Tag Archives: snow drop

The Snow Drops Dropped and the Crocuses Croaked

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Last updated:  SAT April 23 2016 1:21 PM Toronto ON Canada
By: Glenda MacDonald (with additional updates as stories develop)

March 24 2016

Poor Little Snow Drop

Sad Little Snow Drop

The Snow Drops Dropped and Crocus Croaked

This morning I was awakened by the staccato freezing rain on my bedroom window. Despite being sleep-deprived I couldn’t wait to get up, because I’m a photographer. One of the reasons I love living in Canada is its changing seasons. At this time of year Spring isn’t quite committed and Winter keeps hanging around. This indecisive weather has wreaked havoc with my poor little flowers who believed the fickle promise of Spring and thought they’d seen the last of Winter. Water-laden hoar frost creates nature’s magnifying glass for whatever lies beneath when the sun chooses to peek out from behind its gray veil.

I particularly like photographing trees on a blue sky day after an ice storm, their branches waltzing in sparkly coats. When you’re a passionate photojournalist you’ll overcome many obstacles to achieve that perfect shot. Once after a glorious ice storm I drove on treacherous roads to west end Hamilton to capture the glassy buds and creaking forests of Cootes Paradise Ravine. At the top of an ice-encrusted hill I focused my Nikon SLR on the alien ravine below, elbows tucked in as my tripod. And then I slipped. Unable to dig my boot heels into the thick frost to stop me I sat down and legs out straight became a human toboggan. Careening toward a fallen tree at the edge of a freezing creek I swung my camera on its lanyard around to my back for its protection, my bare hands grabbing in futility at the icy twigs periodically poking out…. but that’s another story.

Crushed little crocus

Crushed little crocus

Today I’m staying home where the only danger is getting my slippers damp or my hands cold as I pop out for quick shots on my HTCOne smart phone to capture the changing scene. Unless I slip…Sad little snow drop, crushed little crocus.

Photography

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Night Owl & Early Bird; Digital Spring Cleaning

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Last updated: SAT April 23 2016 1:31 PM Toronto ON Canada
By: Glenda MacDonald

Wednesday March 23 2016  

Featured photo: “Hardy Little Snowdrop”. This pretty little snow drop flower popped up in my front garden about a month ago while the snow was still here, before the crocuses woke up.
Weather report: The forecast is for freezing rain and ice pellets.

Snow drops - you hardy little flower!

Snow drops – you hardy little flower!

Night Owl & Early Bird

I’ve been up since 5 a.m. but I’ve been awake since 3:30.  I went to bed around midnight but woke up a few hours later with my brain brimming with ideas. I forced myself to try to go back to sleep but my heart wasn’t in it. I dutifully lay there, still, trying not to awaken my snoring husband. Two hours of mind-numbing debates ensued between me and my bird brains. Night Owl kept pecking at my skull “logically, you know you need sleep!” while Early Bird nipped at my toes, urging me to get out of bed – “the early bird catches the worm!” Finally I thought, “enough is enough!”. I slunk quietly down to the kitchen with my laptop and made my first cup of coffee. I continued researching a story I’m itching to write while the neighbourhood slowly reawakened.

Since I decided to go freelance after a long traditional career this scene has been playing out almost nightly. I’m excited to be finally embracing my inner writer and artist and pursuing my creative goals while I’m aware that I need to also take care of my health. I’ve had a little chat with my internal feathered friends and told them that we are all just going to have to get along. So I sometimes take a little afternoon nap. Night owl, meet early bird. Talk amongst yourselves. I’ve got work to do!

Spring Cleaning the Digital Cobwebs

I’m slow to start my blog today. This is partly due to technical difficulties with my IT department. Did I mention I’m a home-based solopreneur? I am my IT department! My internet’s been spotty. My WordPress/BlueHost front and back ends were having a snit fit and wouldn’t talk to each other. I had to intervene and now they’re playing nice again but their little spat put me quite behind in getting my blog updated. I also hadn’t done a complete MacBookPro backup in almost a week and decided to run my Time Machine right while I was in the middle of my Sophos Antivirus scan. And that’s just the software and network end. While I’m thinking about my needed spring house cleaning I know I also need to address the digital detritus in my office. I’ve got old computers and peripherals, and external hard drives etc. both PC and Mac format. I’ve got an iPad and an iPod Touch that  I’m not using much right now as I’m always on my laptop but need to update the iOS for because there are some apps I need to test on the iPad. Same goes for my HTCOne smart phone. It’s so full of photos that I can’t add new apps, and I have a product to test that works with Android OS. My laptop is on OSX Mountain Lion and I’m debating about upgrading to El Capitan but I don’t want to make time for the downtime. Because I’ve got work to do!