Bearded Iris Flowers

I think one of my favourite flowers in the spring is an iris, especially the bearded iris. I have several in my garden and am hoping that they will multiply. Apparently they don't need a lot of maintenance, but do need to be divided every few years so that they will keep blooming. Mine are still getting established.

I found out that the iris has six petals. There are three that grow upwards. These are called standards. Then there are three hanging petals which are called falls.

Each of the "falls" has a fuzzy line or beard that runs down the middle. I think this is the part that I find the most fascinating.

I especially like them after the rain, when you see the raindrops on them. I had to go out fairly early in the morning to get some of these before the sun dried the water up. As you can see, I have three different colours in my garden. There are many different colours, so my collection could grow.

I believe we can be thankful for all of the different types of flowers. I know that man has changed the looks of many of them, but they were created by God.

For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness
and praise spring up before all nations.
Isaiah 61:11

Poppies

Poppies are fascinating. I don't have any in my garden, so I love seeing them grow in other peoples' gardens. My sister and I went for a walk around Burk's Falls and enjoyed seeing the poppies in different yards. They are beautiful with their thin papery petals.

Children ... gift from God

Often when we take photos of our children, we think we need to be have them pose and say "cheese". This does not always work out well, as the pictures don't always look natural. It's best to take photos of them doing things when they aren't aware of the camera. If you can set them up to do something, it isn't long before they forget that you have your camera with you. The photos will turn out much more natural and will capture more of their personalities.

Children are a gift from the Lord.

Nashville Warbler

I'm so glad we see birds in their migration paths. We went to Point Pelee last year and saw some, but I think it's even nicer to see the birds here. One thing you don't have to deal with is the crowds.

The challenge is to identify these little birds as they travel through. The warblers move so quickly through the trees that it's hard to identify them. This site has been a big help:  http://www.whatbird.com/ 

One thing I noticed in my research that was interesting is that they often use porcupine quills for material for their nests.

Raindrops on Lupines

The lupines are coming up in our back garden ... many in places I don't want them.  But that's okay.  I found it fascinating to see them after the rain. Most of them had raindrops still on them, and right in the middle of  them. The raindrops almost look like jewels. 

Worship Him
who made the heavens, the earth, the sea
and the springs of water.
Revelation 14:17

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)

We've had some interesting birds going through on their migration to the north. This one is a yellow-rumped warbler (Myrtle - eastern). They don't stay in place for very long as they are catching insects, so it is difficult to get a good clear picture of them. We had a small flock of them in our trees along with some other warblers. I believe some were female yellow-rumped warblers, but I'm not sure as I wasn't able to get a photo of them.  I'm still working on identifying the other warblers that were here.

Some of the yellow-rumped warblers winter as far south as Mexico and throughout Central America. Others winter in central and southeastern U.S., and some even winter in Newfoundland. When there are very few bugs, the Myrtle warbler enjoys eating fruit and will eat wax-myrtle berries (hence, the name). Wax-myrtle is an evergreen shrub, also known as bayberry, candleberry, sweet gale and it has small berrylike fruit with a wax coating. It's the only warbler that is able to eat and digest this, which means that it can winter farther north than other warblers. They do not winter as far north as here in Haliburton County.

This next picture shows that the yellow markings are also on the top of its head and on its rump.  The female shows more brown than the males. They are about the size of a chicadee.

If we tried to count all of the different birds, it would be a big job, and probably difficult to complete. God has made birds of all kinds, large and small. These tiny birds are a good example of how God has equipped them to survive.

 Look at the birds of the air:
they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they?
Matthew 6:26

Maple Syrup

It is definitely looking like spring here now. The snow is gone, and the ice is out of the lake.

When I was going through my photos, I saw some that I had taken of the sap being collected in buckets up behind our house. I'm not sure how good the season was in this area, but when we were out for a walk a few weeks ago, we saw some dripping of the sap.

Quite a few people in our area, especially those who are selling the syrup, use lines - plastic hoses hooked up to the trees. However, there are still a lot of people who use the pails hanging on the trees. Most people have covers on the pails, but these ones don't.

As you can see, the sap collects in the bottom of the pail. It can be a tiring job going around collecting the sap from each of the pails.

From what I understand, it takes about 40 gallons of sap to make about one gallon of syrup, and each tree gives about 10 gallons per season. Lots of work, but maple syrup is pretty good.