No matter the language, my garden is my paradise. To watch the lovely birds that nest in the trees and bushes. The bees, butterflies are such a joy to see.
Saturday .. a few days ago .. was a magnificently beautiful day and the skies were just plain awesome. I’d accompanied DH to the lumber store and while he selected the supplies that he needed for a project, I wandered outside .. and devoted some time in admiring the show high above me.
We all have fun seeing shapes in the clouds and sometimes they are clearly seen. In this one, I can see someone riding a horse .. galloping away to a place in the sky ..
Same sky .. another area .. wispy waves that look like a sand washed beach ..
Dreamy wispy clouds that look like the softest of cotton candy floss ..
Happy dancing clouds …
I caught some tree branches in this photo but it shows that fall is near, leaves have begun to fall .. are the branches waving to the sky? Perhaps.
Are these two clouds lusting after each other? They seem to be kissing. Lovely, against a panoramic background of incredibly beautiful sky art.
And the kissing clouds are softly covered with a gauzy curtain of fluffy white clouds. Censorship ?? “ok you’ve seen enough .. run along now” 🙂
Love seeing such a variety of shapes and textures up above .. and I love even better being up there, flying amongst them.
Now I can see something above the upper half of this photo .. is it a spreading tree, branches flung far and wide? Is it a mythical shape from Aesop’s fables?
The cumulus clouds were so solidly dense it seemed as if I could just reach up and break off a piece .. like a marshmallow or something like that. And, ahem .. are these more amorous clouds that I see???
The clouds are getting a bit darker in some areas .. an indication that rain will be happening later on .. and there was a little bit of rain but not that much really.
Art Nouveau, anyone? Time to return home, vehicle loaded with supplies. Camera loaded up with more beautiful photos of the uplifting skies above.
The beauty of the skies has a special energy which I find quite compelling. Such random beauty that is ever changing and brightens up our daylight hours.
I am compelled to look upwards and sometimes must remind myself to focus on where I am as it is easy to trip over something!
At this stage of my life I am no longer embarrassed to be looking upwards and quite often I just simply stand still in awe of the beauty up there. And there is lots of action up there also .. soon it will be time for the Turkey Vultures to migrate and luckily we are on their pathway so I must keep looking up to see this feat of nature.
The magic of seeing these birds, many hundreds of them, is humbling. They are part of the nature that created this earth and we mere humans must always respect this.
Despite all the inventions by humans, the raw power of nature answers to no one.
Thank goodness for that, eh???
I have to say this … we Canadians are well known for saying “eh” … and that is not a bad thing. And there are a few thoughts on how this came about.
My vote is for the French “hein” meaning “what”? Some words in French, carried over to English, are pronounced without the “h” sound. thus “hein” becomes “eh”. And there are other words carried over also, which need the “h” sound, but that is for another day, another blog.
Graceful dancing skies .. swirling .. twirling .. dance of joy above us ..
Mystical – ephemeral – can you see the two faces and the arms entwined ….dancing .. flying …
On a more practical day – these clouds are ready to fly you away … however, we took the plane instead.
And soon we were up in the air .. .along with all those lovely clouds!
This plane is so happy it is smiling .. see the big cheerful grin! Liking this plane a lot.
4 Nanchang’s flying formation .. a beautiful sight to see .. but even better would be to be sitting in the back seat! DH & I were able to do that a number of years ago … simply Stupendous!!!!
Back home .. in the garden ..here are all the Pyracantha berries that I clipped from the gigantic leaning Pyracantha shrub that I pruned a few days ago. That is a lot of berries!
And I’ve spread the berries over two large drying surfaces .. here is one: Luckily we have had sun for a number of days so the berries have started the drying process but there is a long way to go yet. Looking at the weather forecast, rain is predicted starting tomorrow sometime so I’ll have to move these inside the house to help them in the drying process. Once dried .. I’ll save them for the winter months so the birds will have a treat!
A sweet Sword Fern .. oops .. I see ivy that needs to be pulled up. It started off as a tiny little plant many years ago .. I remember planting it! Now it is a monster that needs to be eradicated. We have struggled with pulling this invasive plant out but obviously need to continue.
Nature is delicate .. I love how this fine strand of a squash plant is seeking support in the most gentle way ….
I wish that I could wire-wrap my jewellry crafts as uniformly and tidy as these strands!!
Some Red Delicious apples .. so pretty to look at and so tasty to eat! And drink when juiced! And most likely scrumptious in pies!!
Little baby girl, JaneE Kat … sleeping in the sun .. my garden cat!
Some of these beans are just quirky. this bean was growing in lots of space, unimpeded by other beans, yet it decided to twist things up, as it were.
A number of weeks ago, I’d inadvertently knocked off the flower of this tiny little sunflower. As magical as nature is .. the plant continued go grow and is sporting a tiny little flower again!!
One of the joys of bountiful pole beans and sunny weather!
Summer is still officially here (I think) and I can see the signs of the approaching Autumn … which is sending us little signals that it is heading our way.
The wild and crazy pear stock tree is starting to show colours in the leaves .. no longer a solid deep green, the oranges and burgundy colours are starting to appear and the leaves are beginning to drop. The pear trellis disease is not showing up much now .. lots of good soil, EM (effective microorganisms) and llama manure have given strength to this tree. So much so that it is dropping tiny little round pears! Some are tasty and some are tart. After about 30 years, it is nice to see that this tree is getting healthy again.
A few of the Blue Lake bush beans and Spanish Musica beans are starting to show yellow. Some of the squash leaves are showing the spots of mildew (I clipped and discarded these). And I trimmed back the superfluous leaves of the self-planted tomato plants so that the energy could go to the tiny fruits. Next year, I vow, I will actually start some tomato plants early! ( I promise .. I will do that!)
Today, while the sun shone warmly and I gathered an enormous amount of beans (for juicing) and the occasional orange tomato (to ripen inside, in a basket) .. .I realized that the days are limited for summer enjoyment of the garden. Soon the rains will start. There will be the warm sunny days again ..but these special hot days .. will be, for the most part, just a memory.
Autumn will take over and along with that come the chores to tidy up the garden. Finally sort the pots. And to decide which plants need to be placed in slightly larger pots for the winter. Time to remove the plant saucers so that the rains will just flow through the plants and not stockpile in the saucers.
Cooler days to trim branches. A time to sort garden items out .. some things to give away and some to keep.
Life is just a busy fun place to be and sometimes I speed up when I really should slow down. And that is where friends come in!
I have been busy working on the little garden at the Dakota Cafe for the past 3 mornings. One day spent weeding and digging through the plants with my pal D to help me out. The next day was intensive weeding and planting. And this morning, a frenzied time of cutting back Rex Rosemary which had grown to be too high for the windows of the cafe .. it was getting difficult for customers to spot planes through the windows.. so a massive cutback was done (sob). I’ve taken most of the cuttings home and will try to propagate them. No photos really, but once the little flowers start blooming, I’ll be clicking away.
It sure felt good to work intensively for 3 hours or so at a time … and I was spoiled and given tea by lovely Jess .. so I happily drank my tea and gazed upwards at the blue skies. Lots of planes, eagles, turkey vultures and other birds. Sheer heaven.
Then time for a visit with D and her son … she gave me some great clay pots and I plan to make a crooked planting, arranging them on a section of rebar in the garden. Then she showed me a little ladybird dragon that was morphing into a ladybug on the nasturtium leaf… how very magical! Also, she has a Garry Oak growing in her hop plant ….I forgot to take a photo, but believe me .. it is there and very healthy. How exciting!!
Then D wanted me to go to see the amazing boulevards in the Haultain area and here is one that is just spectacular .. I think that the homeowners were advocating boulevard gardens years ago, they were very hardworking. And from the look of their boulevard gardens and their private gardens they haven’t slowed down a bit! Very impressive and inspirational.
And they have provided a lovely rustic area for passersby to relax …
Colourful nasturtium flower peeking out from the feverfew ..
Along another boulevard … labelling helps identify the plants, such as this one:
and here is the California Tree Poppy (listed above):
I love this “secret” front door …. well done!
Then it was time for refreshments … at a lovely little table outside the coffee shop … see the darling dog in the background? His doggy parents were making sure he was in the shade, had access to water and he was one happy little guy!
Yea .. coffee grounds for the garden .. happy to see ..
I’m betting that the coffee grounds/compost material doesn’t stay around for long, there are many gardeners in the area so I counted myself very fortunate to have this bag. Oh, see the red/white polka dot bag behind this? It’s my special surprise purchase from today.
There is so much to see and do here in Victoria .. here are some posters showing some of the activities, music, dance, drumming ….
Ok .. this is where my special unexpected purchase took place. As D and I walked down the street, past little shops, I noticed some clothing on a rack outside of a high-end hair dressing establishment. Couldn’t see anything in particular .. and as I know that normally clothes that are displayed outside these types of shops tend to be expensive, I wasn’t expecting to be interested in anything. However, something compelled me to move closer. This shopping bag is quite interesting, thousands of cut pieces of fabric knotted onto soft burlap. Nope, I wasn’t interested …
But then I fell in love with this very funky dress .. it is from Italy! The owners of the shop had taken a trip there and brought back some clothes to sell. Not sure if this photo does the dress justice, but this dress is me! It’s raggedy, swirling, colourful and I love the uneven hem. See the round circles on the front, showing the colourful fabric beneath . .these aren’t pockets, just design circles. This is my new sunshine dress and I plan to wear it a lot this summer! I’ve been looking for a nifty dress and so happy now I found it! This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t gone for this walk with D!!! I can’t imagine not having this lovely fun item of clothing! See the pea flowers along the right of the dress … they match!
And here is my sparkly hat (gold threads woven through that just shine in the sun!): So now I am all set for the summer!
Then it was time to check out a lovely new little grocery shop and they have a machine that will grind up grains …. well done.
Back at home, there was just a little more garlic to harvest. Time passes so quickly, it just seems like yesterday when I was planting the cloves in October. Now we have gone full circle.
The garlic is now outside, curing in the sunshine .. and I plan to try to braid the soft necked garlic.
Well, it’s been a busy day. D and I parted ways .. I went shopping for groceries and beer .. promised myself a wee glass of wine when I got home!
And now I must go outside to see if the sage cuttings (from Dakota) are doing well and to put them in a bucket of water .. tomorrow I will taking cuttings of them, the Rex Rosemary and some Wormwood cuttings also.
Also, lately I’ve been buying more plants. I know, I promised months ago that I wouldn’t and I have not yet kept that promise. However, a few days ago, when D and I were returning from gardening at the Dakota Cafe .. the traffic was quite heavy on the highway. So she suggested that it might be a good time to turn left and go visit the Art Knapp garden centre at Mattick’s Farm.
What the hey, I thought, so my car dutifully turned left and .. drum roll … once again I did not keep my plant promise. Due to the heat .. there were a lot of plants for sale. I should mention that we’ve been undergoing a heat wave and plants are just going crazy.
Anyway, there were a lot of deals and I bought all sorts of veggies, 3 different squash plants, a tomato, and many others. Besides some interesting berries, a purple raspberry and I just can’t remember the others. Oh, red onion sets, white onions, a dill .. countless others. They have been soaking in EM and water since yesterday and tomorrow I can plant them in the areas now vacated by the garlic.
Speaking of which, I harvested the last of the garlic .. kind of a nostalgic moment .. and it was a very satisfying feeling to think back to last fall, culling the largest cloves for planting. Then the process of preparing the beds, planting them. Covering with the seaweed that D helped me collect last summer. And then I watered with EM at various times.
Well .. it’s been a day .. just really wanted to share my fantastic dress, really, I just love it!
Yesterday the sun came out to play and so I spent some time looking upwards, taking lots of photos of the lovely blue skies ….
All of the clouds were so pretty …
So very delicate looking .. and wispy … dreamy …
And I want to share my lovely new shopping bags .. here is a great one, from the SPCA …Love … the warm nose of a dog … how much love they add to our lives … immeasurable. I miss not having my four-legged furry friends .. of the dog persuasion .. . but perhaps in a year or so we can add some to our family … wonder how the cats will like that! Although JaneE is well used to dogs .. Duncan is another kettle of fish!
And here is my la la la bag .. turns out I could see a Perrier Convention at the top. So I count myself lucky anyway at this new find, thanks to my Pal D who located it in the shop! Perfect for transporting containers of soaps!
And here is a supply of Turkish Towell and some facecloth, which D & I gathered up a few days ago .. nicely drying in a woven basket.
And speaking of la la la, fancy things … here is a beautiful little beaded bag & lipstick holder. Since I’m not a fancy-schmancy kind of person .. I will use this bag for soap labels, that sort of thing. However, the lipstick holder … I fully intend to place a lipstick in there!
And this lovely woven item .. is perfect for carrying just essentials when I’m going for a walk!
And … another treasure! Teletubby napkins .. how fun!
I found this magnificent tiny woven basket with a lid in one of my “goodie” bags ….the handwork is very fine.
And I’ve decided to use this basket all year round. Right now it is storing the dried seeds from my organic squash. The one squash that grew and made it to maturity. Rainy weather equalled a very poor crop. So this spring I will plant more! Bright orange flesh, makes the most delicious soup!
Another colourful decoration for the tree .
As soon as I saw this dish .. I knew that I had to have this treasure .. so very lively ..
And Santa .. Santa .. Santa .. what a happy set of figures
Sparkly … each one is different .. and they are brand new .. and just the type of fancy decorations that I love …
Oh, isn’t he a treasure! D and I wondered what was wrong with his right eye … when we moved his little eyeglasses upwards .. we saw that he was winking! He looks like he belongs it the claymation movie “The Light Before Christmas” .. what a love he is.
This little snowman is the most dapper and happiest version I have ever seen … what a charmer .. how sweet.
How cool is this .. the light from my Ikea desk lamp reflected the surface of my Moroccan tray onto the ceiling ..
Ok, I’m lost in some kind of loopy learning curve .. WordPress has taken away the “slideshow” option button, so I’m not able to list photos as I would like to do. So these are not in order, but I know I’m not alone. Frustration with the slideshow (lack of) experience kept me from blogging .. however, today I found that I could enter a number of photos (by holding down the “shift” button and clicking on the photos that I wanted to include) ..
Last week found me driving downtown to visit a lovely little shop where I will be selling my soaps on consignment. I didn’t take any photos, but will do so the next time I go back downtown.
This lovely little shop is lovely and calm .. there is a retro, honest feel about the place. The young proprietor, Jenny, is very artistic and creative. She offers sewing lessons to all ages .. and along one side of the shop is a row of lovely sewing machines and in the middle of the shop is a fantastic large rectangular wooden table.
There are displays of art by local artists … beautiful ….
As I looked around the shop, I noticed a lack of plastic and glitz … the hard-scapes are wood and fabric drapes adorn the interior doorways.
It almost felt as if I took a step back in time when I entered the shop. There was a feeling of calm, of not being rushed about … very relaxing. Plus .. she loves my soaps and since I love making soap .. I’m looking forward to stocking her shelves with my product. How exciting is this!
Across the road from this shop .. I noticed more lovely shops .. this rug shop was filled with beautiful carpets .. and I tried my best to get a good picture of that lovely blue and white ceramic object .. don’t know what it is, but loved the colour and design.
And close by .. was this wonderful shop with luxurious carpets
Further on, there is this great guitar shop.
This is the guitar store, what a magnificent place to discover.
But really, what caught my attention. were these magnificent guitars. (see the funky tv set and the gypsy-ish, flamenco-ish painting in the background)
Standing back a few feet .. I could see the antique tv and the flamenco dancer (painting)
The sparkly guitars attracted my eyes towards them
Meanwhile .. back home in my back yard ….
The leaves are tenaciously attached to this wild apple tree.
And up above .. the skies were just so lovely and blue …
Lovely lovely love blue skies
How appropriate it was for me to see this license plate, as I drove home with my huge bags of oak leaves! The driver noticed me taking a photo and gave me a positive thumbs up wave! So I laughed! How true .. no pain .. no gain!
Out of order .. but this was my second day and I’d filled nearly 24 or so huge bags with oak leaves for the garden!
My second day of gathering oak leaves and I started here.
Only 3 scoops with the handi-hands and the bag is nearly filled!
These are my “handi-hands” totally wonderful for scooping up leaves (or seaweed!!)
I gathered all the leaves from this area and only stopped when daylight faded!
Here are some pics showing the full bags of leaves .. I crammed them into my little car .. here is the back angle …
And I had to really push to get 8 bags in .. so the front passenger seat went way forward.
There it is .. short and sweet .. about my daily life .. sometimes in my garden, sometimes in someone else’s garden and once in a while .. downtown. But always, always … .watching the skies above.
Looking through my dashboard, I found this blog that I’d started on Nov 15 but hadn’t posted .. so will share this now!
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Oh .. we are so very lucky here in Victoria!! There have been several days of sunshine, such a welcome from the overcast rainy days. Although, I really don’t mind those kinds of days … those are the days when I can do the work inside the house. The work that just doesn’t get done on sunny days .. when the garden calls out to me and I answer readily by going outside.
Or, perhaps it’s time to go on a shopping & exploring day with a good friend. Or .. actually, I can pick any number of reasons to not do housework .. but, no worries, I always do my fair share of keeping our happy home nice and tidy!
I’ve been so busy lately, feel like I’m on whirling merry-go-round ..but enjoying the ride!
In addition to getting back into soap making, I’ve nearing the end of my landscaping course, normal housework duties and collecting oak leaves for the garden. So far I think that I’ve collected nearly 30 bags and yesterday I went for more! There is a lovely large property not far from our home .. with many oak trees and the generous owners of this place allow me to gather as many leaves as I want! Yesterday found me dashing over there and madly filling as many bags as possible before dusk descended. Those wonderful handy-hands (large plastic flat circles, with a zig-zag edging) allow me to scoop up large amount of leaves at one time. I posted pics last year and will take another today, to show what they look like.
I’d filled about 18 bags and finally accepted the fact that it was too dark to see the leaves clearly, so I stuffed 8 bags into my little car (now, I would have taken a picture of that but it was too dark) and have a collection of 10 more to go back and pick up. Oh, lovely food for the garden this will be!
I took a few pics from my first sale effort in more than 20 years! I had set up a table at a flea market on Sunday past … it wasn’t the right venue for my soaps, but it was a start!
I really enjoy talking with people and so I really enjoyed my first foray into the selling arena. Although it wasn’t a craft show .. it brought me back to the lovely world of selling things I made and also gave me the opportunity to listen to lovely conversations, feeling the happy energy of people shopping for things that interested them.
And I have made inquiries to join a few more craft sales in the city .. small ones .. more personal than huge organized ones. Perhaps I’ll try for them next year. For now though, I am quite content at rejoining my initial excitement at creating soaps … and look forward to playing around with the various combinations. There is the creative energy that I’ve reconnected with. So very much fun.
No photos today … but I will try to paint some pictures with words today!
I’m a multi-tasker .. as are most women. Why do just one thing when I can wear myself out doing four or five?
Example. Yesterday. Finally .. outside in my favourite dirt-stained Carhart bibs .. looking forward to bringing more new plants to the back yard (more on this later!)
I fully intended to do just this one thing. Then, decided to go back inside the house to get some bird seeds for the feeders. And here is where it started.
Might as well take care of the laundry while I was inside. So I emptied the dryer and filled the washer. Then, well, might as well heat up a quick cup of tea.
The compost bucket was full, so outside it went.
Soon I was outside, enjoying the warmth of the cup of Yorkshire Tea. Next, over to the compost bins .. emptied veggie & coffee material to the compost. Added seaweed, layer of cardboard, sprinkle of glacial rock powder and some EM. This is going to be awesome compost.
Next, check the hummingbird feeder. Topped up the bird seed stations. Began picking up more of the hundreds of apples that had fallen from the tree.
Finally .. the time came to move the new plant purchases. Two more of the lovely spring-flowering evergreens, a winter flowering pink currant (for the hummingbirds and some ground covers.
I know … I know .. a month or so ago I promised myself that I wouldn’t weaken and would not buy any more plants.
Well .. I only bought these yesterday … because I happened to go downtown and just wanted to make a quick visit to Capital Iron. And I thought, well, if it’s meant to be … meaning, if there were any more of those trees left there in the lower lot (half price!!!) then I’d purchase them. And you know what! There were two of them left! So I took this as a sign and soon I was loading my new purchases into my car .. after paying for them, of course.
When there is a plant sale on, I can justify every single purpose.
So, that is my most recent plant story.
Back to the yard.
By now, after all my running back and forth it was late afternoon and the skies were slowly darkening. So I spent some time chopping up my oak leaves for mulch.
Soon, dusk had seriously descended and it was to hard to see what I was working at .. so, begrudgingly I gathered up all my toys and trudged back to the house.
But wait, one more thing to do. One of our homework assignments (landscaping course) is to take the measurements of a staircase .. so I grabbed a tape measure, pencil and paper and began this task.
The math part of the course has been a struggle for me and for some others in the class also .. so I don’t feel quite so bad. I’ll work my way through .. though. And so very lucky that everyone is so sharing in the class .. makes the struggles more bearable.
Just as the Organic Master Gardening changed forever the way that I garden, so to will the landscaping course change forever the way that I look at gardens, structures, placement of landscapes and all that.
Sigh. Just have to struggle through and I will be ok.
And so .. I’ve been quite busy with all this and other things also.
For I have gotten back into soap making! Found some of my notes from 1986, when I was writing out soap recipes!
So I’ve been spending evenings mixing up soaps. Playing around with colours (using herbs & flower petals) and some with scents and some without.
My good pal D gave me a wonderful gift of dried Calendula petals. She gathered the flowers and carefully dried them. I think it was 5 cups or so of petals were reduced to several cups, once the moisture was removed.
And last night I mixed up a soap with these beautiful petals, some ground up orange peel and they look so pretty. I’ll take some pictures later today and will post them.
Next will be the packaging of them .. for I am going to try to get a table at a local artisan type of craft show. Fingers crossed I’ll be able to do that. Because I’ve made nearly 30 pounds of soap. Bought the most beautiful fabric to wrap them in.
And so my life continues in its little multi-tasking way.
And I’ve only listed the highlights of the past week.
Yesterday I saw the most beautiful rainbow .. saw it twice actually! Once when I was downtown (coincidentally, I was on my way to look at the plants on sale!) And another time when I was nearly home. No camera with me .. but happy to see a young guy taking lots of photos. So the beauty was captured, except not by me.
Anyway .. on with this day. Shopping to be done. Homework assignments to be completed. Soap to wrap. And all the other daily things that need to be done.
But first .. I’m going to spend a few more minutes looking out our kitchen window. Admiring the beauty of the birds that are visiting the feeders and flitting about the trees. The Juncos, the Flickers!!!The Anna Hummingbirds, a few European Starlings, Chickadees, Nuthatches, sparrows and some lovely little songbirds. Yet again I am so very happy that we planted all the trees in our yard, so many years ago. Safe little places for all the birds to settle in and relax and preen themselves. And I’m also rewarded by their songs!
My Garden – Mon Jardin – Mi Jardin – Mein Garten - Daily Adventures & Thoughts 