Raindrops on ..............

...well, just about everything lately.

I'm sure you remember the song "My Favorite Things" from "The Sound of Music"; here's the first verse:

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things."

There has been a lot of rain recently, rain drops clinging roses above to leaves below,

and cradled like tiny jewels.

The local pond. pictured below about 8 weeks ago, when the water was murky and water levels very low. There is a turtle, high and dry in the picture below (right hand side bottom corner).

After the recent rains the pond had filled up again, and after last weeks rain it is now over flowing in a few places.

The rains and high tides at this time of year also mean that Spanish Creek is full of water and the Coho salmon have returned to spawn.

Here is a link to a post that I did on the creek last year: Spanish Creek, a fish story . Sorry I don't have any new pictures of the creek.

But to get back to the theme raindrops on .... and whiskers ... sorry no kittens so how about rabbits...

Jericho beach park has a large colony of feral rabbits. It is a pity that people released their pet rabbits into the wild, but they now seem to be thriving, and have a faithful following of people who come and watch and/or feed them. 

 

...and squirrels ..........

This one near one of my back yard gargoyles,

and this one chewing on a horse chestnut.

Well that's about it for this week. Although I do have a painting to share. It is a poured painting that I did in a painting course recently. It is a scene from Spain showing the dramatic light.

This is scene from Italy, I don't think it's finished yet, but I'm calling it "Your table is Waiting". It is of a restaurant in a small square in a town in Umbria, Italy.

Thank you for dropping by, I apologize for not spending much time in blogland recently; sadly I haven't had much energy lately, not sure why.

Happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next week ......................

Gullible, who me?

Well this is what the general reaction seemed to be when I retold a story that I had heard recently on the radio; they never lie do they?

The story is about an experiment where 32 metronomes are started at random, and over a period of a few minutes they synchronize themselves. It sounds a bit like magic to me, but it is the kind of magic I like. Here is a video of the experiment:

This apparently relies on the metronomes being placed on a movable surface, if they are left on a stable and static surface they remain unsynchronized. When I heard the story on the radio, they left out the part about the metronomes being on a movable surface, so maybe no wonder I was not believed.

So a lesson for us all, if we all move together, we can find harmony too.

Gullibility is an interesting word; defined as a failure of social intelligence in which a person is easily tricked or manipulated into an ill-advised course of action.

"It is closely related to credulity, which is the tendency to believe unlikely propositions that are unsupported by evidence. The words gullible and credulous are commonly used as synonyms." (Wikipedia)

"The verb to gull and the noun cullibility (with a C) date back to Shakespeare and Swift, whereas gullibility is a relatively recent addition to the lexicon. It was considered a neologism as recently as the early 19th century. The first attestation of gullibility known to the Oxford English Dictionary appears in 1793, and gullible in 1825. The OED gives gullible as a back-formation from gullibility, which is itself an alteration of cullibility." (Wikipedia)

On the subject of "gull"ible here are some pictures that I have taken of gulls recently.

Glaucous-Winged Gull

There were a few people fishing off the dock and the gulls were paying attention, just in case something tasty might come their way.

It was a windy day and some of the gulls were hovering and playing with the air currents. I was delighted to have the opportunity to catch some birds in flight.

California Gull?

"He was not bone and feather but a perfect idea of freedom and flight, limited by nothing at all.”  Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

It was high tide and I liked the way the water was bubbling and gurgling around the wharf.

This young gull was not squawking noisily for food, but happy to sit and watch, and pose for the camera.

Same young gull as before, a bit of a coy look first and then giving me the eye.

There is a saying that sometimes you feel like a bird (I think it's about a pigeon) and sometimes you feel like the statue.

Well this week I felt like the "poopy" statue. My website was hacked this week and I have spent many hours on the phone to support staff trying to get the site fixed and off the "blacklist". Why do people do  this, for jollies, are they twisted (I think so)? I am now just waiting for Google to "clear" my website; are there any real people at Google, I have never heard of anyone that has actually talked to one!

I took today's pictures on a rare sunny afternoon; I have had lots of opportunity to test out my new waterproof shoes of late; they seem to be living up to that promise, but it is early in the winter still.

Here is a painting (watercolour) I finished this week, a Christmas theme again, called "Let it Snow":

And here's a watercolour, called "Fall Colour", dedicated to my friends in the USA, Happy Thanksgiving to you.

Thank you for stopping by, and a special thank you to those that take the time to leave comments for me.

Happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next week ...................

Seasonal colour

The days are getting shorter, and it has been dark and rainy lately, so when it stopped raining recently I went out looking for colour. Here is what I found:

Not sure what this bush is but the leaves are spectacular this time of year.

Crab apples I think ...

Again, not sure what this is, but I loved the blue sky in the background, a rarity this time of year.

 Hydrangea turned deep red-purple:

Again I am not sure what this is but it adds a splash of colour.

Holly

A beautiful splash of colour in our neighbours garden:

Red Maple, the last leaves are still clinging to the tree and here are catching the late afternoon light.

A friend showed me a large patch of mushrooms growing in her neighbourhood. I took these pictures on my phone.

This mushroom is found in fairly large groupings. There were about a hundred in the area where I photographed these.

 Amanita muscaria, is a stunningly coloured mushroom; it is generally considered poisonous, but is eaten in parts of Europe, Asia and North America after parboiling and deaths from eating it are rare.

Amanita muscaria is noted for its hallucinogenic properties, with its main psychoactive constituent being the compound muscimol. 

They also appear to be very strong: able to supporting a car in this picture.

Magic mushrooms indeed, I think I saw a fairy or two peeking out from between the mushrooms, but they are camera shy, so you will just have to use your imagination.

 

The last patches of colour are birds. This hummingbird (Anna's) was swooping at me and scolding me for being too close to the feeder in my back yard. He should have figured out by now that it is me that fills that feeder.

There are a lot of birds at the feeders now including Towhees, with their bright sides and eyes, but they have been too quick for me to get a good picture, so I have included this picture I took in the summer instead.

I have a picture in the current exhibit at the Federation of Canadian Artists' Gallery on Granville Island until November 25, 2012. Here is the link to the exhibit.

The bright colours, especially the reds and greens to me are a reminder that Christmas is not too far away. I have been working on my card stocks for the two Christmas Markets that I will be at, the first is this weekend (November 18) and then two weeks after that (December 2). Both are at Delbrook Community Centre, here are the days and times (I am in the gym both times, table on the right as you enter):

2012 DELBROOK CHRISTMAS CRAFT FAIR AND MARKET
Saturday November 17th 10am-4pm
Sunday November 18th 10am-4pm
Saturday December 1st 10am-4pm
Sunday December 2nd 10am-4pm

Anyone who is thinking ahead to Christmas will find some new cards and some old favorites on my website right now too.

Here are the new ones:

"Christmas Cactus"

"Holly Time"

And here is another new card and an old favorite:

"Nutcracker Sweets"

"Three Wise Crackers"

There is a special offer too, get one free card when you buy four cards, follow these links:

New items and specials and my full selection of Christmas cards in Greeting and Celebration Cards.

Well that's it for this week, hope you have enjoyed my look at colour.

Thank you for dropping by, Happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next time ............