positivity .. we each have a voice to share and little by little we can make the positive changes .. 🙂
Monthly Archives: September 2012
Watching the birds figure out the upside down bird feeder. The Chickadee soon has it all figured out!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
I wonder where the birds go during the daytime? I think that they keep to some sort of schedule. A pre-determined list as to which yard to visit at specific times.
Haven’t seen the Flicker or the Downy Woodpeckers, but that could be because they are out and about in the early hours of the day, before I go outside.
The sparrows seem to be here all day and they have a lookout for fresh birdseed .. whenever I top up the feeders, I hear a series of loud chirps and soon there are quite a number of them feeding away.
The demure little Fox sparrows visit .. but mainly the thistle seed feeders. There are three, but they favour the two that are hidden away. One of them is for birds who feed upside down … I’d purchased it on sale and hadn’t noticed this until I was assembling the feeder and thought, well, this is weird!
The Chickadee soon has it figured out. And I reckon that the Nuthatch has also discovered the proper way to get at the seeds .. except that I haven’t seen them for a few days either.
Our home is on the flight path to the local Nature Sanctuary .. and so I am lucky enough to see a few Canada Geese flying overhead in the early evening, before the sun slips away.
Sometimes they catch me by surprise, flying low overhead .. so low that I can see the light of the sun reflecting off of their underbelly. Flapping their wings in unison, resulting in that lovely swoosh swoosh sound .. and then their strong calls as they head to their nightly sleeping place.
And sometimes there is a lone straggler, I don’t hear him till he swoops over, calling out a loud Honk! ha ha . .you caught me there!
My camera isn’t quick enough to catch them flying so close .. so I content myself with blurry images as they fly over houses in the neighbourhood .. still hoping to snap a pic when they fly low over our yard.
Patience.
Taking time out to watch the antics of the birds is such a rich block of time .. to watch these tiny beings. Taught how to survive by their parents. They seem so defenseless .. how will they survive. But their world is much tougher than ours and they are schooled well .. so they forge out their daily lives very well.
Loving the brilliant splash of colour that the surprise sunflowers bring to the yard. Tiny or tall .. I love them all!
The mystery flowers that spring up .. they are welcome here anytime. Perhaps the birds bring them in to decorate .. now that’s a lovely idea!
Yesterday I began the transformation of the veggie bed. Dug up and potted some of the kale plants that are growing. Several of the cabbage plants that are growing in the shade and should be in the sun, well, they are being added to the compost. Yet, there is one little cabbage, it is forming a solid head, so I’m leaving that one to continue growing.
I dig away at this makeshift garden bed that I formed, simply to have a neater mulch pile. There are bales of spoiled hay, alpaca manure, oak leaves, spent hops .. all combined to create a lovely garden soil. So instead of leaving this in a mulch pile .. I’ve used it as a place to grow kale, squash and cucumber.
Moved most of this material into the middle of my veggie bed .. to prepare for my next garlic bed. This year the cloves are larger .. and I’ll plant more, but will ensure that I space them with lots of room to grow.
I worked away for a few hours, then time for a break … feeling quite satisfied at the progress that I’ve made. And more to be done.
So away .. the start of a new day …. out in the sun!
Oh Kale plants, how I enjoy your presence in the garden, such an easy care plant! Along with my lovely garlic.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
So here we are in September .. and I have another birthday looming up .. not for weeks yet. I love birthdays .. another opportunity to celebrate!
The heat of the summer has been slowly winding down and now the days are shorter, darkness falls around 8 pm. Gearing down for the fall .. lovely lazy days. No more rushing around to plant veggies & flowers. Time to relax and enjoy the beauty.
Yesterday my lovely gardening neighbour came over for a visit and to pick some of the plum bounty. She laughed as she saw, once again, that I’d planted some tomatoes in the shadier parts of the yard. She is teaching me some good gardening techniques that she has brought with her from the Russian Ukraine, so I’m slowly learning by experience.
The Kale plants that she’d given me (Tuscany, Dragon and a ruffled type) were all doing well and they would last me through the winter, she assured me .. and I could collect the seeds in the spring. I quite like growing kale. All I have to do is plant it, some water, some EM ..wait for a bit and then just clip the outer leaves. My kind of easy care plant.
The cabbage plants that she’d given to me .. well, they were sun lovers, and as they are planted in the shade .. I’ll not expect much more than a few leaves from them.
She quite liked the way that the pumpkins were growing over the little arbour! And I have one large pumpkin and a few smaller ones.
Of all the squash plants that are growing, I might be able to pick a few small fruits for cooking.
Oh .. next year .. just wait .. I’ll start my veggie plants earlier and I will carefully tend them during the cool spring months. I promise that I will!
My very best crop, my absolute favourite .. is my garlic! And I will plant them in mid-October (this is the best time, she advised me).
And the strawberry plants, that I’d placed in those lovely long oval tin planters, well, the soil isn’t deep enough for them .. so when the weather turns a bit damp, then I’ll be planting them in the side garden border, where they can develop longer roots.
I like the idea of growing vegetables, fruit and flowers together. Pretty and practical.
Last weekend we went up-island for more sail planing .. and there we met the most wonderful pilot-in-training! He is 86 and learning to fly! He travels over 3 hours to reach the flying destination. Wonderful person. And to top it all off, he brews tea .. makes up a lovely pot of tea and shares! How very decadent is this! So we all enjoyed a hot brew in the morning sun.
I love meeting such interesting people who just go out and live life.
Oh and I meant to talk about Coombs, the famous place with the goats on the roof! This time I didn’t take any photos of the little animals on the roof, they must have been inside a pen. But I did take some pictures of a few of them grazing in their meadow.
How many times, over the years, have I stopped by the Coombs general store, parked the car, gone inside and shopped, and then left. Too many.
This visit, however, DH & I decided to wander around to see what other businesses there were. Oh ..wow .. another world appeared.
There was a little wooden structure, very picturesque and I think this was a cheese shop. Then there was this most elegant of buildings that housed a pizza restaurant. High scale .. reminded me of the many similar buildings that I saw in Europe, too many years ago. There were the black iron filigree designs around the windows, the large Boxwood plants in tall planters and inside, I could see the draperies tied back to show tables all set and waiting for customers to dine.
And then we met Thor from Whistler .. his doggy daddy was happily taking photos of Thor at various locations & I took some photos of both of them. We learned that friends always looked forward to Thor’s travels and his pics!
We discovered many more little shops and large parking areas. All of this was always there and we wouldn’t have known, if we hadn’t just taken the time to walk around.
Well . .I could go on, but the morning is flying and I must go outside.
A lovely gardener has given me some plants .. ferns and grasses and I look forward to planting them in various areas around the yard.
Enjoy the day …..
Earth – worth dying for .. a youtube video ..worth watching
I was going to post some lovely sky photos an other lovely photos taken from the past week .. but a friend send me this video from YouTube, with the instructions to watch it to the end.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/nGeXdv-uPaw
So I did.
Breathtaking time-lapse photography of the most beautiful scenery from all around the world.
Then the greed kicks in.
Then we see the brave people who tried to stop the greed.
Destruction of habitat .. the devastation that many people choose to ignore.
We can each, in our own little way, step up to the bat and do our best to stop the greed.
Then, perhaps we can make a change.
Now I’m going outside to my little garden to connect with the lovely nature that exists in my small part of the world.
While the scenes of the movie run through my mind and I’ll think of those brave people who tried to stop the cruelty.
And think of ways to create more little pockets of beauty.
My Lovely Garden … Mon Joli Jardin 