Love, Joy and Peas: April 2015

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Yard Bunnies for Wild Wednesday

Happy wild Wednesday! Last Friday's bunny photo was taken through a window but today's bunny photos were taken outside (standing only about 15 feet away from the rabbits!) and I think they're much better. Hope you enjoy them too.

I felt really blessed that the rabbits just watched me while I took their photos.

The little bunnies were alert but not concerned enough about me or my camera to move away until some pedestrians approached and scared them off. Then they hopped away and disappeared in the greenery.

Spring is definitely here and I'm enjoying both the wildlife and greening of the garden. What do you love about spring? May God bless you this springtime and always!

Related posts:
Cute bunny photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/09/cute-yard-bunny-photos-for-wild.html
First rabbit of 2015: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/04/primrose-blind-baby-finch-angelique.html
2012 yard bunny: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/10/flowers-from-our-garden-floral-friday.html

Friday, April 24, 2015

Primrose, Blind Baby Finch, Angelique Tulip, Baby Bunny and Daffodil

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden"! Because I was under the weather and missed out on posting this week's "wild Wednesday" feature I decided to include some of my yard's wildlife in today's post.

As you can see in the photo above, our primroses are at peak; I love this cheery yellow one.

I'm no expert but I think this is a blind baby yellow finch. The other eye looks even worse than the one you can see in this image and it pokes around for a bit before finding the food hole. I am amazed at this little bird's tenacity and thrilled that we're able to contribute to its well being. It's the first blind bird I've ever noticed at our feeders.

The Angelique tulips are our favorite. The National Arboretum has a much larger collection of them (and theirs are even larger and nicer looking) but it's nice to have a few in our own yard.

Our first rabbit of the year has been feasting on our weeds (and hopefully will stay away from our flowers). We enjoy watching his cuteness hopping around the yard.

This might be the last of our daffodils but, by God's grace, there will be a nice variety of flowers coming throughout the year. Spring has just begun and I sure do appreciate its beauty.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you and those you love!

Which was your favorite picture? Do you have any tips for helping a blind bird survive in the wild? Or getting wild rabbits to eat just weeds and not flowers? I'd love to hear from you!

Related posts:
Orange Angelique tulip and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/04/tulips-daisies-and-more-flower-photos.html
Cute yard bunny: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/09/cute-yard-bunny-photos-for-wild.html
Tulips at National Cathedral: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/04/spring-tulips-at-national-cathedral.html

Friday, April 17, 2015

Our First Cherry Tree Blossoms

Happy floral Friday! This week in my Maryland garden we have our very first cherry blossoms on a tree planted in our yard last year.

I took these photos just yesterday and the tree is already starting to leaf out today. Cherry blossom season is wonderful but fleeting.

I love their pretty petals so it's really something special to have our own little tree.

Thank you for visiting! I hope you enjoyed my cherry blossom photos. If I feel energetic I'll sort through the hundreds (perhaps over a thousand) of cherry blossom photos my husband and I took last weekend around the Washington D.C. tidal basin and share the best with you in an upcoming post. But I'll post links from previous years' photos in case you'd like to see some right away.

May God bless you and fill your heart with His peace, love and joy!

Related posts:
2014 DC cherry blossoms: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/04/cherry-blossoms-washington-dc-monuments.html
2013 DC cherry blossoms: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/04/cherry-blossoms-and-national-monuments.html
Pom pom Cherry blossoms: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/04/cherry-blossom-pom-pom-flower-photos.html

Friday, April 10, 2015

Pretty Pansies, Periwinkle, Forsythia and a Funky Daffodil

Happy floral Friday and welcome to this week in my Maryland garden! I love spring and the excitement of new flowers blooming in our yard. Granted, the pansies have been in the garden since last fall but they are definitely starting to perk up again with our spring weather.

The periwinkle (also called vinca) started blooming this week and it's nice to see little flowers on the evergreen foliage. We'd grow this ground cover just for the glossy green leaves but the purple-blue blooms are a nice bonus.

The forsythia came into full bloom this week. Its bright yellow is like a smile from our garden.

I love the yellow center of this burgundy pansy.

And I am not sure why but I like this funky daffodil photo better sideways than right side up.

Thank you for visiting! Next week I hope to have photos of blooms on our very first cherry tree to share with you. May God bless you this spring and always!

Related posts:
Daffodils, pansies and cyclamen: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/03/daffodil-pansy-and-cyclamen-flower.html
Tulips, forsythia and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/03/happy-spring-floral-photos-this-week-in.html
Periwinkle, daffodil and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/03/floral-signs-of-spring-this-week-in-my.html

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Cute Baby Bear Videos for Wild Wednesday

Happy wild Wednesday! I had the great blessing of seeing these adorable Andean bear cubs (also called "bespectacled bears") in their habitat at the Smithsonian's National Zoo this weekend. This is the third set of cubs I've enjoyed watching but the most exciting because they're the youngest and smallest that I've seen yet. I have three videos to share today. I put the top one first because it had the nicest thumbnail but my favorite is the second one where the little bear climbs up and down a tree. The third one is worth watching because I zoomed out so you could see how high up the little guys climbed. Their cuteness warmed my heart and I hope they make you smile.

These cute little animals are still fuzzy. They're a little wobbly but already great climbers.

The rumor is that the baby bears, health and weather permitting, will be out most mornings from ten to eleven am and longer as they grow stronger and more resilient (and possibly longer on warmer days too). Apparently these two brother bears love to climb so if you visit I hope you get to see them climb in person.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless these little bears and may He bless you too!

Related posts:
Baby bears playing: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/08/andean-bear-cubs-playing-and-eating.html
Andean bear birthday: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/01/andean-bear-cubs-birthday-bash.html
Dancing bear cubs: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/06/dancing-andean-bear-cubs.html

Friday, April 3, 2015

Lilies for Good Friday

A blessed Good Friday to you! I wanted to do something special for floral Friday since it falls on Good Friday this year. My husband kindly consented to let me use his excellent lily photo (second in today's post). We don't have any recent pure white lily photos but I thought these were beautiful and hope you enjoy them.

These pink and white flowers are my favorite of this type of lily.

On a recent trip to Longwood Gardens, PA, these lilies appeared to be nested in ferns and there were also a few tulips that were such a deep purple they almost appeared black.

Here is a different angle of some of the lilies from the same display.

And here's a whole flower of the same type in the first photo of this post. I love flowers, but I love Jesus more! If you want to know Him too, PeacewithGod.net is a great place to start and they have volunteers on hand to chat 24/7. May God bless you this Good Friday, Easter weekend and always!

Related posts:
Resurrection chapel: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/04/happy-easter-resurrection-chapel-photos.html
Good Friday haiku poem: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/04/national-cathedral-photos-and-good.html
Funny Easter cat photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/04/funny-easter-cat-photos-featuring.html
Easter Good News: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/04/easter-good-news-how-to-become-born.html

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Wild Eagles Nest at US National Arboretum

Happy wild Wednesday! As promised in last week's post, here are our wild bald eagle photos from two separate trips to the U.S. National Arboretum where a couple of adult bald eagles have a protected nest. Hikers can't get so close as to disturb the eagles but you can see the nest from certain parts of the azalea gardens that aren't cordoned off as well as from a bit of the road nearby.

My dear husband was kind enough to let me publish his photos here too. I like how much prettier the sky looks in his (this is likely due to a filter). In both of the above photos you can see the wild bald eagle guarding its nest (the eagle is on a branch to the right of the nest).

The bright blue sky is a tip off that these two photos are from a separate day trip. It was really exciting to see the eagle flying overhead as we walked on one of the lower azalea trails.

Because we were in the woods it was hard to get a good shot but the eagle flew over us a few times, presumably circling the area to ensure its nest was safe.

God willing, we'll have more trips and hopefully some better photos to share on future wild Wednesday posts. While seeing wild eagles is more exciting, I do have some better quality photos of captive eagles from the National Zoo if you'd like to see more eagles (just let me know).

Thank you for visiting! May God bless America, our bald eagles and may He bless you too!

Related posts:
Blackwater eagle: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/03/blackwater-national-wildlife-refuge.html
Eagle festival: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/03/eagle-festival-photos.html
Osprey photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/07/osprey-photos-and-haiku-poem.html