Tag Archives: garden

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…

 
 

garden…

17 Wednesday Jun 2015

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this morning the sun was shining outside my bedroom window…

  
the birds were singing and the woodpecker was rat-a-tat-tating on the pole at the edge of the backyard…

  
worked in one of the raised beds to get rid of the weeds and we walked over to Loblaws and got some veggies and herbs…

  
this is the before picture… after getting it cleaned out we went to another store and picked up soil to fill the bed… took a taxi home and my son-in-law put it into the bed… then I planted everything…

  
here’s the finished product when I was able to sit down and enjoy the view…

started to prep supper and came out to this…

  
someone has a cold and fell asleep…

great grilled salmon steak, veggies, salad, and rice for our dinner…

sat outside for a while and visited… now heading to bed…

clouds…

14 Sunday Jun 2015

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weather has been interesting over the weekend…

yesterday morning I took these pictures of clouds looking in two directions…

   
 

and last night as I was walking home from supper out with the kids…

  
although it had been raining just a while before, in this shot it was beautiful…

today was a bit overcast early in the day and then the sun came out and lit up the garden as I worked in one section… happy with my work…

  
put out all the cushions and we had a lovely visit when the kids came for dinner… 

had supper on the deck, and just finished in time to move everything into the house and garage as the sky darkened…

poured for about fifteen minutes after they drove out of the driveway… left footprints when I went into the garden afterwards…

  
then this:-)…

  
certainly lots of variety…

deck…

13 Saturday Jun 2015

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recently I’ve been coming outside and sitting on the deck to write my blog post… lovely way to end the day and another opportunity to get outside…

today I’ve been on all three decks for some period of the day…

 
started the day with an early morning hot tub… turned the waterfall back on so got to hear the lovely water sounds… sat on the back deck and read and watched the various wildlife that visited…

  
besides the goldfinches there were squirrels, butterflies and a large dragonfly… I think the second goldfinch in this picture was a juvenile, not the missus…

  
went in while it rained, and then sat on the deck by the door to read… while there, a cute little bunny came by…

 
sat there for at least ten minutes before hopping away… 

lovely treat when my kids called and three of them met me for supper at The Captain’s Table… my favourite fish and chip place… luckily I walked there and back to help make up for the fried food I ate…

 
they headed off to wash the car andchauffeur one of the other kids, and I stopped at the grocery store to pick up salad fixins for tomorrow’s supper…

noticed the first clematis bloom when I arrived home… it is doing very well this year…

  

going to make some tea and read a bit more while I’m out here and the sky is blue… enjoying the moment…

exercising…

12 Friday Jun 2015

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was talking with someone recently about eating and exercise… they were noticing that eating and then going for a walk or doing any type of exercise is getting more difficult for them…

reminded me of when I really learned that lesson…

it was 2000 and I had travelled to Banff, Alberta to make a cd with a group of women from across Canada and the U.S… we had an amazing time… it was beautiful there, the studio was great, and the food was wonderful… we stayed midway up a mountain, walked, what felt like straight up, to get to the restaurant and then further up to the studio…

if we ate too much of the delicious food, we could barely make it up the hill to our destination… apparently your stomach needs to work after eating and your whole body is actively taking part in the process…

took us a while to figure it out and then we started to eat much smaller portions, lol… making the music was magical and something I will always remember…

this morning, after my smoothie, I walked around the garden, which, thankfully, is flat, and got a few pictures…

  

this is the last poppy with the sun shining through it…
 
this little sedge (I think) growing in the pond has a lovely “flower” on it… 

and the morning glories are just peeking through the soil… hurrah:-)…

  
the garden is moving along nicely…

green…

10 Wednesday Jun 2015

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been thinking about all things green… 

started this morning with a picture of my manicured lawn which my daughter mowed last night while she was waiting for me to get home…

  
been thinking about money a bit too… wanting to be sure I have enough green for my visit with my other kids… 

years ago George and I decided we wouldn’t take vacations if we didn’t have enough to be able to do what we wanted, after a very bad experience where we spent two weeks in a soaked tent while it poured every day, because we couldn’t afford to stay anywhere else…

love my green hose which is very light and expands or shrinks depending on whether or not there is water in it… makes watering so much easier…

  
tonight I watered everything after planting some morning glory seeds… some in a pot that already has the mandevilla in it…

 
and some in a hanging basket… looking forward to seeing them sprout…

excited to see this bit of green coming through the soil… one of the dahlias…

  
finally, discovered these wild rose blooms in among the jungle of green plants and grass in the other front flower bed… although flower might not be an accurate description, lol…

  
still giggle about how badly I wanted this wild rose in the garden… now it is trying to take over the whole yard… and I am constantly cutting back sprouts of it everywhere…

too funny…

energy…

06 Saturday Jun 2015

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was up early, made a nice breakfast and planned to work in the garden when I was done…

sadly it started to rain when I went outside so didn’t get much done for a good portion of the day… passed the time watching tv :-)…

last night I had a hot tub and sat out in the swing chair watching the colours change on the waterfall… beautiful… this is the cute little remote that works the lights…

  
feeling good and full of energy, when the sky cleared up around four, I spent some time in the front flower bed cutting down wild roses and pulling out grass… filled a pail but only got about half of it done… hope to finish that off tomorrow…

kids came over and we had supper while the hot tub was emptying… after they left I cleaned and filled it… now to wait for it to warm up and put in a few chemicals…

sitting out, with a blanket on and reading by the pond…

 
good news is that the waterfall is still running beautifully… bad news is that the pond keeps needing more water…

   

oh well, we’ll figure it out… poppies are getting closer to opening every day and at least one of the dahlias I planted has popped through the soil…

  
life is good and I am lucky enough to realize that and enjoy every moment…

well, maybe not every moment… a mosquito just tried to bite me, lol…

warm…

04 Thursday Jun 2015

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spent a few minutes this morning pulling grass out of a flower bed and topping up the water in the pond…

sun was shining all day and it was warm…

when I got home I sat outside for a while and talked with my daughter about my upcoming visit…

the pond was looking good…

  
and the fish appeared happy… lots of chasing around so maybe we will have babies before too long…

  
things are starting to bloom…

  
a bit amazed that the Veronica is blooming before the poppies… sadly it looks like there will only be seven poppies… the first summer after George died we must have had fifty blooms…

glad to have spent time in the garden before organizing supper… have to take every opportunity to be outside when there is a nice day…

  
the planters around the deck are doing nicely… first time I’ve had this colour lobelia… looks good…

the pond may still be leaking a bit but I am thrilled with the sheet of water falling from the rock… think I will run a hose under the deck and just below the grass to the edge of the pond… then when it needs to be topped up, it will be a simple turn of the tap to fill it…

feeling more energy and getting the odd job done during the week, which has been unusual for quite some time…

  

wander…

27 Wednesday May 2015

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had a lovely wander around the garden tonight… everything is looking great, particularly as I got up early and watered before work…

here are the veggies with a few flowers mixed in… just a few tomatoes, peppers and basil… might still plant some radishes…

  
the planters around the deck and the basket beside are a lovely colour… they will be gorgeous once they fill in…

  

happily the hostas are coming up quickly…

  
lily of the valley are starting to bloom so in a few days it will smell wonderful in the garden…

  
and the poppies have buds now…

  
lots of plants but that doesn’t always mean there will be many flowers… George and I loved the poppies and would count the blooms every day…

 

the unplanted iris is beautiful… must decide where it is going and get it planted…
  have two baskets filled with fushia… I do enjoy these… and I’m sure it doesn’t have anything to do with the colour…

  
happy to see that the mandevilla is already starting to climb up the obelisk…

wonderful how a few plants can add such life to the garden…

relaxing…

25 Monday May 2015

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had a quiet relaxing morning as I didn’t start work until eleven… lovely to be able to putter around the house…

began to unwind on the drive home as we took the scenic route along Wellington Crescent… such a pretty drive, even went through the Park… 

arrived home to find my friends in the garden with the cushions already on the chairs…

 
had a great couple of hours enjoying our time together as the sun set… lots of laughs and interesting conversation in a beautiful setting… although we might have spotted a couple of mosquitoes…

 
the newly potted plants look great…  

I love this weather and the time I get to spend outside…