Zoo 2014 - 7

We all know how quickly the summer passes us by but as I look back at these photos, most of which were made six weeks ago, it still felt so much like spring. Now, after today's visit to the flower gardens, it definitely has that progression to it. There are still a number of the small, delicate flowers but they are clearly transitioning into the heartier ones that deal best with the heat of July and August.

The petite little daylilies were as vibrant and nice as ever but the taller lilies had begun blooming, already. When that starts happening you know there are fewer and fewer types of blooms left to show off their beauty before they are gone and the leaves begin draining of their green to make way for the colours hidden by chlorophyll.

Our lawn has clearly slowed down its growth and does not look quite as rich as it did a few weeks ago. A few of our other plants that are a bit younger are always a little bit behind the average. That's fine with me because we get to enjoy them just a little bit longer in our yard and any day now the first of our lilies will open. I look forward to photographing the red and the tiger lilies.

One of the main purposes of this earlier trip to the zoo was to scout for what was our upcoming photo session. I snuck into some back areas of the zoo that are seldom visited by patrons because of the unexciting exhibits back there when I caught some movement of the corner my eye. My first thought was, "Wait a minute! That animal's not in a cage." It was just a rabbit but a playful one which let me shoot for five minutes and came within two feet of me. It was foraging in one of the areas I had great hopes for for our session. Unfortunately, a week of rain turned that beautiful green strip you see in the bottom photo to a swamp.

Now, as a significant storm rolled through Saskatoon a few hours ago, a second wave is hitting us. I hope that the tennis ball sized hail seen in Alberta and parts of western Saskatchewan stay away from us. So far it's just been rain and a little bit of wind but I've heard about places between here and Kindersley that have had windows destroyed and crops wiped out. The Southeast part of the province already took enough of a beating with excessive water this spring and I really hope that we are able to make it through this summer without damage.