Bubbles and the garden

On the weekend, I went with the menfolk to Cedar Hills Park in Wiarton, to watch the bubbles while they went scuba diving. Isn't it a pretty place? And a beautiful day? *sigh*



Da boys had fun. :)



And they taught me something - it took us 3 hours to get there, and they took another 40 minutes or so to get their equipment on and tested. Same in reverse afterwards. All for about 40 minutes underwater where the real fun is.

I should apply this to my weaving. The warping takes a good solid 8 hours of work. And it is a terribly picky fidgity boring annoying thing to do. But really, in perspective.... a small price to pay for the joy of weaving.

Anyhoo... I digress. I was up to my usual tricks of trying to tag the wildlife too. This seagull graced me with his presence. I sense he was disappointed 'though that I didn't try to bribe him with food.



Back home in the garden, this sunflower is thriving under the birdfeeder. Apparently the birds missed one or two of the seeds...



And.... my tomatoes are starting to ripen!! Hooray!

Back home

Have you ever been someplace that's so special, so different, that it's hard to let it go when you go back to your normal life?

Iceland's like that. I've been back for almost a week and I feel like.... without seafood and restaurants, I don't know what to have for dinner. Without the clean, clear, fresh air - I don't know how to breathe. It is incredibly hot and muggy here. Without being in Iceland, I don't know what to blog about!

*sigh*

Have I mentioned yet how two weeks of near constant rain and summer temperatures affect a garden? We didn't ask the house/dog sitter to do anything other then water the garden if the weather didn't do the deed.

The lawnmower broke just before we went on vacation anyway, and I didn't want to educate a city boy on how to care for the tomatoes.

So.... the grass was overgrown and the tomatoes were every which way out of control and there were weeds.... everywhere.

We hired a friend's 13 year son - Peter - to help with the weeding this weekend and got started. Peter cleared the driveway, the path to the back gate, the flagstone pathway and the front garden. Neil handled the fenceline garden, and cut the lawn with a rental lawnmower until ours can be fixed.

I weeded, and weeded, and weeded, as much of the rest of the gardens as I could. And staked the tomatoes, and cut their suckers. And discovered why the irises didn't bloom much and died abruptly - I think they are too crowded, too covered in mulch and plant remains, and two weeks of constant rain have rotted many of the bulbs.

Anyway... things are mostly back under control.

Neil's freshly weeded fenceline garden.



Neil's shade garden. It's his thing. We have distinctive garden preferences.



The tomatoes - back under control, sort of. While I don't have a person standing in the shot to give you perspective, consider that I am 5 foot 4 inches tall and standing to take this photo. It is not angled up in any way.



Something else that I found strange upon returning home are these black eyed susans. It just doesn't seem like it's the right time for them. It feels too early yet in the season. For me, black eyed susans are the harbinger of fall.

In the garden and the living room

This is one of Neil's pictures. He says the birds act funny when they know their picture is being taken. :)



This is largely what I blame for the last month's worth of fatigue. Imagine if you will, because I don't have a 'before' picture, the trim is 50 odd years of layers of white paint, and the walls are a pale taupe.

We've been renovating. And please don't get me started on hiring a person who said he'd get it done in two days, and didn't, leaving us to spend weeks finishing it.



Of course, the garden has been a pretty busy place as well. Neil keeps bugging me to post larger garden pictures - this is the round garden, the triangle garden, and the tomato garden in the background. Three for the price of one picture! Remind me to take another one like it in the fall when all the annuals are at their peak.

The long promised tomato experiment

Before:



After:



The Problem: The already established 'veggie' garden is right out by the fenceline, to the right of the 100+ year old maple tree. Said maple tree is currently reduced to about 1/4 of it's root system (due to road and driveway work) and it's all in the yard. In the past few years, I've tried growing tomatoes out there, but they fight with the tree roots for nutritients and don't do as well.

Plus..... that garden space is increasingly being taken over by flowers and woad. I'm running out of room!

The Solution: A new garden space, in a raised bed, with fresh soil. Obsessive hobbies are fun. :)

Squirrels and Chipmunks and Birds, oh my!

Okay... I've had these pictures and the Garden Notes paragraphs at the bottom of the post ready for two weeks, but without any other content here. Then I got busy.

It happens. Apparently... somewhere between June of last year, and June of this year, I managed to forget to take my vacation time. The workplace gets a little annoyed with things like that.

Anyway, the bird feeder has delightfully increased the life in our yard!

We have squirrels....



.......chipmunks,



....cardinals,



and blue jays, oh my! And I am having a great deal of fun with the new lens for the camera.



Now, the flowers here have come and gone, but they were beautiful as usual.

This is Fritillaria Imperialis - it's an interesting flower. It hangs down, as if from a pedestal, and in it's early growth - it stinks. The banner for my blog is a snippet of the flower from two years ago. It seems to be a reliable perennial.



Tulips, of course, are the mainstay of many Canadian gardens. This yellow-red combination is fairly common.

I had some beautiful pink tulips along the fenceline at the sidewalk, and some inbred redneck teenagers appear to have alternated between snipping them or ripping them up and leaving them on the sidewalk. It certainly makes me understand the urge to violent revenge in the human race - if I could catch them, I'd be tempted to do some damage to their heads.



Last year, I dug up much of the grape muscari that had multiplied and spread it out in a different area - lots of colour! I think I'm going to find some more and continue this line down the garden.



Garden Notes:
Temperatures unusually high for this time of year, but we're still getting the occasional frost warning for evenings. This is Canada, after all. I haven't bought any annuals yet. That's next weekend's project, I hope.

Planning a raised bed for the tomato / green pepper crop. Haven't figured out where to put it yet. (Have done it - next post :) )

Last week and this week

Okay, I'm behind on last week's photos and getting ahead of this week's photos.

Chokecherry blooms and house - I really like the depth of field. I can't remember whether this is one of the wedding trees or not. I think so.



Okay....the weekend before last, we headed off on a new adventure in Peterborough. A friend arranged to have her teacher give a private class in wheel thrown pottery and a grand time was had by all!

This is the very first thing I've ever thrown on a wheel! It's not yet dry or even trimmed in this photo. It's a little lopsided.

But I love it. I loved throwing pottery! I came home from the weekend and started looking for classes/studio time here in town.



These are the hubby's hands doing his own thing.



We came home from the weekend to the neighbour, with a large branch of the maple that's just over the property line on her side down in her driveway. Close inspection proves it was a lightening strick! Neil volunteered to chain saw it and take it away. He's a sweetie sometimes. Or very politely deranged. Your choice.

And two fence sections torn out by the wind. Shame that isn't as easy to fix as a bit of chainsaw activity.

But on the bright side... two days away and I swear all the plants grew six inches!

First tulip of the season! (Don't worry, there will be many many more.)



Yellow Primrose....



Apricot blossoms with the church steeple in the background..... again, a beautiful depth of field.



And just for fun - my new view at work! After 18 years...... I finally have a window!

Sunshine!

So... a few days after the fog, after months of dreary overcast winter skies.... the sun came out to play on the weekend.

Compare this picture of the front fenceline to the foggy one of the last post. Sunshine is good, but the colours in the picture just aren't as interesting.... the lights don't stand out in the same way.

Much less snow 'though.... this is a good thing.



On a sunny day, I guess the birds don't mind as much if I take their picture while they are eating...



My hubby gave me flowers for Valentine's Day (and took me out to dinner - twice!) - isn't he the sweetest?

Foggy day, and fiber

We had a foggy day a few days ago. It created some fantastic shots.

But first, getting something out of the way that I've been meaning to post for a few weeks now.

Nina (and any other fiber artists out there) - this is the wall hanging that I did for my hubby's office a few years ago. The warp is junk yarn, and the weft is unspun roving. It's the inspiration for what I want to do next - lots of thick thick yarn. But I'd like it in both warp and weft, and much better colours.

I want to get something up on the loom that is simple and quick - something just to get me started again. Any recommendations for the right kind of fiber? Think really really thick...



This is our front fence line - interesting the way the coloured lights stand out in the fog, even turned off.



The birds tried to hide in the lilacs, waiting for me to go inside so they could help themselves to the freshly re-filled bird feeders.



Freshly re-filled, since the squirrels seem to love getting at them and dumping it all on the ground! Could anyone recommend a good type of grease for the pole?

New tricks for some Auld Phartes

The new year is bringing in a few new tricks for some of our favourite folks at Treheima.

My big strong man takes things into his own hands....


....and made this step stool for our aging doggie. He's having trouble getting up on the bed these days - the arthritis in his hips is sometimes troublesome.


I took up my knitting needles for the first time in 25 years.... and made this scarf and hat, inventing what passes for a pattern as I went.


Karen

August flies by

I know, I disappeared into a black hole again for a bit. It's my brother's fault, loosely speaking. :)

He was home visiting - he lives way over on the other side of the country - and I happened to ask him if he had a Facebook page. I had signed up months ago for a Facebook page so I could see the pics that my boss was posting of her new baby while she was on mat leave, but eventually I found I was wasn't using it. Of course when my brother told me he did indeed have a page, I had to start using it again! Must keep in touch. And then there were all these people I knew and .. well, one thing lead to another and I've been gone.

But don't worry, I still prefer blogging. Facebook feels very ....invasive. Young. And overly structured. In blogging, I think I have more freedom, and there's a design element to the page that I can control.

Anyhoo.... back to my world. It got quite crowded at the bird feeder for a bit....



But lately, they've been staying away. It's quite strange.

Found these in the yard a week or so ago.... anyone know what they are? This is WAY out of my experience!



Well, we're off to that traditional Canadian activity on the long weekend - camping! It's another SCA thing so maybe I'll have some pictures when we get back. If my increasingly psychotic work schedule allows me the time, I might even be able to post again.


Karen

More Garden, and Birds

Ecineachea in bloom. I think this is the original variety that is supposed to be good for the immune system. I find it amusing to grow a bunch of medicinal herbs that I'll probably never have time enough to learn how to use properly.



House Finch. We think. We looked it up on a website somewhere.



Blue Jay.



Squirrel, oh so innocent looking.



Squirrel, caught in the act.



Funny squirrel. Must find some grease for that pole.

Garden, Birds, Fibre

Sometimes they look pretty even not fully open....



Sometimes they look pretty when the sun catches the stamen just right...



I'm afraid of bees. But I've learned, finally, that these ones don't care about me at all. As long as I don't get between them and their food..... I don't have to run away squeeking, I can stay and watch.



Even dead and dried, these alliums are interesting.



Golden Marguerite is another great dye plant. I need to start collecting the dead heads. Apparently you can freeze them without ruining the dyestuff.



Darrell, our friend the blacksmith, made this very pretty bird feeder for us. Darrell's work can be found at Wareham Forge - http://www.warehamforge.ca - or if you want to talk to him in person, he'll be selling his stuff at the Goderich Celtic Roots Festival on August 8 - 10th.

The feeder on the right is many times more popular, but these little creatures are very messy eaters and leave much of it on the ground. The squirrels are very happy campers.

By the by... if you happen to be a bird watcher, please let me know what kind of visitors I'm getting?



I'm pretty sure that this is a golden finch.....



But this fellow.... I have no idea. He's much larger, in the same size class as a blue jay (they are not hard to identify!) and prefers the sunflower seeds.



Just to round things out.... remember that lovely peachy colour from the second soaking of woad leaves? Here it is carded and fluffy....



And spun.