April Showers

April weather can be quite a mixture, and this year we have just about everything from rain, hail, wind, snow (on the mountains) and then some glorious sunshine too. After a recent heavy rain the sun came out and I captured the raindrops.

I was reminded of a childhood rhyme:

Itsy Bitsy Spider

The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout

Down came the rain and washed the spider out

Out came the sun and dried up all the rain

Nnow the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again!

The amazing flower below is a Fritillaria:

"Fritillaria meleagris is a species of flowering plant in the family Liliaceae. Its common names include snake's head fritillary, snake's head (the original English name), chess flower, frog-cup, guinea-hen flower, leper lily (because its shape resembled the bell once carried by lepers), Lazarus bell, checkered lily or, in northern Europe, simply fritillary.
The name Fritillarea comes from the latin fritillus meaning dice-box, and (possibly) referring to the chequered pattern on the flowers, though this derivation has been disputed. The name meleagris means ‘spotted like a guinea fowl’." (Wikipedia)

April Showers (Al Jolson lyrics)

Though April showers 

May come your way, 

They bring the flowers 

That bloom in May; 

And if it's raining, 

Have no regrets; 

Because, it isn't raining rain, you know, 

It's raining violets. 

And when you see clouds 

Upon the hill, 

You soon will see crowds 

Of daffodils; 

So keep on looking for the bluebird, 

And listening for his song, 

Whenever April showers come along. 

So judging by the amount of rain we have had here lately, there should be a wonderful array of flowers coming our way in May.

Quite an assortment of birds in the garden this week too

I did not manage to get the goldfinches, crows smashing peanuts, or hummingbird with something caught on its beak with my camera, but I'll leave those to your imagination.

A new watercolour ("Japonica"), inspired by a picture I showed on the blog a couple of weeks ago.

For more information on this and other works follow this link: GillianOlsonArt.blogspot.ca

That's it for this week, happy whimsy Wednesday, thank you for stopping by, until next time ..................

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 .....