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 :

Spiny Leaf Bug Regrowing Her Leg

I am still enjoying my spiny leaf insects, my oldest being now almost 5 months old.  Recently she lost a front leg while molting, and I have been hoping that she will regrow it.  Spiny leaf bugs, like stick bugs, have the ability to regenerate missing limbs.  Pretty cool.

Anyhow, after arriving home from a one week vacation, I was very pleased to see that she is regrowing the leg.  See it in the photo below, it is still much smaller than the other legs, but through successive molts, it should get longer.  Way cool.  You go girl!

I was also pleased to find that I now have a new hatchling too, my 5th leaf bug now.  I am getting quite a collection.

For any of you who follow my blog for my garden, I apologize that I have not shared much of my garden lately. Happily, I have been able to spend quite a bit of time there, and have made significant progress re-working sections of it, but have not been taking my camera with me often enough, and often it is too dark by the time I remember.  I'll try to take it with me and share photos in the upcoming weeks.

There are signs of fall already, with changes in leaf colours starting a few weeks ago. I am doing lots of clean up already. I even got my act together this year, and harvested much of my lavender. Tonight I cut down many of my globe thistle flowers, and will dry and hope to use them for a dried flower arrangement. They look like something out of a Dr. Seuss story.

Tropical Salsa 2

I have been so happy with my first batch of salsa, that I decided to make another.  I was fortunate that my mom accepted my invitation to come over and join me preparing it.  That way, we enjoyed chatting while working, and the preparation time was greatly reduced, with four hands doing the chopping.

This time, my daughter suggested that I use more tomatoes.  So I did.  So it was still a tropical salsa, but not quite as sweet or fruity as the first batch.  The following is my approximate recipe.

Finely chop and mix all ingredients in a large saucepan:

• 5 nectarines (if you blanch them in boiling water for 1 minute, the skins pull off easily)
• 1 mango
• 1 medium onions
• 7 jalapeno peppers, seeds removed
• 1 large red, 2 small yellow bell peppers
• 8 tomatoes
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 c white vinegar
• 1 cap of Realemon juice

Chop 1 bunch of cilantro, but set it aside.

Clean and prepare canning jars in boiling water.

Heat the saucepan, stirring occasionally, until it comes to a boil. Boil for about 5 minutes, adding cilantro toward the end, and sampling for any additional ingredients you may want to add. Good time to adjust sugar or salt levels, or be inspired to add spices.  This time I was both enjoying the conversation and so excited about making more salsa, that I actually forgot to sample the salsa before putting it in jars.  If I had sampled, I probably would have added 1/2c to 1c of sugar, and/or a bit of salt, or more lemon juice.

Spoon salsa into the prepared (boiled) jar, leaving 1/4 inch air space at top. Seal.

Process jars in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

My recipe again made 7 jars, approx 500 ml or 1/2 quart each.

Over all, this second batch was more hot (maybe a medium/hot, compared to a mild/medium on the first batch).  But it was also a bit bland in comparison.  I think it was the pineapple in the first batch which made it more flavourful.  And the colours were still pretty, but the first batch had crisper yellows and reds.  I think it was the tomatoes that made the slightly more subdued or murky look. See photo - the first batch is on the left, the second on the right.

Comparing the two batches, I love them both.  But if I made another, it would be based on the first batch, with no sugar, and possibly with introducing the lime zest which the original recipe suggested.  In terms of heat, either one is fine, but perhaps I'd go with the jalapeno peppers, which seem to be a bit hotter than the serrano peppers.  By the way, this time I used the knife to remove the seeds, and used a glove in the hand which was holding the peppers.  So I didn't end up with capsicum burn like I did last time!

Stay tuned.  I have a feeling this is not the end of my salsa making.  Please let me know if you attempt a batch of salsa, and what you discover.

Best Jar of Fruit Salsa I've Ever Eaten

...and it's one I made myself last night!!

Recently I got the idea of canning my own salsa.  It may have something to do with my buying a (rather pricey) jar of "Aji" (which to me is the base for a salsa, if I added more tomatoes, and I've been adding to sandwiches and all sorts of things) at a local Farmer's Market, knowing that I could pretty easily make something like that myself.

Also, I used to be able to buy a really good peach (or mango?) salsa, but it seems to have disappeared out of the stores I shop in.  I can't remember the brand, but it had a hummingbird on the lid.  I still have lots of the empty jars, since they are a great size for canning.

Anyhow, I enjoy occasionally making a fresh salsa.  But this time I searched online for a recipe for a salsa which I could put in jars.  I found this one, which became the main inspiration for my own recipe, along with cross-checking the ingredients on my jar of "Aji" and other store bought salsas in my pantry.

I didn't measure anything precisely, since it is easy to adjust by eye & taste to your liking, so that is the approach I'd recommend also.  Here goes with my version:

Finely chop & mix all ingredients in a large saucepan:

• 7 peaches / nectarines (if you blanch them in boiling water for 1 minute, the skins pull off easily)
• 1 pineapple (remove the core & skin & spiny bits)
• 1 mango
• 1 large white onion
• 8 serrano peppers, seeds removed (ouch, I didn't wear gloves - I will next time!)
• 1 red, 2 orange bell peppers
• 2 large tomatoes
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 c white vinegar
• 1 c sugar or to taste (I think I'd omit it entirely next time)
• 1 cap of Realemon juice
• pinch salt

Chop 1 bunch of cilantro, but set it aside.

Clean and prepare canning jars in boiling water (my large pan fits 2 at a time, so I swap in the remaining jars one by one as I remove each jar to be filled).

Heat the saucepan, stirring occasionally, until it comes to a boil.  Boil for about 5 minutes, adding cilantro toward the end, and sampling for any additional ingredients you may want to add.  Good time to adjust sugar or salt levels, or be inspired to add spices.

Spoon salsa into the prepared (boiled) jar, leaving 1/4 inch air space at top.  Seal.

Process jars in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

My recipe made 7 jars, approx 500 ml or 1/2 quart each.

I already ate 2/3 of a jar today, with tortilla chips.  The "heat" is about a medium, although when I tasted it before it went into the hot water bath (so the flavours had not mixed and mellowed yet), the peppers tasted much hotter.  I'm pretty happy with the result.

A little note about the serrano peppers.  A few days previously, I had cut up a few to make a fresh mango salsa and fresh tomato salsa.  I had not worn gloves (as I've only heard, but never done), but I had cut them in half and used the knife to remove the seeds, before chopping.  So last night, I got careless, thinking that it was okay to use my fingers to pull out the seeds.  It seemed more efficient, and anyhow I enjoy getting my hands into things and getting messy.  I didn't feel anything until completely finishing the salsa, at which time I noticed my one finger and thumb were completely on fire.  I searched for "capsicum burn" and read all sorts of remedies, which I tried : dipping hands in milk, adding oil & then washing thoroughly with soap, vinegar, isopropynol alcohol, repeated washing with dishwashing soap...  I stopped short of the suggestion of using full-strength bleach.  Nothing helped, other than providing momentary relief.  But I went to bed expecting to be fine in the morning.  Which seemed true, until I started getting dressed, and touching things.  At which point, my fingers were on fire again (although not quite as much).  As I type now (almost 20 hours later!!) I can still feel a funny sensation in those fingers.  So although I will probably still not wear gloves next time, I will be sure to handle the peppers more carefully, and not touch any seeds with my fingers!!

Please let me know if you are inspired to make this salsa, or some variation on it, and let me how it turns out.

Another Spiny Leaf Bug

I apologize to those who follow my blog for photos of my garden.  Tonight I noticed another spiny leaf bug had hatched.  I now have 2 spiny leaf insects.  The oldest is 9 weeks old now, and is looking more like a curled up leaf every day:

I tried to be clever and get a photo with them both on my hand, which I did:

But the newly hatched bug moves very quickly, and after this photo, it promptly disappeared up my sleeve.  At which point I put the older bug back in her cage, and ended up taking off my shirt to search for the little one.  Fortunately, I found her without squishing her.

On the stick bug side, I still have way too many, and keep telling myself I will try to find a home for many of them.  I managed to give away 4 to good homes last weekend.  Good thing I have a plentiful supply of blackberry leaves in the neighbourhood.

Garden Mosaic and "David" Tree

I love this time of year in the garden.  Every couple of days there seems to be a new type of flower blooming.  There are early signs of fruit emerging.  Here is a mosaic from photos from a stroll through the garden this evening (after weeding for about an hour, and just before it got too dark for photos):

What do you think of the white irises in the bottom right of the mosaic?  I was pleased to find them blooming today.  They were buds last time I looked.  They look so delicate and pure.  I received them as a gift from my mom's friend Irene a number of years ago, and they have grown into a beautiful patch.  It was a precious gift, which I hope to in turn share with many people over the years to come.

I am absolutely smitten with my new "David" tree (Davidia involucrata, commonly know as "Dove tree" or "Hankerchief tree", but fondly named "David tree" for my son, David).  Since I planted it just under 3 weeks ago, I have been playing around with an underplanting of sedums and other succulents, and watering it every evening since.  What do you think of it?  Although I read that the Dove tree may take some 15 years to bloom, I am already so pleased with the gorgeous bronze-tinged and deeply textured foliage, that I think I will be quite okay with the wait.  Already the small twig which I bought at the Van Dusen Garden Plant Sale has developed noticeable branches:

Oh, I forgot to include in my mosaic my tiny Frost peaches (most of which will prune themselves long before they ripen):

Last year, I managed to pick and taste our single peach before the squirrel got to it.  Perhaps I'll be able to taste another one or two this year.  The tree is still young, so I don't expect much.

Spiny Leaf Bug at 6 Weeks

I'm sure most of you are tired of my bug photos by now, but I am so fascinated by my spiny leaf insect, that I created a photo collage, showing the transformation so far, from the red/black ant-like newborn (top left) to the crinkly dried leaf at 6 weeks old (bottom right):

On the gardening side, the weather was wonderful last week, so I made an amazing amount of progress at cleaning it up, planting many of my recent purchases, and had 2 yards of soil brought in, which I spread into the cleaned up areas.  This week has been not bad either, considering the forecast a week ago was for 5 or 6 days of rain, and it has only rained a couple of times.  So I am continuing to make good progress on evenings and weekends, and hope to bring in another 2 yards of soil soon.  Most of the time, I have been too busy to take photos, but here is a collage of some of my recent photos, and I hope to take more soon.

Happy gardening, everyone!

More Painted Bird Houses

I have a weakness for buying and painting wooden bird houses from Michaels Arts and Crafts Store.  Unless I am actually painting with the kids (as I have done previously), most of my painting takes place after they are in bed for the night, so between 10pm and midnight.  A little while back, I painted this little cutie (below) with the windmill.  Then about two weeks ago, I bought this bigger one, and thought I would just give it a single coat of paint that night.  But I ended up continuing to paint the flowers, a different flower on each side (click any image for a slighter larger view).

Yesterday I was shopping with the kids at Michaels, and surprised to find a whole lot of new bird houses.  I picked up two more funky shaped houses.  I promised myself I won't paint them both in one night.  I need to pace myself, and enjoy.

I use simple craft acrylic paints (in the little plastic bottles), and when done, spray it with a clear varnish.  They survive very well in the garden year round.  At least the paints do.  Look at the state of this roof, after only 1 year outside (this was not one I painted, I bought it already finished, but one day I will give it some real colour!):

And look at the thread-bare roof on this one (which my daughter painted 2 years ago):

I've learned to pick the ones with a solid wood roof, they seem to last the best.  There are even some in the store now with metal roofs.   But then that would be one less part to paint, so where's the fun in that?

Spiny Leaf Bug at 2 Weeks

Okay I'm a freak for bugs, but I am really enjoying my spiny leaf insect which hatched 2 weeks ago. When I open the door to her cage, she seems to sense it, and finds her way out. She is so interesting to handle, since she runs very quickly, her tail tightly curled, and then when she calms down, she slows down, and lets her tail unroll. The stick bugs move when provoked, but rarely do much walking, and when they do, it is much slower.  Here are a few photos of my spiny leaf girl (they will all be girls) from today (click any photo for a slightly larger image):

The red colour in her head is gone, but isn't she still freaky looking?  I am really fascinated by her.

We had a second one hatch a few days later, but it had a gimpy front leg, and has not done well.  I don't think it will last until tomorrow.  Earlier today I found it lying on its face on the bottom of the cage, its body quite shrunken flat.  So I pulled it out, and gave it some water in my hand.  It seemed to drink, and revived and filled out a bit.  I also finally removed the leg, since it was stumbling on it, and having difficulty moving forward at all.  Later today I found it looking almost dead again, and gave it some sugar-water in my hand.  Again, it seemed to drink, and its body filled out a bit, but it didn't revive very much.  Instead of its tail curling up, it hangs down onto the ground.  Poor little thing.  I hope more eggs will hatch soon.

Fruit Tree Blossoms

The fruit tree are one month behind compared to last year, but at last they are bursting into blossoms.  Here is the asian pear espalier:

The european pear espalier, being younger, is off to a good start (although it looks overwhelmed by the massive honesuckle vine behind it, which I keep trimmed back from the pear tree):

The following shows my Frost peach tree (left) and Rainier cherry, with closeups of the blossoms.

In the mosaic below...

Top: Ribes odoratum (Missouri currant), which is loaded with more fragrant blooms every year, but disappointingly bears almost no currants.  I am sure I have seen pollinators in previous years (although this year will be pretty challenging, with every second day raining - today it rained very hard).

Bottom left : Lapin (dark) cherry blossoms, with yellow ribes blossoms behind.

Bottom right : One of my rhubarb plants looks like it will flower this year.  I am reading that this should be discouraged, by removing the flower.  So I'll keep my eye on it.  Perhaps capture a few more photos, before I take such drastic action.

My new garden path is looking pretty nice, with the peonies and hostas just starting to shoot up on both sides.

The weeping cherry (Prunus "Snofozam" or "Snow fountains") in the center is barely visible.  A couple of weeks ago, it was the only tree in full bloom:

The Alchemilla mollis (Lady's mantle) is not a showy plant, but I love the way it holds beads of rain:

Finally, since I tackle various parts of my garden at random, so often forgot to capture "before" and "after" photos, these are kinda "mid" photos - I've done some cleanup (as evidenced by soil being visible, which it would not have been in the "before" scene), but still have much to do, so it is not really "after".  I am clearing out sections of rampant bluebells, removing (and finding good homes for) daylilies which have spread too far, and removing chunks of fall asters which are too widespread, leaving instead tidier "clumps" of them.  It feels good to finally make some progress on this section of garden:

Weeds in the Garden of Eden : Part 2 : Types of Gardeners

Garden of Eden Source unknown - used without explicit permission

If you happened to already read Part 1, bear with me in the weighty conclusion today...

There are two types of gardeners:

Homo contentinhumus - The true gardener, who is truly happy being up to the elbows in soil and plants, and often doesn't even care that he or she will later suffer from allergies.  This is the gardener who has a garden (noun) so that he or she can "garden" (verb) there - pulling weeds, moving plants, amending soil...  He or she may set up a bench in the garden, since it sets off the colours and textures of the plants so nicely, but has no time to actually sit in it.  In utter but euphoric exhaustion, he or she is often found instead sprawled on the porch of the shed, or kneeling for a while in the soil, or leaning against a fence while catching his or her breath and picking the leaves out of her hair.

Homo Hortaverbosa - The pretend gardener, who spends a couple of hours twice a year, but talks about how much he or she worked in the garden for proportionately too long.  This is the type of person who tries to sound interested in plants, but elects only the "low maintenance" ones chosen and installed by his or her landscaper.  He or she may walk about the yard occasionally to inspect the "garden" (landscaping), but quickly retreats to the comforts of the deck, and home.  He or she thinks of gardening (verb) as a chore, done only to have a nice "garden" (noun).

I'd venture that anyone who has made it this far into my blog post, is not only the true gardener, but is probably resting at the computer after exhausting yourself in the garden earlier today.  Besides, it's already dark, so not much more can be done in the garden tonight.

By definition, the Garden of Eden was a place of perfection, where all creatures existed in peace and love and fulfillment.  So I would venture that when God commanded Adam and Eve to be "fruitful and multiply" and to garden there, that the gardening and the playing around (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) in the garden was enjoyable to them.  (Okay, the scriptures don't explicitly refer to gardening (verb), but I'm sure that they were not only to eat the fruit there, but they must have also tended to the garden, since later the curse was that the gardening would be a "toil", and they would need to deal with "thorns and thistles".) 

So if the gardening was a source of fulfillment, then Adam and Eve were true gardeners, who enjoyed this activity.  So by extension, true gardeners also enjoy moving plants about, and "weeding" out ones in favour of others.  Even if Adam may have been content with harvesting fruit, and leaving things where things were planted, Eve must have had some ideas of how the planting arrangement could be improved.  After all, it's not only a woman's prerogative to move things about, but it is a God-given gift to imagine and create and effect change.  (Certainly not a result of the fall into sin.  I'd venture that the effects of sin was the subsequent reluctance of the man to help her anymore with making the changes she still imagined, and leaving her to "toil" on her own - oops, getting too personal here!)

Since all plants bear seeds or runners or other means of propagating successfully, they all need tending to keep them organized, and keep any garden area from becoming totally overgrown.  Especially for fruit-bearing plants, they need tending and pruning and "weeding" around them to keep them bearing successfully.

Okay, where am I going with all this?  Since the definition of a "weed" as set out in Part 1 is a plant growing where we want it not to grow, and the first couple - who were true gardeners - enjoyed moving things about and changing planting arrangements, and cleaning up the garden to allow for successful fruit bearing, then it follows logically that they must have needed to remove plants from the garden.  Therefore, there were weeds in the Garden of Eden!

This thought makes me feel pretty good, and I'm up to my elbows in dirt again today, removing weeds.

Weeds in the Garden of Eden : Part 1 : What is a Weed?

Occasionally while I am up to my elbows in dirt and weeds, I muse about whether there were weeds in the Garden of Eden.  Today I came to the conclusion that there were indeed weeds in the Garden of Eden, and can logically prove it.

First of all, what is a weed?  By definition, a weed is simply a plant we don't want growing where it is successfully growing.  Newbie gardeners may be surprised by that.  One of the common questions of a newbie gardener is "Is this a weed?"  It's a weed if you consider it a weed.  Plants by their very nature are not "weeds" or favoured garden plants.  There are simply plants which are too successful and too prevalent for our gardening conditions, that they are considered "weeds".  Case in point : When I used to participate in seed trading forums, I remember someone posting that he was looking for dandelion seeds.  In his gardening zone/conditions, the dandelion was a difficult plant to grow, and thus desirable to attempt in his garden.  In my gardening conditions, my lawn would be all moss and dandelions if I would let nature decide.  If it weren't for its rampant success, I'd be planting dandelions in my garden also, since it displays the prettiest and most vibrant yellow of all the plants I can think of. 

Many of our "weeds" may even be plants we've introduced to our gardens intentionally.  In my early days of gardening, I brought home many treasured plants from plant trades, which would later, after taking over much of my garden, become weeds which I now remove on sight.  Most notably for me is the Carex pendula (Weeping sedge) which I brought home from a plant trade, and planted it on our moist hillside.  It was pretty, and even seeded itself about the garden.  The first couple of years, I was bringing the strong, green seedlings to plant trades myself, and finding good homes for them.  It wasn't until it proceeded to seed itself by the millions, at which point it had grown to such a large and strong clump that I couldn't dig it out myself, that I became alarmed and called on my neighbour to help me remove it.  I am still pulling Carex seedlings by the hundreds, years later.  (My neighbour ended up planting the clumps, but I don't believe they were successful, or just marginally so, so we are still on talking terms.)

At our last home, our neighbour (on the other side of the duplex) was an elderly lady who enjoyed occasionally inspecting her "garden" which was composed of a wild overgrowth of plants which many experienced gardeners would consider "weeds".  To her, they were her pride and joy, growing successfully with almost little effort on her part.  Funny, although I was amused by this, I also brought some of her weedy plants with me when I left : Hyacinthoides hispanica (Spanish bluebells), which formed the basis of my blue shade garden, until I filled it in with other blue shade plants, and Lysimachia (Yellow loosestrife), which formed a colourful clump (see photos) in my wild garden at the far back of my yard for some 5 years, until only last year, when I cleaned it up as part of my raspberry garden renovation. 

So really, a "weed" or a treasured plant is only in the eye of the beholder.  A "weed" is simply a plant growing successfully where we don't want it to grow.

Mosaic Monday : Fairy House

I received encouraging comments on the recent photo of my little fairy house, which has survived 3 years now in the garden, with incredible durability, since I built and installed it there in May 2008. So I have assembled a mosaic of photos over the years (click the mosaic for a slightly larger view).

I wish I could have found the photo from three winters ago, when it was completely covered in a mound of snow. See this post, which shows it just prior to being buried.

Pop over to Little Red House for more of this week's Monday Mosaics.

Plant Sale Season

As a gardener, this is one of my favourite times of the year.  There is much to clean up in the garden, there are blossoms and signs of new growth everywhere, and my favourite plant sales to attend.  Today was one of them, the South Burnaby Garden Club's sale held in the Buy Low parking lot in South Burnaby.

Since it started at 9am, and church starts at 10am, I convinced the family to get up early to join me (actually, I gave them the option to let me go on my own, and meet up at the church, but they chose to join me).  My mom is actually a member of the club, so we picked her up on the way there.

Sadly for me, the focus this year was on edibles, but I pretty much have all the herbs that I need, and I really don't do vegetable gardening.  Although I made the exception for a very gorgeous red-veined plant which is slightly sour and can be used in salads.  I am too lazy to go outside to look at the tag for the name.

My delight this year was to pick up a small pot of Mousetail plant (Arisarum proboscideum), which I have since read is a relative of the Jack-in-the-Pulpit.  It has lovely green spade-shaped leaves, and funny little flower spikes which look like a mouse's tail.  I separated the tiny plants, and put most of them in the fairy garden, and a couple into my native/shade garden. (Click on any image for a slightly larger view.)

I also picked up a few more columbine (they weren't labelled for colour, so it will be a surprise), some hellebore seedlings which will apparently be black/dark flowers (wow, can't wait!), a Japanese iris (again not labelled for colour, but I loved the narrow strong leaves), some dark bearded iris, and a few more plants which caught my interest.  Prices at this event are always good, so I came away feeling like I got some bargains, and also supported a local club, so it went to a good cause.

The "big" plant sale for me will be the Van Dusen Gardens sale (Vancouver, BC), which is May 1, 10am - 4pm.  Sadly, it will be early afternoon before I can get there, after church and lunch with the family, but unless the weather is miserable, it is worth it just to enjoy strolling the gardens for free, taking a few photos, and if I pick up some neat plants (as I always do), that is a bonus.

My other favourite plant sale, the BRAGS (Burnaby Rhododendrum and Garden Society) fund raiser, will be held May 1 at Shadbolt Center, in conjunction with the Burnaby Rhododendrum Festival (the rhodo is the official flower of Burnaby).  So not only will it be more crowded, and unlikely to get parking nearby, but it is the same day as the Van Dusen sale.  So this will not be an option for me this year.  Too bad.  Usually I pick up some plants on my way to church, then a few more at 1/2 price (as they are closing up) on the way home from church. 

The weather has been interesting.  Alternating between beautiful sunny days and rain with snow/hail mixed in.  Good thing Friday & today were the sunny days, and both days I got out in the garden for a few hours.  There is much to do, and if I thought of it as a job, trying to remove weeds and straighten out my gardens, I would be overwhelmed.  But I take it as therapy, and do what I can.  By the time I come back inside, I am so exhausted I can hardly walk, but at peace with the world, at least for a little while.

Friday I did a significant clean up of the raspberry patch.  Today, I cleaned in various places, but the most rewarding was to recover the path in the fairy garden, which I built out of smooth stones and shiny marbles, but has been grown over for some time now.  Here it is after today's clean up (and note the Mousetail plants to the right of the house):

I marvel at that little fairy house, built from cuttings of my butterfly bush, and roof from my blue oat grass.  It has survived 3 winters now, and still looks amazingly fresh.  I didn't know I was so good at fairy house construction.  If I didn't know how much work it was, I would be tempted to build some more.

Yesterday, between showers, our family took a walk around Deer Lake, but instead of walking the full perimeter, I convinced them to detour through the Century Gardens around Shadbolt Center and the Burnaby Art Gallery.  The gardens were pretty.  I want to end with some photos I took yesterday.

I love this grotesquely contorted tree.  Somewhere I have jotted down the name of it, from the "Burnaby's Great Tree Hunt" book I borrowed from the library, but I don't remember where I put it now.  Hmmm.

 This was a pretty narcissus, with the double/triple center:

The hellebores were in bloom, and there were very large sized clumps of them.  Quite impressive.

I didn't know that trilliums also form a beautiful clump.  I was very happy to see that I have one small white trillium blooming in my garden now, I bought it at the South Burnaby Garden Club sale last year.

My daughter April took this beautiful photo of emerging fern fronds.  They look like a sad couple about to embrace.

I believe this purple beauty is a Primula denticulata:

New "Baby" in the House - Leaf Insect

I admit that I am a bit strange, but I was very excited yesterday to discover a new "baby" in the house - my first spiny leaf insect (Extatosoma tiaratum).  I received about a dozen eggs a couple of months ago, and have been waiting patiently ever since.  They have been well worth the wait!

The baby leaf bug is similar in size to my baby stick bugs, but a stockier build, very dark with a red head.  When I tried to pick her up, instead of moving slowly like the stick bugs, this little gal starting marching quickly, almost running on my hand, and did not hesitate to jump when she reached the edge of my hand!  If I didn't know she was a gentle vegetarian bug, I'd be scared to touch her.  She looks downright fierce!  When disturbed, she rolls his little dark tail into a tight ball, looking like a biting ant.

We had a hard time taking photos with her moving so quickly, so this is all I can share so far:

For comparison, here is a newly hatched baby stick insect:

17April2011 - Here is another photo, a closeup showing the curled tail and pointy head: