Friday, Sun, Rain .. and I bought the most beautiful umbrella, with lovely blue skies & puffy white clouds!

Saturday, March 31, 2012

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Friday … the end of the work week .. and another day of activity.  A real mix of weather, ranging from brilliant sunshine to pouring rain.

What to do .. what to do … what to do…

Shopping of course .. made a list, actually brought it with me and then left it in the car!  Groceries first .. went to a few supermarkets to take advantage of sales.  Found some good deals and soon the back of my car was loaded up.   Also purchased the most beautiful umbrella at the bank, proceeds go to Children’s Hospital.  It’s just the loveliest umbrella I’ve ever had. There are two coverings.  The outer (top) is black and the inner cover is a cheerful blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.  How appropriate for one who loves the sky so much!   And I actually had the opportunity to use this in the afternoon when I went for a little walk!   I had my blue skies with me, even though it was pouring rain!

Decided to just make a “little” visit to Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary.  When I got there, the little parking lot was jammed full .. so decided to leave unless a spot happened to open up.  Just as I made this decision, I noticed someone preparing to get into their car and leave.  Hmmm.. what can I say?  So I waited a few minutes and then parked in the now vacant spot.

Pulled on my gumboots and started walking.   Sauntered along  the pathway to Tuesday Pond … went to the side area  .. which is now nicely covered in mulch .  This mulch looks just like the pine chippings that I scooped up a few days ago, from “free” in Used Victoria ads.     I’m getting to know my mulch.  And glad that I still have 6 large Rubbermaid containers full at home .. plan to use this on my back pathway.   Pine mulch is not good for gardens, but perfect for pathways.

Anyway .. onwards I went .. and saw no ducks at the side area .. so I retraced my steps, planning to take the shortcut to the little bridge which spans the Tuesday Pond area.  Oops .. there is a large Canada Goose along the shores .. so I decided to go the long way around.  The Geese  can be a bit territorial and I didn’t want any confrontations.

I walked along the pathway for a while, tempted to walk the full circuit around the Sanctuary, but decided on a shorter version, it’s too easy to spend hours and hours here and I have things to do at home.

Eventually I turned back and made my way to the main observatory.  Noticed many cleared areas, invasive plant growth removed, lots of sunshine now entering the cleared areas.  Lovely ..lots of volunteers have helped to open up these side wooded areas.

I could hear the calls of many birds, some of which I recognized.  The songs of the Red Wing Blackbirds, the males and the females.  The Marsh Wrens.  And many others.

Spoke with other people looking out for birds and feeding the ducks.  Saw the Cormorants were still settled on the wooden platform which is tethered to the shore.  Separate from the main walkway and inaccessible to the public, a safe haven for the birds.

Noticed a Great Blue Heron stalking prey for lunch, very stealthy.  Then, ta da, he swiftly gathered up a rodent, and just as swiftly, in one gulp, it was gone.   Nature at work.

Stopped and watched some Red Winged Blackbirds as they sang away.  These are quite beautiful birds and the females have the most beautiful songs to sing.

Finally I tear myself away and go to the Nature House to see if my place on the Native Plant workshop has changed .. I’m currently Number 3 on the wait list. Nope, unchanged.  And no phone calls as of this morning, so I didn’t make the cut.  Boo hoo .. that will teach me to procrastinate!  If I’d contacted them when I first saw the ad, I’d be there right now.  Oh, well, there will be other workshops, I know.

Homeward bound …noticed that the sunny morning skies have changed and now were overcast.  Groceries brought in and put away.  Time for tea!

Played around in my garden room.   Sorting seeds.  Found some packages that were either purchased by me or given to me as gifts.  Boxed herb seeds.  A package of Korean pine tree seeds, complete with compostable plant pot and saucer.   I followed the instructions given on the enclosed sheet and now the seeds are sitting in the moistened potting mix and awaiting germination.  If they sprout, then I’ll keep them in pots.    Perhaps I’ll plant them on our future property, but time will tell if they will indeed sprout.

Then, the herb package, sweet little clay pots, 4 labelled aluminum plant stakes and 4 envelopes of seeds.  I’ll put them in plant pots and see if they will germinate.  If they do, then I’ll have lots of basil, parsley, thyme and cilantro for the summer.  You just never know.

Finding (and using) these hidden treasures  gives me incentive to continue on with my clearing away the clutter in my garden room.

I also found time to look through some watercolour instruction books.  Looking for ideas that I can use to paint some white rectangular tiles.   I’ll take the painting ideas and use them on a variety of things for the garden.  It would be fun to paint some leftover boards and try to make signage for the garden.  Another fun project for a sunny day.

Went outside for a few minutes, in between the rainy showers and checked out the garlic, growing quite strongly now.   Looked up in the sky .. no eagles flying around.  Heard the rapid taps at the bird feeder as a little chickadee pecked away at the acrylic sides of the feeder – to remind me to add more sunflower seeds to the feeder!   Ha ha ha .. went inside to fetch the sunflower seed container and then added a cup full to the various feeders.    The birds only tap at this feeder when it’s empty, smart little guys, aren’t they?

Rains began, so inside I went.  And on with my day.

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What do you do on a rainy Friday? Well, look at the birds outside .. and .. spend more time studying about gardening, that’s what!

Saturday, February 25, 2012

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Well … yesterday, Friday .. was a really rainy day!  I’d promised myself the gift of spending the whole day outdoors .. a reward for recent studying .. but the rain put a kibosh on that.

Ok, I’m not a wimp, I love the outdoors .. witness the many hours spent outside during the recent snowy period in January (but, we don’t want to go there, right?)

But, the type of work that I want to do involves shovelling mulch, moving it from A to B and then relocation the flats of cuttings from last fall.

So the heavy rain and the mucky yard spelled out “stay indoors” so I did that.  And was so thankful that I’d already had my long long walks earlier in the week,

Friday was spent at the kitchen table.   Reading chapters from our textbook for the Organic Master Gardening course … researching terminology … writing explanations on lined index cards.,

A few pots of Yorkshire Tea.

In between .. household chores .. dishes ..cleaning kitty litter boxes .. laundry .. sweeping .. all that exciting stuff that takes up time during the day.

And playing with kitties.  Our three cats are not kittens any longer .. but they are playful so I refer to them as kitties.

I watched out the kitchen window .. seeing the big fat globules of raindrops exploding on the top of the sundeck railing.  Bam .. smash .. quite pretty, actually.

And the variety of birds that came to the acrylic feeder that is attached to the window.  Because we have horizontal blinds at the window, they cannot see us .. so they just behave normally.  Sometimes we see some little beak skirmishes as they scramble for the sunflower seeds.   To be in the interior of the transparent container is a prized piece of real estate for these birds!

And DH has fastened a board beneath, to serve as a ledge so often we’ll look at the antics of the birds as they peck away at the seed.

The rain was quite relaxing.  I think that this is my most favourite place to be right now .. .my old Toshiba laptop plugged in, tuned to Firefox and Gaia College.

Books tumbling over the surface of the table.  Lined index cards in various piles as I look up new meanings.

I’m soon drawn into the world of gardening and all the beauty that this entails .. and I feel quite happy and relaxed.

A good place to be!

And so that was my Friday.   Followed later by … ta da .. spaghetti for supper!   With a glass (or 2??) of dry white!

Today was quite a different kind of day and I’ll share that tomorrow!

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Still enjoying the journey of looking through my gardening books and ..precious moments in the garden.

Monday, January 16, 2011

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  I’ve  been spending a fair chunk of time lately entering my gardening book data into an excel sheet.  I know that I have acquired many excellent books and I’ve leafed through them from time to time as I’ve relocated them from one room to another.   From the shelves of one bookcase to another.

But I’ve never really spent a lot of time just flipping through the pages, looking for information that just pops out at me.   Actually reading and highlighting sections (these are my own books, after all and I’m free to draw pictures, write notes … all those things!) for quick reference at a later date.

And I just have about 50 or so more books to go.  Then I’ll go through the house and collect any spare books that I’ve left in various rooms.

Next .. guess I’ll make a list of my birding books.   Followed by my craft books .. of which I have a good supply.  Art, beading, (Bedouin in particular – lots of creative ideas for painting in those pages), watercolour … I have quite a variety.

We’ve been experiencing a light dusting of snow here lately …. a little reminder that winter is still here.  Wandering around the yard I see many bulbs were popping up all over the place … new growth emerging for the new year.  I’d planted such a variety of bulbs throughout the front, side and back yard … it will be a nice surprise to see what pops up.  My lovely garden-neighbour has given me a variety of bulbs over the years and this year I’ll try to identify them.

Oops .. another “to do” .. is to map out what is growing where.  I’d started this project last year and then life became crazy busy with all my activities .. so I kind of ran out of time.

Light is dawning .. time to place the hummingbird feeder outside at the back … I’d brought it in last night, to avoid the frozen mixture that awaited the birds yesterday morning.

Some reminders of the beauty of tranquility and trust .. in the garden.   A few days ago .. I was standing quietly …. watching that lovely little rotund bird.  The one that is supposed to be a Junco .. yet I cannot find a photo in any of my bird books.  This little bird is not afraid of me … he (she?) stands quietly, feeding on luscious treats he finds in the ground cover .. as he does the shuffle-shuffle dance.  Little feet moving forwards and backwards.   Enjoying the peaceful quiet as I temporarily live in his world.

Another reminder came a few evenings ago.  Little Anna was at the back feeder.  He would take a few sips, then he would lean back, whirlwind wings steadying him as he perched there, tiny talons firmly gripping the little bar… take a few glances to ensure he was safe, then a quick sip and he’d lean back again.  Then, after repeating this a number of times, he finally relaxed and simply sipped at the nectar .. content that nothing was going to harm him.  He fed for quite a long time it seemed … at least a full minute.  A companionable moment in time.  

Unexpected rewards of gardening.  Priceless.  And very precious.

I’ll try and post some of the “snow” pics tomorrow .. Our main computer is being fixed by that wonderful store “Mother’s Computers” … the machine has been shutting itself on and off for a few days, problem was getting worse .. so it was time to take it over there for a looky-loo.  And a quick glance by the techie, once the cover was removed (and he showed me how to easily do that when I clean the insides in the future)  told him that the power pack that was originally installed was of a very cheap variety!  I’d had the ‘puter built for me at a little shop, many years ago.    Even new, today, the boxes don’t cost much, maybe $50 or so .. so I was left to wonder .. why did the original shop not put a proper one in, if they were so cheap!

I’ve only dealt with this store a few times and each time I’ve been impressed with the sincere assistance, down to earth helpfulness of the personnel.   I trust them, based on my past dealings.  And, once I can justify getting new equipment .. I’ll purchase from them. 

Anyway .. time to go outside and put up the hummingbird feeder for my little backyard guys.  And refill the feeder at the front for the family there!

Time to get on with my lovely daily life on this lovely new day of the week!

Update .. just came in from .. guess where .. the yard!  Spent some time filling up the birdfeeders with more seeds, added lots of black oily sunflower seeds.   As I was doing this .. heard a series of chirps from the birds as they started to gather in the trees.   Placed the hummingbird feeder in the little arbour. 

Carrying a light aluminum ladder and refill for the hummingbird feeder in the front yard … I walked through the extremely light covering of snow to my destination.  Along the way . .. thinking back to last year .. brr .. there had been quite a bit of snow .. I’d worked away, shovelling the sidewalk, and had even built a snowman.  Thankful that there wasn’t much of a snowfall here this year!

So I worked away …set up the ladder .. unhooked the feeder .. undid the lid and filled it up.  As I stood at the top of the ladder, holding the full bottle in my left hand .. ready to hook it securely onto a branch .. Isuddenly heard a whirring of little wings and voila!   Up flew a tiny hummingbird .. it was looking for the feeder and appeared to be a little puzzled to see it  .. but not in the usual location. 

He darted here and there .. trying to figure things out.  There was the feeder.  Not in the normal spot.  Hmmmm ..  he darted from one yellow cage to another .. and .. joy of joys … he settled onto the little cage directly in front of me .. and only inches away from me.   How very precious was this moment, I cannot say.

I would have loved to have taken a picture ..but stayed motionless … not wanting to interupt this most magical moment.    Looking at this tiny little being, perched securely on the little red bar, wings neatly folded tight against his little body as he contendedly sipped away at the nectar.   Trusting my presence.   I didn’t dare breathe all the while .. just drank in the incredible beauty of this most precious period of time.

It’s treasured moments like this that nourish my soul and add to the magic that is nature and gardening. 

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A Thankful Monday holiday ….

Monday, October 10, 2011

Part of my potato, garlic and tiny ears of corn .. harvest!

Well .. finally, the weather reports were correct .. it did rain today.  However the sun shone, the sky was blue, I wore my sunglasses while out for a walk .. and there was the most beautiful rainbow!

What to do on this day .. choices to make, decisions to be made.  I really wanted to go outside and continue on reshaping the garden …. but looking at the pouring rain dashed that idea.

Happy to see the birds flocking to the sunflower seed heads that I’d fastened to the little garden arbour.  Next year I’ll plant groups of sunflowers around the yard .. well staked so they won’t fall over.  Besides being beautiful to look at .. the brilliant yellow of the flower petals are very uplifting.   And I’ll bet they would be lovely in homemade paper and dyes for the same, or fabric.

Dressed up in my gardening grubs and walked around the garden .. admiring the digging done the day before.  Really like the look of the bricks, edging the veggie (soon to b e garlic) bed.

I’d mixed up a 3:1 ratio of syrup today.  Brought the backyard h/bird feeder to the kitchen where I  took it apart and  scrubbed it thoroughly .. it had accumulated a lot of black material . .not good for the little birds.   Once cleaned, rinsed and rinsed … I filled it up with the richer nectar, took it outside and hung it from a hook in the arbour.

Noticed the Anna flying around … and then he headed for the newly refurbished feeder.  Hmmm… he really likes this  fresh mixture quite a lot.  Keeps looking around, being constantly aware of his surroundings .. and he sipped away at the feeder for longer than usual.   Flares and flaps his wings, then they settle in and he sips away .. repeat and repeat.  Makes me happy.

I’d left one sunflower seedhead hanging in a tree and see a chickadee firmly attached .. pecking away .. ha ha ha ha.

For a while I just stand outside in the rain .. feeling the soft drops as they fall gently from the sky.. enjoying the peaceful silence of the garden .. no construction sounds today.  No one cutting their lawn.  No squealing of tires.   Just the quiet chirps of the birds, the gentle flapping of their little wings as they move about the yard.

My plants are arranged in various groupings near the garden .. awaiting planting, relocating.  That will happen.

My outside garden items, the magnificent soil sifting centre, the benches, the useful Rubbermaid containers are just where I left them yesterday .. activity momentarily stopped … all set to use again when the rain stops.  I’m hoping that is tomorrow.

This has been a great Thanksgiving weekend.  I have so much to be thankful for in my life.

Sigh.

Anyway .. off I went to the local mall .. idle shopping ..  fun place to be on such a rainy day.  The stores are full of people calmly walking about … here and there.   I happen on a book sale at Chapters.  A number of people are quite excited at seeing various puzzle books on sale .. Sudoku, brain teasers, some I look through .. uh uh

Oh, no … not another gardening book .. and of course, it’s yet another one that I don’t have .. it’s all about trees.  Coloured plated.  Latin names.  What can a gardening gal do?  I add it to my collection.

Then, on to London Drugs.  I pass by a collection of pretty storage boxes, with lids.  I’ve successfully avoided purchasing these over the past few years.  However, the lavender colour of one intrigues me .. so I stop and look at the boxes.   Soon I have two large, two medium and, what the heck .. two smaller ones.  Various colours, these are.   A fellow shopper comes by to look and we strike up a conversation on how wonderful these boxes are .. she has quite a few in her office and has bought several for hubby, for his tools.

I decide that I’ve made a wise purchase .. so I pay for them and out to the car I go.

A fun relaxing shopping experience in the mall.   Unhurried.

It’s been a day.

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Today we enjoyed our Thanksgiving Spaghetti!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

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A slightly overcast morning quickly turned into a hot sunny day!  We travelled to Dakota Cafe for a late Sunday breakfast.   Arrived at a perfect time, between the crowds.

Noticed the plants are all doing well right now … no trimming needs to be done.  I’ll bring out some lavender paint to colour the cement circles .. one of these days!

Dac was a busy guy today .. not only did he cook the meals, but he brought them to our table .. what a great guy he is!  Not to mention, one terrific chef!   He is offering authentic Vietnamese meals on Tuesdays!!

Wah, DH is working days so we won’t be able to take advantage of these dishes for a while.   We both look forward to trying his authentic meals.

Anyway, homeward bound .. DH and I each start our chosen chores and work away.

I’m so enjoying changing the shape of the veggie / berry / garlic garden.   Spent a few hours in the (lovely) hot sun .. digging away.  Shovelling out some more grassy clay soil .. reclaiming this for the garlic portion of the garden.

Then .. time for me to join DH in shopping for items, renovations being done to the house .. so out we go.   And along the way, I find a good deal on Clematis plants (so I purchase 2) and another perennial hedging plant … name escapes me . .so I’ll have to note this tomorrow.   Anyway, it’s been fun.

Awhile later . .. back home, items unloaded .. we carried them upstairs … DH begins work and I rush to my garden.  Where I spend some time digging, sifting, sorting stones from weeds and lovely free soil to spread around the garden.

I play around with edging the garden bed with my surplus bricks .. and it looks great.  I just need to work on straightening the row .. that will happen.  Rain is predicted for tomorrow, but that won’t stop me from playing outside.

I’m digging up the 10 blueberry plants .. heh heh heh .. I have plans for them.  They will be ( I think) the featured centre of the berry garden.

I hadn’t seen the birds feeding on the sunflower seed heads that I’d left hanging from the tree branches, so I gathered up most of them and interwoven them in the sides of the garden arch.   And noticed that the Anna’s weren’t going to the h/bird feeder that I’d hung from the tree branches, so I moved the feeder to the arch.  Delighted to look out the window this morning and see the Anna’s at the feeder, the chickadees busily picking away at the sunflower seeds.

Kept looking up at the sky … today, couldn’t see any eagles soaring or Turkey Vultures (from yesterday).   Did see some seagulls.

Too soon .. dusk is approaching.  The little Anna buzzes around .. I don’t look up .. I know that he is checking out the territory before approaching the h/bird feeder.  Carefully I lift my head .. and see that he is quietly feeding away.    I’ve mixed up a 3:1 ratio of sugar/water today .. saving this for the cold fall days.  Currently there is a 4:1 ratio mixture in both the front and back feeders.

Time to end my playtime outside.   I’ve made progress.   Digging away at the clay soil, playing around with using bricks as edges for the veggie garden.   Putting the old strawberry planter (belong to my DH’s grandfather!) on a circle of cement that DH had poured for a long-ago garden fence.    Perfect.

I gather all my toys and head inside ..time to start our Thanksgiving supper .. spaghetti!

Soon the water is boiling, the spaghetti is placed in the pot.  Butter is being melted.    Cheese (especially Mazithra) is being shredded.   My lovely (purchased) pesto is awaiting.

And so we plate up our spag .. no turkey or ham for us on this day.   Lovely supper.

A quiet night.

Look forward to tomorrow .. rain .. or ..shine!

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