coal…

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we took a trip to the East Coast in 1988 or 1989 – amazing what I forget these days, lol…

the four of us, plus my beloved’s mom… we had bought a tricked out van and the trip was great…

when we got to the coast we had lobster at every stop because the four of us loved it… George’s mom couldn’t figure out why we kept eating it as she didn’t like it that much, lol…

while we were there, we found a beach that had coal all over it… we had such fun collecting a bagful to bring home to use for first footing…

I’ve been down to one fairly large piece for a a few years now, so I’ve been careful with it…

as I was working away in the garage, cleaning, sorting, dumping stuff, I found the original bag filled with a whole lot more…

what a treasure, so exciting…

birdies…

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had an enjoyable time watching all my feathered friends flitting about the garden…

I think the birdies were happy that the grass has been mowed as well, lol…

dirt baths, bug collecting in the grass, checking out all the feeders, and drinking at the pond…

some guests who haven’t been around all summer are stopping by so I think we are getting close to migration time…

some days it is nearly impossible to focus on my book because there is so much going on;-)…

ear…

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I went for a walk… outside… in the neighbourhood… no idea when I did that last…

walked with my daughter in my ear

didn’t go too far, up to and around Bruce Park… it was lovely to see flowers, the creek, and get some photos…

felt fine at the end… only met a few people and they weren’t close to me…

secateurs…

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decided the Virginia creeper over the hot tub was starting to creep too much towards the water…

grabbed my secateurs and a pail… moved the steps to the other side of the hot tub and climbed up…

was careful not to fall as I climbed onto the cover and along the edge to get to the window…

happy to get back on the ground when it was done…

looks much tidier now…

and I am still in one piece;-)…

berries…

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the other day I took a photo of some beautiful Virginia creeper berries… they were climbing on the cedars on the back lane side of the garden and were a bright purple…

today I spotted these red berries in amongst the lily of the valley…

I’ve never seen berries on lily of the valley before…

flutter…

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the critters have been active in the garden…

birds and squirrels are always flitting about… today I captured a flutter of sparrows lined up waiting for their turn at one of the feeders…

and lately the tiniest winged critters have been visiting quite a bit…

this cute bumblebee was enjoying a rest in the sunshine on the datura… and the wasps have been spending time on the lily pads, getting drinks I think…

there have also been a number of grasshoppers in the front yard…

so happy that retirement has given me more opportunities to enjoy the nature around me…

balloons…

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woke up and watched half an hour of FMG balloons taking off from the Gatineau Airport…

brought back such wonderful memories… our first flight took five tries in 2013 but when we finally made it, it was spectacular…

that flight was from the grounds of the Festival…

in 2014, we made it the very first time and ended up taking off from the same airport as I watched the liftoff online…

the Festival happens on the September long weekend and I am hoping to make it there again… someday;-)…

mow…

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this morning when I looked outside the sun was shining and it was a nice temperature…

but, the grass was so tall I didn’t want to go into the garden… since we’ve had a bit of rain and cooler weather it has grown like crazy and my grandsons hadn’t been able to come over and mow for me…

I decided that I would mow it myself… I did buy a lawnmower that starts easily and doesn’t have any cords for just this situation…

so, I moved furniture, mowed, whippersnipped, put furniture back, brought out cushions and finally sat down with a cup of tea to enjoy the space…

it looked spectacular;-)…

and I spotted a water lily bud… yay…

male…

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I spent some time walking around the garden this afternoon…

after checking out the neighbour’s squash plant, which has come into my garden, I went online and did a bit of research…

there are a number of blooms on both sides of the fence but not a single squash growing…

it appears that all of the blooms are male flowers… hopefully a female or two will turn up although I think there is a plan to pull the plant out next week, lol…

become…

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three years ago my mandevilla was blooming profusely on this day… that year, the flowers began opening mid-July…

it lives in the dining room over the winter and doesn’t bloom during that period…

today I took photos of the buds on that same plant… interesting that we are a month and a half later this year…

it takes quite a long time for the buds to become flowers and I am looking forward to the blooms…