Critter comments

Sometimes pictures just cry out for comments, like these that I took at the Parc de la Tete D'or in Lyon, France last month. The park has many pathways around a lake and through a rose garden and is open to the public. We enjoyed a stroll, sat on shaded benches and of course I took a few pictures. We caught sight of this little fellow and I expected him to run away, but he was just as curious about us as we were about him.

Got anything for me?

This red squirrel was looking for handouts from passersby but was so cute that we couldn't refuse. My husband found a cracker for him. Bright eyes and look at those tufty ears and claws !

Pretty please.

Gee, thanks this isn't too bad.

Yes, this is actually quite good.

Any more where that came from?

No! Well nice to meet you, I'm out of here then.

I think this little cutey had a dedicated following, as we were watching him another person approached and he responded by rushing over to her, maybe he sensed she had a treat for him or maybe he recognized her.

I hope you will excuse me today as I indulge in a little anthropomorphism; great word, it is the giving of human characteristics (or characteristics assumed to belong only to humans) to other animals or  non-living things. Today it's all about animals and birds.

"As a literary device, anthropomorphism is strongly associated with art and storytelling.... Most cultures possess a long-standing tradition with anthropomorphised animals as characters that can stand as commonly recognised types of human behavior." (Wikipedia)

Here is a link to a squirrel fable "Once upon a time there lived a squirrel named Cynthia ....."

These ducks were lined up on a log preening, I especially like the triangle of light on the top duck's face.

Hey, can we have a little privacy here.

There were a few families of mallards, and the ducklings were so small and very cute.

Boy, towing Mum is sure hard work.

This isn't as easy as it looks.

OK, let's get organized here!

Good, that's better,  now I have my ducks in a row.

"If you keep your feathers well oiled the water of criticism will run off as from a duck's back." Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards

Yes this is a Moorhen crossing, didn't you see the sign?

I think I'll just settle down here, so comfortable, so ........ zzzzzz.

I was thrilled to see these baby moorhens, a first for me. They are all fluff and have very large feet for their size. This little one below seemed to be having trouble tripping over his feet.

I'll just try to blend into the background here.

Wait, if I can just get onto the bank, I'm sure I can get used to these feet.

There must be a manual to go with these feet, maybe I should have read it after all.

In this picture I liked the position of the bubbles in the water behind the little guy.

Very funny, she has me pictured as a wind up toy now.

Oh, that was embarrassing, I think I'll stand still for a while.

The kids had a sleep over last night, I didn't get a wink of sleep.

We saw a pair of crested grebes with two babies.

Oh, oh, where did the kids get to now?

Hey, tell Dad to wait up.

This mother was between the path and her brood.

Who me, just sitting here pay no attention.

Oops, I see you spotted the kids after all.

Yeah, aren't they lovely they are almost as big as me now, I'm so proud.

Ha, ha, you can't get a good picture of me! And he was right ....

These Greylag geese were grazing, when the signal came for them to move,and  the whole group marched down and across the path. You can tell the young ones by the paler colour of their beaks and feet (the adults have pink feet).

OK, group let's move!

Are we there yet?

It's all peaceful now but a moment or two ago ...

Mum was chasing the interloper (the coot) to the far end of the log.

"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable." Joseph Addison

I hope you got a few chuckles from these pictures. Our walk was just ducky, thank you.

I tried something new (to me) this week, a painting of a bird with a  poured background a painted bird. I took some pictures of the process. There were 4 pours for the background, each time I poured yellow then red then blue waited for them to dry completely, applied masking fluid and then poured the colours again. I took pictures of the first three pours:

After the first pour:

Here's the second:

...and the third:

Here is the final work with all the masking fluid removed and the Chickadee painted, I have called this one "Sweet Serenade". The inspiration for this one comes from the bird bath in my back yard which has a small stone bird on the edge and the red maple behind it.

"Sweet Serenade"

Glad you dropped by, and a special thank you to everyone who commented on my last post, your comments are very much appreciated.

Hope you enjoyed today's post, glad you dropped by, Happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next week ............ 

New painting, a great laugh and gardens

Well I finally got some painting done, I am a bit slow getting back to it after holidays, but here is a watercolour that I have just finished. It is titled "Celebration".  It is a little late for Canada Day and Bastille Day but still a good fireworks show is always welcome:

I remember as a Brownie and Girl Guide singing a song about a Kookaburra that laughed.  Now I had forgotten about this until recently when "Seeing Each Day" posted some pictures of a kookaburra. I decided to investigate the birds call and here is what I found.

Now that is a really good hearty laugh and it had me chuckling.

Here are the gardens I promised, this time two private gardens, first Mary's garden in England and then Steve and Chantel's garden in France.

Mary's garden reminds me of my mothers' garden when I was a child, filled with roses, peonies, phlox, delphiniums and columbines. I was transported back by the beautiful columbines and probably took too many pictures so I have made some of the pictures into mosaics.

 

This one has attracted a bumble bee:

One last one .....

There were also irises, lilies, clematis, flowering horsechestnut, gladiola, and many more I haven't been able to name.

A beautiful garden, thank you Mary for sharing your garden with me.

"To be overcome by the frangrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat." Beverly Nichols

Here are some pictures of the flowers in Steve and Chantel's garden in southern France. Clematis, honeysuckle, wisteria, and Virginia creeper covered decks and pathways offering glorious shade and filling the air with perfume.

Roses, pansies, hibiscus, daisies, geraniums and many more flowers, bushes and grasses created a beautiful and private retreat. Pots, hanging baskets, whimsical garden ornaments.

Steve and Chantel spend the time to water (by hand), weed and trim so the garden thrives.

"A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them."   Liberty Hyde Bailey

And the lavender bloomed in the second week of our stay and filled the air with its heady scent.

"Everyone can identify with a fragrant garden, with beauty of sunset, with the quiet of nature, with a warm and cozy cottage."  Thomas Kincade

Warning: If you don't like bugs, you might want to skip over the next few rather quickly.

There were some interesting bugs too, I spotted this little fellow on a rose. Some of the bugs were much larger than I am used to.

This iridescent June beetle loved the honeysuckle. It was at least an inch long.

This large moth came for a visit one evening, I have seen similar ones before but never one this large, it was over 4 inches long. It made quite a racket banging against the ceiling, and was still inside in the morning so we carefully put it outside.

I think these next two are grasshoppers or crickets, both were in the 3 to 4 inch long range. The first one was out in the garden but the second one (black) was on the ledge outside our kitchen window. We closed the window just in case it had any intention of coming inside and I bravely took its picture through the window.

Enough bugs, everyone that tuned out can come back now.



A couple of weeks ago Jeremy (Jeremy Inglis Photography) shared some wonderful Puffins pictures on his blog, and allowed me to use some of those pictures to do a painting. I have always been fascinated by these beautiful and brightly coloured birds.

So my painting is below, it is a watercolour and is quite large (13" X 19"). The painting is not quite finished yet, it is unsigned and without a name, but I wanted to share what I have done . Thank you Jeremy, hope you like the result.

 

That's it for this week, thank you for dropping by, Happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next time .....