a garden of fruit

"What a difference a day makes." Overcast and cooler, the windows are open and I need a sweater, or as they say in England, a "jumper". I grew up calling the horrible cobalt blue rompers we had to wear for gym class, circa 1967, jumpers. Maybe it was because we jumped around in them, but I only remember running in  circles or playing volleyball. Well, you do jump in volleyball. Anyway, I was mortified that anyone but the other girls would see me in them. What a difference 50 years makes. Yikes!

I set out to  take some pictures of the garden. First stop the hayfield. I woke from a dream that it was being subdivided and put up for sale- a nightmare really- probably because I heard a tractor working yesterday. How we love this piece of rural respite.  But this White Sky day made the vista rather humdrum.

I turned to take a quick trip around the garden to survey our bounty.

As I passed by Forget-Me-Not Cabin, I took a picture of the old door latch with its 3 different screws, one of them looking rather more like a bolt. Clearly a quick patch as it sits crooked as well.

We are hooked on the old charm nonetheless.

Wally's garden, a little unkempt, but producing all the same.

I'm in it daily for lettuce, dill and cilantro, sometimes oregano. Soon the peas will be ready.

I usually weed out the clover, grass and sorrel as I go.

Our berry patch has 3 different bushes. Here, the currants.

the highbush blueberries coming along

And this raspberry, plus 3 others, ready to go. Pop!

I only took one cherry. They don't seem to be growing as low this year, but I can see many high up.

more Harelson apples than ever

I always wonder if we'll beat the deer to them. Without a fence this year, the race is on!

Heading back in I pass the composter garden with some pinks growing in amongst the lavender.

Dissatisfied with the go-to subject material I've been doing, I looked through my resources and found this picture  (go to the second image called Kid Gloves) by British painter and printmaker, Cornelia O'Donovan, that caught my imagination, and drew my interpretation of it in coloured pencils.

I prefer to draw from my own imagination, but inspiration and influences are wonderful kick starts, and by my next go at it, I was back to drawing on my own resources.

Yesterday was the full moon. Today's is called Waning Gibbous, meaning it is less than a full circle. Anti-climactic in a way, it doesn't mean we can slack off.  The Old Farmer's Almanac says "From full Moon through the last quarter, or the dark of the Moon, is the best time for killing weeds, thinning, pruning, mowing, cutting timber, and planting below-ground crops." For non-farmers, this might mean a good edit at home.

Til next time, thank you for dropping by.

a light heart

a heart full of light

lightness

Light

decembering

Good Morning on a new day, a fresh page-

what a wonderful scene to wake up to

the bowed hydrangeas with the little Harelson apple tree just beyond

How grateful we are for something rural to look out onto

The little maple that we toy with removing looks spectacular backlit with snow

Muji has a hard time waking up

but a good yawn should do it

and there he is

Babu gives me his love face. He has no trouble waking this bright winter morning.

On another bright morning- so rare- I held my hand up to the light

It turned out that the key jammed in the lock. Thankfully, our problems are little ones.

Wally takes care of the fixer up details while I'm on domestic duty.

Here he works on the skeleton key lock.  We love these old mechanicals that make this house so homey.  Ultimately it only needed a new key which he found in a lock upstairs.

Sometimes the answers are easier than we think.

While he worked on the lock I found the boys in backwards parentheses on the bed.

Sometimes Muji only somewhat makes it on the towel.

A rare case of Babu not moving. He makes a fine bracket.

Muji is too cute and often reminds me of a bunny.

We've been gearing up for Christmas. Every time I dust I dismantle the mantle.

I took a picture this time to remember how I had displayed.

Wally loves his headlamp for fixing things. A friend of mine suggested it as a present for him and it's been a go-to for a myriad of things. Notice something else?

Wally prefers to work on the floor. He has camping in his blood.

Muji helped Wally for a bit and then jumped onto the chair for some loving.

On another morning Babu caught me looking at him

and spoke to me.

Hoping all your troubles are little ones.

One trick for minimizing pain is to focus on it. We have a tendency to distract ourselves,

but it actually works to reduce pain by putting our attention onto the point from which it emits in our bodies. This is an extension of meditation practice.

This can be a tricky time of year.

stay in your light

spring peek-a-boo

Well, that was fast. A hint of spring and it's gone.

But we all know it's just hiding, snowball hydrangeas hiding behind snowballs,

 



pale clumps of lilac snow clusters masquerading as lilacs

 

 

as I wandered back into the vestibule I saw this message centre left by the former owners

 

the door knob in the vestibule a glorious layering of shabby chic textures

and from one door knob

 



to another

 





 

and another

I worked my way around the house

 



 

a loosely painted pencil sketch

 

 

colour-blocking a red letter A day

 

peace on earth