Flowers to the left of me, flowers to the right ..

Dragonflies droned high above the foliage this morning, providing aerial cover for the butterfly flitting through the yard and bees caroming happily between the double mock orange and impatiens.  The baby robins are in flight training and mama is keeping busy looking for food.  All the birds were warbling tributes to the sun.  

My yard provides some real action out there for the little creatures, albeit mostly out of my sight.  Yet, I did get a really good look at the family of little critters who'd invaded my pile of two-week leftover clippings as they prepared to make it into compost and Bruce prepared to bundle it for take away.  I could have done without the sight of wiggling and crawling beasties, although I do appreciate their work.

The gazing ball sparkled behind the dazzle of the upper hedge

Today we finally moved the last plants of the spring, which is good summer became official at noon. Now we settle into the routine of watering and weeding. I have a trusty hoe which I have decided is my favorite garden tool. I may have to paint the handle in appreciation.

This is the view to the left of the lower steps with the mock orange and dogwood.

And to the right .. the mock orange takes the stage against the curtain of the Japanese elm.

I spent a few minutes talking to my Dad on Sunday .. he was in the middle of fixing one of the trucks to get it field worthy .. was checking lights and brakes and stuff before taking it into town. He and Dorothy have been out trimming and mowing the farm yards, taking down fences and replacing riding mowers. All in all, he's a happy man. Nice to see.

We trimmed back the butterfly bush and this beauty appeared into the light of day.
Not sure what its named, but I'm going to get some more.  Wowza!

Around the house, you'll find our windows open more often than not, welcoming in the breezes off the Georgia Strait. Sadly, this freshness hasn't translated into more housework being done. Although, in my defense, I did get a few batches of blankets through the washer and dryer yesterday. Maybe even a load of towels today .. you can see my ambition in the household chores is simply boundless!

More painted pots; this time out front.  I'll grab a picture later in the season when those
white flowers are really doing their stuff

I've been out on the water a couple of times a week with the Kruisers, working on developing our timing to the point where we'll be an effective group on the water. For the first time, we're looking at taking in a festival outside of Nanaimo later in the year. I'm pretty excited about it.

The back gate showing how all that campanula will look when it's had a couple of years to spread.  I hope.

I've started a six-week program at a nearby fitness facility, hoping to get me back into moving my body and incorporating some excercise daily. The trick for me is to find some time daily to get on that bike. Which I should be doing right now .. so ... ta ta.  Enjoy the sunshine!

Words to live by ...

One of the ongoing mantras of my life ... and my empathy goes out to my poor husband who has been held hostage to the words on more than one occasion ...

A little color never hurt anyone

I purchased some terra cotta pots a couple of days ago and the resulting creative spray painting flurry made its debut in the garden yesterday.

Sunday's view of the upper garden steps I've been working hard to soften.  I'm not a fan of grey
and hard, grey rock needs a lot of help.    I added the blue gazing ball on Sunday.

 

On Monday ... a little bit of color!

On the other side of the upper patio, the dogwood provides a stellar display.
I added a few annuals under the tree and along the lower stairs yesterday.

 Today, it's been raining ... a drizzle that keeps the ground wet, the skies grey and looks like a mist.  There are so many ways to express any given type/amount of rainfall in this part of the world, but oddly enough ..  Alberta has far more ways of expressing varying degrees of thunderstorms.

Diggin' in the dirt

This is the year that we get our garden moving forward.  Not sure what happened, but I seem to have energy for the yardwork.  Perhaps its because Bruce hired someone to look after our lawns and there just isn't any guilt about playing around in the garden while the lawn remains uncut.  I'm determined not to overdo things either .. I go out for an hour here and there .. do a bit of this or a bit of that.

The last few day I planted some sweet pea seeds (might be a bit late so we'll see if we get any flowers), shifted some pathway rocks around and levelled them, put about a flat of impatiens in around the that walkway, and dug some holes and planted campanula beside the steps .. the idea is that they'll fill in and soften the rock .. and more importantly, cover the gravelly dirt.  I put together a hanging basket of fuchsia, which has turned into a planter basket, a height I can better deal with, and trimmed the coral bark bush.  We moved my lily bed, planted a hydrangea, bought an 8' tall climbing hydrangea, planted a daylily, moved some more day lilies, dropped some marigolds and geraniums in the front beds and shifted around some grasses that were threatening to be lost under the front cedars..

Still to come ... another two flats of annuals to drop into the ground in the  but that should be easy enough .. its the weeding  before hand that will be longer.  Isn't that always the way?  We also have to plant that tall hydrangea and move around a plant already in that bed.  And oh yea .. get that three foot tall weed playing peekaboo behind the coral bark.  Sneaky weeds!

Spidery tracks from my watering can attest to the industry in my
garden this year.

On the right are the gloves I used last year.  They look positively pristine next to this year's pink pair.

Sandy .. I've been wearing Sloggers into the garden which are really good for dryer days.  Would you have any idea where I could get those duck boots you use around your acreage?  I've squished about a ton of mud into my socks and shoes from the wet dirt in the gardens.  Did I mention its rained here .. a lot?

The upper hedge in the back yard is a meandering wall of floral fire
against the backdrop of the lower cedar hedge

My big indulgence this year.  The spring metal in the tail feathers and neck
give life to the bird in the breezes that play tag amongst the shrubs.  Now, if it could only sing.

The alium outside of Bruce's office window gave me a chance to test the
close-up functions on my camera

The rhododendron and heather in the front yard show off for my camera

It's been raining so much that we still don't have the patio furniture out for the summer so that's on our list for the coming week .. rain or shine!  Ha ha .. I say that, but I really do mean just shine.  No way I'm going to convince either myself or Bruce to haul around furniture in the rain.

Mild mannered office drone by day ...

When I was a little girl, I thought moonlighting was something special .. a way to escape the humdrum, to see the world in full lunar splendor ... a kind of step into faerie where you had to be wary of food and music, lest your visit be forever.  Where dancing and singing and giggling were allowed and encouraged.

Logically, I know its not that; a second job is usually a shitty necessity people are forced to do to make ends meets the middles.  But try telling that to the girldhild who lurks within, who still insists on wrapping that ugly brown-paper package in a ribbon made of stellar starfields.

So will it surprise you to find that I moonlight as a sometimes adept, sometimes inept wizard?  I thought not.  Meet my alter ego, Riigel.  Find us running somewhere between Heaven and Hell in Diablo 3.

Drama!

Sometimes, drama is the good kind.  This sunset begged to be captured on film and I wanted to see what my camera could do on auto settings.  I fluked this shot, in truth.

Taken from my upstairs patio overlooking the strait of Georgia.  Bruce and his outrigger team were on the water when I shot this.

Housecleaning negotiations

Me:  I want to trade jobs.
Him:  Hmm, okay.  *hands me vacuum*
Me: No, not that.  But if I never have to clean another bathtub again, that will be fine with me.
Him:  No deal!

*Sigh*

A bottle fit for a djinn

Remember when I said that occasionally we find the magic around us?  Case in point is this photo below.  A late afternoon visit to the downstairs washroom resulted in this amazing picture.  

Both bottles come complete with cork stoppers so if any friendly djinn would like to visit .. we have a comfy hotel suite ready for them.  

May update

If it seems like its been forever since I posted ... well .. umm .. guilty as charged.  I have been keeping myself out of trouble, however.

I've devised a paddling program for the Kruisers dragon boat team and have been coaching twice a week since mid-May. Poor ladies went out in the pouring rain last week; fortunately it was warm.  I stayed under my rain poncho and kept warm and dry .. until we docked and I stepped into the middle of the boat to give some specific technique demonstrations and went ankle deep in the collected rain water. I helped design their new shirts and am  hoping they turn out as well as the design suggests the should.

The pinkish lines are size cut marks for the garment maker,
Hayman Sport out of Penticton

Kristen and Bruce watching me in the garden with my camera

Kristen came calling on us and brought a toy for the cats, which they promptly demolished .. with much glee and gusto.  Occasionally it rolls out from under some piece of furniture and becomes a prized possession for another couple of days until it's lost again.

Knitting seems like an Olympic sport to Mr. Tippy.  He seems pretty convinced he could do it better
than Kristen, even though she demonstrates her prowess pretty convincingly with that
pink hooded vest she's wearing.  

Other than that, I've been busy moving dirt and stuff around in my garden .. more so in May than in June .. although I did score a few flats of annuals before the May long weekend.  Here's a rundown of what was going on in May ...

The papery qualities of the birch and star magnolia make for
an interesting early May statement

Bruce and Kristen (on the patio above) caught me taking this photo.  I've since moved my
lily garden into the spot just behind the pink heather .. looking forward to some great
July or August pictures.

The wisteria seems happy enough.  Maybe one of these years it will actually bloom.

I was surpirsed (and delighted) when the bleeding heart on the front step
fought its way back from winter hibernation

Proof.  Wasps *are* actually herbivores in the spring.
I was taking a picture of the pieris flowers when this little
fellow photo-bombed me.

This friendly feline guards the front gardens.