Category Archives: nature

tank…

02 Saturday May 2020

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a very sad morning here…

three days ago I unplugged the pump on the fish tank as I was on a Zoom call and it was very noisy… I have often done this…

when I plugged it back in, nothing happened… I tried different outlets to no avail…

I decided to put the fish into the pond but had to do some cleaning of it first… got some done, but hurt my back so waited a bit…

they seemed fine while waiting… in the middle of the night it occurred to me that one of the smaller pond pumps might work in the tank…

first thing this morning I was out in the garage finding a pump… brought it in, tested it in the sink and put it into the tank… think it is going to work in the meantime…

the water is murky, which will not likely clear up as currently there is no filter… the fish seem to be swimming about and appear much happier… this pump is even noisier than the last one, lol…

unfortunately, the biggest fish died during the night;-(…

nameless…

29 Wednesday Apr 2020

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my plant is flowering… I don’t know what it’s name is…

it was given to me four years ago for my sixty-fifth birthday by my work colleagues…

it is so purple… it was blooming then, but hasn’t bloomed since… I think it likes being next to the fish tank…

very exciting to watch it…

stalled…

28 Tuesday Apr 2020

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the day went by very quickly…

set an alarm to be sure I was up for the 8-2 window for my Save-On-Foods delivery… they arrived around 9:30, and nearly everything turned up, including toilet paper…

after the groceries arrived, all the datura pots made their way outside for the day once the temperature hit 10 degrees Celsius… this is good weight training for me…

from there I worked on updating my cookbook…got quite a few pages done, which made me happy as it had kind of stalled…

a phone call and time online trying out and searching to find a particular resource… no luck so far, but I am not giving up, lol…

FaceTimed with my oldest grandson and a few PVRed shows finished the day;-)…

tubers…

27 Monday Apr 2020

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had a busy morning in the garden yesterday…

opened my box from The Dahlia Expert and took out my eight new tubers… I’d set it on the floor out of the way for a few days after it arrived to be sure it was safe;-)…

found pots, cleaned them out and matched the tubers with the appropriate pot…

left them outside for the rest of the day hoping that the rain might give them a drink… it did rain for a very short time but not a lot…

took quite a while, but eventually all eight were nestled in their new homes…

brought them in just before dark and put them back out for the day this morning…

they will be coming in and going out for the next while as I wanted them to get a head start on growing before they can live outside permanently;-)…

so excited to watch them grow…

chewed…

26 Sunday Apr 2020

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this morning, while I was searching for something in the garage, I came across an envelope of morning glory seeds that had been there for at least a year… apparently a critter had chewed open the end of the envelope, but left the seeds… not so tasty maybe…

I sprinkled them over two planters along the deck and then covered them with soil… will watch and see what happens…

no idea if they will sprout, but I thought it was worth a chance…

will be fun to watch;-)…

parcel…

24 Friday Apr 2020

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had an excellent day yesterday… got a parcel in the mail… with chocolate in it…

spent time in the garden… reading in the sun, washing down a few pieces of furniture… moving chairs around for a different view… cleaning out some planters… it was lovely…

ended the day with a visit from a dear young friend… she was on the sidewalk and I was at the front door…

going to enjoy the time in the garden…

EarthDay…

22 Wednesday Apr 2020

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today, Earth Day 50, I’ve spent time thinking about our world and how blessed we are to be here…

and how this virus, which has made us all stay home, has given the earth a chance to rest and start recovering from all the grief we have given it…

in my little corner of the world, I spent time watching the birds and squirrels at the bird feeders… after I refilled them…

and also was able to spend some time on the deck in the garden, enjoying the balmy weather…

I’ve been thinking of a few small changes I’ve made at home… the one I am most pleased about is using cloth instead of paper towels… I put away the paper towel holder shortly after arriving back home in January… I’ve been using extra hand towels and facecloths and have a bin for the used ones on the kitchen counter… it has been amazingly simple and is encouraging me to see what other small, but helpful changes I can make…

banyan…

21 Tuesday Apr 2020

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a photo of the banyan tree in Lahaina came up in my Facebook feed this morning so I pulled out a few more…

I’ve been thinking of this particular tree for quite a while… it is the largest banyan tree in Hawaii, and covers an entire block… the aerial roots are astonishing… it is stunning, and also one of the most peaceful places I have been…

the area is filled with visitors, many, like we were, there from out of the country, but lots of regulars as well… a gathering place for lunch and work breaks, there were many of the town’s workforce in the space… it is also clearly a place where those who have very little spend their time… what was also obvious was how they cared for the place and treated it, and everyone there, with respect and kindness…

we visited it a few times while we stayed in Lahaina and it provided a wonderful break… the weather was very hot and it always provided shade and a slightly cooler place to be… each day as the sun goes down the tree is filled with the sound of hundreds of birds gathering there for the night…

before we left the town, it was the last place we stopped, to soak up the amazing feeling…

I took this panorama of a corner of the block…

this beauty of nature reminded me of Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island, another breathtaking place which I will never forget…

I hope you have memories of a special tree…

expert…

20 Monday Apr 2020

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the dahlia tubers are here, the dahlia tubers are here;-)…

they are a variety of colours and sizes…

I am very excited… I will let them sit in the box for a few days before opening it up and then plant most of them in pots so they can start to grow in the house…

I ordered them through an Ontario company, The Dahlia Expert, and they were very helpful…

the first ones we ever got were from a lovely gentleman on Vancouver Island… we spent hours in his garden and garage deciding on which ones to bring home on the plane…

they grew beautifully but we didn’t store them correctly for the winter and lost all of them… hoping I do a better job with these;-)…

pruning…

19 Sunday Apr 2020

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today I spent hours sitting in the living room reading and watching the neighbour across the street working on the lilac bush… this is how it looked a few weeks back…

here is how it looked a few years ago when it was blooming…

yesterday they had surveyors out measuring the edges of the property, so I am assuming they are going to put up a fence… the surveyors had to dig into the bush to set their mark…

this morning I spotted him chopping down a bunch of the branches and wondered if he was removing the whole thing…

eventually I went outside and shared the story of that particular bush… maybe twenty-five years ago we removed a lilac from the backyard… we gave a tiny piece to our neighbour who lived in that house…

I shared how her teenage son would take out his frustrations with a golf club on the little bush… so was amazed that it grew up, lol…

the new neighbour advised that he is putting in a fence along the side, but was just pruning the bush so he could work with it without needing a ladder…

here’s a final shot of how it looks now…

glad it is remaining and looking forward to watching it grow;-)…