Misty, Rainy Mornings

Back to something more my style - we've had a cool and wet June so far here, another day of rain yesterday, and another misty morning today.  The world is just drenched out there!

Trying to get a picture that captures the atmosphere of a day like this is harder than I thought.  After taking several I found that something in the foreground to provide a point of reference was what made the picture.  This is the cedar rail fence that frames our 'cultivated' garden, and separates it from the 'wild' meadow behind.

The huge elm tree across the road, somehow still alive and healthy, here just a faint shadow in the mist, is also a big marker looking out our back windows.

Close-ups of water droplets provide a totally different perspective on the wet world out there, here on a rose bush that's grown up all by itself in a corner of the garden.  Hard to get in focus if there's any breeze at all!

The Storm Rolls In

Yesterday's storm rolled in very dark and fast when it finally arrived.  I'd been working in the garden while the thunder rumbled away in the distance for nearly an hour, slowly getting louder and louder.  Suddenly I felt a shadow over my shoulder and looked up to see what was there.  What was there were the dark stormy clouds below, rolling in to darken the sky in a matter of minutes.

The clouds were boiling away above me for awhile before the rain began and I was able to get in a few very quick shots, though it meant running for a tripod to have enough light.  Then the rain began and I had to run for the door.

The shot below would have been an immediate 'delete' for me, but I shared these with my wife, who sees photos in terms of patterns much more than I.  She thought it was a great picture, because the blur shows the wind, which is indeed what it was.  So here it is.

Magic Pansies

Nothing illustrates how early spring flowers are adapted to cold temperatures and maybe the occasional snowfall like our magic pansies.  Over 42 hours they went from blooming in the sun to being buried under snow to blooming in the sun again. 

7.30 Sunday - we arrive home to find the pansies completely covered in snow.

4 p.m. Monday - the snow has almost melted, and the pansies are showing their colours again.

1 p.m. Tuesday - all traces of snow are gone again and it looks like the pansies never noticed.

Self-seeded in scree, these pansies put on a great show, withstand the cold (and snow apparently), and last forever outside our kitchen window.  Magic pansies!

Snow on Mother's Day!

We don't quite believe it, like a lot of others I expect!  Woke this morning to cold temperatures and blowing snow.  It was melting on contact when we left, and we were away a good part of the day.  We returned to 3-4 inches of white stuff - in the middle of May!  Absolutely absurd weather.  Yesterday I was out photographing wildflowers, and today they'll be buried in a carpet of white.

Yesterday I was picking this rhubarb for a delicious rhubarb crisp; today it's covered in snow.

Yesterday I was struggling to get a picture of this fritillaria, with it's flowers hanging straight down; today you can actually see the flower 'cause the plant is bent over by the weight of the snow.

And in the old meadow next door this apple tree (and all the others) is covered in a layer of white.  Sorry these pictures are a little grey; they were taken at 7.30 in the evening.