ducks at the 911-pond

two Ring-necked Ducks

at least a dozen Northern Pintails

and looking at the picture i spot a Green-winged Teal

a least 2 dozen Mallards


guess who?

soft pink petals

i feel so soft and pliable, fragile like a petal. maybe it's this weather here, softer yet today.

it's been warm since i got back, the snow is almost gone. i walk through moss and puddles, and over paths of spruce needles. the ground underneath still frozen, the trees still bare. mosquitoes big and slowly, not biting yet.

i wonder if it will rain, but somehow i know it won't, i am not sad enough

swans fly overhead

forsythia

i am the sun

a summer queen in snow

i must have been

a child of spring

remembering

endlessly creating

forsythia castle gardens

in my sandbox

always climbing weeping willows

now here in March

the first tree to show it's green

the willow so recently cut down

but forsythias still blooming

bright yellow blossoms

reflecting sun

I love my home

Still more pictures of Dutch flowers (more to come)
But i am very happy to be home, i love my wilderness, i had a long a lovely walk today and the weather is amazingly warm, especially after the cold in Holland, the rain in Chicago and the horizontal snowstorm in Camrose (Alberta).
And whatever the weather, if the swans are early in the North, a late snow fall in Grassy Lake, purple sunsets in Europe, even if all air traffic comes to a halt, i do like to say:

The butterflies didn't miss a beat
right on schedule
every year the same day
the mourning cloaks are on the wing
i spotted one today

de keukenhof

These photos are taken in 'de keukenhof', in Lisse, Holland.
the place to go to see spring flowers.


As i am promoting Holland here in red white blue and orange for it's oranje wimpel,
I do want to add, Holland has wild spring flowers too. Thanks to Gerrit and Helma, who took me to the Tenella Plas in Oostvoorne. Before i came to Canada i lived in it's Park for 2 years, I cried when i seen my old boyfriend's house. I did not bring my camera that day, so i can't show you how idyllic it is. Anyway i was also taken by the amount of wild flowers in the park.

Matisse

These pictures probably give away to some of you which city we fell in love with.
As i can't keep secrets very long, i will probably say it anyway in this post.

The initial reason Alexander and i made this trip, was that he needed an MRI for his knee. This needed to be done in Edmonton. Yukon Health Care paying for us to fly down.
March 23 we fly down. As it is snowing in Whitehorse we are delayed. Everybody in the plane stays calm about maybe missing connecting flight in Vancouver, so i try to stay calm too. And beautifully, we walk out of the plane walking on to the next plane, which departs right away. Arriving in Edmonton, we still have to figure out how to get to the Hospital. There is a shuttle bus, which leaves, now. We arrive at the Hospital, check-in in the out patience residence, carry on to see where we have to do that MRI, in an hour. As it will be they have an opening right now, Alexander sleeps for the 20 minutes of the duration of the procedure. We walk a few blogs to find a restaurant, eat, back to the 'hotel', where we try to sleep for a few hours, at 4.45 am we take the first shuttle bus back to the Airport.

We had booked a ticket to Holland, as from here it is way cheaper as from Whitehorse.

We have a layover in ! Chicago. We have never been there or on that side of the continent for that matter. So my only wish was to see the Great Lakes.
Arriving in Chicago, we ask how to get down-town, beautifully the train leaves right from the Airport. And where as our shuttle bus in Edmonton cost us $50, here we pay 10 bucks for two return tickets. Chicago here we come!

Ahhhh the city is beautiful! The high rise and the big boulevard. And lake Michigan... oh well. I can say now i have seen one of the Great Lakes and i am glad i did. We eat something, catch the train back, and catch our flight to Amsterdam, where my sister is waiting.

What i wanted to say here, is that our travelling went so smooth, which totally amazes me, it's a world so far removed from my life in the woods in more than one way.

I don't know if i like travelling though. It's the line-ups, waiting for check-in and security etc. that do me in. I look at the other people in the line, and wonder how they do it, how they can stand still and shuffle along for that long. Why is nobody falling apart like i do. Some are even happy, anticipating their trip. Here i can learn to be patient. Once in the plane i am okay again. Even lounging in the waiting areas i can enjoy. It's the standing in line.

And I hope you can handle the length of this post, about...what?

So i suffice to say how we enjoyed Chicago on the way back.
It just so happened to be that Matisse had an exposition in the Art Institute of Chicago. I was thrilled about this, as a few people had recently told me that my work reminds them of Matisse. Well now, when there is any comparison, i have to go bigger. I loved it though, was surprised about the roughness of his work, the energy of it, the power, Never ever am i going to worry about perfection anymore. His perfection clearly in the totally letting go of all rules.
We didn't had much time to see much more. The building itself already totally awesome. mmmmm Chicago, i hope i'll be back one day, you're like one of my mountains that i love to climb again.

Oh and about mountains, you know how the weather can be brutal, well Chicago had a torrential rain storm the day of April 7. Under the overhang of the skyscrapers we somehow did make it to the Museum, which i didn't know exactly where it was, other than on the boulevard close to the lake.

Tomorrow; spring time in Holland.

i'm back

Yes, i went to Holland and the tulips were starting to bloom.
I am sure they are in full bloom now. As it is already a week ago i left Holland.
Alexander and i did a little more travelling, and we fell in love with this city.
Can you guess where it is?

I will post some more pictures of our travels, some time. I am rather busy now.
trying to catch up.
See you soon!!!