Tag Archives: garden

appreciation…

15 Wednesday Jul 2015

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had a wonderful day…

checked the garden and saw that one of the mandevilla buds had finally opened… they are beautifully structured, but take a long time to open…

  
we didn’t have to be at the office until an hour after our usual time as today was staff appreciation day…

  
while we ate breakfast snacks, which can be a bit complicated as we have a number of food issues, we played a serious game of Pictionary… some of us can be a bit competitive…

  
at the same time, taking turns getting henna tattoos… 

  
they were beautifully done by @dahliahenna…

then, a walk to The Forks where we got to take a water taxi tour on the Assiniboine and Red rivers… great fun… nothing like the wind in your face riding on the water…

  
got a nice shot of the Legislature… things always look so different from the water…

  
lunch on the patio of the Beachcomber with an incredible group…

walk back to the office and then home…

truly blessed to work in an organization which does appreciate and care for all staff members…

hot…

13 Monday Jul 2015

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was another hot day… got up and was out of the house before 8 to go for a walk… didn’t want to be out there when it got really hot…

  
crossing over the bridge got a few shots of the barn swallows... in Ottawa they have just built houses for their barn swallows where they were doing some work on a bridge… apparently they are endangered there… not here, lol…

the English Garden had very few visitors but was filled with gardeners… they were working in every area… looks beautiful…

  
usually I am drawn to the purple/blue flowers but today I kept leaning toward the orange ones…

   
 
my friend loved that colour…

  
can’t even guess how many pictures I have taken of the water lilies in the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden… hundreds for sure… the tropical lilies are just starting to bloom…

got home, welcomed a new cleaning crew and went into the garden to be out of their way… mowed and whipper-snipped the back yard… did some weeding and watering… was dancing around on the deck and in the garden because the ground was soooo hot…

  
finally got to sit down in the shade… nice…

beautiful hot summer day… really enjoying my Mondays off…

storm…

11 Saturday Jul 2015

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am dripping wet right now…

  
hard to see but there is a rainbow in this picture… this is what it looked like after I ran out in the pouring rain and put away all the cushions… first time they have been soaked, sigh… should have put them away before supper…

the day had been perfect up till the storm…

  
fish were out and about…

  
watered all the planters and baskets and they are doing well…

  
found a small tomato…

  
couple of green peppers…

  
and an eggplant… woo hoo…

  
mandevilla is ready to open…

  
and the million bells basket is beautiful…

the rain has ended but the thunder is still rolling… 

hazy…

02 Thursday Jul 2015

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 getting a bit tired of the hazy sky we have had for the last week or so… this morning I decided I’d taken enough pictures of the morning sun, until I spotted the crows on the wire… rare to see them in this area of the neighbourhood…

fires are burning to the west of us which is causing the constant haze…

as I was preparing my supper tonight, looked out the patio doors and spotted this goldfinch sitting in the cedars, like a Christmas decoration…

  
a few minutes later, when I was sitting outside, two of the male goldfinches chased one another all through the cedars nattering at the top of their lungs… for a while I was thinking we had a dad, mom and son, which might be true, but there is also another male and they don’t like sharing a feeder… 

luckily there are three feeders in the garden so they don’t have to fight over the seed…

so happy to have the time to spend outdoors and enjoy these moments…

friends…

30 Tuesday Jun 2015

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had a vacation day today and spent most of it in the garden…

my grandson came over and helped with some yard work…

he is becoming proficient in weeding and knowing what shouldn’t be pulled…

he dug the hose into the grass and under two flower beds so that it just needs a button flipped and water will go into the pond when it runs low… we bought some hardware which we haven’t installed yet, but at least the hose is ready, lol…

  
the grass should grow over in a few weeks and there won’t be anything visible at all…

lots of wild roses were cut down but we also got to see blooms on the two rose bushes that came from my friend and neighbour Ellen’s house… she was a very special woman…

  
been feeling that I haven’t been a very good friend lately… maybe I am still all wrapped up in my own struggles with losing my beloved or I just haven’t been taking the time to connect with friends… maybe I’m turning into a hermit…

sometimes a friend needs space but I wonder if I’ve been using that as an excuse not to connect… and sometimes they just grow away from you for a while, and that’s okay too…

was talking with someone and they were having similar feelings…

I don’t know for sure, except that I am feeling guilty of not trying hard enough to connect with at least one person… maybe I need to sit with that for a while…

  

weeds…

28 Sunday Jun 2015

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quiet day spent mainly in the garden… off to the left is the bucket I filled with weeds and spent blossoms which I pulled…

lots of wildlife again… saw at least three goldfinches which reminded me of the day last summer when there were five males at the bird feeder at the same time and I saw them and got a picture… that really was a spectacular moment…

  
laughed for ages after one of the little red squirrels fell out of a feeder, landed in the pond, jumped out and ran through the yard at warp speed… think it was surprised and maybe a bit embarrassed…

 
my bunny friend is spending lots of time here… this afternoon she was suntanning while I was reading… knows that I won’t do anything to hurt her I think, as I can move around without causing her to charge off…
  
planters are looking very nice… hard to believe that June is nearly over…  

as I sit here, ending my day in the garden, I am missing my kids as they weren’t able to come by for dinner tonight… 

also missing my beloved… never know when those moments will surface…

daisies…

21 Sunday Jun 2015

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the daisies have taken over the path by the pond…

  
I don’t actually think there were any planted in this garden, lol…

there have been daisies in the backyard for at least twenty-five years…

for many of those years they have travelled back and forth across the garden…

they would be on one side of the yard and within a few weeks would move through the grass… whenever George mowed they would bloom right at grass height and then move a little bit further before he mowed again…  

 

these pictures are from either end of the pathway… the daisies are everywhere, lol…

they are so bright and happy looking… 

  
final bonus today are these jolly jump ups that self seeded…

  
so cute…

 

watching…

20 Saturday Jun 2015

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first thing this morning I moved a chair on the deck so that I could watch the bird feeder… I had seen the cardinal from the bedroom window and was wanting a closer view…

  
sat quietly while the kids slept watching for it… nothing…

after they were up I spent time finishing up the garden area…

  
cut down some small trees and cleaned out lots of weeds beside the cute little barn-shaped shed… the raised beds are looking very nice…

enjoyed breakfast, packed my bag and had a nap…

made a little lunch and sat on the deck for my last meal before coming home…

  
the female cardinal came by while I was eating… amazing because the first time I saw the male was when I first arrived… I’d been standing on the deck and he flew through…  never saw him again although I was watching… she sat at the bird feeder the entire time I was eating… felt like a lovely farewell gift…

bus to the airport and a goodbye wave from my daughter…