Sunday, January 20, 2008

Winter Comes (& Tulips Too!)



Just last week I was complaining that we've hardly had any snow in Calgary this winter. And then I remembered that here near the Rocky Mountains, winter comes in January (and lasts until April)!
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I took some pictures of our front yard yesterday. Sorry the photos are dark, but I can't adjust exposure on my wee Canon Powershot. I can't wait 'til I get a new digital SLR for my birthday! I have a request for a Nikon D300, which I will tell you about later!
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This is the first substantial snowfall (still small by Canadian standards) since November. This snowfall doesn't compare to east coast snowstorms. My parents, who live about an hour from the ocean on the east coast, have already had several major snowstorms in their area!


The photo below shows our beautiful stone bird bath. The cord you see is the new bird bath heater, which I got David for Christmas! The birds really appreciate the water supply, especially at this time of year. If you want to be popular with the birds, put a couple of bird baths in your yard!
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The heater maintains the water at about 1°C, just above freezing. The water does slowly evaporate and needs to be refilled every few days. The water bath has been very popular so far with sparrows, chickadees, and a beautiful pair of big blue jays. The big blue jays sit there and play and drink and splash, and their colour is indescribably pretty. And we don't have to put peanuts out to attract them, like our neighbours do!


And one last photo. Here are some tulips I bought yesterday, dreaming of spring time! They are the palest, prettiest pink.

7 comments:

  1. I have pink tulips here at home 2, they sort of give me the sign that spring is soon here, very soon.

    Thatnk so much for your comments on my blog, they make me happy, and yes come here and I take photos... and I do not have to make you more beautiful then u already are :-D

    Many hugs
    Katarina

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  2. What pretty pictures. It is really pretty to look at the snow from afar...haha. All we have in Vancouver is interminable rain. The tulips are such a delicate juxtaposition.

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  3. I love snow and I remember winters with lot of snow when I was a child. But nowadays winters in the south of Sweden are warmer and we do not see snow very often. And when it snows it creates traffic chaos for a few hours and then it disappears again.

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  4. The snow looks beautiful in your neighborhood...looks like plenty, too.

    How interesting about the birdbath. I had no idea that there was anything to help keep the temp constant. I must tell my mother who adores her birds.

    The beautiful tulips must make you smile every time you see them. Buy some often and don't forget to share!

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  5. What beautiful pictures, and beautiful flowers! We missed snow today, but 100 miles north there's a blizzard. Phooey, I was hoping for a snow day!

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  6. What beautiful pictures, and beautiful flowers! We missed snow today, but 100 miles north there's a blizzard. Phooey, I was hoping for a snow day!

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  7. I have a bird bath too--which I love to watch--very entertaining. Since I live in SC it only freezes a few times---usually I can just flip the top coating of ice off!

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