The grandfather tree

This morning, Remi and I visited what a friend of mine calls "the grandfather tree." It's big and beautiful, and I'm sorry to say that I don't even know what kind of tree it is. A poplar of some sort, I think. All I know for sure is that I love it, especially sitting and breathing with my back against its rough trunk. I've taken pictures as it has leafed out this year -- April 10, May 1, and today.

With the drought and the winds we've been having recently, I worry for our trees. Edmonton has lost several over the last weeks -- 130 km/hr winds are hard for anyone to withstand. I also feel for them... with the wildfire smoke we're experiencing, there's no way they can keep up with clearing the air. The air is polluted beyond their capacity, though they continue to do what they can.

And that's a lesson for all of us in these challenging times, I'd say. Be like the trees, and keep on keeping on. Do what we do best, and hope for the rest to work out somehow. 

But I also know enough to acknowledge and appreciate beauty when I see it, and so I am sharing the grandfather tree with you. Come visit, and we'll walk there together.

Happy May!

May is my favourite month of the year. It's always been special for me because of Mother's Day and my birthday, but those fade into the background when flowers bloom and trees put out leaves and Spring abounds!

It's also a busy time, made busier these days by wonderful educational concerts at work (if you know any young families who might be interested, M is for Music is a wonderful show written and performed by a former Edmontonian and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra this weekend), and planting starting in earnest. So far I've planted onions, Lee put in potatoes, and there's lettuce, arugula, spinach and garlic poking up. And today I moved my tomato and pepper plants outside into our covered garden box, where I hope they can stay until they are properly planted (though if the temperatures dip, I'll be sure to bring them back into the greenhouse -- I learned my lesson two years ago when I put things in before the May full moon and lost 40 tomato babies!) 

Here are the tomato plants... and other things in the yard just starting to bloom. Happy May!

Scilla, true blue

Tulipa

A few crocuses that the jackrabbit didn't eat...

and violas all over the place!

Happy Spring!

The pear tree blooms again

We are keeping our fingers crossed. After really cutting our beloved pear tree back last year because of fire blight, we weren't sure she would survive. This week she has shown her usual beauty, and we are keeping our fingers crossed, offering a bit of extra compost and deep watering her roots in the hope that she'll share with us a few more seasons of shade and tasty pears.

She has been a gift all her life, and we will do our best to treat her gently for as long as she's with us.

Hey! Who's eating my flowers?

It's the most wonderful time.... of the year (I seem to sing this one a lot, have you noticed? I guess because there are many wonderful times of the year besides Christmas.)

Spring is probably my fave. So much potential!

On unrainy days you'll find me wandering the yard, or just standing and looking for new growth. And sometimes taking pictures of wee things sprouting. And sometimes posting them to Instagram with hashtags #ilovespringmiracles and #everythingsamiracle.

The first thing with more than your basic spring green to show up in my yard (I really shouldn't call green basic after seven months of winter white-grey-brown!) are tiny scille (plural of scilla), or squills. I get a charge out of their tightly-wound little blue buds -- I took this picture last week. It made me think of a little off-kilter earth on Earth Day, waiting to unfurl into deep blue flowers. I love when there's a little sea of them blooming among the autumn leaves that are the mulch in many of my flower beds.

This morning, I went to check on them... and hundreds of little blue flowers were missing! The plants are still there, and the little stems stand with nothing on top! I've been robbed (or rather, my scille have). That means no seeds for next year's bulbs, sigh.

This has never happened before. I mean, maybe a few have been eaten without me noticing, but usually there are hundreds of tiny cobalt blue flowers among my raspberry canes, lilies, and tulips. Finding not a one, I decided to check the front yard, and there I found one solitary scilla with two flowers peeking up. Fearful for its life?

I'm not sure if it's an early spring or a late one as far as squirrels' stomachs are concerned. Or maybe it was the voles and mice in the neighbourhood that ate all those little flowers, as I suspect they're temporary tenants in my leaf and compost bins. I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't leave any blue blossoms for their landlady's eyes to enjoy, but hey, if you're starving, beauty comes second.

So next year, if you happen to see me wandering around my yard with a pepper mill, grinding pepper onto some tiny green shoots, please understand that I haven't lost my marbles... I'm just trying to deter a few rodents and save a few little blue scille flowers just for beauty's sake.

Better luck next year!

Simple pleasures: sheets dried in the sun

Happy St. Patrick's Day, dear readers!

The birds are singing "it's almost spring!" and there's some good, solid warmth from the sun today. There's still a good 2 feet (60 cm) of snow, but with temps getting up to 9 degrees C (48 degrees F) this afternoon, I decided to wash and hang our bedsheets on the line. There's nothing like crawling into a fresh air-ed bed at the end of a long day!

With war constantly in the news, and local political shenanigans/divisions, I haven't felt particularly inspired to moodle lately, but today I signed up for Monday Night Write Night with a favourite local author through our public library, and I've decided it might be fun to do a little series of moodlings on life's simple pleasures. So if you have any favourites that you'd like to see here, let me know. Otherwise, you'll simply be subjected to mine.

Appreciating simple pleasures improves our happiness quotient!

Fresh sheets seem to be a great place to start, and I suspect St. Paddy would agree. Enjoy your day, wherever you may be!

Spring beauty, spring miracles

I'm loving what's going on in the yard these days. There's so much blooming, and many seedlings poking through the ground. It's been fun walking around with my phone camera set to the macro image setting and taking pictures of things close up. To me, this kind of beauty is a miracle, but then, if you really think about it, EVERYTHING is a miracle.

I managed to get all of the garden planted on the weekend, and am glad I did because I hurt my foot yesterday and am staying off it for two days just to be on the safe side while the swelling goes down and I wait for x-ray results. I'm pretty sure it's not broken, just badly bruised. Since the weather is cool, the spinach can wait a few more days to be harvested, and hopefully it will rain to keep my pots watered, though I'm not holding my breath. Lately, the 30% chance of rain forecasted never seems to arrive in this neighbourhood, though I saw some water on the streets a few neighbourhoods over. 

Anyway, today is a lovely day for putting my feet up and reading an interesting book, something I rarely do in the month of June when there's so much to see and do outdoors. I'm grateful that my injury is minor, and looking forward to getting back outside to see more of what's below! Enjoy your week!

#ilovespringmiracles #everythingsamiracle

Perennial forget-me-nots

"Never Alone" rose

Stella D'Oro day lilies

Purple bearded iris

Striped multi-tulip (seven flowers on one stem!)

What's going down in the yard, episode 1

It's a busy time, but the weather is so warm, all I feel like doing today is taking pictures. So I'll show you what's been going down in my yard of late...

my brilliant husband built a platform for our rainwater tank

so that we can use gravity to water the garden...

now we just need some rain...

our little fountain is back in operation

and the Saskatoon and Haskap berry bushes are in full bloom...

tomatoes are hardened off and strawberry beds are ready to go...

except for a bit of frozen compost still in the middle bin,

the composter is in full swing...

tulips are making appearances...

and we've never had so many violas!

Our sandcherry is leafing out...

and anemones are blooming.

Okay, enough goofing off. 

Time to get out there and plant some veggies!

A Pigeon Lake break

Lee and I decided we needed a little break from the city this weekend, so we booked a B&B at Pigeon Lake for two nights and spent a lot of time in the great outdoors on a lovely day in early May. Baby green started to show itself in the trees, and the sun was warm. Below are some pictures of our Saturday...

It was a gorgeous morning. 

We drove to the Provincial Park and walked the beach

until we found a curious sight...

These yurts, complete with wrap around deck,

fridge, barbecue, dining set and bunks that can sleep 4-8 people

are part of the "glamping" (glamourous camping) craze, 

costs ranging from $120-140 per night. 

I guess they're heated, too!

So nice to sit in the warm sunshine, listen to the birds, 

and watch the ducks on the lake...

Ice piled up on the beach...

but it won't last long... lots of open water.

The buds on these trees probably popped on Sunday...

We drove around to the northeast side of the lake to

see Rundle Mission, part of Alberta's colonial and missionary history.

Not enough Indigenous history for my liking, but interesting all the same.

I love red Adirondack chairs! 

Especially when contrasted by weathered wood.

The stories of the missionaries who came 

to convert the "heathens" made me so sad...

especially when I read that Chief Maskepetoon 

was a peace loving man called 

'the Ghandi of the Prairies' by Grant MacEwan.

We spotted a bald eagle on the edge of the lake

but she flew off before we got a really good picture.

When I was in my teens, I drank from this artesian well...

but it wouldn't be a good idea anymore.

We drove west to Alder Flats, and found Ponderosa City, 

population 2, as far as we could tell.

It's a little mock up of a Western town 

in almost the middle of nowhere, 

but when you walk into the mercantile,

this is what you see:

Everything a cowboy or cowgirl could ever need, 

plus a little restaurant with excellent cinnamon buns!

But the lake called us back east again... the melting ice 

was so interesting. Chunks of it...

or finger-like shards. It was like the ice was alive,

moving, crackling, tinkling, roaring.

Really, the whole day was a perfect break.

Spring thinking

I went out to my happy place, the greenhouse, this morning.

Then I wandered around the yard a bit...

and the warmth of the creeping thyme got me thinking...

maybe it's time to plant something!

The soil in our cold frame is warm, 

so half of my lettuce, spinach and arugula

(cold crops) are now outside, and the rest in

greenhouse pots.

You could say that it doesn't take much

to put me into a Spring frame of mind.

Here we go again

This morning, Shadow and I walked along the bike path near the river where the little aspens are leafing out, and the fragrance of those new leaves was heavenly! When we got back to the residential streets, there were lots of budding and blooming things to see, not least in our own yard. Here's what's already happening...

These ones (Canadian Liberators, I think?)

appeared last week, immediately after I watered the front yard

for an hour. We've had a bit of rain since, so they're holding up...

The anemones are just beginning to bloom...

I set the camera on the sidewalk to snap this one. 

I like the skewed perspective -- giant purple flowers

 in front of our house...

The white daffs always appear before the golden ones...

I love how lupin leaves hold dewdrops...

I love this time of year for its potential... things are growing again, and there are lots of growing things to observe, even in the cracks in the sidewalk. Why not take a stroll around your own neighbourhood and delight your senses? Fresh air and greenery do the soul good.