Crazy May

Usually, May should be a warmer month with occasional rain showers. But this year, this month turned up unusual. Crazy actually.

Just when the streets had been cleared of the sprinkled anti-slip gravels, and we had been enjoying a temperature of up to 22 degrees C, a lot of snow came falling again, non-stop for a day or two, and sometimes sporadically over the days, thickly blanketing the ground with fresh snow that would nonetheless melt within the day.

Amid the thickly falling snow, the sun would peer through the clouds and radiate its light and warmth that turned the spring day into a bizarrely but nevertheless lovely winter  scene.

So went the weather for the first half of the month. It was not at all unpleasant for me but was rather exciting. I took delight in seeing the spring bulbs frosted with snow, the budding bushes and trees coated with fresh snow and the ground blanketed with bubbly hails.

The intermittently fine days during this period gave us opportunities to pursue our newly developed outdoor hobby - birding. Hubby and I found ourselves among the group of expert birders in some popular bird habitats around Umeå. Those were also days of craziness, a positive and relaxing craziness though.

And then came the middle of May, tagging along the full sunshine, blue skies, stupefying cloud formations and sparse rain showers.

The late sunsets are awesome! The nights are bright, with the glow of the sun lingering above the horizon at midnight and all through the night.

the colors of midnight

Finally, May came to her senses and presented her annual gifts that soothe the souls of the nature lovers like me. And I've relished such gifts for the rest of the month.

Now, May has slipped away. Despite all her craziness, it was still a charming month packed with unforgettably heartwarming memories, not only in the realm of the natural creation but also in the company of cherished friends who sparked a measure of sunshine in our lives.

What do all these natural marvels tell us? Follow this link for enlightenment:
Awestruck by Nature

Linking up with

Saturday's Critters
Mosaic Monday
Through My Lens
Image-in-ing's Wordless Wednesday
Our World Tuesday
Wednesday Around the World
Skywatch Friday

An Encounter With the Wise Sentinel

We've given up hope of ever finding the owls that have been reportedly sighted by some birders after our several unsuccessful attempts at locating them. We scoured the countrysides where they were spotted for some days but they seemed to hide from us.

One day, however, or rather evening, at 7:30 p.m., as we were driving home from another area to look for some newly arrived birds of prey, an unexpected sight appeared right before our eyes. Something big with wide wingspan whizzed toward a hole in an open field. What could that be? We pulled over the road to wait for it to emerge. It did! It flitted and perched on a pole marking the nature reserve area in this countryside.

It's an owl! Oh, yes! It just sat there calmly, not minding our presence at all, and seemingly posing for portrait photography. I was elated, and at the same time frantic to take good shots of it in varied angles, afraid that it would fly away just as quickly as it came. How fortuitous that it stayed there fearlessly and just kept turning its winsome face to different directions. My camera went clicking away....

It also sat there like a sentinel, guarding this nature reserve that hadn't turned green yet on this mid- spring.

Hubby and I hung around for a while until it finally flew toward the far end of the field. Unfortunately, I couldn't capture it in flight as it flew so swiftly.

At last, I've seen a real owl in its natural habitat, watched it and photographed it.

And we went home happily with this newly acquired birding experience. I let the thrilling moments of encounter with that "wise" sentinel float on my mind before the memory got stored in my "treasure chest".

Linking up with

Skywatch Friday
Saturday's Critters
Mosaic Monday
Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday