Sunday bridge: In west Australia

http://bayphoto.blogspot.com/

Singapore Zoo flowers: Spider lily

Macro Flower Saturday
Macro Flower Saturday Macro Flower Saturday ">Macro Flower Saturday

http://blueberrycraftandhobbytime.blogspot.com/p/join-my-photo-challenge-flowers-on.html


These were grown on the campus of Nanyang Technological University which I lived for 16 years. I wasn't blogging then, and I didn't appreciate them as they were all over the place.

A beautiful golden orb for skywatch Friday

We have all experienced its heat recently. This much wished for golden orb on those past cold, wintery days , or rain filled spring days. Here it is in all its glory!!! The sun!!!! How great it is! A golden delight!

A happy day for everyone and have a great weekend please.
Skywatch Friday is a long standing meme where sky views from all over the world are posted at:
http://skyley.blogspot.com/Why not participate as well

summer reflections at the end of the day for Weekend Reflections

Summer Reflections at the conclusion of a great day at the beach!

Do you remember? Those great summer days at the beach? Does this photo reflectyour memories of those long ago summer fun days!?.
http://weekendreflection.blogspot.com/is a meme where you can view beautiful reflections captured by others. Just click on the logo on the right to see what others have captured with their cameras

The naming of things in nature

During our Ontario visit we continued to be amazed and delighted with daily nature sightings. This little rabbit above, we named "Clover" as he was breakfasting on clover on my son's lawn when we saw it. Two other rabbits seen previously were named "Hoppy" and " Lightening Bolt" But what kind of rabbit was it really? One look at its 'cotton-like blob of a tail sent me searching google for pictures of a cottontail rabbit. And "yes," I think I read the clues right. This rabbit in the pictures above is an eastern Cottontail Rabbit I think.

One day while walking along a forested trail near the pond. I saw movement on the trail in front of me. It was so tiny! Maybe only about half an inch long. From its body shape I thought a 'frog'! So after downloading the pictures on the computer and searching Google with the words 'miniature frog' I came up with nothing that seemed to match. Then I examined my pictures more closely and I realized I had not noticed any green on the little creatureSo I questioned my naming of it as a frog. Then I noticed red bumps on its body. And realizing a frog's body shape and that of a toad were very similar I did a search with the words,'miniature toad with red bumps'.... and voila! I found images similar to my little creature of a red-spotted toad!

Go figure!Its all in the naming isn't it?! Just follow the visual clues that nature has presented in trying to id what you have seen!! Have a great day everyone!

A Mallard Duck Family for Worldbird Wednesday

Such a common , ordinary, often sighted species you say, "Why feature it on this meme?" Just count the number of ducklings in this group and you will understand why. Just count the number of ducklings!!! How many do you see? sometimes I count 13, sometimes I count 14! I know of two others who have seen this group and they say there are just 12! But such a large surviving group! Wow!Does anyone know the average expected size of a Mallard's clutch of eggs? When I saw them ahead of me walking on the same trail as I was, headed in the same direction, to a nearby pond, I couldn't believe my luck. And of course I followed them and watched as they entered the water, seemingly all in a jumble as there were so many of them.
If there were awards being given out for best duck mamas of the year I would nominate this magnificent Mallard Mama! She seemed very content and unhurried as she shepherded her large group into the pond waters. There must be few predators around as she appeared unworried as I stood close nearby taking pictures. I was anticipating and waiting for a shot of them all sailing across the pond, all in a line. But it never happened. They all stayed close to the shore in a group near their Mama.
I wonder if camaflogue is part of their survival technique? The photo above is the last time I saw them the next day, see how well they blend into their surroundings!

note: I have not re sized any of the photos so double clicking on each photo will give you a very large size view of each picture!

Got pictures of birds you would like to share? Why not post them on Worldbird Wednesday? http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/To find out how, please scroll down the right hand side of this page until you come to the worldbird logo, click on it and follow the directions from there

What a TREAT THIS SIGHTING WAS!!!!

Cardinals for Ruby Tuesday

While visiting London, Ontario ( the forest city),last week we often breakfasted outside on my son's upper deck. It was such a lovely setting with trees so close by. Here in New Brunswick it is a rare delight to see a handsome red male cardinal in our yard, but they were a daily sighting at my son's home. I often supplemented my breakfast utensils with my camera and photographed cardinals in the trees there nearby.

As a former art teacher I have always been fascinated at how a child's creative art work reflects their experiences and their surroundings. My young grandson, David, became aware of my interest in birds and would often point them out to me when he saw one in the trees. Before we left he drew a picture of my favourite bird sighting there and it definitely reflected the influence of the nature environment which had become part of his daily routine. David';'s family walk to the ponds nearby and on the forest trails daily.Well done David! I love the wings in flight! I notice David has included some black on the bird's beak. I wonder if this might be reflecting the black bearded area of a male cardinal's face.This tree above in David's drawing may have been influenced by the beautiful old Jack Pine seen in the center front view of the forest from their deck. And although we were wishing for rain all week, the rainbow in the picture was a beautiful image recalled from David's memory bank above, a jack pine tree

above a silhouette of jack pine needles

Got photos with red? Why not share them by posting them to
Ruby Tuesday. To find this delightful red focused meme, please click here.http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/

Thursday Theme Song: Traffic Jam

The worst traffic jams I had been in were during the Chinese New Year festivals when there is an exodus of Malaysian workers in Malaysia cities and in Singapore returning home for their reunion. We were stuck for 6 hours.




http://hootin--anni.blogspot.com/
http://thursdaythemesong.blogspot.com/



Traffic Jam by James Taylor

(Chorus)
Damn this traffic jam
How I hate to be late
It hurts my motor to go so slow
Damn this traffic jam
Time I get home my supper'll be cold
Damn this traffic jam

Well I left my job about 5 o'clock
It took fifteen minutes go three blocks
Just in time to stand in line
With a freeway looking like a parking lot

- Chorus -

Now I almost had a heart attack
Looking in my rear view mirror
I saw myself the next car back
Looking in the rear view mirror
'Bout to have a heart attack
I said

- Chorus -

Now when I die I don't want no coffin
I thought about it all too often
Just strap me in behind the wheel
And bury me with my automobile

- Chorus -

Damn...

Now I used to think that I was cool
Running around on fossil fuel
Until I saw what I was doing
Was driving down the road to ruin

http://youtu.be/V020XgCqHFo

watery wed:In the mountains of Papua New Guinea

http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

The husband went on a work assignment. He was lucky, he went on a small plane and lots of helicopter rides.

A Northern Yellow shafted Flicker for Mellow Yellow Monday

Each morning, while visiting my son in his 'forested back yard' home in the city, we were never sure of what what might see or find in and around his backyard. One morning a male Northern Cardinal was sitting on his deck table, another day a Gray Catbird was on the deck railing. In all we saw three rabbits lunching on clover on his back lawn area, but the focus of this post is the beautiful golden yellow seen on the tail of a yellow shafted flicker which had found the top of a fence post to its liking, and definitely to my liking as my camera focused on its beauty! Please double click on the photo below to be able to better appreciate this bird's golden beauty.Got pictures with yellow that you would like to share? Why not post them on Mellow Yellow Monday, a delightful meme that focuses on the colour yellow?Just clink here:http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/ to access this meme

sunday bridge, scenic Sunday,Sunday scan : Malaysia-Singapore causeway

http://bayphoto.blogspot.com/
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi2XkufkdHGp017N2tHQsdsx5mM29Q7jud5MJ6GdYVDN6F_hyphenhyphenufOXR2rQQuf_EJLGb0KPFAxNtGXT3yUFKNZN3wACEqpeaBdOEh-jU07whL3KtTyRRyKxg3YVaTQEyffYWe8ojoqFB9PpL/s1600-h/scenic+sunday.jpg">

http://scenicsunday.blogspot.com/

http://sundayscans.blogspot.com/

West Malaysia and Singapore is separately by a narrow causeway. It makes me think of the Detroit River when I sat at a little park on the Canadian side and looking across to USA.

I'm Retired?

I used to always (inwardly) cringe when skaters would refer to no-longer-playing-roller-derby as "retired."

As mentioned previously, I am someone who considers semantics important.

And the word "retired" seems to imply an age and stature that none of us are old and experienced enough to have reached.

Rest in peace, Ann. <3

Ann Calvelo retired. We just play or don't play.

At least, that's how I used to think.

 

Plus, there's just such a finality to the word...like you can't change your mind.

But I always change my mind!

I feel that, given new information  (or a more inspired point of view) a person should always reserve the right to change their mind...

I guess I kind of knew it was true in Chicago, December 2010 at the Red Bull Banked Jam.

I believe this is Ying O Fire, rocking the Windy City Flag

Red Bull hired me to coach Windy City Rollers on the transition from flat to banked track, before their game against LA Derby Dolls at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago.

You know that feeling you get, when you're watching a bout and going crazy, because you just wanna jump on the track and start playing??

I've always had it so bad!!!

Well, in Chicago, I didn't feel that.

What I felt was something different; I was proud of and happy for the people on the track. I was perfectly content to be watching the game, and cheering on the people I'd been coaching that week...

 

And I was also happy for roller derby. 

To see a great flat track team like Windy City, playing in a banked track game against the league I started with, LA Derby Dolls... It made me swell with pride!

 

It's taken me 7 months to really figure this out. I've been a little bit in denial. When LA Derby Dolls made me this, and posted it at my last game (December 2010):

Champs was always on my birthday weekend.

Everyone kept wishing me a happy "retirement" and I was like, 

Not retired! Just taking a break!!!

Which I may still be, it's hard to say how you're gonna feel in a year, or two, down the line. 

I am absolutely still passionate about the sport!!! 

But... I pretty much accomplished all my goals as a skater. I mean, all of the personal goals I had for me, I accomplished them!

 

There's only one goal I have left in roller derby: and that's to see it be a professional sport.

And I really see myself more as a coach than a skater, when that happens. 

I enjoy playing/practicing from time to time, but I'm just more passionate about coaching at this point. And doing whatever I can to help further the level of play on a world level. 

Seem to have made this unexpected shift from "skater who's hungry to improve every year and coaches sometimes" 

 to "coach who's proud to help/inspire other people improve" over the last few months...

Completely booked solid for 2011!

But, of course, I totally reserve the right to change my mind... How could I not??

I wanna thank all the leagues who've hosted me this year. I have a great time doing what I do, and while it's definitely not all glamor like some people think it is... 

I am more fulfilled/inspired by what I'm doing right now than I've felt since I started SDDD. 

So, thanks and love to every one of you who have been a part of that with me!!!

You have a totally inspiredamazingmindblowingkickyourfeetupandshoutabout it RAD day today!

Here's my parting gifts, till next time we meet!