Cork Tree

From Under the Cork Tree
~ Munro Leaf

The Cork Tree is a pollution-resistant tree with huge leaves and corky bark. The bark is used for corks,while the flowers are a nectar source for bees and the oil from fruit is used as a natural insecticide.

Up Close and Personal

She's right there, right there with it. Seeing death, up close and personal.
~ Mary Wilson

Oshawa Botanical Garden Peony Festival 2009

Inside Report on Peonies

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.

~ Norman Cousins

Oshawa Botanical Garden Peony Festival 2009

Take-Flight

When once you have tasted flight you will always walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward: for there you have been and there you will always be.
~ Henry Van Dyke

Fixated

I may not have a practical mind, but it's very fixated on concrete things.
~ Alma Guillermoprieto

Breed: Golden Retriever Rescue: Golden Rescue

bath-party

Woofstock 2009!
The largest outdoor festival for dogs in all of North America! Be sure to visit our blog for a great video http://www.misskodee.blogspot.com/

Pink Veins Running

I am not in the giving vein to-day
~ William Shakespeare

Visit: Parkwood Estate, Greenhouse Tea Room, Oshawa, Ont

Seagulls

Seagulls: Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.
Nigel: Oh would you just shut up? You're rats with wings.
~ Nemo

Amazon Pick
The Art of Finding Nemo celebrates the talent of Pixar Animation Studios. This book features the concept and character sketches, storyboards, and lighting studies in a huge spectrum of media, from five-second sketches to intricate color pastels. This behind-the-scenes odyssey invites the reader into the elaborate creative process of animation films through interviews with all the key players at Pixar.
Location: Lakeview Park, Oshawa, Ontario

Lassie?

I have yet to see one completely unspoiled star, except for the animals-like Lassie
~ Edith Head

Location: Lakeview Park, Oshawa, Ontario Breed: Collie Amazon Pick: Lassie

Cactus Orange

Location: Parkwood Estate, Greenhouse Tea Room, Oshawa, Ontario

Lady and the Tramp

When I was a kid, I didn't get into the Disney stuff at all. It was almost too sweet for me. I liked the cynical stuff. I was a Peanuts fanatic; that's what spoke to me. But as a parent, I love the stuff. I've watched Lady and the Tramp with my son 50 times. There's just something about this stuff that touches you as a parent.
~ Robert Smigel

Location: Lakeview Park, Oshawa, Ontario Breed: American Cocker Spaniel
Amazon Pick: Lady and the Tramp

Make a Wish

We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified.
~ Aesop Fables

Kyle

If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer.
~ Alfred North Whitehead

Location: Oshawa Botanical Gardens Breed: West Highland and Shitz Shu

Decay

False friendship, like the ivy, decays and ruins the walls it embraces; but true friendship gives new life and animation to the object it supports
~ Richard Burton

Location: Oshawa Bontanical Gardens

Twisted Screams

If we all said people's faces what we say behind one another's backs, society would be impossible.
~ Honore de Balzac

Is It Just Me?
Do you see the little face? Look at the second cable from top, middle of the photo; looks like a little screaming face :0

Whimsical

Everybody is so rushed, they don't take time for the whimsical, the light.
~ Mark Allen

Pretty in Pink - Rosaurea Peony

Almost all words do have color and nothing is more pleasant than to utter a pink word and see someone's eyes light up and know it is a pink word for him or her too
~ Gladys Taber

Location: Oshawa Botanical Gardens From the Canadian Peony Society
Rosaurea
Introduced by William Brown of Elora, Ontario in 1952. The following description was written by A.R. Buckley of the Central Experimental Farm in 1963. “A good Japanese type with light toned pink petals with straw coloured staminodes and red stigmas forming the crown in the centre. A very floriferous variety and one which has a very appealing colour effect. Flower 5½” diameter, Plant Height 33 inches.”

Red Carpet

I sometimes wonder if two thirds of the globe is covered in red carpet.
~ Prince Charles

Location: Oshawa Botanical Gardens From the Canadian Peony Society
W. T. Macoun
Photograph taken by Alexis Landon in 1999 in the garden of Dr. Jim Cruise. Introduced by Miss Mary E. Blacklock in 1938, the specimen shown here was acquired by Dr. Cruise from Bob Landon who had obtained this cultivar from Blacklock in 1938 as part of a plant order intended for landscaping his newly built home. Miss Blacklock was part of a "botanizing" group that often met in Simcoe and included Monroe Landon, Dr. Douglas Storms (Dundas), Prof. J. W. Crow, and W. E. Saunders among others less notable.

Adrienne Clarkson Peony

Those who think it permissible to tell white lies soon grow colorblind ~ Unknown

Location: Oshawa Bontanical Gardens From the Canadian Peony Society
Adrienne Clarkson
This peony was bred by Maurice Ménard of Laval, Quebec, and was registered in 2004 in honour of our 26th Governor General. This is a hybrid peony, tetraploid, pale yellow, fading cream and with raspberry-pink flares. It blooms somewhat earlier than the well known hybrid, Red Charm. This peony is currently being propagated for the Canadian Peony Society and distribution is still very limited.

Bokeh Wildflower

Sometimes in our confusion, we see not the world as it is, but the world though eyes blurred by the mind.
~ Unknown

Bokeh
OH my very first bokeh photo! That's right, I am amused by small things. The word Bokeh is adapted from a Japanese word meaning blur. In photography, it describes the areas in the picture not in focus. This shot was taken with the Canon PowerShot SX110IS. This little gem has a 10x optical image stabilized Zoom. The aperature was set at 2.8. For a compact digital camera the results aren't half bad!
But for amazing bokeh take a look at this website's examples http://adjix.com/e8vt Amazing!