This is my Brain on Numbers

So, the sun came out. I took a few shots. Dumped them on the computer and decided that I had one or two subjects that deserved a bit more work. Rather than do it right there and then - I started to work on the hideous pile of receipts in advance of handing everything off to our sainted accountant for our Income Tax. As I've mentioned before, my personal idea of hell would be me in a room with an adding machine and an endless stack of receipts that needed totalling.

So, long and short of it - didn't get back outside to do a couple of do-overs - but I found the perfect representation of what happens when I spend too much time on my computer doing numbers.....look how the brain cells are falling away from the central core. The two hemispheres are virtually indistinguishable.

I remember this moment well. The adding machine total and the Excel spreadsheet totals didn't agree - no matter how hard I smacked them.

And then I realized that all my brains had fallen out my ears and that the sun had gone down and it was time to open that bottle of wine that I was saving for Friday.....

Much better now.

And so, here are a few more bits from the garden - the Limelight hydrangea - notice how thin the flowers are compared with PeeGee below. Still very pretty.

This is the most determined Gaillardia I've ever grown - can you believe it's still holding its colour considering all the cold and snow?

Wonder if I could train it to do the books?

Looking for little bits of Colour....

There's been nothing really wrong with this winter. We had snow for Christmas, but not too much. We had a January thaw. We had some weather cold enough to haul out the dreaded snow-pants. So nothing terrible, no exciting storms, not much of anything. But somehow, it feels as if it might just go on forever.

This weekend, rather than enjoy the lovely beigeness from our warm sofa, Kevin insisted we go over the the Royal Botanical Garden for a walk. We lasted about 20 minutes - it was bitterly cold. But, as you can imagine we felt so much better for having been out and about. Here are some of the tiny little glimpses of colour we saw:

Next camera - longer lens!

Just to show you how cold it was, the Cornus sericea - (that swath of sticks above and between the sea of beige) was positively purple rather than its normal red.

Bart trying to escape from the people who put him in his embarrassing Doris Day outfit.

The water moves just fast enough so that this patch rarely freezes.

I think these are the beigest photos I've ever displayed.

Had tried to take a photo when they were nice and green - much easier without the distraction of any other plants around.

And should I ever feel too cheerful, I'm going to come back to this photo.

p.s. Sunshine is out, and just as soon as I stop squinting - I'm going to get out there to see what I can find.

January Thaw

I can feel my shoulders relaxing into the semi-warmth of the last few days: 4C, which I believe is close to 40F. Sadly the snow has melted so we're looking at seas of beige, grey green and lots of sad soggy bits at the moment. These shots were taken on Friday before the snow melt - kind of nice to see some green poking through.

A very satisfactory wild aster that appeared in my garden several years ago. No doubt, I'm contributing to its spread by leaving the little seed heads on and not cutting it back.

This is a Ligularia dentata that self-seeded. Unlike the original, it doesn't appear to need as much water. In the shade, it can be difficult to find flowers to attract butterflies. However, its orangey-yellow flowers are always covered with Monarchs and bees late in the summer.

Here's a little bamboo that stays green in the winter here. I'm impressed with anything so tropical looking that stands up to snow.

A little Anemone cylindrica that appears to have completely lost its mind.

Mahonia repens - it really enjoyed its wet summer.

The promise of flowers to come.

Cornus Xmaslightsia - alas, it has lost its hue of blue over the weekend.

This is what I found on Friday....a little bud.

Looks that much bigger without the snow around it today.

And, just because it's fun to compare - here's what it looked like at 3:00 today. Shooting at a full open aperture & 1/60 of a second....you know it looks much brighter in the shot, you're probably wondering why I'm whinging about the dark.

And then same time last year. Must admit, if I'm going to have winter, I want it all - the snow, the cold and most important, the sunshine. Just a much happier sight all together.