Greetings, I returned yesterday afternoon from Ontario, unpacked and was in bed by early evening! I was, needless to say, exhausted. The memorial for my grandmother was lovely, and also served as a family reunion of sorts. A special thank you :) to everyone for your most kind words. Seeing as today is the first day of June, I thought I'd focus on celebrating it's arrival, and as the week progresses, I'll share some more of the pics I took while away, in particular I look forward to telling you about our trip to the African Lion Safari in Cambridge. What an amazing day. I just need to wade through the over 600 shots I took (!) and pick out a few of the best. I also visited with my sister in Kingston for a couple of days, where I was again happily snapping pics - so much to see. Below are a few I took in and around Brantford Ontario.

One of my mom's gorgeous bearded irises

"Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June."

- Al Bernstein

"I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June."

-  L. M. Montgomery

“In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day.  

No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them.”

-  Aldo Leopold

This made me :)

"And since all this loveliness can not be Heaven,

I know in my heart it is June."

–  Abba Woolson 

"June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with a length of 30 days. The month is named after the Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter and equivalent to the Greek goddess Hera. At the start of June, the sun rises in the constellation of Cancer. June is the month with the longest daylight hours of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest daylight hours of the year in the Southern Hemisphere.  The month of June—in the Northern Hemisphere—is in spring until the 21st, when summer begins. The traditional June birthstone is the pearl. The June birth flower is the rose, or the honeysuckle, as roses and honeysuckles bloom throughout June. June is also sometimes called the "Rose month."  June is known for the large amount of marriages that occur over the course of the month. This large quantity of marriages can be attributed to the Goddess that June is named after, Juno or Hera. Juno is the protecting goddess of marriage and a married couple's household, so it is considered good luck to be married in this month." -  Wikipedia