Cleaned Skulls

After a long maceration process and bleaching in the sun, I finally have my Cormorant skull ready for display. I believe it is the skull of a Double Crested Cormorant because they're so common and this one was found near Hamilton Harbour. The kids pointed it out to me among the rocks and thought it was from a Canada Goose, but as soon as I saw the beak I knew it wasn't a goose or duck. At first, I thought it was a large sea gull of some sort. There was still some flesh and feathers on it as well as the distinctive throat pouch leading me to the Cormorant conclusion.


Another one of my maceration projects was this deer skull. It was given to me by a hunter friend of ours after it had been buried for several months. That process rotted the outer skin and muscles off, but the brain was still a dried lump inside! After months of maceration outside in a bucket of water, I finally got it fairly clean.
When all the tissues where gone, I soaked it in a solution of hydrogen peroxide and a little water. I could only find bottles of 3% solution but that seems to have worked well. I bought 7 bottles and poured in enough to completely cover the skull.
I added a small amount of water in case of evaporation. I left it alone for a week and here is the final result.

Summer Photos

This is probably the clearest photo I've been able to manage through our window screen into the backyard so far! One of our frequent visitors was quite close and I photographed him...or her.
While visiting my brother-in-law, I not only photographed the old delapidated house, but some photos of his house and yard also. In the vast vegetable garden there was a grasshopper who didn't try to jump away as I got close.

And what would a visit be without photographing Clark....eternal puppy, killer of mice, voles and groundhogs.

Clark was eager to lick my husband's face! He was shedding like crazy though....Clark I mean...not my husband.

And here is the Dannys' residence.....after a lot of restoration work. The house is from the early 1900s I'm told.

Old House Photos

Remember this house I always try to photograph when visiting my brother-in-law?

Well, we went there today and I grabbed the opportunity to photograph it again....and this time I ventured closer!

Same shot with a Photoshop filter:

Another shot with a filter:

The house again with no filters. Notice the front door is gone now!

The walls are really starting to bow outward now.

A corner shot with a filter effect. I love how much the wall is bowing out! It looks fantastic, but I know it won't be there much longer. Another load of winter snow and it may be flattened!

My Mother

By special request from a friend who doesn't use Facebook, I was asked to upload a photo of my birth mother here on my blog. I found her recently and I also found my birth grandmother who's 91 years old! That's her on the left, me in the middle, and my Mom on the right! We all have the same smile!

Stargazer Lilies

These are my beautiful, fragrant Stargazer Lilies that I go to the trouble of hand picking Red Lily Beetles off of each spring. Those pests can defoliate and kill a whole garden full of Asiatic Lilies (as opposed to Daylilies).



And here is a little collection of Calendula which have taken over my garden. They produce beautiful little flowers, but they're a bit spindly and the seedheads look sloppy.

More Flowers

I photographed these ones in the morning, and the others in the afternoon. The morning light looks a lot better.






Feverfew is a small flower that grows in clusters and is being experimented with in the treatment of migranes. I just grow them because I think they're cute. I also have Calendula which reseeds itself and has taken over my front garden a bit too much. But they're pretty when in bloom.

I LOVE my Daylilies. I have several different colour combinations. (photographed in the afternoon)

Flowers From My Garden

I planted some Morning Glory seeds in a pot at the base of a spindly Umbrella Tree that we inherited from Richard's parents' house, and now they're blooming! I thought they were very beautiful.


Outside, the last of my Icelandic Poppies were still in bloom.

And of course some of my lilies have begun.

My entire front garden is overrun with Calendula.
But there are a variety of orange and yellow ones...so they're not monotonous.

Okay...she's not a flower, but when I came back in the house, Shadow was sitting right at the top of the stairs...so I snapped a quick photo of her!