last day of may

Who knew? It was only 3 weeks ago we found out that we're living in Apple Blossom Festival headquarters here in Kentville.  We thought it was Berwick, a lovely town down the road, that brands itself "Nova Scotia's Apple Capital". But apparently Kentville has a long history of being the centre of Nova Scotia's apple country here in the Annapolis Valley.

The finishing touches on roadwork were pursued with a vengeance this week.  The rumbling this truck of asphalt made outside vibrated our house as if it was actually grading the road as it went.

Here comes the roller truck bring up the rear of the first phase of the parade!

I thought  I'd give you an update on the parade of beans we have going in the backyard.

Aren't they a sassy bunch marching between the bamboo columns of the parade route?

 

Here a Portobello mushrooms hides among the spinach

a gift from using the spent mushroom compost in the garden

 

In the meantime, on the side of the cabin that overlooks the garden... remember the rhubarb flower that I hoped Wally wouldn't take off in order to encourage more rhubarb leaf growth?  It has decidedly split into two stalks.

 



Rhubarb Flower Stalk #1

 

And Rhubarb Flower Stalk #2

Look who I found dead centre when I had a closer look

the world abounds with life; in the animal kingdom it's mostly insects

 

I'm such a sentimental fool. I found myself tearing up when I spontaneously named this picture

Forget-Me-Not Cabin

Beyond Forget-Me-Not Cabin there lays a lush carpet of Lupins

Another Gift from the Past that calls "forget me not"

 

I am fairly overwhelmed by the bounty that is our new lot in life. As I write this I sit in front of a giant bouquet of perfumed lilacs on the kitchen table. I am seriously "happy as a clam"

 

a natural garland by Mother Nature



a bouquet for this moment in time

 

more purple in the garden

 

a coup this spring- a concrete sheep with one ear

it seems very Victorian to me, and I think of William Blake's

"Little Lamb, who made thee?"

 

a sketch while watching a most charming video of a baby elephant cavorting in the ocean

 for the first time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mOyzDCC8ww

 



the sketch framed with the die cut top of a commercial pie box

 

And that's [about] all folks, as Bugs Bunny would say. This has by far been the most beautiful May of my whole life. I haven't enjoyed Spring for years because of the blackflies followed much too soon by the mosquitoes in Muskoka. It was always the time of revving up for tourist season, and leaving my cherished freedom to slog it out in the pottery studio with deadlines and orders and production on my mind.  I guess one could say I worked hard to get here, but many people have worked much harder than I and continue to do so. I guess I am just one of the lucky ones. I highly recommend luck, especially the kind one makes oneself, being positively oriented to open doors and opportunity. Don't deny yourself the innate pleasures of being alive. There is wealth in the smallest of pleasures.

This morning I couldn't get an old standard off my mind. I listened to a few versions, and decidedly liked this one the best:

 





http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=1K9_Y6GJF1k&feature=endscreen