Day 90: March 31, 2010

Crocus Cliché

More crocus are finally up and blooming in my yard - apparently this is later than most people around here, but at least they're up!  Can't believe how warm it's supposed to get later this week! So glad I'm on Spring Break and should be able to get out and enjoy it.

Day 89: March 30, 2010

A rose is a rose is a rose...

Had a little fun and silliness playing around with post-processing in GIMP.  All the teachers at school got a single, long-stemmed, red rose on Friday.  Today, mine was opened to perfection and the sunlight was streaming in the windows - just begging me to take it's picture! So I did.

Day 88: March 29, 2010

Finally Flowers!

Apparently, Spring is coming a little later to my yard than to the yards of other people.  This is as far as my purple crocus have gotten - but at least they're up!  The weather was much nicer today - with promises of temps in the upper 70'sF by Friday!  Now if only my virus would go away so I could enjoy the spring weather.

Day 87: March 28, 2010

A Great Day for Ducks

OK, so this was taken Friday when the weather was nicer.  Today it rained.  All day. Temps never got above 45F.  Nothing but gray and dreary everywhere you look.  So I decided I'd rather look at this picture of a Male Mallard duck at Flower Hospital pond instead!

Day 86: March 27, 2010

Curling!

Bowling Green State University is about 20 miles south of Toledo and is home to the closest curling ice!  Many people are more familiar with the sport of curling since the Winter Olympics but I've been a fan for years. (A side effect of getting a Canadian TV channel in pre-cable days growing up I think.)  A group of folks I've gotten to know over the past year or so have an annual curling day down at BG.  Most of them drive down from Ann Arbor to have some fun throwing stones on pebbled ice.  Unfortunately this year, I was a spectator again due mostly to being unavoidably late due to District Science Fair duties and partly to still being sick.

At any rate, the lighting was terrible and I forgot to bring my tripod, so I was less than happy with most of my pictures from today. 

Day 85: March 26, 2010

Reflection of Flight

On the way to pick up my daughter from school today, I stopped off at Flower Hospital to see what the birds were up to.  The hospital has several ponds with a large population of ducks, geese, and seagulls.  I'm still recovering from a nasty virus which has taken up residence in my lungs, so being able to get shots like this within a couple of meters of my car was a bonus!

I didn't set out to photograph the seagulls, but this guy flew right in front of me so I raised the camera and pressed the button.  He's a little blurry at full magnification, but I liked the reflections in the water I ended up with.  I'll have to go back another day when I have my tripod and when it's a teensy bit warmer - only 37F today!

This photo is part of the Weekend Reflections community.

Day 84: March 25, 2010

Blerg

Caught Colby napping like this on the couch tonight and thought, yeah, that's pretty much how I feel.  I've been felled by a particularly nasty virus.  Waiting for the antibiotics to kick in and sleeping a lot.  The doctor actually wrote me a note for work so I'd stay home for two days - she knew I wouldn't otherwise.  Whatever this virus is, it's felled two of the doctors in the practice - both are home sick themselves.  It's rampant in school - the majority of my daughter's class has it, resulting in 20-30% of the class out sick each day this week.  Thank goodness spring break starts next Thursday!

And in crocus-spotting news - mine are finally up! But it rained and snowed (shudder) all day long so they stayed closed up tight.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll have happier pictures to post of pretty flowers!

Day 83: March 24, 2010

Froglet

This little guy is about 2.5 cm long and 1.5 cm high.  Just one of the little frogs I've accumulated over the years.  Still feeling under the weather today and wasn't overly inspired.  Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in and I'll feel more energetic tomorrow.

Day 82: March 23, 2010

Don't Bite the Hand That Feeds You!

Our big cat, Colby, loves treats and comes running when the "treat drawer" is opened.  My daughter likes to feed him treats, and despite the look of this photo, he doesn't bite HER - just the treat!  I love how he uses his (polydactyl) paws to grab and stabilize her hand as he grabs the treat with his mouth.

Not the best shot - cats move fast! But I'm still fighting the virus from last week, and just didn't have the energy for a lengthier photo shoot, despite the beautiful sunshine outside.

Day 81: March 22, 2010

Injured Tree

Today was maybe 40F and rainy.  Needless to say, I did not get out to take any new pictures today!  This is from the park this weekend.  I have no idea what happened to this tree, but it doesn't seem to have slowed it down too much.  I'm always amazed at the injuries trees seem to adapt to, and in this case, the injury makes the tree a lot more interesting to look at! I wouldn't have given it a second glance if it were whole and unblemished.

Day 80: March 21, 2010

Land (and Museum) Before Time

Today we visited the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  We hadn't been there in about eight years, but nothing has changed.  In fact, most of the exhibits look as if they haven't been touched in about 40 years.  The signs appear almost hand-lettered, and a display of the "new" museum features a photo of someone using a computer that was on the market circa 1983.

However, it is a pretty fun way to spend a gray Sunday afternoon.  We went mainly for the planetarium show (the planetarium is on the 4th floor of the museum) and weren't disappointed.  They renovated the small planetarium in 2007.  Admission is free, though donations are suggested and there is a small fee for planetarium shows.

Each floor is dedicated to a different theme.  My favorite is always the second floor - prehistoric creatures.  I still can't understand why they choose to leave a very inaccurate painting up of one type of dinosaur. Instead, they added a plaque explaining the inaccuracies in the painting.  The skeletons are pretty impressive, however, with many soaring overhead on wires like the one in the above photo.

There's a floor dedicated to wildlife native to Michigan.  Nothing but display cases full of taxidermied creatures - everything from fish to birds to frogs and salamanders.  They do have a wolverine as well, but make a point to note it is not native to Michigan.  (On a side note, the last wild wolverine in the state of Michigan was found dead last week.)  The fourth floor has the planetarium as well as exhibits related to earth science - lots of really cool (fairly large) rock and mineral samples as well as impressive fossils.

I really like the first floor, too. The entryway is a circular area with an intricate ceiling - the various rooms are situated around the circle, with two curved stairways leading up to the exhibit floors.  Part of the ceiling is shown in the photo below.

Day 79: March 20, 2010

Vernal Equinox

Finally made it out to Toledo Botanical Gardens today - a day too late for the spring weather, despite what the calendar says about today.  I liked the yellow of this weeping willow tree.

Ducks and geese were everywhere - it was a very noisy park!  Both the swans and the geese allowed me to get pretty close before shying away - I think they were hoping for a handout of bread.

This guy was the only one wearing a neck tag and leg band. 

The swans hunted for food in the shallow water under a bridge.

Day 78: March 19, 2010

Trees on the Last Day of Winter

The bare branches are starting to reveal their baby leaves.  Today is the last day of winter (yay!) and the trees are ready for spring - buds and teensy leaves everywhere.  This one looked better in monochrome but you may have to embiggen it to see the actual leaflets.  This shot is a part of Monochrome Weekend.

The shot below is of one of those little things I don't think many people notice.  The tree sits on the side of the main path in the "new" part of Wildwood Metropark, just across from the meadow.  I know the park system purchased this land from various people - apparently one of them left an old bed spring at the foot of a tree.  Over the years, the tree has grown over and around the bed spring - it almost looks as if it's eaten it!

Day 77: March 18, 2010

Monochrome Birdbath

A bit of a cheat today.  Actually took this shot last week, but today was incredibly busy - just no time to shoot.  Which is a shame, because the day was glorious! I so wanted to get outside with my camera, but life just got in the way.  Hopefully there'll be more time tomorrow as the weather is supposed to be equally grand.

This birdbath is on the Lourdes College campus.  Kind of looks like St. Francis is walking on water.  It's a few hours too early for Monochrome Weekend, but if you're viewing this on Friday - go take a look at the site!