My Garden – Mon Jardin – Mi Jardin – Mein Garten – Daily Adventures & Thoughts

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.


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Dearest Diary .. I must share some little things that have been happening in my life ..

Awhile ago, I think it was a few months ago ..I was visiting the Yorkshire Tea fb page and saw that my favourite brew was available in a variety of sizes!  Since these were not available in Canada (sob) I discovered that they are available via Amazon!  So I quickly ordered two of the 480 bag size.   I might have written about this before, Dearest Diary, but seeing these photos again made my heart beat a little faster.  I recognized this feeling as joy so I just had to post it.   One of these bags is now happily living with a friend (who is actually a Brit, so she totally loves and appreciates YT)P1350609

Lo and behold, this bag does not easily fit into our pantry!  P1350612

I’m continuing with my fiddle lessons …making tiny progressions and now I find great pleasure in getting lost in the learning.  The journey continues.  My teacher is patiently teaching me the theory behind the music and that door is opening and the light is coming through.  Some tunes which I found to be high mountains when I began to learn them are now tiny little pebbles .. the journey for those is the work to make them sound melodious and this will happen   I saw a funny cartoon on facebook recently!  2 characters in each scene.  One person bemoans the other .. saying “I wish I had talent”  “I wish I could play like you” and steadfastly, the other person says, each time “I practice” “I practice” I practice”  And so it goes with me!  I practice!!!  Sometimes painfully, sometimes joyfully, but .. I practice!

Anyway, I went to my first ever fiddle workshop and this is a tune we Beginners were taught in one of the sessions!  Usually I’m a little shutterbug, taking many photos of my experiences, but .. that day was full of learning and dancing so I took just this one! It’s a good memory of my first workshop!  🙂P1350660

On the days that I have my German lessons, I sometimes have my fiddle lessons also and in between these two learning sessions .. I have time to visit the ocean at Dallas Road.  I sometimes meet lovely dogs and have great chats with people.  Sometimes I just watch the mighty Pacific Ocean .. oh I am one very lucky gal .. I know!P1350734

The power of the waves and the majesty of this ocean has such good energy to enjoy.P1350726

And the ducks ..here is a link to the ducks of the Pacific Northwest.  It is very peaceful to walk along the beach and enjoy the antics of these lovely winged beings.

 

Lovely bundle of twisted kelp along the beach .. all whirly and twirly and graceful.  I think of how this kelp arrived at this location on the beach!  The power of the water tossing it about and finally just bored with playing with it .. leaving it nestled on the smooth rocks … till the time comes for playing again.P1350648

Speaking of smooth stones and pebbles .. love the random placement of the beach stones .. so much beauty in this .. tranquility springs to mind.P1350654

I look at my watch and realize that it’s time now to continue on my way .. back up these stairs, to my little red car and off to my fiddle lesson.  I’ve enjoyed this oceanic break to my day … this is such a beautiful place to be and I welcome the opportunity to visit again and again.P1350659

Last week or so .. the beauty of the garden began to unfold… tiny gifts of delicate little flowers ..P1350791

Polyanthus flowers, planted years ago and forgotten!  Remember me? …. sings this little one, growing strongly through the mulch!  Polyanthus .. Primrose .. potatoes .. patatoes .. here is a link for more information on that subject!P1350632

My generous garden neighbour kindly gave me a fig cutting last year .. I’ll plant it out soon.P1350627

From a few weeks ago ..  a nice surprise suddenly appeared as if to say “summer is almost here!!”P1350625This city, Victoria, is simply mad with Snowdrops popping up everywhere, gracing  the tiniest of spaces with these delicate flowers… as soon as the snow disappeared, they  emerged from the earth.    Silent reminders of beauty and joy.P1350622

Aha .. the dwarf weeping willow … the Bewick Wrens choose the fluffiest buds to line their nests.  This is the third year I’ve seen them nest in our yard.  This year, I saw them gathering these and am mystified as to where the nest is being built.P1350620

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Lady JaneE Kat .. Queen of the Garden!  She’s actually meowing at me right now … “let me out” shes cries “I want my treats and I want to sit in the sun” .. ok, ok, as soon as I finish my blog!  Then it’s on with my gardening outfit and va va voom to continue my decluttering in the garden .. creating lovely gardens, planting up all of my potted plants.  P1350585

There are about 6 Stellar Jays that visit the garden ..looking for peanuts and birdseed.  I discovered that they make the most gentle little crooning sounds, that are similar to the European Starlings that visit during the summer.   Lovely music to my ears.P1350499

Oh darling little Chickadee!  The Nuthatches also visit and I’ve been lucky enough to observe them quite close .. as they peck at some dead tree branches, looking for bugs.  They were like tiny little woodpeckers at work .. this was a delight to see!P1350544

And the little Junco!!!  Sweet!  I have a large supply of birdfeeders and quite like this style.  Easy to disassemble to clean.    Provides a place for the birds to rest awhile.P1350511

Well .. my little boss demands to go outside now.  Time to make a quick YT brew and put on my Carhart bibb overalls, gather my gardening supplies and outside!

Today the weather is a mix of gentle rains and sunshine .. perfect for being outside!

 

 


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Beach walks, natural beauty, power of the waves and … I saw Jupiter last night!!

Tuesday,

January 22, 2013

One day last week, my pal D and I embarked on another adventurous day .. our list of activities included visiting some local thrift shops and then go to the beach to gather seaweed.  The skies were a little overcast in the morning and later broke out into beautiful blues and whites:

03Unique bus stop bench and planters .. how suitable for this lovely little town.

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As we began our walk along the pathway by the beach .. we saw some of the found items that had been lost by previous walkers.    Can you picture the scenario for the glove and toy?   Busy parent with active child and thus these things tumble and fall.   I hope the little phone toy is claimed .. looks like a favourite toy.

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The tides were starting to come in, the waves rolled in and crashed against the rocks.

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Splish .. splash … and jump out of the way!

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Later D noticed that this scenario looked Egyptian.   And sure enough ..see the camel in the foreground and the pyramids in the background:

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The tides follow their own rhythm .. can you imagine the immense power of the water .. causing the rolling waves to advance and recede.  Humbling.

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Beautiful ..  natural  … beach art …honest and true.10

Oh, Nature .. you are the best artist that there could ever be.   Nothing contrived or planned.   09

And again, the power of the water to shift these huge logs, tossing them randomly along the beach.  Creating places to sit and relax, enjoying the beauty of these surroundings.  Peaceful and yet invigorating.08

Such a vista .. no words needed to explain why so many people want to live there.  Unfortunately, forested areas have been cleared away to build huge box like buildings.  That is truly sad.07

D found this artistic display of stones .. dried seaweed roots that had grown on these rocks resulted in a lovely arrangement, created by another admirer of beauty.06

And just a few seconds later, a very splashy wave struck against a rock and deflected on D … she was slightly soaked and we both flew up the side of the rocky wall.  Didn’t know we could move so fast.05

Sigh …. 04

So we collected some lovely seaweed that was piled on the beach .. perfect time to gather this miracle material for the garden!

It was a day.  And .. another day I’ll share what I bought at the shops.  Lovely things for the house and great tools for the garden!

🙂

p.s. .. looked up in the sky early evening yesterday and noticed a round light coloured shape kind of near the moon.  This is the best photo I could take (sob).  I e-mailed the Dominion Observatory (just outside of town) and learned that this is Jupiter!   And that it will be seen tonight, but the moon won’t be as close.  Photographers with really good cameras will take much better photos … so I will search for some.  See .. it pays to look up at the sky!  I spent some time setting up our telescope (have you ever tried to look at something far away with one of these things? .. very challenging).

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