Winter / Spring Cleanup

First it was the teens with machine guns, then the computer distracting me, and suddenly the window of sunshine (which probably lasted only 30 minutes) was gone.  But it was still pleasant - cold, but calm - when I finally got outside this afternoon to cut more blackberry vines for my stick bugs and spiny leaf bugs.  The machine guns?  Oh yeah, it's not really that kind of neighbourhood.  One of the teens in our neighbourhood was in the cul-de-sac, filming scenes with some of his friends.  I recognized the villains' vehicle as his parents' van, and they were holding up some poor guys driving his dad's delivery truck.  No actual shooting.  Perhaps the scene didn't need it, or they will add that sound later.  They apparently were on their lunch break, since they were gone by 1 o'clock.

Anyhow, once I did get out to clip blackberry vines, I was happy to stay out longer, to trim and clean up my front gardens.  I notice there are some tulips just starting to push through the soil, which gives me hope that Spring will arrive soon.  But when I suggested that to the local newspaper delivery man, he reminded me that we often have snow into March.  So true, but I'm ready for Spring anyhow. 

In 1 hour I easily filled the 48 gallon container which the city provides for yard waste recycling.  I always think that I wish I had a larger container, or was able to borrow one of my neighbours', but then when I come back in the house, I realize it was just about the right amount of exposure and exercise for now.  Besides, I have a list of a dozen items I need to get done inside the house, and I've only crossed off the first few.

Never Too Late for Spring Bulbs - Hopefully

I am not inclined to planting annuals - or bulbs, for that matter.  But I like to have some Spring surprises, and I love underplanting my fruit trees, to have some colour and life when the trees are still mostly bare (see below).  This past summer, I expanded the holes around my fruit trees, so was optimistic, and bought a number of different Spring bulbs.  I planted many of them before Winter set in, and suddenly it was dark every evening when I came home from work, and weekends were either too rainy or when clear, the ground was too frozen (okay, we don't really get frozen here, but still we get a layer of frozen on top, which makes it unpleasant to plant through).

Anyhow, the remaining bulbs have been sitting patiently in my pantry for a few months now, for their opportunity to be planted.  They are a bit shrivelled now, and some were sprouting, but today they got their chance.  Although we didn't get the deep snow that was continually forecast, the temperatures have stayed below freezing for the past week, so that the snow which was on the ground persisted.  Finally yesterday it turned to rain, and lots of it, so it cleared much of the snow away.  Then today it cleared up, and amazingly that coincided with my husband taking the kids skiing, and leaving me behind for the afternoon.

So I planted the remaining bulbs.  Some "Quebec" tulips (see photo below courtesy of Botanus - aren't they pretty?), some mini irises, some tete-a-tete daffs, and some muscari (hyacinths).  I feel a great sense of accomplishment, and relief.   Now I am ready for Spring.  If only Winter would hurry up and finish its course.

Girls Birthday Party and Arrival of Snow

My daughter had her birthday party with 7 of her friends last night in our house.  It was fun.  I made her 24 rat-themed cupcakes, and they were a big hit with her friends, who also enjoyed playing with her 4 rats.  There was only cupcake left this morning, which my daughter will have for lunch.  She's off to a handbell festival today.  (Click any photo for a better look, then ESC to return from the photo viewer.)

The parties are getting easier for me every year.  I didn't need to think of ideas to keep her friends entertained.  Between the rats, multiple rounds of eating, fashion shows (using hats and fishing nets and other items we didn't manage to clear away from the rec room), dancing, more dancing, .... they were very disappointed when their parents started arriving 3 hours later.   My daughter has a great group of friends.  She's an impressive girl too.  She spent MANY hours in the week prior to the party, purchasing songs on iTunes and fighting multiple rounds of uncooperative technology, to finally get a playlist on her MP3 playing on the sound system within the house, so the girls could dance in the rec room in the basement.

She managed to also dig up her laser light for the dance party, so I tried a few photos of the girls in the dark, on a long shutter speed.  I think this one turned out pretty good.  My daughter is the one in the front with pink hair.

Late last night, after all the girls had gone home safely, it started to snow.   We awoke to a pretty good blanket of snow in the morning, so I snapped a few photos of the back yard, from the 2nd floor balcony :

...and from the main floor deck :

The front yard, from the porch :

It looks pretty.  Good thing I don't need to drive in it, at least not today.

Another Fursona

My son doesn't think this is him, but his fursona is a wolf, and he is an avid soccer player.

My daughter's birthday party with her friends is tomorrow night, so we'll see if the girls will try this "fursona" out for themselves.  Tonight I made some cupcakes which I'll decorate tomorrow so it will be a surprise.  I hope to share some photos once they're done.

My Fursona, or rather Scalesona

My daughter will turn 13 in another week, and she's at the wonderful age that she has all sorts of neat ideas to share with me.  So today (instead of cleaning the house, which I was also trying, but not very successful) we were exploring how to create a fursona.  She may ask her friends create them at her birthday, as a fun activity.

Fursona: A Furry Version Of Yourself


Scalesona: A Scaly Version Of Yourself

Feathersona: A Feathered Version Of Yourself

You could either pick a type of animal which you like, or associate with in personality.  Or you can take the quiz to find out what type of animal you are.  When she took the quiz, she turned out to be a small animal, such as a raccoon, or bunny or bat.  She chose the raccoon for her fursona :
 
 

 
I took the quiz, and found out that I am a winged creature, such as a dragon, owl or bat.  I chose the dragon, in this case as a scalesona :
 

I tried to personalize it as best I could - the dragon has my big belly, my green eyes, and shares my love of boots.
 
If you find this amusing, and take up the challenge, please let us know or send us a link to your fursona.  It would be fun to compare our results.

Spiny Leaf Insect Eating Molted Skin

'Twas two nights before Christmas, and rather than posting wishes for Peace on Earth and the Joy of the Season, she was posting videos of her spiny leaf insect eating her molted skin....

I was fascinated to find my spiny leaf bug this morning, hanging precariously from her molted skin.  I had missed the actual molt, but soon realized that she was eating her skin (no wonder I never find any in the cage, as I do with the stick bugs).  The whole process of chewing it, as she hung from it, took probably an hour.  I took two video clips, which I would like to share.  I promise to be more seasonal in upcoming posts.

Spiny Leaf Insects Eggs !!

I had a nice surprise tonight.  My oldest spiny leaf insect, who was born in April (see post), so is just shy of 8 months old, started laying eggs tonight!  My son helped me spot 5 eggs, which I have removed to another container on a layer of moist paper towels, to await the long 9 months until they will hatch.  Here they are in my hand (aren't they pretty?) :

By the time we looked back at the mom, she had an egg showing at the end of her tail (sorry for the blurry photo) :

My son and I waited until it dropped.  Pretty exciting.  I read that she could lay as many as 100 eggs.

This is pretty good timing, since it is a bittersweet time for me and my girls.  A long time ago, I posted an ad that I would be willing to sell up to 2 of my 5 girls, and recently I've been contacted by a lady who is so excited to buy them that she will have a friend bring them by airplane for her.  He is supposed to come this weekend to pick them up, and I've had such mixed feelings about parting with any of my girls, but I know they will be going to a good home where they will be appreciated.  Now I am also glad that I will have eggs to provide hope of a new generation once my dear bugs are gone.  If I have any sense, I won't keep all the eggs, and certainly not all the offspring! 

Here are some recent photos of all my girls.  This is #1, my big 8 month old girl (now a mom!) with the regenerating front leg.  She has a wonderful weight to her, when she is held, and little spines on her belly can be felt against my skin :

This is #2, she is a bit more green than my first one :

 This is # 3 :

This is # 4 :

This is # 5, who is 3 1/2 months old now :

I am thinking to keep #1, 2 & 5, and part with #3 & #4.

O Christmas Tree - How Lovely Are Your Branches

We had convinced ourselves (at least I had) that we would buy an artificial tree this year.  After 7 years of a near-empty living room, we had finally filled it with wonderful furniture just after Christmas last year.  So I was sure we couldn't fit our usual monster tree anymore (see our trees from 2010 and 2009 and 2008), we would need a more "slim" tree.  And part of me dreaded those first couple of weeks, when the tree would need water 3 times per day - like a new baby in the family.

I searched high and low, and there were very few options for trees in the 12' + height.  A few posts on Craigslist, and a couple of trees in retail stores.  Nothing worked out.  So this weekend, we finally gave up and decided to get a real tree one more time.  I'm so glad we did.  This is not a great photo, but look at this beauty we found:

It is a bit shy of 12' this year, but a wonderful, strong (and very prickly!!) Grand Fir, beautifully cultured by what seemed to be a very kind and friendly Christian couple, who operate a small Christmas tree farm in a residential area of Surrey, BC (which is a shorter drive than we usually make, to get our tree).  Most of their trees are more in the standard manageable size, but they had a few tall ones which they posted on Craigslist, and were only asking $32 each.  What a deal, and a gorgeous tree.  I think it has narrower profile than many of the previous trees we've had, which was ideal this year.  With some rearranging of the furniture, we managed to fit it in the room very nicely.

So far, we only have lights on it, but this is not even December yet.  It feels like we are behind in just about everything else recently, but at least we are well ahead of our usual schedule for getting a Christmas tree!

Scary Gardener and other Musings

I have to admit, I am scary when I'm gardening.  I find it amusing to read blog posts or advertisements for cute gardening boots, or pretty gloves.  No matter how much I tell myself I will only do "light" gardening, I nearly always return to the house frightfully dirty, wet, sweaty, and with twigs in my hair.  My garden gloves are all in a state of disrepair (most of them should have been thrown away long ago), wet, and dirty.  All three of my garden clippers are crippled in some form or another, and I keep going with them too.

Today I decided to take advantage of my day off work, the beautiful clear skies and balmy 8 C (46 F) weather - rain/snow is forecasted for the next few days - to "tidy up" the front yard a bit.  At first I started with pruning some wayward branches from my shrub, which would otherwise sag across the walkway once the snow weighs it down, and picking up leaves and twigs which were cluttering the garden or walkway.  But by half hour into it, I was cutting and struggling out large branches with the pruning saw.  I even started to cut a few branches which were above my head.  The last couple of times I did that, I ended up throwing my neck out of alignment, and needing a chiropractor to straighten me out.  After I cut two branches, I felt an odd feeling in my neck, so started praying and doing some neck exercises which could help.  I seem to have come out of that okay.  A bit stiff, but I think the neck is still safely in place.

Not deterred by that close call, I kept going with the pruning, and cutting out large grasses and other branches, until my large garden clippings bin was completely full.  I considered asking one of the neighbours if I could keep going and fill theirs too, but by then, my attention was turned to the driveway.  It was a great day for pressure washing the driveway and walkways.  So I fought my hose off the hose cart, and started spraying down everything in sight.  Although it is not a real pressure washer, we have one high pressure hose connection which does a pretty good job of spraying off most of the grime and certainly the sand and leaves and other debris.  I've always wanted a real pressure washer, but it's probably a good thing that I don't have one, since I've heard the horror stories about people who accidentally chop into their legs or other body parts with the pressure washer.  I'd be very likely to struggle with the hose, or get distracted, and do that to myself.  So I stick to my hose, and dream about one day hiring someone to do some real pressure washing.

I learned a few things when building our house, such as the importance of those grooves in the sidewalk and driveway, to allow the concrete to expand and contract.  So ever since then, I've been very careful to wash out those grooves a few times per year.  (Fortunately for him, my husband, who was less involved in the building of the house, is unencumbered by the need for any type of house or yard maintenance, happy to leave these matters in my capable hands.  On a good day, he's the first one to suggest going to the park or another nice place.  What does he think I'm trying to create in our own yard?)  Winter and very early spring are my favourite times, since I don't have to feel guilty about using water.  At this time of year, the water reservoir is more than full.  By summer - almost every summer now - there is crying about water shortage, and restrictions on its use.  It seems pretty funny, in a city which probably gets more rainfall than any city in North America, and which probably pays more local taxes (or any taxes, for that matter!) than any other.  Somehow, all those taxes we pay end up being squandered - I mean spent - on other activities, with not much planning on expanding the reservoirs which are now serving a population which is likely multiples of what it was when the reservoirs were built.  Anyhow, this time of year, I felt quite okay spraying good clean water down the driveway, clearing it off.  That allowed me to cool down a bit, since I had gotten myself a bit sweaty doing the garden cleanup.

When I'm deep into the driveway cleanup, having a solid line of dirt and moss and other gunk which I am systematically spraying down the drieway, I hear the phone ringing inside.  I turn off the hose, and head toward the house.  By then, my cell phone is ringing inside.  I catch neither, and notice only that it is from the office.  Most likely my husband.  So I phone him (busy), send him an Instant Message and email, and finally a voice message, asking if he is trying to contact me.  (An hour later, I hear back that yes, he was trying to call, and he answered his own question.)  By then, I have taken off my gloves, which are soaked through with cold water, but can't bear to put the cold wet gloves back.  So I decide to go with bare hands to finish the driveway and walkway.  The water is freeeeeezing cold.  Wow, I didn't know how much the cold wet gloves had helped to keep my hands warm.  But I am determined to finish, despite the cold hands.

By the time I arrive back in the house more than 2 hours later, I notice the bottom of my jeans are wet, and take them off.  By then I am shivering, sore, and otherwise feeling like I have been run over by a small car.  If I had been successful in borrowing a yard waste bin from my neighbours, I would have felt like I had been run over by a truck, which is the state I usually find myself in after being in the garden for a few hours.

It's funny, when I am in the garden, the cold or pain or anything other sensation is only a minor distraction or amusement to me.  I am so focussed on the task at hand that I lose myself quite completely.  I am not in the least bit lady like.  In fact, I don't feel much of a female at all, and hardly even human for that matter.  I am just determined, fighting, struggling, making progress one handful at a time.  I must be a pretty entertaining sight, if any neighbours were to notice me.  Not to mention that my standard gardening gear consists of my Victoria's Secret tank-style bra top with lace back, and a cut-off (yes, the real thing) pair of jeans.  Pretty scary sight, at my age and size, come to think of it.  In the winter, I add a T-shirt on top, and wear full length jeans.  But no matter what I wear, I almost always need to change, and often take a shower too, when I return.  But I wouldn't change it for a moment.  I love the challenging terrain (more on that in other posts) and the feeling of losing myself completely, to where I can only keep struggling away, musing about various things while I work.  But not thinking of what else there is to do - my TO DO list keeps growing longer and longer, despite how many items I finish and cross off.  There is no energy to spare for that.   Just the musings.  That's one of the things I love about gardening.

Happy late-season garden cleanup, everyone!

Cranberry Sauce Muffins

I love cranberry sauce, so when I prepared the turkey dinner last weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving), I made sure I had plenty of it.  But after using all the turkey leftovers, I still have more cranberry sauce than I can eat myself.  So I went on a search for a recipe for muffins using the leftover cranberry sauce.

I found one called "Morning-After Cranberry Sauce Muffins", which uses 1 1/2 c leftover cranberry sauce.

I also found one for "Cranberry Muffins", which uses 1 1/2 c chopped cranberries, but many of the commenters had substituted dried cranberries or even cranberry sauce, with appropriate adjustments to other ingredients.

So I set out to make my own variant, based on these two, and am pleased with the outcome, as were the kids, who ate them as they came fresh out of the oven.  The muffins are very moist, and the cranberries in the sauce provide a wonderful freshness to the taste.  My only adjustment would be to the spices.

MIX TOGETHER DRY INGREDIENTS, SET ASIDE :
1 1/2 c flour
1 c quick oats
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg (I'd reduce to 1 tsp next time)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger (I'd skip next time)

CREAM TOGETHER :
1/2 c butter
1/2 c brown sugar

ADD, AND MIX :
2 eggs
2 c cranberry sauce (see my notes below)
1 tsp vanilla

ADD IN DRY INGREDIENTS, AND MIX WELL.

TASTE, TO ADJUST.  I added 2 Tbsp sugar at this point, to make it sweeter.  You could also adjust for moisture level, if too dry (add water or orange juice), or wet (add a bit more flour).

I used mini-muffin tins, which make 20 mini muffins each.  I think the 20 mini muffins are roughly equivalent to 12 regular sized muffins, but I'm not certain.  I ended up with 2 trays of mini muffins, and 5 regular size.

SPRAY MUFFIN TINS WITH OIL, SPOON MIXTURE TO 2/3 FULL.

BAKE AT 350 F until done.  Approx 15 min for the mini muffins, 25 min for the regular size.

CRANBERRY SAUCE
My cranberry sauce was made from fresh cranberries, with my sister's variation on the basic recipe :
3 c (340 g) package of fresh cranberries
1 c orange juice (instead of water)
3/4 c sugar (instead of 1 c)
Cook on stove, boiling for about 5 - 10 min.  Let cool.

I made double this recipe, and guess that we ate roughly half.  I ended up with 2 cups of the sauce.  So I'm guessing a single package would be about right.  If not, I'd adjust the flour more or less accordingly.

Having eaten the muffins both warm (amazing!) and cool, the adjustment I would make is to reduce the nutmeg to 1 tsp, and skip the ginger powder entirely.  With the natural tanginess of the cranberries, the spices seemed a bit unnecessary, and gave the muffins a somewhat artificial taste (and it doesn't help that my spices are too old - I really should dump them and refresh them all!).

Let me know if I inspire you to try this recipe or a variant on it, and please share with us what you discover!

Grape Harvest

This year's grape harvest was a pretty good one.  For some reason, last year's was a big disappointment.  But I was pleased with the harvest this year.  I asked my daughter to take a photo of me, with my basket of grapes :

These are wonderful grapes of an unknown variety, but they have seeds and are a bit too sour for easy eating.  So I only reserved two clumps (for now - I may yet juice them), and promptly converted the batch into 5 jars of grape/apple juice (I added in the remaining apples from my espalier tree, the ones not already snatched by the squirrels).

I didn't take too many photos, since I already have photos & posts from 2 years ago...

... about my grape harvest then, which appears was even larger than this year's : 2009 Grape Harvest.

... about the 3 varieties of grapes : 2009 Photos of Grape Varieties

... and about my new juicer, which is like a reliable friend to me (I've made 3 different batches of juice in the past 3 weeks) : My Stainless Steel Juicer

Based on my experience these past 3 years, that the red variety of grape bears only a couple of bunches (this year, only 1 pitiful bunch smaller than my fist), which rot on the vine, I think I will cut down this vine entirely, and make room for another variety of table grape.  My mother-in-law has a table grape which bore fruit for the first time this year, and if I like the flavour (I haven't tasted it yet), I will ask her for a cutting.  I have a neighbour also who has wonderful sweet table grapes, who could provide a cutting.

The other variety of green grape which I do have, that is seedless and quite delicious (although a bit tart) also bears very few bunches.  This year, only 3.  But I will give it another chance.

My espalier apple tree bore a large abundance of apples again this year, at least the top and bottom varieties.  Again, the middle row didn't bear any apples.  The apple tree in the yard didn't bear any apples.  Nor did the pear tree, for that matter.  Disappointing.  But perhaps since I pruned the apple tree back a bit, it may respond with fruit again next year.

My espalier asian pear bore wonderful fruit on all 3 rows, and if it weren't supported, I'm sure the branches would have broken under the weight of the fruit.  See photos from 2009 of my espaliered apple and asian pear fruits.

My relatively new espalier european pear tree bore 2 fruits, which I believe were the red bartlett pears.  The first one, I picked while still a bit firm, let it ripen inside, and enjoyed with the family.  The second one I left to ripen a bit longer on the tree, but I see that the squirrels must have enjoyed that one.

PS. Oct 11 - It's funny how taste is so subjective.  My mother-in-law brought me a sample of her wonderful, sweet green table grapes to try, and they tasted almost identical to mine!  Hers are labelled Niagara Table grapes, and bear the description "Large bunches of tasty, green fruit used for wine, desserts and juices".  So I guess I may have one of the sweeter varieties available.  Likely the best I will get, for our cool wet climate on the west coast.  I dream of the yellow-with-pink-blush Muscat grapes I only once ever found in a grocery store, and the tiny green (almost yellow) Champagne grapes which I found in a local produce store for the first time this year.  But I'm sure neither of these would ripen here.  I remember when I was a kid, my mom had grapes growing on the side of the garage, but they never ripened enough to be edible.  So I guess I should be happy with mine which make great juice, and are edible for those who like a real zippy flavour.  I will, however, remove the red one which is taking space and sunshine and not successful at all.

Stick Bug Jealousy

In the three years which I have been keeping walking stick insects, I have not noticed any displays of emotion.  In fact, they hardly seem to move - or eat, for that matter.  They don't seem to seek out or mind the attention of other stick bugs.  If one walks on top of another, neither one seems to pay any attention.  With the exception of the adult males, who do manage to seek out and mate with the females.

Last week my daughter brought her small cage of stick bugs to display to the whole school, so the night before, I cleaned out the cage for her, and set up fresh blackberry leaves.  We were a bit concerned to see a male and female joined together, since this sort of thing would raise unnecessary questions from the younger kids.  As I removed the lid which they were clinging to, a second male approached from behind and climbed onto the first (successful) male's back.  I figured it was just because I had disturbed them, and expected them to soon settle.  Instead, I saw something I didn't expect.  The second male appeared to bite the first male on the leg.  The first male recoiled slightly, which confirmed to me that it was actually a bite which I had witnessed.  Then he bit again.

Normally, I would have gone for my Blackberry, to be ready to record in case it happened again.  But it was late at night (which always seems to be the case when I am cleaning their cages), and I wanted to get done before I got too tired.  So I never did see whether the biting continued.  But when I returned the lid a few minutes later, it appeared that the first male was still in position with the female, and the second male was still waiting nearby, perhaps jealously.

Reifel Bird Sanctuary

Yesterday the family went for a drive and walked around the Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Ladner, BC.  As always, there were lots of different species of birds to look at, and to amuse myself, I took a few photos.

One of my favourites is always the black-capped chickadee:

There were a noticeable number of red-winged blackbirds yesterday :

We heard the tapping of this woodpecker before we spotted him:

This looks like a song sparrow, but it was too busy eating seeds to sing for us :

The mallards were there in the usual abundance :

I was amused by the great number of shore birds.  I know there were at least a few different species there, but to me they were all "sandpipers".  It was amusing to us that there was such a wide expanse of shallow water, that it gave the illusion that they were all walking on the water.

Here's a closer look :

This photo appears comical to me.  This little guy was stretching and flapping his wings, and looks a bit off-balance :

I kept noticing bushes with vibrant red berries along the road as we were driving, so I was glad there was one along the edge of the parking lot, so I could identify them as hawthorn berries :

Our walk in the Reifel Bird Sanctuary was peaceful (other than the kids goofing around and chasing each other).  The drive was also pleasant, past many farms and a few fields of bright orange pumpkins.  We were passed by a huge tractor/truck full of potatoes.  I somehow wasn't expecting to see potato farmers just 1/2 hour out of Vancouver proper!

I am trying to find my snow geese photos from a previous year.  That was quite a sight.  It must have been some time in November, since we remember the fields with some remaining pumpkins rotting on the ground.  We'll have to remember to make another trip out there soon.

Garden Glimpses - Early October 2011

I have not posted many garden photos this year, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy in the garden, nor that I haven't added to my plant collection.  I wish I had taken more "before" and "after" photos of the garden beside the front driveway, but I am pleased with the progress I made in cleaning it up, and the new additions, mostly from Phoenix Perennials in Richmond, BC.  Here are just a few of them, which are blooming now.

This rosy beauty is Echinacea "Raspberry Truffle" :

This cheery yellow beauty is Echinacea "Now Cheesier".  I love coneflowers for their bold blooms, and strong stems which usually don't need any support :

This is a Schizostylis coccinea (Pink river lily).  This dramatic late-bloomer caught my attention last year at the UBC apple festival (which, by the way, is Oct 15 & 16 this year).  I bought a pink one, but I think I'll go back and buy a bright red one also :

I wish I had taken more photos of the other additions.  I'll try again next summer.

The back yard is not without its colourful blooms, also.  Most notably are the gigantic sunflowers outside my kitchen window, which the squirrels have not raided yet (although I'm sure by now they've figured out my work schedule, so know when the opportune time will be) :

I made this yellow / purple arrangement from some of the available blooms a couple of weeks ago :

Spiny Leaf Insects Munching Leaves

If you're not already tired of my photos of the spiny leaf insects, here is a video I recorded on my Blackberry this evening:



If I were clever, I would figure out how to add music to the clip, but it's too late at night for such a challenge.

Garden Treats

This is a wonderful time of year, when the golden "Fall Gold" raspberries produce their second crop, with even larger and sweeter berries than the summer's crop.  The espalier apples and asian pears are starting to become ripe, and even some grapes are ready to pick.  Today I was able to bring in this harvest :

I washed and prepared them, and called the family to sample:

Look at the size of those raspberries :

My absence of posts this summer have not been indicative of the time spent in the garden.  I have been fortunate to have spent quite a bit of time in the garden this year, although never as much as I would like.  During the week I work, and even with taking Fridays off this year, I have spent most of my Fridays doing laundry, tidying and cleaning, attending to various errands and medical appointments and such.  So most of my gardening has been in the evenings (while the days were longer) or weekends.

Today I spent 3 hours tackling my hillside, which is difficult terrain, and full of challenges :  

This summer I started to climb the hillside to remove some blackberry vines which were shooting up from above my Gunnera (top right), very high on that hill.  On my first attempt, I discovered that the wasps had a nest in the ground, and was fortunate to escape (I didn't know I could run that fast!) with only one sting.  I have tried 3 times to eliminate them with wasp killer, and this last time, I finally was successful.  (I probably would have left them alone if I had any other way to approach that hillside, but it is getting too difficult to come from above.)  So today I climbed up, but after removing about 4 wheelbarrows full of weeds and plant material, I still hadn't climbed all the way up to remove all the blackberry vines.  So that will need to be another day.

This year was the first year I planted my giant sunflowers in the small "kitchen" / herb garden outside my kitchen window.  So it has been fun to watch them grow.  Although all their bright cheery faces are pointed in the other direction, I only see their backs from the window.

I think I will do that again.  There is good sun in that location, and I like the result.

I hope you are all enjoying your gardens, the fruits and veggies and flowers, the fall colours, the tidying up and preparing for winter.  It never ends, but that is what makes gardening such a wonderful pastime.

Taking Time to Take Photos

Time flies by so quickly, sometimes the only way to make it stop, for a moment, is to take some photos to remember it by.  My daughter just started Grade 7 (oh my, how did that happen?), and one of her school projects is to make a poster all about her.

She has no shortage of interests and activities and topics to cover.  Her pet rats, her interests in music (flute currently) and photography, her belly dancing, her toys, her faith (she will display her new parallel NIV / The Message bible which I gave her as a first day of school gift), her new ATV (wow, she has her very own one, and has already put 200 km on it).  Not even mentioning her previous experiences in singing, piano, guitar, TaeKwonDo, her hamster, and math awards.  (I guess you can tell, I'm very proud of her.)

First of all, she decorated her poster board, with black paint, fluorescent spray paint, and splattering of neon and glow-in-the-dark colours:

Now she will add photos of her rats, Sammy :

...Jenny :

...Bear :

...and Archie :

And some photos of her riding her new ATV the week before school started :

She will also add some photographs she made this summer which were pretty funky, giving a fresh perspective to some very ordinary objects :

When you look at that second photo, do you see the lock protruding out, or recessed in?  It is a bit of an optical illusion.

Yes, time is surely flying by, ever more quickly, but for just a moment today, it stopped and allowed us to reflect on what is fun and meaningful to us.

PS. Sunday Sept 18 : It didn't seem right that we didn't get a photo of Jenny in the tissue box, so we tried again today, and got a cute photo of her in the box :