May 9 2020 - Snowbirds Fly By Today

Keukenhof is without people this year.  The videos and pictures are particularly enchanting with just the rivers of flowers on display.  There is the artistry of the floral display - its simplicity of shape and form makes one feel that one is actually there. There aren't any human shapes as distractions.  The same is true of the Niagara Parks Greenhouse display with its first orchid show this year.  A video tour of it shows a beautiful display. Remember the  24-hour "BloomCam" set up in High Park, Toronto so people could watch the cherry blossoms at any time?  The top story about the cherry trees is a tree climber in the middle of the night fined over $1,000 for being in the park.   Our good news of the day is here.  The Snowbirds are scheduled to take off from Toronto at 12:45 p.m., flying over Burlington, Hamilton, Niagara, Brantford, and Woodstock before landing in London at 1:45 p.m. That would be a good moment to be on the escarpment overlooking Toronto.  They will get to Collingwood and Barrie in the afternoon.  This is a cross-country tour to boost morale, so we can expect more scheduled fly-overs heading west.  We'll be watching out for the forecast snow today hoping it doesn't interfere with the fly-by.  Here's an orchard on Concession 2 Road in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  This is the lucky moment, when the crew are trimming trees so they are on the ground still in blossom.

The Blossom Trail

Niagara has been in bloom for about 2 weeks.  It seems shorter, and it is coming to an end.  Most orchards  are close to the Lake (on both sides of the QEW) and below the escarpment.  There are orchards from Grimsby right through to Niagara-on-the-Lake. These two orchards are in Vineland.  There are a lot of good orchards there - along John Street and Green Lane.  These are rural roads, and I am able to stop the car and take pictures from the car if I want.  This is drive-by photography at its best. I was lucky to catch some peach trees with their trimmed branches on the ground before they withered.  The peach trees are trimmed just at blooming, so the carpet of pink on the ground is a gorgeous display.

Spring Experience

I am looking forward to the beautiful cherry trees at Royal Botanical Gardens.  This tree is in the Arboretum and is an ancient Japanese Cherry.  I used Topaz Lens Effects to get the motion blur in the second image.