Sunny Sprinter Days

It has been eye-blindingly bright and cold.  Very few temps above freezing - actually had a reading of -12C last week.  Last year at this time I was out with the clippers and rake cleaning up the garden.  Our first garden refuse p/u is April 8th.  Will be interesting to see just how much I'll be able to get done when/if the snow melts.  Just aching to be out there in the dirt.

We took Bart to the Royal Botanical Gardens on Sunday.   We'd been on the 17th of March when it was 15C.  Interesting to see just how quickly it has all frozen over again.  Also, was shooting most of these photos blind - it really was just point and shoot - no looking and studying - couldn't see the screen on the back of the camera because of the light - makes me miss the days of the hooded view-finders.  Am going to share some of these shots as a public reminder that I need to do a bit of investigating in order to do a better job of framing when the light is sooooo brilliant.

Perfect sticky snowman making snow here & made me wish I had skis again - perfect spring conditions. 

This sort of gives you an idea of the brightness of the day.

Down below - absolutely no definition or shades of colour in those trees to the left - look like a big black blob as the camera squints to do its job.

Kevin & I had hoped to find the swans again - perhaps they're hidden in the snow.

Remove the blue from the top of this photo & it's almost been reduced to a black and white photo.

Very sweet little wood pecker and next time will ensure that I've got him framed without the branch running through his sweet little head.

The pathway of an ice-breaking waterbird...and below at the base of a tree, a little bit of hope that spring is just around the corner.