It rained in the morning, it rained at night but in the afternoon we celebrated.

In the last half of April, Londoners enjoyed just three rain-free days. Rainfall during that two-week stretch totaled 77.9 mm or about the same amount as normally falls during the entire month of April. May is looking like a repeat and the forecast if for this abnormally wet spring to continue into early June.

Grandfathers like me with granddaughters like Fiona are beginning to panic. These little kids live to run and they need the room provided by the outdoors. There are only so many laps they can make running down the hallway from the kitchen to the TV room and back before the confinement reduces them to tears: Little tears but big sobs.

Northern Flicker in London Ontario backyard

A Northern Flicker shot through my kitchen window.

Northern Flickers are woodpeckers with handsome black-scalloped plumage, a black on white speckled breast, and with a flash of red at the back of  their heads. Flickers may be woodpeckers but they love to dine on easily found ants and beetles which can be dug up with their long, slightly curved beak.

These are  not uncommon in our backyard and I shot this one with my Fuji FinePix HS10 zoomed to the max and pressed against a kitchen window. I'm glad my wife cleaned those windows! There is still a little distortion from shooting obliquely through a couple of layers of insul-glass.

Magnolia

 I'm not a gardener.

My wife and I like magnolias and so I bought a tree for my backyard. It has now survived a number of Southwestern Ontario winters and has grown to about four feet. This spring it is in full flower. What a surprise; The blooms are a deep purple rather than pink and the shape is unlike the other magnolia trees in the neighbourhood.

What did I buy?

The magnolia may be the official state flower of Mississippi and Louisiana in the U.S., but some species are native to Southwestern Ontario where there the temperate climate supports a Carolinian Forest.

Canadian spring

Spring is surely here. The grass is green and blooms are everywhere. Wish I had grabbed a better shot.

Green growth from still water

The rather still pool of spring fed water sheltered plants beneath its tranquil surface all winter. Now, with spring in the air, lush, green leaves are sprouting above the water. Maybe, in a few weeks, there will be some lily pads making an appearance.

An older style of housing

 

There is something very pleasant about these well maintained, older homes found in a small town just outside London. Two of the three homes have fairly large porches and all sit very close to the sidewalk. There is a warmth and simplicity to this neighbourhood that new urbanist planners try to emulate but rarely as achieve.

Of art and bike racks

The large, red sculpture nestled into the small courtyard behind the Bell building and government offices and the courthouse in downtown London, Ontario, shares its visual space quite comfortably with the nearby bike racks.