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

sweet June

Warm greetings from our lush June in Nova Scotia.

Yesterday evening was so lovely and temperate after a little shower.  

Wally and I arrived home to a double rainbow over Forget-Me-Not Cabin.

I caught Wally just as he finished unloading some concrete pavers for the garden from our new old car. You can see the dry spot of pavement under the ash tree behind Wally- and how much taller our little Japanese Maple is this year.

Some of you who are familiar with such things may recognize the car as a 2005 Toyota Matrix Basic. It is so basic, in fact, that it has manual window openers! But it also has air conditioning which we're so grateful for in the furiously hot summers in this part of the country known as Hell's Kitchen to some. Fortunately we have only had about 2 days of extreme heat so far. 

I wandered about the garden taking pictures and Wally followed me, weeding.

This was the first time I really noticed how flat the poppy is as it starts to open,

"like a purse", Wally said.

After 2 years with just one poppy, this year we will have 6! 

Wally will divide them to plant elsewhere.

This later phase of spring is bringing so many new buds into flower, like this Allium

and these Clematis

and this tiny bud that will grow into a huge Hydrangea.

The dead blossoms still cling to the baby Harelson apples on our little tree. We will have dozens this year. I don't know how such a little tree will handle the weight.

As well, there are even more peaches than last year as well.

Isn't it fascinating how these various fruits start sideways or even upright before they droop under their mature weight?  We never did see our grapes come to fruition last year, nor our peaches, as the deer ate every last one.

After a false start (meaning the deer came through) Wally reinforced the homemade fence he made from little "apple ladders" and odd bits of wood. We were discouraged by the cost of wire fencing and came home with none, but then I suggested running a mesh of string to inhibit the deer from wandering in.

Two nights have gone by and so far so good. I also had the brainstorm to discourage them with some solar lights. I know we're grabbing at straws, but hopefully it will do the trick.

The deer never touch our herbs: lemon thyme in the bottom left, Tarragon above, Parsley peeking at the upper right and a few sage leaves showing on the right with Chives dead centre.

We really scored a few years ago with some reduction-fired handmade pots selling at a big box store at a fraction of the price they would cost if made in North America. I just love them, this one here planted with organic lettuce.

I rarely show work from my past, but since this little guy has made it onto our deck with a windblown petunia blossom, I thought I'd share him. Because he was made of scrap clay, a chance I took in someone else's studio, he developed cracks during a reduction firing that made him unsaleable and therefore mine to keep. No regrets!

I hope you are enjoying your prelude to summer - or winter! - as the case may be.

with love in our hearts

One May update

Hello dear followers.  I hope you've been well in the interim since we visited. Wally and I have, as have Muji and Babu. Spring has been kind to us this year, taking her sweet time with no unnecessary dramas. We are experiencing her full fledged now.

Eleven days ago I caught sight of this piebald deer, named for the amount of white in her coat.

At first I thought she might have been shedding her winter undercoat, or worse, had a type of parasite called mange.

But her smooth coat and full body indicate that she is in good health as she browsed beyond the lilacs.

All the while we were serenaded by this sweet warbler

that eventually left in a blur of wings as I became too obvious

On another morning, looking out in the same direction, I savoured the muted colours through the mist

The little maple tree is much taller this year. The namesake of Forget-Me-Not Cabin

are growing all about the yard this year.

The Lilacs are filling the air with their heady perfume.

Wally fixed the old rototiller that he found roadside 2 years ago and retilled the garden.

More Forget-Me-Nots at the foot of the old Ash Tree.

We headed out that day to hunt for a new old car.

We had to take a detour which put us out front of this magnificent tree outside the United Church.

New Sewers, curbs, paving and a bicycle lane are being added to the kilometre of road that will run by our house. I've enjoyed the quiet until they reach us sometime soon.

We found a car in Sackville (at least I did) but Wally needed to assure himself that we had tried all possibilities so we made our way through Dartmouth stopping at a dozen places. In between we found a pretty park in which to eat our lunch with this fabulous view of downtown Halifax.

a goldfinch serenaded us all the way through lunch as we parked under what I think may have been an enormous Jack Pine. It was lovely and peaceful and surprisingly cold near the sea as we were.

Another view of Halifax from downtown Dartmouth.

Dartmouth is not my favourite place in the world. Industry, crime, poverty, economic depression.

Here we see the fog coming in on a sunny day as we approach the preamble to the oil refinery.

But then there was a pocket of prettiness in a strip of well cared for homes that I found particularly charming

This green trimmed house with its rounded portico had the advantage of an attached double garage

I love the stonework here including the steps that gives this quaint cottage some eminence.

One sees a lot of these types of rowhouses in Halifax as well with the partially mansarded roof.

There is a quiet dignity to this traditional, well-cared for home.

Decks and Stairs give with the huge triangular entrance give this box some pizzazz.

Another triangular entrance on a storybook cottage...

seen from the side amidst a nest of trees and landscaping

I admire the narrow shutters on this humble house that give it a lift.

a wood panelled United Church, so common on the east coast, this one a humdinger.

We begin our journey back to the original car. The quaint parts of Dartmouth are only somewhat redeeming considering what a difficult town it can be to live in. I love the charm of this little house.

We tour past houses where people proudly tend their little lots right under this giant bridge to Halifax. It shook me up and caused me to recount my blessings 

So we got that new old car. I kept reassuring Wally that even though it had manual window openers, we had, indeed, upgraded. He gets it now though he found it hard to say good-bye to the old jalopy. 

We head home under the crazy vast sky of Mount Uniak

New cloudscapes loom as we drive north back to the Valley

Coming into farm country I see a giraffe

It is a giraffe

What do you see?

In parting, a picture of Babu, looking somewhat skeptical as I encroach his personal space

and Muji, a beacon of health

I must say that I'm very proud of the hurdles I've accomplished with Muji. He has never looked healthier. Babu benefits by association and gets a toned down version of Muji's protocol as one can have "too much of a good thing". As I wrote in my last post, last paragraph, change can be hard but when applied consciously, slowly and deliberately, it can open up a better world...

starting in one's own "back yard".

blessings