Trilliums and Frogs!

A week after my last blog, the trilliums all opened up in abundance.  I spent a good amount of time exploring Wilkin's Walk one day, enjoying the flowers, birds, frogs and sunshine of a perfect spring day.  Getting into nature doesn't always have to involve a trip to the mountains, a drive to a provincial park or a giant hike into the wilderness.  Sometimes it is as simple as taking a stroll down to the lake, walking around a pond or adventuring into your own backyard.  Sometimes you'll be amazed at what you find so close to your own house.

Lucky for me, we live very close to a lake, and there are wooded paths moments from my front door.  Every chance I get, I try to seek out some nature to nurture my soul.  Here are some shots from one of my day adventures.  .  . 

Not sure what this flower is.  Do you?

Don't forget... you can click on the photos to make them bigger!!

A fringed tulip?  Please correct me if I'm wrong!  I kow my bugs better than I know my flowers.

A daffodil explodes into Spring. 

And of course, I had to get some shots of the trilliums!



I switched this to black and white in photoshop. 



One of the cool things about photography is that sometimes you don't even know what you've captured on your camera until you get home and view your shots on the computer. I don't know about you, but now that I'm over 40, my eyesight is certainly not what it used to be. Trying to see every detail through the viewfinder while lining up a shot, or attempting to review pictures on the LCD while outside, for me is often very challenging. On this particular day, I ended up at my favourite frog pond to get some shots of the frogs before going home. I was using my telephoto lens, so that I could get closer shots without scaring off my subject. While shooting one particular frog, I could tell that he had a fly of some sort on its head. I thought "oh, that will make an interesting picture". I fired off a bunch of shots, and changed the angles up and down to try and give different perspectives of my little green friend. On my way home, I kept thinking of all the shots I got of that one particular frog and couldn't help but think that some of them would have turned out pretty cute.

Imagine my surprise and, (honestly), repulsion, when I saw my pictures on the big screen and realized that the poor little frog I was shooting not only had one fly on its head, but was literally covered in mosquitos! I must have taken picutes of this frog for at least 5 minutes. 5 minutes that poor little frog just sat there motionless in the water and just stared at me. Why didn't it simply dunk itself underwater!! I still shudder a bit when I see this photo! Poor silly frog!

Not all the frogs were covered in mosquitos this day though.  I did manage a shot of one cute fella having a mud bath, and it didn't seem to be bothered by any blood sucking skeeters.  I hope you enjoy my last shot, and perhaps go seek out some flowers, frogs or nature of any kind some time soon.