Spring Woods and Garden

Today,

I have some photos of a trip in the woods in early June

along with some of my spring garden shots.

A beaver house in a pond:

Trilliums and forget-me-nots:

Purple violets:

Primrose beside my old watering can.

(I pick the old cans at rummage sales, I have five or six. It's an addiction, I tell ya'!:

More trilliums and forget-me-nots:

A turtle sunning himself in the spring sun.

Do you see him?:

Wild violets:

Primrose and a dandelion:

Marsh Marigolds (cowslips):

A hairy fiddlehead!:

I know it is sweltering summer where most of you live...

so it is refreshing for us to review the spring that was.

Have a great day!!

*******************************************************

Reminder!

You only have a few days left to enter your JULY 2011

FREE PHOTO CONTEST photo.

The theme this month is:

BIRDS!!!

Send in your photo no later than midnight on July 31st

following THESE RULES...

You do NOT have to be a blogger to enter.

More Trilliums, Spring Flowers and Birds, Etc. (I just can't help myself)!

Still posting some Spring Flowers and Birds

for your pleasure today!

Trillium beauty:

And?

You can't take in all that beauty

without

SOME questionable beauty:

A turkey vulture!:

Not sure what kind of bird this is. Does anyone know?:

A wild strawberry blossom!:

A wild violet in the middle of the woods:

So, now that I have posted 

some BIRDS....

You  need to get out there and take some photos of some...

because

this month's FREE PHOTO CONTEST

theme is 

BIRDS!!!

Send in your bird photo no later than midnight on July 31st

following THESE RULES.

You don't have to be a Blogger to enter.

White, Yellow, Pink and Green and Birds and Dragonflies in between!

Continuing with the spring photos today..

and some late spring ones too.

I love the bright, sunny colors that the new plants and

flowers bring to spring.

Especially the bright, neon green of fresh growth and the sunny yellows, bright pinks and bright whites...

Marsh Marigolds (cowslips):

New apple blossoms sprouting on our apple trees:

(at the time this posts, those blossoms are now apples growing, about the size of a large quarter already!)

Cherry Blossoms!:

Chipping sparrow at our feeders (just threw that in because with Spring, comes all KINDS of birds to our feeders!):

I always know it is getting warmer when I see that

the

dragonflies have hatched!:

Bohemian Waxwing in our apple blossoms!:

I loved this log full of mushrooms overhanging a field full of fresh white

Trilliums!:

Bright green, unfurling ferns!:

Mother Nature really does a good job of putting fresh flowers

and colors on its table for us after a long, drab

winter, doesn't she??

I'd like to invite her over to help me do my delayed spring cleaning...

what do you say, Mom Nature???

Fiddleheads, Ferns and Flowers

I am still behind in posting some of my spring photos..

but

that's ok...

If you are sitting in sweltering summer heat,

maybe these will bring you back

to the cool breezes of spring in your mind.

One of the things I love most

is watching the forest floor

spring alive with bright green growth and wildflowers/

I love to see the ferns come alive again

making a fresh green carpet:

And cool, twisty, unfurling fiddleheads:

Some orange garden tulips:

And of course, more trilliums~!!!:

and Marsh Marigolds, otherwise known as "cowslips":

We came across two fields FULL of them...

yellow sunshine plants everywhere!:

More spring photos are still to come on my blog,

and then we will finally get some summer ones posted, too!

This and That: Spring Photos (A little late) Again!

One thing I like about spring and summer,

is the return of

GREEN!:

Even the pine trees look fresh and new.

And the birds begin having their young.

This Mourning Dove is fluffy.

Maybe she is pregnant?:

And the damselflies

come out again!:

Along with ducks.

Here is a Common Merganser and his mate:

And the dandelions come up, bright and yellow.

Which brings: BUTTERFLIES!:

When the Trilliums bloom, they are a brilliant white.

As they get ready to die,

they turn a pinkish purple:

And even though a few posts back, I showed some bees on my apple blossoms,

I have to show at least

one more:

A handsome

brown-headed cowbird!:

Thanks for re-visiting Spring with me,

even though it is summer now...

I don't mind going back in time, how about you?

This and that from the U.P.: Birds and Flowers!!

Today's theme?

Birds and flowers!

Luckily, I have plenty of both where I live

and

I really enjoy both, too.

A patch of Vinca Minor...

I was lucky.

When we built  our house, they were growing wild in a patch by our trees, so of course I kept them!:

They are electric blue/purple in color.

Here is a closeup:

This one is a bit blurry, and I wasn't going to keep it.

But I did, because I do not know what kind of bird it is..

and I am relying on my blogger friends to help me figure it out!

I think it is a female, but I am not sure...

HELP ME???

What kind of bird is this cutie?:

And I WAIT....(impatiently!)

EVERY.
YEAR.

For my beloved Trilliums to burst forward from the forest floor.

They are protected wildflowers in Michigan.

I just love them:

(When they get old and are about to die, they turn pinkish purple. I will have more shots of them in future posts).

One day...

I was downstairs on my computer (imagine that!?)

and my husband hollered for me to come upstairs...STAT!

He sounded very excited!

Either he had won the lotto or something else (good) was happening.

He had spied a bright TANGERINE colored bird in the trees....

We had never seen that colored bird here,
EVER.

So I grabbed my camera to help me identify it.

He was only in the yard a total of about 60 seconds.....

I had to take the pictures through a window, so they aren't crystal clear...

but I wanted to share them with you.

I THINK this is an Oriole (which we NEVER have here).

Am I right?:

(Isn't he ADORABLE??? And LOOK at that red blush along its breast with the tangerine color! WOW!)

I was SHAKING, trying to make sure I got his photo before he flew away!:

He was one of the prettiest birds we have ever seen grace our yard!

I was smitten as soon as I saw his coloring!

But when I saw his chubby little body

and that impish face???

Well, it was definitely

love at first sight:

I hope my fellow bloggers can confirm for me that he is an Oriole? Is he a Baltimore Oriole?

We were also graced with four Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, but they

only stayed for about three weeks, and we have not seen them since:

I am so grateful that these beautiful birds took a rest stop in our yard.

I wonder if they knew

how thrilled we were to see them?

(They were probably saying to each other: "What is the big deal with that lady flying around inside her house to get that camera out? Gheesh, we can't even eat or hang out with out the Papparazzi trying to capture us!

Get a life, people!")

That's okay...

I don't mind stalking them.

It is a LOT more fun than following movie stars or rock stars around.

To ME,

the birds ARE rock stars!