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“Time is for dragonflies and angels. The former live too little and the latter live too long.” – James Thurber Here’s another companion from my orchid hike. A beautiful yellow dragonfly, sunning itself in the warm trailside sunshine. If someone could help me out with its identification, that would be appreciated. I’ve had varying luck photographing dragonflies, and this is my first shot of one using my 90mm macro lens. I’m quite… Read More
“We only know a tiny proportion about the complexity of the natural world. Wherever you look, there are still things we don’t know about and don’t understand. […] There are always new things to find out if you go looking for them.” ― David Attenborough There are moments in our lives that leave us breathless. For me, one of those moments occurred last year, when I came across this small cluster of… Read More
“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.” ― Joseph Addison Yesterday morning, my son and I went for a hike to see how a patch of Showy Lady Slipper orchids were coming along. More on that in a future post. On the way into the forest, the wildflower lined path was abuzz… Read More
“Waiting for you is as delightful as waiting for sunset.” ― Kamand Kojouri Hey, will you look at that, a flower that is not pink for a change. The seasons are turning, and as my lovely peonies fade into memory, yellow has returned in full force. This flower, which we mistakenly named ‘moon flower’ when we first got it from my mother-in-law, who also called it that, because it opens at dusk…. Read More
“Everyday can be extraordinary And ripe, Like a flower burst, If the will is there.” ― Scott Hastie As a follow up to yesterday’s post, I revisited the bud I photographed the day before, titled “Opening Soon“. Well. it did open and I’m still amazed at how all this pomp and frill can fit inside such a small bud. The peony season is beginning to wind down and we had a torrential… Read More
“You get peace of mind not by thinking about it or imagining it, but by quieting and relaxing the restless mind.” ― Remez Sasson Alas, the next wave of peonies is upon me. All the varieties are now in full bloom, some already spend and the buds of the second generation of flowers is beginning to open. These secondary blossoms tend to be a bit smaller but no less beautiful. I spotted this… Read More
“Ants always eat sweet food … but none of them haven’t diabetes ?” ― Ali Ghasaby Among the residents of peonies are, of course, ants. Ants of all sizes and shapes thrive on the sweet nectars the peonies offer from bud to blossom. It would be a rare occasion when I bring a peony blossom indoors that an ant does not emerge at some point. It’s a given. As I photographed my… Read More
“Green was the silence, wet was the light, the month of June trembled like a butterfly.” ― Pablo Neruda As I came outside yesterday, I was filled with the sweet aroma of Peony. Our walkway is bordered by two enormous peony plant. They stand nearly five feet (just under two meters) tall and are now so big that an extra large peony ring will not hold them. I’ve taken to using rope… Read More
“As I leave the garden I take with me a renewed view, And a quiet soul.” ― Jessica Coupe This lovely purple flowered plant was given to me by my grandmother many years ago and is well established in the garden. For years I called it Bee-Balm, being uncertain of what it really was. It always reminded me a bit of nettle or overgrown Creeping Charley. One of the joys of photography,… Read More
“A fleeting moment can become an eternity. From a past encounter everything may disappear in the dungeon of forgetfulness. A few furtive flashes or innocent twinkles can survive, though. Some immaterial details may remain marked in our memory, forever. A significant look, a salient colour or a unforeseen gesture may abide, indelibly engraved in our mind.” ― Erik Pevernagie It continues to be dull and cold outside and I’ve been feeling under the weather… Read More
“Sunflowers, Not Facing the Sun” (A Poem) I stand tall As gracious as one could be Blooming to my best As slender as it touches my being Everyone else is facing the sun Bending towards its unfathomable galore They and I are both undoubtedly Grown on the benevolence of life’s essence The brighter side mercilessly feeding desires unbound By daunting the “courage to know” with each spin Though, I am not able… Read More
“Wildflower; pick up your pretty little head, It will get easier, your dreams are not dead.” ― Nikki Rowe I hope I have these named correctly. I’m hoping my wildflower followers will correct me as required. It’s late summer and there is a noticeable shift in the plant life. The delicate pinks and purples are going to seed and yellows and orange are starting to make their showing. I’ll miss the abundance… Read More
“Voiceless it cries, Wingless flutters, Toothless bites, Mouthless mutters.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien I think I’ve photographed this tree about a dozen times. Sometimes, it’s still and brightened by a golden sunset, other times, it’s filled with birds, darting to and fro. But on this occasion, the strong winds of a hot summer day tossed it’s branches from side to side. I took the opportunity to capture this motion through a long exposure… Read More
“Where’d the days go, when all we did was play? And the stress that we were under wasn’t stress at all just a run and a jump into a harmless fall” ― Paolo Nutini While travelling the Peterson Road outside of Maynooth, Ontario this past weekend, I stopped along the road to make some photos of a roadside lake, a swamp, and some local wildflowers. As I stood on the roadside, a… Read More
“All in all, it was a never-to-be-forgotten summer — one of those summers which come seldom into any life, but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going — one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather, delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world.” ― L.M. Montgomery My final memory of an extended weekend away is… Read More
“The river moved so swiftly and yet it had no purpose other than to flow, just flow.” ― Gioconda Belli During a recent backcountry drive, I tried to retrace my route to a little gem of a park I found a few years back. There is no road sign identifying the park, just an unmarked road that leads to a beautiful groomed park on the shores of Papineau Creek, near Maynooth, Ontario…. Read More
“Writing is something you do alone. Its a profession for introverts who want to tell you a story but don’t want to make eye contact while doing it.” ― John Green This must be the most photographed tree in Markham, a community just south of my home. This oak stands at the top of a convenient mound, nicely isolating the tree from any distracting background. It’s not a true ‘solitaire’ by my… Read More
“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. ― Anne Frank Such a menacing name for such a beautiful, delicate flower. But, the Dogbane… Read More
“While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see.” ― Dorothea Lange I find myself working with photos that did not quite communicate my vision as intended. I see so much more in my composition, but struggle to articulate just what… Read More
“Until a seed falls to the ground and dies, it does not become a tree that later yields many fruits and multitude of seeds. We must embrace the thought of death for us to have greater lives.” ― Sunday Adelaja We used to call these ‘giant dandelions’ as kids. Why not, they certainly look like dandelions, even the blossoms look like overgrown dandelions. The Goat’s Beard seed head, looks like a gigantic… Read More
“God draws near to the brokenhearted. He leans toward those who are suffering. He knows what it feels like to be wounded and abandoned.” ― John D. Richardson A scene from along the roadside in rural Ontario. When I see stuff like this , I wonder what the story is. How did this old car get to its final resting spot under the canopy of the ancient maple. Did it just die… Read More
“Of all the flowers, the rose speaks to me, especially, of love. The delicate petals, layer by delicate layer, draw me to the heart, while the fragrance entrances me with its subtle sweetness. Promising future passions, while echoing back to tender memories” – Ed Lehming I had not, till now, deeply explored my thoughts and feelings on roses. Those feelings are complex and tied together by many threads of memory. My father… Read More
“Daisies, simple and sweet. Daisies are the way to win my heart.” ― Patrick Rothfuss As the quote above says, “Daisies, simple and sweet”. Daisies abound at this time of year. They seem as commonplace as dandelions, yet there is a beautiful simplicity to them that sets them apart from their meadow companions. Perhaps hearkening back to childhood, when I would pick bunches for my grandmother on my way home from school. They… Read More
Early one morning in late summer 2014, I went down to the lakefront with my daughter. It was one of those typical cool mornings on the lake where the mist from the warm water rises up and just hangs there for a few minutes before rising higher in the sky to become a cloud. We spent some time on the dock, both making photos of the ethereal beauty of the mist as… Read More
I titled this photo as I did for a few reasons. This is the last photo I ever took of my father before he passed away in 1979. He was determined to take a few last casts before he got in the car after a great family vacation on Moore Lake. He asked if I would come with him and take a picture. I complained about the mosquitoes and not wanting to… Read More
This is a VERY recent photo I made this past weekend during a family event near Ancaster, Ontario. As usual, I had my camera along to capture those family moments, but I found my kids had that pretty much covered off. Yes, my children like photography too. I had visited this location many times before and had photographed it many times, and so, was having a hard time figuring out what I… Read More
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of spending the weekend with family and friends at Ontario’s Sauble Beach, on Lake Huron. It began as a wonderful hot summer day splashing in the surf and playing hours of volleyball. The forecast was for thunderstorms late in the day. We watched across the water as the sky gradually darkened. The storm approached over the lake like a black wall, slowly creeping our… Read More
This is the second shot of this little fellow. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was walking along the York River, planning on taking some long exposure shots of the rapids when this mink appeared among the rocks. He tried real hard to avoid me seeing him and I found myself dodging and weaving between the rocks to get a clear shot of him. At one point he even went into… Read More
More waterfront wildlife. This photo was made last summer while at our camper. We were visiting my sister at the waterfront and this family of duck, which had been swimming back and forth along the shore, decided it was time for a break and settled in within a few meters of where we were sitting. I had my camera with me from an earlier excursion and they did not seem to mind… Read More
Ed Lehming Photography 
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