bonsai…

25 Saturday Jun 2022

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big girl pants, blessed, blue cedar, bonsai, dinner, family, garden, happy, irrigation, moments, nature, plants, Technology, widow

I am beyond happy…

Thursday the kids came over and we spent most of the late afternoon in the garden…

my grandson started work on a bonsai tree and it was great fun to see him trim a blue cedar into something resembling a small tree…

it is going to live in the garden for the summer…

then, we finished the irrigation system… yay… the hose was straightened, holes were punched in various places and tubes with sprinklers were connected… they had no trouble connecting the tubes to the hose, sigh… we ran a test and made sure each little piece was spraying appropriately…

we need a few more pieces of tubing, but most planters, baskets and perennials now will be watered when I turn on the tap… I am sure they will all be happy about this, lol…

so excited to see how well the garden will grow when it is watered regularly…

then we had barbecued steak and asparagus, baked potatoes and a salad on the deck…

what a treat;-)…

ID…

24 Friday Jun 2022

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big girl pants, birds, blessed, garden, ID, learning, moments, nature, Technology, widow

I am really enjoying a newer feature on the Merlin Bird ID app… it lets you record bird sounds and then, nearly instantly, tells you what bird you are hearing… I’ve used this free app regularly to help identify birds that stop by the garden to eat or drink…

this new option is great for times, a lot recently, when the birds aren’t coming to the feeders and you want to ID them…

in the last day, there’s been a house wren here, and this morning the house finch and chipping sparrow seem to be chatting, lol…

fun to know who’s around, even if you can’t spot them…

cherish…

22 Wednesday Jun 2022

Posted by sulis303 in business, food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather

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big girl pants, blessed, cherish, flowers, garden, moments, nature, plants, pond, weather, widow

summer is here and I am doing my best to cherish every minute of it…

spent the day in the garden… a bit of deadheading and weeding, and lots of time enjoying my current book, which a friend just gifted me a few days ago…

after the crew came and mowed, whipper snipped, and tidied the grass, I put back a few pieces of furniture that I’d moved to make their job easier…

the clematis is filled with buds and I expect they will open in the next few days…

even managed to water the houseplants and produce a few meals… all of which were eaten outdoors…

the weather was lovely… sunny and warm, not too hot, with a slight breeze…

the poppies are nearly done… they don’t particularly enjoy rain…once they are finished the rest of the perennials will show themselves, lol…

the sounds of the two ponds running and the odd bird made for a relaxing time…

to top off the day I received three water hyacinths which have gone right into the pond;-)… the fish are going to enjoy them and maybe babies will hide amongst their roots…

I am blessed…

grilling…

20 Monday Jun 2022

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barbecue, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, garden, grilling, hot, irrigation, memories, moments, nature, steak, weather, widow

it was a hot one on Sunday…

I spent a good part of the day in the garden… the sun was blazing…

went around and watered all of the planters and then turned on the irrigation system… it worked fairly well and I am excited to get the rest of it connected…

had a nap in the house over the hottest part of the day and then sat on the upper deck in the shade and read…

dug out the grill and barbecued a steak which I enjoyed with some homemade potato salad and asparagus…

nice to do some grilling… my beloved would have cooked the steak better, but as time goes on, I am learning;-)…

Lilystone…

17 Friday Jun 2022

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big girl pants, blessed, drive, fun times, garden, Lilystone, Lilystone Cafe, Lilystone Gardens, lunch, moments, nature, poppies, retail, treat, widow

what a delightful day… got up, dressed, put out all the cushions and had breakfast on the back deck, admiring the ten or so poppies waving their lovely heads in the flower bed…

Hilda the Gardener arrived and started weeding and tidying everywhere…

a friend picked me up and we drove to Rosenort to eat and do a little shopping…

we had a delicious lunch at Lilystone Cafe, where we both picked up a few treats to bring home for later… I was happy to see them making great use of technology to take orders and prepare the bills… staff were friendly and treated us like family…

then we headed over to Lilystone Gardens, where we engaged in a bit of retail therapy, including a Christmas present… they are just now recovering from flooded fields and roads…

after an enjoyable return drive to the city we stopped at her house to check out some recent work and her very lush garden…

home, a wander around the garden to admire how tidy it is, and a sit down on the deck with a cup of tea and my book…

;-)…

thumb…

13 Monday Jun 2022

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big girl pants, blessed, fasten, flowers, garden, injured, irrigation system, moments, need help, process, Technology, thumb, watering, widow

Saturday, I had an injured thumb…

Friday’s project had been to get the little irrigation system I purchased last year installed…

I read through all the instructions, watched a video, and gave it a shot…

a number of weeks ago we had attached the main hose and run it about halfway, so I finished laying it out so that the newly planted ferns will also get water on a more regular basis…

then I started fastening the feeder hoses… I started with the hanging baskets and then moved on to the perennials in the bed…

connecting the feeder hose to the main hose involves punching a hole, with a very handy tool, and then pushing the connector into the main hose…

this was the difficult part and my thumb took a beating… eventually I stopped because it was becoming painful…

for sure I won’t be working on it for a few days, lol…

bike…

11 Saturday Jun 2022

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big girl pants, bike, blessed, car, family, garden, grandson, ice cream cone, moments, Technology, treat, widow, work

a few days ago my grandson came by to return the car before he headed to work…

a piece for his bicycle had arrived and he worked on getting it installed but ran out of time, so he ended up taking the car…

while he was here I made lunch and we ate in the garden…

then the bike sat in the dining room, waiting for his return…

when he came to pick it up, he brought an ice cream cone;-)…

yum…

stability…

09 Thursday Jun 2022

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bathtub pond, big girl pants, blessed, bunny, garden, grass, moments, pond, pump, stability, water, wet-vac, widow

today’s project was getting the bathtub pond emptied, cleaned, filled, and the pump going…

I used the wet vac and it took a while, but eventually the tub was empty…

I brought out the pump and filter from the basement and put a large rock in it for stability… last year it kept falling over as the water rose… looks like a great fix…

sprayed it down and filled it with water… turned on the pump, and away it went…

I found a large round piece of Tyndall stone and set a basket with some pond grasses into the pond…