Ducklings in the Sun

The ducklings in Drumheller fountain were basking in the sunshine this week! They were slumbering together on the duckling ramp the UW puts in the fountain every spring. Aren't they cute?

[I really like the composition on this one below, with the different horizontal stripes broken up by the ducklings (and their own stripes on their eyes and bodies!)]

Then they started waking up

And took a quick dip! With the mother duck keeping an eye on the spectators.

Happy Mother's Day!

The cutest demon bird ever

Exactly what the title of my post says: This is the cutest little demon-looking bird ever. It is an owl, but I don't remember the exact name of it.

Look at the eyes! It is clearly plotting something nefarious.

But he fluffiness factor is totally killing the ability to believe it is evil.

That is the worst kind. They are all cute and fluffy and the evilness sneaks up on you too late!

Kitty Kitty Kitty Kitty Kitty!

The brother is cat sitting for a friend and invited me over to play with them. This one, Dusty, had to stay inside because he got attacked (they are outside cats) and is in the cone of shame :P But he was more than happy to rub against my leg and roll over for some scratching. Dusty is all grey, and such a pretty cat! I felt a little bad for him though because he really wanted to go out side. He kept going to the door and trying to nudge it open a crack. It was actually pretty hilarious/adorable when he would try to get his head into the corner but the cone would just hit it with a smack, and his head a good few inches away. There was a lot of clacking and mrow-ing. But he settled down a little for some pictures. I forgot my camera, so these are with my phone's camera.

We were trying to get Dusty to stay still so The Brother could take a picture of the wound to send a progress report to Dusty's owner. I love the alert look. When you scratch is head though, he squeezes his eyes shut and sticks out his tongue. It is adorable!

Kitty in the sun!

I thought this one was a bit defiant :)

I kind of want a cat now though! I think I might when I am alone and on my own. It would be a nice companion I could talk to. I'm just worried I'll get a demon kitty or something :P I want a friend to cuddle with. And I'm not too keen on their "presents" ;)

Spring flowers

It's spring! Which means that everything is blooming at once. So here are a gazillion pictures of pretty flowers that were taken in my city's week of spring sunshine. I'm always amazed by how many different flowers there are on campus! They are so bright and colorful.

Have you ever heard of the Bulgarian holiday Baba Marta, where red and white bracelets called Martenitsa are given out as a greeting to welcome the end of winter and beginning of spring? Well my TA for math is from there, and he brought this tradition along to the people who visited him in office hours. Technically the holiday is in March, so we were a bit late, but I still liked the sharing of his culture. Anyways, you are supposed to tie the bracelet around the first blooming plant you see. 

Well, on campus, everything bloomed at once! But I decided to choose a small bright bushy-eyed cherry tree on the edge of Red Square. I was a little afraid I would hurt the tree, so I tied is loosely around the tree, and as the tree grows, I'm planning to go back and cut it off so it doesn't restrict the branch. But it was kind of deliriously exciting to take my bracelet off and tie it on a tree. I'm not sure why, and I'm not going to analyze it, but anyways, here's photographic evidence! haha.

I really enjoy the one part in focus and the seeming zoomed in focal point to that spot. I particularly enjoy the pop of color. These are the brightest flowers I have seen. 

I also like the surprise of the yellow dots smattering the blue.

A lively strip of magenta to break up the monotony...

I wish I could have gotten that little piece of yellow out of the corner, but the wind was waving these flowers around like crazy. I'm actually quite happy with the crisp detail I managed to get; definitely using a fast shutter speed. I also liked the coloring. Yellow is expected, but this young flower is striped with green, which is fascinating to me.

I liked the smattering of colors given by the flower petals blown away in the wind. The bright colors don't overpower each other, which is nice.

The delicacy of dandelions is absurd. But their puffy seeds are so beautiful in the air.

I think this is wisteria. It is beautiful, isn't it? I like the way it catches the sunlight. The white seems to glow, withholding the light.

Enjoy the flowers around you, and the many more to come in summer.

The lovely weather outside

It is sunny outside! But as much as I love the sun, I don't love the heat. At all. The grass is always greener on the other side, huh. I'm also getting over a cold, so not many pictures, but I passed these lovely things along my way to class. And I only had my phone with me at the time, so these were all taken with my phone's camera. Enjoy the sun!

Someone planted all these pretty windmills (I actually don't know what they are properly called...) all along the grassy areas of campus. Aren't they so pretty? In the sunlight, they silver would reflect the sunlight, and the grass became a sea of stars.

The buttercups are blooming! I have a lot of good memories from elementary school of picking bouquets of buttercups. I liked how if you held them under your chin, the sunlight would reflect the shimmery yellow onto you.

These puffy flowers made me entirely too happy for no reason. But they look all plush and fuzzy! I hope you enjoy them as much as they made me happy inside, haha.

Lion Cubs at the Zoo!

The past few days I've been busy running errands, but they included swinging by some fun places! On Thursday, I went to the zoo to get my zoo membership (my family loves the zoo. Last summer, when we originally bought the passes--yes, it took this long to actually get around to pick up my official membership card--we went 5 times in about 2 weeks...). Here are some resulting pictures!

The lion cubs just got named by the public, but I don't remember their names yet. There are three male cubs, and one female.

I really liked the differing emotions on the faces of these lion cubs. I'm amazed by how they so closely resemble little children. The tired one resting its head on the cinderblock, and the cub on the right with its nervous and almost sad expression. The eyes on the right one are so expressive!

This one was sleeping. I love the little eyes squeezed shut!

And the mother eventually came over and looked over her cubs. I like how strong and yet worn out she looks. I never realized how similar these animals are to us.