since August 26th, I’ve been watching a water lily flower bud… first noticed it about four inches under the water…
once it reached the water level, it has come up about an inch and then popped back under the water… then it would reemerge and finally it rose about two inches out of the water…
it finally opened on Tuesday, September 2nd, on a very cool, overcast, and windy afternoon… certainly, not a day to sit by the pond😢…
since then it has remained closed up…
hoping the weather turns warm and sunny before it returns below the surface…
a bit later my housemate discovered the cutest little frog and popped them next to the pond…
I had an enjoyable time reading outside, although I did have a blanket on as it was a bit cool, but the garden looked tidy following a cut, trim and blow, lol…
everything is so lush following all the rain…
the waterfall area has had the last of the liner cut back now that we are sure it isn’t leaking, yay…
started with breakfast at the Park Cafe… I really enjoyed the falafels…
from there it was over to the English Garden which is just gorgeous right now…
I found a lovely rose, just after we saw a hummingbird, although it moved too fast for me to get a photo…
in the Leo Mol Arbor we spotted one of the muskrats;-)…
had some fun with water lilies and frogs at the lily pond…
the gardens were being prepped for the big donor event this week… pressure washers were cleaning up the concrete, while lights were being added to the trees throughout the space… it will look lovely in the evening;-)…
the work on the pond waterfall area started in early June… when the first two fixes didn’t work we moved on to more serious attempts…
the water in the upper pond was removed, and all the gunk was vacuumed out…
a group of three attempted to lift out the waterfall rock… unfortunately, it broke in the process… one of us might have had a meltdown;-(…
next the remaining blocks were removed and a new liner was installed… then the blocks were put back in… a bit of a puzzle to remember where each one went, lol… possibly they should have been numbered;-)…
the next step involved filling cracks with foam and gluing down some of the rocks…
with help from a friend the main piece of the waterfall rock was carefully lowered back into its spot…
it took three of us, but the three pieces of the waterfall rock were joined together with special rock cement and we waited a week for it to cure…
then the flat rock portion was glued down and left to cure…
next the hose was put down inside the liner and the waterfall spillway was placed back into the waterfall rock… there were a lot of crossed fingers at that point…
finally, on Sunday night, August 10th the waterfall was turned on…
it was too late for a good picture, so this one was taken the next morning…
there is no leaking 🤪…
a great job by my housemate and various friends throughout the process as issues arose and heat and rain caused stoppages…
what a treat to hear the water running and not have to worry about adding water all the time;-)…
today I’ve been giggling over a couple of things as I remember 42 years together, on what should have been our 55th wedding anniversary…
first thing I wandered the garden and took pictures of the morning glories…
some, where they were planted, and some that have just found a spot they like, lol…
I remember my beloved bringing me pictures of the ones blooming in the garden each day when he came to visit me in hospital around our fortieth anniversary…
he was just getting used to the camera on his phone, so it was a big deal for him to take the time to take pictures of flowers…
the second thing is the pond…
it has been leaking for ages, but only when the waterfall is running…
we had the leaking problem for a year or so before he died and it was driving him crazy, trying to figure out the problem…
finally, as I was reading on the back deck, two red squirrels were having a battle over one of the feeders… he and squirrels never got on, so it was funny to have them yelling at each other today…
started with an early morning F1 sprint race… it was too funny, because I slept in till seven which is quite unusual and the race started at 4:30, but I had PVRed it, lol…
I was outside for a good portion of the day and enjoyed the fish and morning glories…
later in the afternoon I watched diving, including some outdoors from twenty metres… yikes…
it is so high that they enter the water feet-first with their arms at their sides…
we’ve been working on the pond to try and fix the leak that only seems to happen when the waterfall is running…
we purchased a new hose from a pond store and it took a while to get here… then we had to wait for a good day to work on it…
took extra help to pull the old hose and insert the new one… next a new connection to the pump had to be purchased and finally on Sunday evening the waterfall was turned on… the pump hadn’t been cleaned, but the water was coming through the waterfall much stronger that previously…
we thought the problem was where the water meets the deck on the deck side…
this how it looked at the end of Tuesday…
and it was still leaking, sigh…
this is how it looked on Thursday, although we may be getting closer to the problem…
herbiggirlpants 