Waiting for Rain

Good Late Wednesday Afternoon.

We're still waiting for rain on this windy cloudy day with many peeps of sunshine

as we look beyond the honeysuckle at the hayfield, its lupins faded to seed pods

I came out with the camera because I had caught sight of a fabulous black and red butterfly in the herb garden but alas it was gone when I returned. So I wandered about the yard cataloguing some of the garden's progress including the march of the baby Harelson's, a Minnesota breed of apple.

The Hydrangea, clipped back severely, has come in stronger than ever and is about to take over -

the neighbourhood!

I am just as aggressive with pruning back the wild roses which doesn't seem to hurt them a bit,

hardy, prickly, marauding bush that it is.

You may remember Wally's composter and the little garden he put in beside it.

The metal "doughnut" is a foundling that we later realized is the top of a commercial garbage can.

Here is a close up of an Echinacea flower in bud that you can see in the Composter Garden

On the other side of the composter, the clematis are happy

doing a lovely job of disguising our garden waste from the street

Mallow are blooming in our lily garden, including some white ones this year.

The other ash tree, streetside, that I don't photograph that often has some low hanging branches.

Our front lawn is a little unkempt, especially where Wally left clumps of forget-me-nots to bloom well into seed. The hedge needs a trim too. I picked 3 armfuls of dead branches off the lilacs that you can see near the bottom right yesterday evening.

Such a small property by our old country standards requires a lot of maintenance now.

Here is another wild rose bush growing out of one of our front hedges.

I could be dead heading these chives but I like the look of them too much

Now our lemon thyme has gone to flower too.

They're edible; I think I'll add them to some rice.

Here a starling on the roof of Forget-Me-Not Cabin, joined its mates down in our yard.

My photos are poor as birds do love to dart about. This female came quite near the house.

She made herself very busy foraging. I do enjoy these little birds.

Meanwhile, back in the house, Babu is looking quite serene,

about an hour after he came rolling down the stairs in a box,

or maybe the box came rolling down after he jumped out of it where I set it at the top of the stairs.

I only heard the rumble.  But he didn't seem any worse for wear.

As a precaution, I gave him some Arnica Montana in case he got bumped.

Uh-oh, there's that look again.  I'm going to assume there's nothing there- again.

Don't you love those kitty lips....

I hope you're having a pleasant mid-week and taking in the amazing summer weather- or winter for that matter- wherever you are.  I am always amazed by what I discover with the camera and highly recommend it for companionship in nature.

peace

Solstice in the Garden

Good Morning from Summer!

This morning is a carbon copy of pretty much every morning this week including the one I took these pictures on earlier this week, except that it is cooler than the rest.

Cool leaves me feeling refreshed and functional, mid-northern girl that I am.

I moved my dog sculpture, the one that I made in someone else's studio from scrap clay (hence the cracks) over by the handmade pot that we found at Walmart of all places. We are already snipping the baby Swiss Chard from it for our evening salad.

Petunias grow in another of these handmade pots that I was thrilled to find.

I look out onto Wally's garden and decided I'm overdue for a tour.

Wild lupins have seed themselves here and they provide an early shot of colour

along with the poppies that have seeded themselves into a larger grouping

They are coming along in stages which prolongs our time with them

Such an exotic flower with a prehistoric vibe, especially the seed pod

Prior to becoming a pod, the pistil still looks wondrously animated, like a sea urchin,

with the stamen appearing to waft about as if they were moving in the water

Wally has planted 2 rows of beans this year at right angles to the way he planted them last year

Fronds of healthy new growth off our evergreen shrub as we view the house, looking due north

The Harelson Apples still intact behind the garage

and the peaches too!

Maybe we'll actually get to eat some this year.

I did see that the doe that had been wandering into our yard earlier this spring has had a fawn.

She has stayed more undercover since. This is the view behind the cabin looking due south.

Just to my left a California Maple is growing just beyond the honeysuckle.

Since fencing off our yard from the deer, we have only done one pass with the lawnmower

With the honeysuckle in full bloom, this is the closest I can get

The field beyond is full of lupins, an idyllic view in early summer

Wally and I are continually grateful for the wildness out back

We have managed to salvage a few tiny grapes so far but I am doubtful about them coming to fruition as we have quite a few more birds this year, all hungry for our berries.

It was too sunny a day to capture the clematis that are already blooming but I love this shot of a clematis bud

Our lily garden along the side of the house is graced this year by some new pinks that Wally planted plus a hollyhock that someone ;) (me) seeded.

I do love to wander about the garden and sprinkle seed pods.

I turn to take one last view towards the back before I go in

and then realize that if I stand on the pile of concrete patio tiles we got 2 weeks earlier I could get this new vantage over the back hedge.

Creating calm, finding beauty, nurturing kindness

Solstice!

It's officially summer, with or without the calendar's blessings. The weather is balmy with a silken summer breeze pouring through the windows, freshening up this old house. The moon is full in Sagittarius.  It is a time of culmination. Energy is high. The tides are high. It is the best time to get an overview on what you have planned since the new moon 2 weeks ago.

We were blessed with another rainbow soon after the last one.

This one appeared to have a little ring around it

Wally is on his way to cut some fresh kale and Swiss Chard for our salad.

One morning I woke to find the flicker near our side garden

It had come to hunt for bugs (ants?) in the sand

Could that be something in its beak as it leans back to swallow it?

a view of its stripey back and scarlet "V"

On the hunt

Another patch of sand

striped like a jailbird

behind bars

This blog post spans 4 days in June, covering little events as I continue to do battle on various messy fronts of my life, including paperwork in its various incarnations. 

This next batch of pictures came about one evening as I rested after the supper dishes with Babu

who always joins me on Wally's chair after Wally goes to bed.

Babu sees something on the wall, then looks over my head

I ask Babu, "What do you see?"

He looks back again, and his eyes get even wider so I finally look to see- nothing

and turn back to find him looking like this.

"Are you trying to psyche me out?" I ask,  and go back to what I'm doing

when I catch him looking again and, yes, I look again too, quickly,

to see if I can catch a glimpse of - Marion? Still nothing; not the teeniest spider.

"Babu, You're freaking me out." Can he see Marion's ghost?

(Marion was the original owner of this house and lived here with her first husband Percy

and then husband #2, John.)

My funny little Babu who leads a rich fantasy (?) life

his kitty lips and two bottom teeth

On Saturday morning, I opened up the window in the vestibule door for some fresh air

Muji rejoiced in some happy rolling sunbathing

I'd brushed him out the day before. He needs a good brushing quite regularly as his coat is so dense.

But then he seems to get cold; I think it's because he is not a naturally active cat.

Anyway, he certainly loves sunbathing. I try to restrict it so that he doesn't get a sunburn. His orange bits always lighten in the summer.

Eventually the happy rolling gave way to a kitty bath

and a footbath that Babu came to witness

The computer has been acting up and caused a delay in posting so many pictures this spring.

I have some lovely garden shots to share but for now I'll take a break

and wish you well