Thursday, December 5, 2013

Well so much for my getting over procrastinating about blogging!  It’s been awhile .. and so I am making a huge effort to get back.

What reasons can I use for not blogging for over 2 months?   I’ve spent so much time in the garden … and have joined the most amazing bootcamp and dog sitting and you name it.   So this sign that I saw in a local park was totally appropriate, I think, for my first photo on my return!

I’ve enjoyed the most amazing skies …

These sky pictures are from a week or so ago .. very dreamy overhead ..in the heavens .. when I was out for a walk with darling little Coco dog.

We were pet sitting her for over a month and now she has gone back to her doggy parents.   She is a sweet little dog.

This is one of the sights along the path way of the Gorge park … our boot camp goes to the most amazing places.  Victoria, BC is one of the absolutely amazing places to be.   I have gone to places hitherto unknown to me and I’ve lived here for many many years.   There are incredible forested areas deep within the heart of this city and without this group I would have had no idea that these pockets of paradise exist.

Just had to stop and admire this carved birdhouse ..

Such a tranquil setting and the pathway is very lengthy and totally beautiful

This is from another outing.    If I don’t take signage photos, then I really have no idea where I am.  Let me tell you, this group is just a fantastic gathering of interesting ladies!  My life has changed so much since I’ve joined them.   I have way more energy and my interests have broadened as I listen to conversations on art and life.  And my chattering on gardening and the magic of EM!! (effective microorganisms … see:  http://www.gardenerspantry.ca/).

And on another day, I met with a friend for lunch at the Stonehouse Pub, just the other side of Sidney, B.C.  This is a little sunken garden and I just felt like being silly.  Actually, I would love to have a little sunken garden like this one .. so I was dreaming a little bit about that and M took this photo.  I have a little lunch takeout box with some beautiful lichen that I found on the ground… silly me.

Today it snowed .. brrrrrrr .. here’s a little apple left out for the birds to nibble on…

One of those cute garden decorations that are enhanced with the snow.  Perhaps there are tiny inhabitants of this little building .. I wonder …

The birds had been doing their “shuffle shuffle” dancing on this circle of ice ..

Guess I’ll have to empty this container as I don’t think the carrots will be growing anymore.  I planted the seeds at the very end of the summer, just couldn’t resist trying to grow them.  Organic, non GMO … the only kind to grow, don’t you think.

And yesterday, while the sun was out shining .. I moved my garlic containers around.   I’d been devastated this summer as I realized that my garlic had grown in the same area for 2 years and I needed to plant them elsewhere.  This was the sunniest part of the yard so I hadn’t many options.  The option I chose was to use containers!  I guess I kind of got carried away, because I now have: 8 blue styrofoam containers, one large half oak barrel, 31 very large plant containers, 2 raised beds, and a number of rectangular containers.   Plus garlic from Ireland and some from Christine!

Seen from farther back, you get a better picture .. but .. there are other containers planted withgarlic at the side .. sigh.

Some Rosemary cuttings ( I have 2 flats of these) taken in the summer .. fingers crossed that some of them will root for springtime.

Sweet little Anna sitting in the sun . .there are quite a few in our yard ..

I took this photo of a Spotted Towee, sitting outside our kitchen window .. beautiful winged creature.

Can you see the squirrel?  I took this photo from the kitchen window also … felt bad for him, I’d moved the sunflower feeder to another area so he was confused and hungry.   I sprinkled a generous amount of sunflowers seeds on this bale of hay and soon he was happily munching away.

Sweet little gold crowned sparrow .. choosing sunflowers that have fallen from the window feeder.  The tones of their songs touch my heart deeply and I was so very happy when I heard them calling from the trees in our yard a few months ago.

And now I’ll sign off … with a good-bye to our little Duncan .. a once feral cat, well loved .. he was called to the Rainbow Bridge 2 weeks ago.  He was lord of the yard and after years of trying to get along with JaneE .. he’d finally accepted that she was the boss in their cat relationship.  We will miss him forever and he’s always in our hearts.