photos that turn out to be not what I expected, but rummaging around for something for the weekly photo challenge, which incidentally is a great place to meet new people, I came across these two shots. The one of the flowers is a bit blurry round the edges and I’m not sure whether is counts as unfocused, the other is a view of Cairo from the Citadel and is certainly not the view I thought I was capturing. Anyway, see what you think……

I’ve waited two years for this………..

April 30, 2012April 30, 2012 / Dee / 9 Comments

I love peonies.

I ordered a Peony Tree from a very reputable grower and planted it with great care almost two years ago. I watched as it grew and produced lots of lovely green leaves that danced in the summer breeze and withstood Autumn gales; waiting for the beautiful pink blooms to appear.

I waited and waited. I asked a professional gardener friend what I was doing wrong, “Don’t worry” he said, ” be patient and the flowers will come”.

I waited a little longer and finally, last week I looked out of the window and could see something pink where days before there had only been green and here it is, my first peony……..

Weekly photo challenge – Together

April 30, 2012 / Dee / 5 Comments

I love this photo taken in the aquarium in Vancouver. I watched these two birds for ages, they just moved side by side, up and down the branch, flying off together and always coming back to the same place.

Weekly photo challenge: Two subjects

April 14, 2012April 14, 2012 / Dee / 32 Comments

This photo was taken on holiday in Sicily. We stayed in Taormina a beautiful place, quite high up, with narrow, twisting roads providing stunning views at every turn. We had great views of Mount Etna from our hotel and each day I would try to get a better shot. Late one afternoon, we strolled down to the pool area, the mountain seemed almost close enough to touch. This is the photo I took that day. The umbrellas by the pool became the main subject, with Etna looming in the background.

Arranged – weekly photo challenge

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012 / Dee / 9 Comments

Here’s my selection for this week –

Chairs – arranged just so…..

Mini strawberry flans….

A few lovely Japanese boxes…

A few more chairs….

My photos arranged here, for you to arrange to find….hope you like them

Yes, I’m a woman

March 28, 2012April 3, 2012 / Dee / 2 Comments

Yes, I’m a woman.

I push doors that clearly say PULL.

I laugh harder when I try to explain why I’m laughing

I walk into a room and forget why I was there.

I count on my fingers in math.

I hide the pain from my loved ones

I say it is a long story, when it really isn’t, just to get out of having to tell it.

I cry a lot more than you think I do.

I care about people who don’t care about me.

I cry at sad movies, but will watch them again and again

I listen to you, even when you don’t listen to me.

And a hug will always help

Don’t know who wrote this, but I like it

I also like this sunflower; it is one of three that were in the bunch of flowers I bought in the market on Saturday

I love the yellow colour, so uplifting and happy, makes me smile

I like odd numbers too

Weekly photo challenge – Through

March 24, 2012March 24, 2012 / Dee / 23 Comments

This is a view through the trees in Butchart Gardens to the boats in the little bay beyond

This view is up a flight of steps in Taormina, just loved the colours

..also just realised this is post number 100 !

First Nations Art in the Museum of Anthropology Vancouver

March 19, 2012March 20, 2012 / Dee / Leave a comment

On our visit to Vancouver, we took a trip out of town to the Musuem of Anthropology on the University of BC Campus. It isn’t on the normal tourist trail, but if you get the chance it is a place you must visit.

The staff were incredibly helpful and very knowledgeable; the site is very well set out and signposted. All the exhibits are clearly detailed and there is so much to see that by the time I had reached the bottom of the ramp at the start of our visit, I had run out of adjectives!

These are some of the wonderful, clever, amazing and awe-inspiring things we saw there….

A collection at the bottom of the ramp

In the Koerner European Ceramics Gallery a tile stove from 1500-1600

and finally, in the Bill Reid Rotunda, my favourite “The Raven and the First Men”

The Raven and the First Men depicts human creation according to Haida legend and was commissioned by Walter and Marianne Koerner for the Museum. Bill Reid took two years to carve this amazing work from a giant block of laminated yellow cedar and it was dedicated on 1 April 1980.