Tag Archives: pond

raking…

15 Monday Apr 2024

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spent a good portion of the day on Sunday in the garden raking up leaves… there were a lot of them as well as dead cedar bits…

I know it is a bit early for the bugs, but I want to be able to sit on the back deck…

I left an old garbage can filled with some of what I’d picked up open so the little critters could still get out;-)…

what a difference this has made… it still needs another good going over, but I can now sit comfortably on the back deck and think about how it is going to look with flowers and the fish in the pond…

detritus…

08 Monday Apr 2024

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Sunday, I removed the tarp covering chairs and tables on the back deck and laid it out on the driveway to dry…

then I moved the furniture and swept the deck… there seems to be way more cedar detritus than usual… all of it went into the beds under the cedar trees…

then I partially set up the chairs and table on the deck…

eventually the tarp was folded and put away…

there is very little snow left in the garden, but it is still rather wet…

now to wait for the area to dry up so I can put the chairs in their usual locations…

Orchidaceae

23 Friday Feb 2024

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just for fun I thought I would show some of the orchidaceae that we saw at Flora of the Philippines on Tuesday…

couldn’t help myself, lol…

there were a few other things that I photographed, lol… my buddies, the fish, were swimming around the pond…

we also saw some flowers on the very top of one of the first trees you see on entering the Tropical Biome… we only saw them thanks to a recommendation by one of the volunteers;-)…

another great visit…

flora…

20 Tuesday Feb 2024

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had a fun time at The Leaf today…

went with a friend to see Flora of the Philippines…

we couldn’t figure out the new markers on many of the plants in the Tropical Biome, but eventually realized they represented the flag of the Philippines and demonstrated how many of the plants in the biomes originated there…

besides seeing where so many plants came from, there were hundreds of orchids… heaven for me…

what a treat…

after our wander through the biomes, we had lunch at Gather…

what a delightful way to spend time together;-)…

walkways…

23 Saturday Dec 2023

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nearly a year to the day, we went back to The Leaf in the evening…

we ate dinner at Gather Craft Kitchen and Bar and then wandered through the biomes…

the restaurant was very busy, but we were seated by the window at a two-person table, so were quite a distance from the other diners…

we shared chorizo spiced seitan tacos, I had pork and veal meatballs, and my grandson had a fancy hamburger and everything was tasty… we decided to skip dessert and go for blizzards after our visit to the biomes…

as we wandered through the Tropical biome it was quite amazing to see how the plants have grown… the place is absolutely lush;-)… leaves fell over the walkways in a number of spots, lol…

looking down from the bridge on the third floor it was striking to see how much everything has grown…

it was the first time since that inaugural visit that I’ve been at night… unfortunately it was too dark for my Nikon so all my photos were with my iPhone… got to see some bananas, a pineapple, coffee beans and cacao pods…

it looks like the inside of the biomes have been wrapped with plastic, and the fans in the Tropical biome were blowing rather vigorously…

it was exciting to see that there were a great number of various-sized smaller koi in the pond… babies, maybe;-)…

the next post will be about the Mediterranean biome;-)…

breaking…

30 Monday Oct 2023

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Saturday, late in the afternoon, after breaking the ice on the pond, we caught twenty-one of the goldfish…

the pond water was filled with leaves and was rather brown and murky…

it was quite the job as, at one point, my grandson went into it barefoot with his pants rolled up to cut down the water lilies and grasses (I think it was about -12°C in the air)…

but that really helped catch a bunch of them that had been hiding under the lily leaves… they were moving slower in the cold, but still snuck out of the net… also, some of the catching was in the dark, lol…

then they sat in pails in the house for hours before getting moved into the three tanks…

we were careful to be sure to keep size and numbers similar in the tanks so that there is sufficient space for all of them…

we thought we had them all, but on Sunday we discovered five more, woohoo…

now, the pumps have been removed from the pond, and it is apparently going into the winter with water in it, lol…

acclimatized…

23 Monday Oct 2023

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when we were in the garden on Sunday, we removed a ton of leaves from the pond… always makes me think of the lovely neighbours we have had over the years, being as how the tree that sheds those leaves is located in their yard, lol…

there were still numerous ones left, but we were able to dig down past them and catch three fish to bring into the house…

I wanted to do a bit of a test in the biggest tank to be sure that the water was safe for them…

after they acclimatized to the house temperature they made it into their condo…

so far they seem happy and healthy;-)…

blessing…

09 Monday Oct 2023

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I wrote this blog a few weeks ago and today seems like the perfect day to post it… so much to be thankful for;-)…

I’d been sitting on the back deck thinking about what a gift this space is…

it is my own lake/cottage/cabin vacation space… recently, one of the people who come to mow for me, mentioned what a lovely yard it was and how they didn’t think they could stay in the house, lol…

I get teased because most days I put all the chair cushions out and even the decorative cushions, although there will only be me in the garden… but it looks so lovely when everything is set up…

throughout the day I move from area to area as I follow the shade… and, of course, the views are different in each space…

I am loving the hammock chair, which is a replacement for the hammock lounger that I’ve had for a number of years… this new one fits my body much better…

the flowers blooming also make me happy and I enjoy checking to see what has a new bud, or if there is a caterpillar on the parsley or milkweed… listening and watching the birds who stop by for a snack, drink or bath… watching the fish as they swim around in the pond…

and this year, the amazing number of water lily flowers that just keep on popping up and opening throughout the day…

I realize what a blessing this wonderful sanctuary is, and that I have the time to enjoy it;-)…

an all-summer-long vacation;-)…

crowded…

27 Wednesday Sep 2023

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for the last few weeks I’ve been working on getting the condos (fish tanks), ready for the move from garden to house…

when the fish moved outdoors in the spring, I didn’t clean up the tanks, sigh…

so, it started with cleaning the tank that held the plants last winter… I’ve decided to use it for fish, as the fish were getting a bit crowded in the two tanks…

got it cleaned and then a few days went by before I faced the two big tanks…

had to use the wetvac to remove all the water from the big tanks and dump it down the toilet in small batches… that took quite a bit of time and effort…

next I had to scrub them both down… then I brought in the hose and filled all three tanks up… another slow process…

I had to purchase a pump for the newest tank… as I hooked them up, the biggest pump would not work…

finally, after numerous attempts, it started working and now all three tanks are running and cleaning the water…

it will be weeks before the fish move in, but the tanks will be ready for them…

the funniest thing is realizing how much noise they make, after being silent all summer…

whew;-)…